Mailing List Archive: Pinnacle PCTV Questions

Pinnacle PCTV Questions

Apr 19, 2003, 10:19 AM

Post #1 of 5 (2518 views)

I've built a computer that I eventually plan to run MythTV on. Right now
I'm checking out all the hardware under Windows XP to make sure everything
works. My system has 3 Pinnacle PCTV Pro TV tuners, and using them under
Windows has brought up the following questions:

1. How do I know that I definitely have the Pro version of the Pinnacle
PCTV tuner? The boxes that the tuners came in definitely say "Pro" on them,
and they also say "stereo", which is the reason that I wanted the Pro
version. However, the user's manual seems to say that the Pro version also
has a FM tuner, which these cards don't seem to, and I haven't been able to
get stereo sound to work with the included software.

2. Will these cards be able to record TV sound without a jumper from the
tuner to my sound card? I thought I saw something on one of the MythTV
mailing lists that said that these cards didn't require the jumper, but
under Windows, the only way I can get sound is to jumper to my sound card.
This is important to me, because I want to run MythTV with 3 tuners, and I'm
worried about running out of ways to jumper tuners to my sound card.

Thanks in advance for any help,

Drew

Re: Pinnacle PCTV Questions [ In reply to ]

linux.news at bucksch

Apr 19, 2003, 11:12 AM

Post #2 of 5 (2474 views)

Permalink

Drew Lenze wrote:

>1. How do I know that I definitely have the Pro version of the Pinnacle
>PCTV tuner?
>
Call the company support? :-)

>2. Will these cards be able to record TV sound without a jumper from the tuner to my sound card?
>
It should support that. HOWEVER, first check that there are actually
working Linux drivers at all. The PAL new version of this card as of
autumn last year did not work under Linux, unlike mentioned in the
kernel sources. They changed the tuner to a custom one, and a tech at
the company confirmed that there is currently (back then) no Linux
driver for it, although they have Linux drivers on their website, those
are for the old revisions. I had to give it back. There is no change to
the product name or anything - braindead. The new tuner is very small
and thin, maybe 3mm high, very unlike the tuners you can see from photos
of usual cards on the net, maybe 6mm or more high.

Re: Pinnacle PCTV Questions [ In reply to ]

ldardini at tiscali

Apr 19, 2003, 11:32 AM

Post #3 of 5 (2475 views)

Permalink

----- Original Message -----
From: "Drew Lenze" <ajlenze@clarkhome.org>
To: <mythtv-users@snowman.net>
Sent: Saturday, April 19, 2003 7:19 PM
Subject: [mythtv-users] Pinnacle PCTV Questions

> I've built a computer that I eventually plan to run MythTV on. Right now
> I'm checking out all the hardware under Windows XP to make sure everything
> works. My system has 3 Pinnacle PCTV Pro TV tuners, and using them under
> Windows has brought up the following questions:
>
> 1. How do I know that I definitely have the Pro version of the Pinnacle
> PCTV tuner? The boxes that the tuners came in definitely say "Pro" on
them,
> and they also say "stereo", which is the reason that I wanted the Pro
> version. However, the user's manual seems to say that the Pro version
also
> has a FM tuner, which these cards don't seem to, and I haven't been able
to
> get stereo sound to work with the included software.

About stereo support, maybe you'll have better luck with Linux. For example,
my PCTV was unable to capture in windows at resolutions greater than
320x240, while in Linux I have no problems killing my PCU raising the
resolution

>
> 2. Will these cards be able to record TV sound without a jumper from the
> tuner to my sound card?

Yes

> I thought I saw something on one of the MythTV
> mailing lists that said that these cards didn't require the jumper, but
> under Windows, the only way I can get sound is to jumper to my sound card.
> This is important to me, because I want to run MythTV with 3 tuners, and
I'm
> worried about running out of ways to jumper tuners to my sound card.
>
> Thanks in advance for any help,
>
> Drew
>
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users@snowman.net
> http://lists.snowman.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users

RE: Pinnacle PCTV Questions [ In reply to ]

rkulagowski at thrupoint

Apr 19, 2003, 12:07 PM

Post #4 of 5 (2477 views)

Permalink

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Hash: SHA1

> 2. Will these cards be able to record TV sound without a
> jumper from the tuner to my sound card?

Probably not. See the HOWTO section that discusses btaudio.
Pinnacle PCTV doesn't support it, and while it may have an MSP34XX
chip on it, it's not wired "right". See the V4L mailing list as
well.

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Re: Pinnacle PCTV Questions [ In reply to ]

paullocal at pscs

Apr 20, 2003, 11:36 AM

Post #5 of 5 (2471 views)

Permalink

At 20:12 19/04/2003 +0200, Ben Bucksch wrote:
>>2. Will these cards be able to record TV sound without a jumper from the
>>tuner to my sound card?
>It should support that. HOWEVER, first check that there are actually
>working Linux drivers at all. The PAL new version of this card as of
>autumn last year did not work under Linux, unlike mentioned in the kernel
>sources. They changed the tuner to a custom one, and a tech at the company
>confirmed that there is currently (back then) no Linux driver for it,
>although they have Linux drivers on their website, those are for the old
>revisions. I had to give it back. There is no change to the product name
>or anything - braindead. The new tuner is very small and thin, maybe 3mm
>high, very unlike the tuners you can see from photos of usual cards on the
>net, maybe 6mm or more high.

Aha!

That explains why I haven't been able to get anything working here! I have
a Pinnacle card with one of the new tuners.

Yep - changed it for an old WinTV card I had lying around, and I can now
get XAWTV to work (still not MythTV yet..) I'll have to put the Pinnacle
card into my ShowShifter Windows PC and take the newer WinTV card out into
the MythTV box...

Paul VPOP3 - Internet Email Server/Gateway
support@pscs.co.uk http://www.pscs.co.uk/