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CX23416 PVR-150 with VCR - VHS recording Video Interference
erefinius at gmx
May 10, 2009, 3:58 PM
Post #1 of 4 (4214 views)
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Hello.

I have a strange problem here, i.e. disturbed picture when playing
VHS recordings in VCR which is connected to my PVR-150.
Here you see the annoying green and pink interference in the face/head of the man:
http://id1402.de/00000143.jpg
And a 20 seconds sample, 3,2 MB XVID:
http://id1402.de/sample.avi

I want to write some facts and describe all the tests I've done.

Interference in VHS recording occurs always, no matter whether
"mplayer /dev/video0" or "cat /dev/video0" is used.
It looks like chrominance-luminance-disturbance.
I have Mythbuntu 8.10.
ivtv module is loaded without any options.

#uname -a
Linux id1402 2.6.27-11-generic #1 SMP Thu Jan 29 19:24:39 UTC 2009 i686 GNU/Linux

#modinfo ivtv
filename: /lib/modules/2.6.27-11-generic/kernel/drivers/media/video/ivtv/ivtv.ko
version: 1.4.0

#lspci -v
00:10.0 Multimedia video controller: Internext Compression Inc iTVC16 (CX23416) MPEG-2 Encoder (rev 01)
Subsystem: Hauppauge computer works Inc. Device 8003
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 7
Memory at e4000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=64M]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: ivtv
Kernel modules: ivtv

#dmesg
May 10 23:22:53 id1402 kernel: [ 1118.146788] ivtv: Start initialization, version 1.4.0
May 10 23:22:53 id1402 kernel: [ 1118.150895] ivtv0: Initializing card #0
May 10 23:22:53 id1402 kernel: [ 1118.150930] ivtv0: Autodetected Hauppauge card (cx23416 based)
May 10 23:22:53 id1402 kernel: [ 1118.155347] ivtv 0000:00:10.0: PCI INT A -> Link[LNKC] -> GSI 7 (level, low) -> IRQ 7
May 10 23:22:53 id1402 kernel: [ 1118.211311] tveeprom 1-0050: Hauppauge model 26134, rev F1B3, serial# 10200125
May 10 23:22:53 id1402 kernel: [ 1118.211329] tveeprom 1-0050: tuner model is TCL M2523_3DB_E (idx 113, type 55)
May 10 23:22:53 id1402 kernel: [ 1118.211342] tveeprom 1-0050: TV standards PAL(B/G) PAL(D/D1/K) (eeprom 0x44)
May 10 23:22:53 id1402 kernel: [ 1118.211353] tveeprom 1-0050: audio processor is CX25842 (idx 36)
May 10 23:22:53 id1402 kernel: [ 1118.211363] tveeprom 1-0050: decoder processor is CX25842 (idx 29)
May 10 23:22:53 id1402 kernel: [ 1118.211373] tveeprom 1-0050: has no radio, has IR receiver, has IR transmitter
May 10 23:22:53 id1402 kernel: [ 1118.211384] ivtv0: Autodetected Hauppauge WinTV PVR-150
May 10 23:22:53 id1402 kernel: [ 1118.211392] ivtv0: Reopen i2c bus for IR-blaster support
May 10 23:22:53 id1402 kernel: [ 1118.376216] cx25840 1-0044: cx25842-24 found @ 0x88 (ivtv i2c driver #0)
May 10 23:22:53 id1402 kernel: [ 1118.396802] tuner 1-0061: chip found @ 0xc2 (ivtv i2c driver #0)
May 10 23:22:53 id1402 kernel: [ 1118.397693] wm8775 1-001b: chip found @ 0x36 (ivtv i2c driver #0)
May 10 23:22:54 id1402 kernel: [ 1118.433154] tuner-simple 1-0061: creating new instance
May 10 23:22:54 id1402 kernel: [ 1118.433182] tuner-simple 1-0061: type set to 55 (TCL 2002MB)
May 10 23:22:54 id1402 kernel: [ 1118.438507] ivtv0: Registered device video0 for encoder MPG (4096 kB)
May 10 23:22:54 id1402 kernel: [ 1118.450716] ivtv0: Registered device video32 for encoder YUV (2048 kB)
May 10 23:22:54 id1402 kernel: [ 1118.460467] ivtv0: Registered device vbi0 for encoder VBI (1024 kB)
May 10 23:22:54 id1402 kernel: [ 1119.088078] firmware: requesting v4l-cx2341x-enc.fw
May 10 23:22:54 id1402 kernel: [ 1119.218101] ivtv0: Loaded v4l-cx2341x-enc.fw firmware (376836 bytes)
May 10 23:22:55 id1402 kernel: [ 1119.416181] ivtv0: Encoder revision: 0x02060039
May 10 23:22:55 id1402 kernel: [ 1119.430491] firmware: requesting v4l-cx25840.fw
May 10 23:22:57 id1402 kernel: [ 1122.041278] cx25840 1-0044: loaded v4l-cx25840.fw firmware (16382 bytes)
May 10 23:22:57 id1402 kernel: [ 1122.203923] ivtv0: Registered device video24 for encoder PCM (320 kB)
May 10 23:22:57 id1402 kernel: [ 1122.203943] ivtv0: Initialized card #0: Hauppauge WinTV PVR-150
May 10 23:22:57 id1402 kernel: [ 1122.208580] ivtv: End initialization


And now some information concerning tested hardware.

