MythTV DVB-T problem

Benedict_White · 2010-10-26 21:35:33

I had MythTV working fairly well, (or at least so I thought) then my motherboard's hard disk controller lost the last channel it could and remain useful and it would not boot, so I went off, got another scrapper, moved the hard disk, booted with a full image and and reinstalled the kernel, so far so good, but I also ran a pacman update (around the 20th of October) and MythTV has not worked since.

I tried a completely new install, in separate hardware with a different hard disk, and a laptop (one of my DVB tuners is a USB Twinhan which works really well compared to the Asus P7131D). No joy.

Nothing works. I tried Me-tv, and so on.

Then I tried Kaffeine. That did not work either but then I changed the group ownership of the /dev/dvb/ devices to users, and whilst the Asus still does not work (I could do with it working as it is a dual tuner) the Twinhan worked much better than it did with Mythtv.

So the questions are:

How do I get mythtv working? What does it use the access the DVB cards compared to kaffeine? and so on.

PirateJonno · 2010-10-27 11:36:46

What does dmesg say? Can you check /var/log/pacman.log for the first HDD (20th Oct one), to see if there was a MythTV or kernel update? What user are you running mythbackend as? The system used to access the cards should be the same. If nothing gives, try running mythbackend manually and look at the output when you try to watch TV. Have you tried manually recording rather than watching live TV?

Benedict_White · 2010-10-27 12:01:26

Well, now there is the thing... there appears to be no kernel update, (though I will double check) what do you mean by HDD?

Mythbackend is running as root (I understand that is recommended) so that it can access the hardware with no problems. I have not tried manually recording, in part because myth picks up no signal.

I will look at dmesg when the machine is next switched on. (I am at work at the moment, and it is off, as soon as it is switched on I can get at it to fiddle via ssh)

I have found that the linuxtv people say you need a firmware file for the Asus P7131D, and will put that in place as soon as the machine is on. If that works it explains why the Asus P7131D does not work in Kaffeine but the Twinhan does (for which there is a firmware file) but does not explain why the Asus P7131D was working and stopped (though obviously there could have been a firmware file in another package I was not aware of which got removed etc.

I am still no closer to working out why Kaffeine works and MythTV does not though.

While I am asking... is there any parental control for Myth? Specifically to stop people fiddling and exclude certain recordings being visible to other users?

Benedict_White · 2010-10-27 14:45:51

From dmesg:

 dmesg | grep saa713
saa7130/34: v4l2 driver version 0.2.16 loaded
saa7134 0000:00:0a.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17
saa7133[0]: found at 0000:00:0a.0, rev: 208, irq: 17, latency: 64, mmio: 0xf9efb000
saa7133[0]: subsystem: 1043:4862, board: ASUSTeK P7131 Dual [card=78,autodetected]
saa7133[0]: board init: gpio is 0
input: saa7134 IR (ASUSTeK P7131 Dual) as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0a.0/rc/rc0/input5
rc0: saa7134 IR (ASUSTeK P7131 Dual) as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0a.0/rc/rc0
saa7133[0]: i2c eeprom 00: 43 10 62 48 54 20 1c 00 43 43 a9 1c 55 d2 b2 92
saa7133[0]: i2c eeprom 10: 00 01 20 00 ff 20 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
saa7133[0]: i2c eeprom 20: 01 40 01 02 03 01 01 03 08 ff 00 d6 ff ff ff ff
saa7133[0]: i2c eeprom 30: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
saa7133[0]: i2c eeprom 40: ff 21 00 c2 96 10 03 32 15 00 ff ff ff ff ff ff
saa7133[0]: i2c eeprom 50: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
saa7133[0]: i2c eeprom 60: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
saa7133[0]: i2c eeprom 70: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
saa7133[0]: i2c eeprom 80: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
saa7133[0]: i2c eeprom 90: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
saa7133[0]: i2c eeprom a0: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
saa7133[0]: i2c eeprom b0: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
saa7133[0]: i2c eeprom c0: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
saa7133[0]: i2c eeprom d0: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
saa7133[0]: i2c eeprom e0: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
saa7133[0]: i2c eeprom f0: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
tuner 0-004b: chip found @ 0x96 (saa7133[0])
saa7133[0]: registered device video0 [v4l2]
saa7133[0]: registered device vbi0
saa7133[0]: registered device radio0
DVB: registering new adapter (saa7133[0])
saa7134 ALSA driver for DMA sound loaded
saa7133[0]/alsa: saa7133[0] at 0xf9efb000 irq 17 registered as card -1

(where have the code buttons gone?)

