Cable on Mythtv

[Cypher0117]

I've been searching around for an answer for this for a long time and have yet to find something that works.

I have mythtv installed and basically working. The only problem is that I cannot watch cable TV. I have all the digital channels over the air through an antenna working. I can watch those channels, record, pause, play recordings etc. I went through the motions of adding the cable channels and it did a channel scan and said it added 1-125 and some E7-E12 channels. they show up in my channel listing but when I change to those channels I get an "Unknown error" from the program timing out. The cable channels work in winblows, but I would really like to get them working in mythtv on my gentoo install. If there is anything someone can suggest to help me out it would be greatly appreciated.

[mbrehon]

You might get a few more hits (maybe even useful responses) if you were to list some of:

a) which tuner card - be brutally specific (maybe even output of lspci -v)
b) software (linux) other than mythtv that you've tested with your card
c) mythtv version
d) kernel version 'uname -a'
e) 32-bit or 64-bit _install_
f) other important things once we know answers above... ?
g) cable provider maybe?
h) existence of cable box and how its hooked to your mythtv box or are you bypassing it?

-Mark

[Cypher0117]

a) My tv tuner is Hauppage WinTV HVR-1800

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04:00.0 Multimedia video controller: Conexant Systems, Inc. Device 8880 (rev 0f)
	Subsystem: Hauppauge computer works Inc. Device 7801
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17
	Memory at d5000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=2M]
	Capabilities: [40] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
	Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 2
	Capabilities: [90] Vital Product Data <?>
	Capabilities: [a0] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit+ Queue=0/0 Enable-
	Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting <?>
	Capabilities: [200] Virtual Channel <?>
	Kernel driver in use: cx23885

b) the only other program i've tried was ivtv and that wasn't fully working either. It said it could tune to a channel with (signal detected) whether the cable was actually plugged into the card or not.

c) mythtv version: 0.21_p20658

d)

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uname -a
Linux amdx2gentoo 2.6.27-gentoo-r7 #32 SMP Sat Jul 4 10:49:29 CDT 2009 i686 AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4400+ AuthenticAMD GNU/Linux

e) 32bit install

f) Because i kept getting segfaults i run both mythbackend and mythfront end with this command:

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taskset -c 0 myth*

Mythtv starts on channel 6_1 (channel 6 broadcast digitally) and when i change it to channel 7
mythbackend spits out this:

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2009-07-12 10:15:48.523 TVRec(5): Changing from None to WatchingLiveTV
2009-07-12 10:15:48.531 TVRec(5): HW Tuner: 5->5
2009-07-12 10:15:49.785 AutoExpire: CalcParams(): Max required Free Space: 3.0 GB w/freq: 15 min
2009-07-12 10:15:50.729 Finished recording Unknown: channel 1061
2009-07-12 10:15:51.804 Finished recording Unknown: channel 1061
2009-07-12 10:15:51.860 AutoExpire: CalcParams(): Max required Free Space: 3.0 GB w/freq: 15 min
Session management error: Authentication Rejected, reason : None of the authentication protocols specified are supported and host-based authentication failed
2009-07-12 10:15:52.069 Using runtime prefix = /usr
2009-07-12 10:15:52.070 Empty LocalHostName.
2009-07-12 10:15:52.070 Using localhost value of amdx2gentoo
2009-07-12 10:15:52.079 New DB connection, total: 1
2009-07-12 10:15:52.083 Connected to database 'mythconverg' at host: localhost
2009-07-12 10:15:52.084 Closing DB connection named 'DBManager0'
2009-07-12 10:15:52.085 Connected to database 'mythconverg' at host: localhost
2009-07-12 10:15:52.086 New DB connection, total: 2
2009-07-12 10:15:52.087 Connected to database 'mythconverg' at host: localhost
2009-07-12 10:15:52.090 Current Schema Version: 1214
2009-07-12 10:15:52.144 Preview Error: Previewer file '/usr/local/mythtv/1061_20090712101548.mpg' is not valid.
2009-07-12 10:15:52.145 Preview Error: Run() file not local: '/usr/local/mythtv/1061_20090712101548.mpg'
2009-07-12 10:15:52.153 Preview Error: Preview process not ok.
			fileinfo(/usr/local/mythtv/1061_20090712101548.mpg.png) exists: 0 readable: 0 size: 0
2009-07-12 10:15:55.913 TVRec(5): HW Tuner: 5->5
2009-07-12 10:15:56.176 DVBChan(5:0) Error: SetChannelByString(7): Failed to initialize multiplex options
2009-07-12 10:15:56.176 TVRec(5) Error: Failed to set channel to 7. Reverting to kState_None
2009-07-12 10:15:56.176 TVRec(5): Changing from WatchingLiveTV to None

and mythfrontend spits out this:

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2009-07-12 10:15:51.367 TV: Changing from None to WatchingLiveTV
2009-07-12 10:15:51.371 Using realtime priority.
2009-07-12 10:15:51.466 Failed to approve 'vdpaubobdeint' deinterlacer
2009-07-12 10:15:51.466 Couldn't load deinterlace filter 
2009-07-12 10:15:51.570 Video timing method: USleep with busy wait
2009-07-12 10:15:52.435 Failed to approve 'vdpaubobdeint' deinterlacer
2009-07-12 10:15:52.435 Couldn't load deinterlace filter 
2009-07-12 10:15:52.441 VideoOutputXv: Desired video renderer 'vdpau' not available.
			codec 'MPEG2' makes 'opengl,xv-blit,xshm,xlib,' available, using 'opengl' instead.
2009-07-12 10:15:52.933 AFD: Opened codec 0x93180b0, id(MPEG2VIDEO) type(Video)
2009-07-12 10:15:52.934 AFD: codec AC3 has 2 channels
2009-07-12 10:15:52.934 AFD: Opened codec 0xa070670, id(AC3) type(Audio)
2009-07-12 10:15:53.054 Opening audio device 'default'. ch 2(2) sr 48000
2009-07-12 10:15:53.054 Opening ALSA audio device 'default'.
ALSA lib control.c:909:(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL /dev/mixer
2009-07-12 10:15:53.069 AudioOutput Warning: Mixer attach error -2: No such file or directory
			Check Mixer Name in Setup: '/dev/mixer'
2009-07-12 10:15:53.070 NVP: Enabling Audio
2009-07-12 10:15:56.269 NVP: prebuffering pause
2009-07-12 10:15:57.240 NVP: Prebuffer wait timed out 10 times.
2009-07-12 10:15:58.209 NVP: Prebuffer wait timed out 20 times.
2009-07-12 10:15:59.194 NVP: Prebuffer wait timed out 30 times.
2009-07-12 10:16:00.193 NVP: Prebuffer wait timed out 40 times.
2009-07-12 10:16:01.188 NVP: Prebuffer wait timed out 50 times.
2009-07-12 10:16:02.153 NVP: Prebuffer wait timed out 60 times.
2009-07-12 10:16:02.804 MythSocket(8eb98c8:60): readStringList: Error, timeout (quick).
2009-07-12 10:16:02.804 RemoteEncoder::SendReceiveStringList(): No response.
2009-07-12 10:16:02.810 LiveTVChain(live-amdx2gentoo-2009-07-12T10:15:48): SwitchTo() not switching to current
2009-07-12 10:16:02.810 NVP, Error: Unknown error, exiting decoder
2009-07-12 10:16:02.814 TV: Attempting to change from WatchingLiveTV to None
2009-07-12 10:16:02.891 MythSocket(8eb98c8:-1): writeStringList: Error, called with unconnected socket.
2009-07-12 10:16:02.897 MythSocket(8eb98c8:-1): readStringList: Error, called with unconnected socket.
2009-07-12 10:16:02.897 RemoteEncoder::SendReceiveStringList(): No response.
2009-07-12 10:16:04.755 TV: Changing from WatchingLiveTV to None
2009-07-12 10:16:04.813 DPMS Reactivated.
2009-07-12 10:16:06.285 Deleting UPnP client...

g) my cable provider is Time Warner and there is no cable box, it's just standard cable with a coax coming from the wall

I hope this was enough info but i can supply more if necessary

[mbrehon]

I would back off on the complexity a bit. Try getting it to work with mplayer or kaffeine without mythbackend running to see if you have all the right drivers setup correctly. Then move on to mythtv troubleshooting.