I have 2 pieces of PVR-150 hardware here, one with IR-Blaster and another without any.
Console outputs above were made with the PVR-150 with IR-Blaster build in. But the important
fact is, that the bad interference occurs with my both PVR-150. They both behave equally in
all tests.

Another important fact:
I've tested 2 different VCRs to play VHS recordings. They both behave
equally in all tests, same bad interference.

Another important fact:
I've tested a big amount of VHS recordings. They all behave
equally in all tests, same bad interference. But I have to say that the interference depends
on the colour. Some colours aren't affected at all, light human skin is affected strongly by
this interference, as you can see in http://id1402.de/sample.avi

Another important fact:
I've tested different cables between VCR and PVR-150.
1. normal television coaxial cable
2. scart-->cinch Adapter, which you can see here: http://id1402.de/ak392.jpg
They both behave equally in all tests, same bad interference.

Another important fact:
Interference doesn't appear when playing VHS recording on a normal television set, i. e. VCR
connected to normal television using television coaxial cable. No interference! Picture of
VHS recording has no disturbance when using a normal television set.

And last, but very important fact:
I connected my antenna cable with VCR and VCR with PVR-150. So PVR-150 had television signal
which went through VCR.
Than I watched TV using PVR-150 and switched channels using ivtv-tune. No interference!
Great picture quality watching TV!

This bad interference only occurs with PVR-150 and VHS recordings combined.
Do you understand?
Does VHS recording deliver a little bit different signal compared to TV signal?
Should I try this scart-->s-video Adapter between VCR and PVR-150:
http://id1402.de/98.jpg

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Re: CX23416 PVR-150 with VCR - VHS recording Video Interference [ In reply to ]
lnovak at dragon
May 11, 2009, 12:19 AM
Post #2 of 4 (4014 views)
Permalink
2009. 05. 11, hétfő keltezéssel 00.58-kor Eduard Refinius ezt írta:


> And last, but very important fact:
> I connected my antenna cable with VCR and VCR with PVR-150. So PVR-150 had television signal
> which went through VCR.
> Than I watched TV using PVR-150 and switched channels using ivtv-tune. No interference!
> Great picture quality watching TV!
>
> This bad interference only occurs with PVR-150 and VHS recordings combined.
> Do you understand?
> Does VHS recording deliver a little bit different signal compared to TV signal?
> Should I try this scart-->s-video Adapter between VCR and PVR-150:
> http://id1402.de/98.jpg

Sorry, I can't help resolving the problem myself, but there must be
something non-trivial with the combination PVR-150/VHS (or maybe simply
the Composite input handling code). My problem was/is that the PVR-150
fails to sync to the frequency of the OSD screen (the picture you see
when the VCR is on but did not yet press the Play button) with the ivtv
driver but not under Windows. What is even more strange, the recordings
made with the tape playing are OK though. We had a discussion with Andy
and he suggested to run a series of tests but it did not improve the
situation.

I think your problem is maybe related to mine and both are related to
the cx2584(0-3) module. Perhaps a bit/byte needs to be changed in one of
its registers? Recently I read on this list there are forthcoming
changes affecting this module, I will redo some tests when the change
will be incorporated into the v4l repository.

Levente

PS: On a side note, last December Alexander Pipelka was trying to encode
without B-frames with his PVR-150 and he failed (as well as me). Here
again the cx25840 was possibly the culprit.




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CX23416 PVR-150 with VCR - VHS recording Video Interference [ In reply to ]
erefinius at gmx
May 11, 2009, 2:59 PM
Post #3 of 4 (4012 views)
Permalink
> My problem was/is that the PVR-150
> fails to sync to the frequency of the OSD screen (the picture you see
> when the VCR is on but did not yet press the Play button) with the ivtv
> driver but not under Windows.

I understand. Which cable do you use to connect your VCR to PVR-150?

> What is even more strange, the recordings
> made with the tape playing are OK though.

So you don't have this kind of interference, that I have with
my both PVR-150 cards?
Which version of ivtv do you use?

> I read on this list there are forthcoming
> changes affecting this module

I hope so.

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Re: CX23416 PVR-150 with VCR - VHS recording Video Interference [ In reply to ]
lnovak at dragon
May 12, 2009, 12:00 AM
Post #4 of 4 (4006 views)
Permalink
2009. 05. 11, hétfő keltezéssel 23.59-kor Eduard Refinius ezt írta:

> > My problem was/is that the PVR-150
> > fails to sync to the frequency of the OSD screen (the picture you see
> > when the VCR is on but did not yet press the Play button) with the ivtv
> > driver but not under Windows.
>
> I understand. Which cable do you use to connect your VCR to PVR-150?
>

Composite.

> > What is even more strange, the recordings
> > made with the tape playing are OK though.
>
> So you don't have this kind of interference, that I have with
> my both PVR-150 cards?

The tape I was working with is of medium/low quality so I can't state
for sure there was no interference. I usually use either the tuner or
S-video.

> Which version of ivtv do you use?
>

The version included in the 2.6.29.1 kernel (and generally speaking
always use the latest stable kernel). But the situation I described
didn't change for a year or so.

> > I read on this list there are forthcoming
> > changes affecting this module
>
> I hope so.
>



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