This gives two devices

ls -l /dev/dvb/
total 0
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 120 Oct 27 15:11 adapter0
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 120 Oct 27 15:11 adapter1

(adapter1 is the Asus. 0 is the Twinhan.).

I have not yet tried this with the firmware loaded, I will try that at home.

Also, there seem to turn up randomly, as in some boots the Twinhan is adapter0 others it is adapter1. Is there a good way to nail this down?

Benedict_White · 2010-10-27 17:46:00

Well... now the Asus works as /dev/dvb/adapter0, now the twinhan is adapter1 it does not. Curiously enough MythTV now works as well!

Here is the relevant output of /var/log/messages:

Oct 27 17:43:04 home kernel: dvb_init() allocating 1 frontend
Oct 27 17:43:04 home kernel: DVB: registering new adapter (saa7133[0])
Oct 27 17:43:04 home kernel: DVB: registering adapter 0 frontend 0 (Philips TDA10046H DVB-T)...
Oct 27 17:43:04 home kernel: dvb-usb: found a 'TwinhanDTV USB-Ter USB1.1 / Magic Box I / HAMA USB1.1 DVB-T device' in cold state, will try to load a firmware
Oct 27 17:43:04 home kernel: dvb-usb: downloading firmware from file 'dvb-usb-dibusb-5.0.0.11.fw'
Oct 27 17:43:05 home kernel: usbcore: registered new interface driver dvb_usb_dibusb_mb
Oct 27 17:43:05 home kernel: dvb-usb: generic DVB-USB module successfully deinitialized and disconnected.
Oct 27 17:43:07 home kernel: dvb-usb: found a 'TwinhanDTV USB-Ter USB1.1 / Magic Box I / HAMA USB1.1 DVB-T device' in warm state.
Oct 27 17:43:07 home kernel: dvb-usb: will use the device's hardware PID filter (table count: 16).
Oct 27 17:43:07 home kernel: DVB: registering new adapter (TwinhanDTV USB-Ter USB1.1 / Magic Box I / HAMA USB1.1 DVB-T device)
Oct 27 17:43:07 home kernel: DVB: registering adapter 1 frontend 0 (DiBcom 3000M-B DVB-T)...
Oct 27 17:43:07 home kernel: input: IR-receiver inside an USB DVB receiver as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:03.1/usb3/3-1/input/input6
Oct 27 17:43:07 home kernel: dvb-usb: schedule remote query interval to 150 msecs.
Oct 27 17:43:07 home kernel: dvb-usb: TwinhanDTV USB-Ter USB1.1 / Magic Box I / HAMA USB1.1 DVB-T device successfully initialized and connected.

and similar dmesg:

DVB: registering new adapter (saa7133[0])
DVB: registering adapter 0 frontend 0 (Philips TDA10046H DVB-T)...
dvb-usb: found a 'TwinhanDTV USB-Ter USB1.1 / Magic Box I / HAMA USB1.1 DVB-T device' in cold state, will try to load a firmware
dvb-usb: downloading firmware from file 'dvb-usb-dibusb-5.0.0.11.fw'
usbcore: registered new interface driver dvb_usb_dibusb_mb
dvb-usb: generic DVB-USB module successfully deinitialized and disconnected.
dvb-usb: found a 'TwinhanDTV USB-Ter USB1.1 / Magic Box I / HAMA USB1.1 DVB-T device' in warm state.
dvb-usb: will use the device's hardware PID filter (table count: 16).
DVB: registering new adapter (TwinhanDTV USB-Ter USB1.1 / Magic Box I / HAMA USB1.1 DVB-T device)
DVB: registering adapter 1 frontend 0 (DiBcom 3000M-B DVB-T)...
input: IR-receiver inside an USB DVB receiver as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:03.1/usb3/3-1/input/input6
dvb-usb: schedule remote query interval to 150 msecs.
dvb-usb: TwinhanDTV USB-Ter USB1.1 / Magic Box I / HAMA USB1.1 DVB-T device successfully initialized and connected.

I could do with getting all the adapters working at the same time!

PirateJonno · 2010-10-28 02:29:44

Benedict_White wrote:

Well, now there is the thing... there appears to be no kernel update, (though I will double check) what do you mean by HDD?