I have very limited experience with kaffeine and tuning ATSC (no QAM yet) with my pcHDTV HD5500. Kaffeine has a built-in channel scanner which worked good for me. If you go the mplayer route, you'll need to emerge linuxtv-dvb-apps, if you haven't already, and run dvbscan with one of the /usr/share/dvb/atsc/us-Cable-???-frequencies-QAM256 files to generate a channels.conf.

other notes:
b) I'm not quite sure you need ivtv for that card.

g) I have comcast expanded basic and back when I tried scanning QAM there were very few unencrypted channels among many, many more encrypted ones. Since I still have an old tube tv and still get those channels via oldschool analog cable with my pvr-500 there's no need yet.

Other resources in case you haven't already stumbled upon them:

http://www.linuxtv.org
http://www.avsforum.com
http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/

hope some of this helps as I'm certainly no guru and I was kinda hoping someone else would chime in here,
-Mark

[Cypher0117]

I went diving into my kernel becuase I was starting to think something in there was wrong. Changed some things around (added/subtracted) and now my DTV still works and i think my analog kinda works.

What happens during "mythtv-setup" is i can scan for my cable channels and it adds only the ones that i have (2-73 and 95-98) unlike before. Now the only problem is when i try to "watch tv" i get this from mythbackend:

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2009-07-16 14:00:23.427 TVRec(1): Changing from WatchingLiveTV to None
2009-07-16 14:00:27.703 MainServer::HandleAnnounce Playback
2009-07-16 14:00:27.703 adding: amdx2gentoo as a client (events: 0)
2009-07-16 14:00:27.706 TVRec(1): Changing from None to WatchingLiveTV
2009-07-16 14:00:27.716 TVRec(1): HW Tuner: 1->1
2009-07-16 14:00:27.779 Channel(/dev/v4l/video2) Error: SetInputAndFormat(1, NTSC) 
			while setting format (v4l v2)
			eno: Invalid argument (22)

and this from mythfrontend:

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2009-07-17 02:04:13.647 TV: Attempting to change from None to WatchingLiveTV
2009-07-17 02:04:13.648 Using protocol version 40
2009-07-17 02:04:13.693 GetEntryAt(-1) failed.
2009-07-17 02:04:13.695 EntryToProgram(0@Wed Dec 31 18:00:00 1969) failed to get pginfo
2009-07-17 02:04:13.695 TV Error: LiveTV not successfully started
2009-07-17 02:04:13.695 TV Error: LiveTV not successfully started
2009-07-17 02:04:13.779 TV: Deleting TV Chain in destructor
2009-07-17 02:04:13.780 DPMS Deactivated 
2009-07-17 02:04:13.780 DPMS Reactivated.

Can anyone help with this or has seen this before?

[AaronPPC]

If I understand the myth-setup cable (and/or analog) scanning correctly, it does not actually scan the channels. It pulls them from schedules-direct. When I set up my card, I could not find any channels until I set up schedules-direct properly. DTV is a different animal: there is an actual scanning process and the channel information is pulled from the broadcasted PSIP.

But I digress...

I was going to ask you a couple of questions, but I just saw this on this mythtv wiki page:

Digital (ATSC/QAM) only support in v4l-dvb head. NTSC support coming soon

I think it is worth spending some google time on. Maybe there is a bleeding-edge driver out there somewhere.

[Cypher0117]

I recently upgraded to kernel 2.6.30-gentoo-r4 (actually went from x86 to amd64 on a fresh install) and now i kind of have the analog working. well i get all the channels but they are not clear. I have a screenshot here:
http://s5.photobucket.com/albums/y156/C ... ot-1-1.png

my mythbackend output:

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taskset -c 0 mythbackend
2009-08-19 09:45:48.864 Using runtime prefix = /usr
2009-08-19 09:45:48.864 Unable to read configuration file mysql.txt
2009-08-19 09:45:48.864 Empty LocalHostName.
2009-08-19 09:45:48.864 Using localhost value of x64-gentoo
2009-08-19 09:45:48.870 New DB connection, total: 1
2009-08-19 09:45:48.873 Connected to database 'mythconverg' at host: localhost
2009-08-19 09:45:48.874 Closing DB connection named 'DBManager0'
2009-08-19 09:45:48.874 Connected to database 'mythconverg' at host: localhost
2009-08-19 09:45:48.875 New DB connection, total: 2
2009-08-19 09:45:48.875 Connected to database 'mythconverg' at host: localhost
2009-08-19 09:45:48.876 Current Schema Version: 1214
Starting up as the master server.
2009-08-19 09:45:48.882 New DB connection, total: 3
2009-08-19 09:45:48.882 Connected to database 'mythconverg' at host: localhost
2009-08-19 09:45:51.598 TVRec(2) Error: Problem finding starting channel, setting to default of '3'.
2009-08-19 09:45:51.627 ChannelBase(2) Error: InitializeInputs(): 
			Could not get inputs for the capturecard.
			Perhaps you have forgotten to bind video
			sources to your card's inputs?
2009-08-19 09:45:51.629 New DB scheduler connection
2009-08-19 09:45:51.630 Connected to database 'mythconverg' at host: localhost
DTV is defined, but isn't attached to a cardinput.
2009-08-19 09:45:51.645 MediaServer:: Loopback address specified - 127.0.0.1. Disabling UPnP
2009-08-19 09:45:51.645 Main::Registering HttpStatus Extension
2009-08-19 09:45:51.646 mythbackend version: 0.21.20080304-1 www.mythtv.org
2009-08-19 09:45:51.646 Enabled verbose msgs:  important general
2009-08-19 09:45:51.648 AutoExpire: CalcParams(): Max required Free Space: 1.0 GB w/freq: 15 min
2009-08-19 09:45:54.635 Reschedule requested for id -1.
2009-08-19 09:45:54.661 Scheduled 0 items in 0.0 = 0.01 match + 0.02 place
2009-08-19 09:45:54.665 Seem to be woken up by USER
2009-08-19 09:45:59.970 MainServer::HandleAnnounce Monitor
2009-08-19 09:45:59.970 adding: x64-gentoo as a client (events: 0)
2009-08-19 09:45:59.970 MainServer::HandleAnnounce Monitor
2009-08-19 09:45:59.970 adding: x64-gentoo as a client (events: 1)
2009-08-19 09:45:59.973 MainServer::HandleAnnounce Playback
2009-08-19 09:45:59.973 adding: x64-gentoo as a client (events: 0)
2009-08-19 09:45:59.974 TVRec(1): Changing from None to WatchingLiveTV
2009-08-19 09:45:59.975 TVRec(1): HW Tuner: 1->1
2009-08-19 09:46:02.808 NVR(/dev/video0): Unknown video codec.  Please go into the TV Settings, Recording Profiles and setup the four 'Software Encoders' profiles.  Assuming RTjpeg for now.
2009-08-19 09:46:02.808 NVR(/dev/video0) Error: Unknown audio codec
2009-08-19 09:46:02.816 AutoExpire: CalcParams(): Max required Free Space: 2.0 GB w/freq: 15 min
2009-08-19 09:46:10.069 TVRec(1): Changing from WatchingLiveTV to None
2009-08-19 09:46:10.337 Finished recording Unknown: channel 1054

my mythfrontend output is:

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taskset -c 0 mythfrontend
2009-08-19 09:45:56.619 Using runtime prefix = /usr
2009-08-19 09:45:57.274 XScreenSaver support enabled
2009-08-19 09:45:57.274 DPMS is active.
2009-08-19 09:45:57.275 Unable to read configuration file mysql.txt
2009-08-19 09:45:57.275 Empty LocalHostName.
2009-08-19 09:45:57.275 Using localhost value of x64-gentoo
2009-08-19 09:45:57.290 New DB connection, total: 1
2009-08-19 09:45:57.296 Connected to database 'mythconverg' at host: localhost
2009-08-19 09:45:57.298 Closing DB connection named 'DBManager0'
2009-08-19 09:45:57.304 Screen 0 dim: 1280x1024.
2009-08-19 09:45:57.304 Screen 1 dim: 1920x1080.
2009-08-19 09:45:57.304 Primary screen 0.
2009-08-19 09:45:57.305 Connected to database 'mythconverg' at host: localhost
2009-08-19 09:45:57.306 Using screen 0, 1280x1024 at 0,0
2009-08-19 09:45:57.355 New DB connection, total: 2
2009-08-19 09:45:57.355 Connected to database 'mythconverg' at host: localhost
2009-08-19 09:45:57.357 mythfrontend version: 0.21.20080304-1 www.mythtv.org
2009-08-19 09:45:57.357 Enabled verbose msgs:  important general
2009-08-19 09:45:57.548 No theme dir: /home/mythtv/.mythtv/themes/Titivillus
2009-08-19 09:45:57.549 Screen 0 dim: 1280x1024.
2009-08-19 09:45:57.549 Screen 1 dim: 1920x1080.
2009-08-19 09:45:57.549 Primary screen 0.
2009-08-19 09:45:57.550 Using screen 0, 1280x1024 at 0,0
2009-08-19 09:45:57.550 No theme dir: /home/mythtv/.mythtv/themes/Titivillus
2009-08-19 09:45:57.550 Switching to square mode (Titivillus)
2009-08-19 09:45:57.569 Using the OpenGL painter
mythtv: could not connect to socket
mythtv: No such file or directory
2009-08-19 09:45:57.569 lirc_init failed for mythtv, see preceding messages
2009-08-19 09:45:57.570 JoystickMenuClient Error: Joystick disabled - Failed to read /home/mythtv/.mythtv/joystickmenurc
2009-08-19 09:45:58.238 Loading from: /usr/share/mythtv/themes/Titivillus/base.xml
2009-08-19 09:45:58.270 Loading from: /usr/share/mythtv/themes/default/base.xml
2009-08-19 09:45:58.301 Registering Internal as a media playback plugin.
2009-08-19 09:45:58.376 No theme dir: /home/mythtv/.mythtv/themes/Titivillus
2009-08-19 09:45:59.304 Using NV NPOT texture extension
2009-08-19 09:45:59.969 Connecting to backend server: 127.0.0.1:6543 (try 1 of 5)
2009-08-19 09:45:59.970 Using protocol version 40
2009-08-19 09:45:59.972 TV: Attempting to change from None to WatchingLiveTV
2009-08-19 09:45:59.973 Using protocol version 40
2009-08-19 09:46:02.831 New DB connection, total: 3
2009-08-19 09:46:02.834 Connected to database 'mythconverg' at host: localhost
2009-08-19 09:46:02.899 DPMS Deactivated 
2009-08-19 09:46:02.906 Opening audio device 'default'. ch 2(2) sr 44100
2009-08-19 09:46:02.906 Opening ALSA audio device 'default'.
ALSA lib control.c:909:(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL /dev/mixer
2009-08-19 09:46:02.914 AudioOutput Warning: Mixer attach error -2: No such file or directory
			Check Mixer Name in Setup: '/dev/mixer'
2009-08-19 09:46:03.040 VideoOutputXv: XVideo Adaptor Name: 'NV17 Video Texture'
2009-08-19 09:46:03.068 OSD Theme Dimensions W: 640 H: 480
2009-08-19 09:46:03.369 TV: Changing from None to WatchingLiveTV
2009-08-19 09:46:03.372 Realtime priority would require SUID as root.
2009-08-19 09:46:03.474 Video timing method: USleep with busy wait
2009-08-19 09:46:10.010 TV: Attempting to change from WatchingLiveTV to None
2009-08-19 09:46:10.412 TV: Changing from WatchingLiveTV to None
2009-08-19 09:46:10.511 DPMS Reactivated.
2009-08-19 09:46:12.091 Deleting UPnP client...

Another thing is the DTV scanner will no longer work with either mythtv or dvbscan.

and one last thing. the sound no longer works when watching tv.

I'm just wondering if anyone else can give a little help on adjusting the analog or getting the DVB scanner to work like it did on my x86 install

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help

[AaronPPC]

Can you ssh into your mythtv machine from another box?

I had some audio problems with my 1600 analog tuner. So what I did was to look at live TV on my mythbox, then ssh'ed into my mythbox and used ivtv-tune to change channels and fine tune them. Once I knew how much to fine tune the channels, I went into mythsetup and set the tunings. It didn't completely fix my audio, but it made a real improvement.

It might also be worth trying a .31-rc5 kernel. 2.6.31 is pretty close to release state now.

[Cypher0117]

Sorry for the much delayed reply. I finally had time to look at my mythtv box.

I was able to ssh into my box and try to fine-tune the analog channels, but it doesn't seem like what i did made any difference. The screenshot I posted a few posts up is the same quality that I get for my current setup

I installed TVTime and that worked right away with cable. The video worked great with TVTime but the audio did not work at all.

I did upgrade to mythtv-0.22_p22860 and was able to get my DTV working basically flawlessly.

I also am now using kernel-2.6.31-gentoo-r6

when ssh'd I played with the channel frequencies with dvbtune but they didn't change the quality or give my sound on US-Cable.

Any other suggestions or further help is still appreciated.