HDD = Hard Disk Drive

Benedict_White wrote:

Mythbackend is running as root (I understand that is recommended) so that it can access the hardware with no problems.

I wouldn't recommend it. Either create a mythtv user or run it as your user if no one else is using the system. Keep it as root for now though to diagnose the problem.

Benedict_White wrote:

I have not tried manually recording, in part because myth picks up no signal.

You mean it picks up no signal when watching live TV? Or when scanning for channels? I used to have a P7131 and live TV never worked properly, but recording was fine.

Benedict_White wrote:

I have found that the linuxtv people say you need a firmware file for the Asus P7131D, and will put that in place as soon as the machine is on. If that works it explains why the Asus P7131D does not work in Kaffeine but the Twinhan does (for which there is a firmware file) but does not explain why the Asus P7131D was working and stopped (though obviously there could have been a firmware file in another package I was not aware of which got removed etc.

Good idea. Since you didn't post the entire dmesg I didn't see anything firmware related. This is the firmware I had when I used it. Now I use a Hauppauge Nova-TD 500 which has 2 tuners on one card.

Benedict_White wrote:

While I am asking... is there any parental control for Myth? Specifically to stop people fiddling and exclude certain recordings being visible to other users?

Not sure TBH, but it won't be enabled by default if there is one.

Benedict_White wrote:

Also, there seem to turn up randomly, as in some boots the Twinhan is adapter0 others it is adapter1. Is there a good way to nail this down?

Use udev. It isn't spelled out directly, but basically you'll need to figure out what udev subsystem the cards are on, and find some attribute that differentiates between them.

Benedict_White wrote:

Well... now the Asus works as /dev/dvb/adapter0, now the twinhan is adapter1 it does not. Curiously enough MythTV now works as well!

Well that's good but strange. Have you added both cards in mythtv-setup?

Benedict_White · 2010-11-03 10:27:36

OK, the problem appears to have moved on a bit. I can get the Asus to work with Myth well, but the USB Twinhan will not, though it works brilliantly with Kaffeine (far better than the Asus)

Also, the Asus is the P7131D (dual) is it supposed to have two tuners, and if so, why can't I get them both to work? (I can only use one tuner.)

PirateJonno · 2010-11-03 10:30:58

Yeah it's a bit deceptive. My one had two tuners - analog and digital, but only one could be used at the same time. Kinda stupid really, and deceptive marketing, but oh well. Do you have multiple adapters registered in /dev/dvb?

Benedict_White · 2010-11-03 10:42:30

Ah. Marketing!

Only when the Asus and Twinhan are plugged in. Then they both appear. Otherwise if the Twinhan is not in, only the Asus appears. As I said, the twinhan works really well under Kaffeine but not Myth which is odd.

PirateJonno · 2010-11-03 23:37:28

Ok well I'm not too sure what else to suggest, other than googling for people with the same issue. The next version of MythTV will be released soon anyway, so maybe that will fix it

Benedict_White · 2010-11-04 09:08:59

Perhaps it will, as it mostly works, I suppose I can be patient, and see. I could also do with parental controls, and the database needs normalising.

PirateJonno · 2010-11-11 11:34:24

it's out now if you want to try it

Last edited by PirateJonno (2010-11-11 11:34:44)

Benedict_White · 2010-11-11 11:43:51

Many thanks, I will have a look later!

Arch Linux

#1 2010-10-26 21:35:33

MythTV DVB-T problem

#2 2010-10-27 11:36:46

Re: MythTV DVB-T problem

#3 2010-10-27 12:01:26

Re: MythTV DVB-T problem

#4 2010-10-27 14:45:51

Re: MythTV DVB-T problem

#5 2010-10-27 17:46:00

Re: MythTV DVB-T problem

#6 2010-10-28 02:29:44

Re: MythTV DVB-T problem

#7 2010-11-03 10:27:36

Re: MythTV DVB-T problem

#8 2010-11-03 10:30:58

Re: MythTV DVB-T problem

#9 2010-11-03 10:42:30

Re: MythTV DVB-T problem

#10 2010-11-03 23:37:28

Re: MythTV DVB-T problem

#11 2010-11-04 09:08:59

Re: MythTV DVB-T problem

#12 2010-11-11 11:34:24

Re: MythTV DVB-T problem

#13 2010-11-11 11:43:51

Re: MythTV DVB-T problem

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