Mailing List Archive: Unable to watch TV, display issue

Unable to watch TV, display issue

May 28, 2003, 6:43 AM

Post #1 of 6 (2340 views)

I might be missing something in the setup or
configuration process. I'm running mythtv 0.8 on RH 9
(2.4.20-8, compiled locally). When I start MythTV
frontend I can navigate the menu. The picture,
although it runs off the sides a little, is pretty
crisp and clear. When I select "watch TV" I get a
mangled, black and white, jittery picture...If I'm
lucky (below is what is spit to the terminal)

I can see that mythtv backend is doing something
("NUV" file is being written) but I'm not sure where
the picture is getting twisted. My first guess is
that it's the TV capture card. (below is also a
selection from dmesg). The ATI Wonder VE is connected
to my digital cable via composite video cable.

For the output I'm using the nvidia driver and
converting the VGA signal to NTSC (I think) with a
webcable (AITech).

TIA,
josh

more hardware details:
asus a7n266-vm, AMD 2100+ XP
512 PC 2100, 20 gig + 200 gig West. Dig. HDs (DMA
enables on both)
ati TV Wonder ve
onboard (nvidia geforce 2) VGA out -> webcable (using
the S-vid output)

==================================
[ from terminal when watching tv starts ]

connecting to backend server: 192.168.1.4:6543
Unable to open mixer: '/dev/mixer'
Changing from None to WatchingLiveTV
open: No such device

[repeats...]

open: No such device
player: Can't open audio device: /dev/dsp
Over/underscanning. V: 0.000000, H: 0.000000, XOff: 0,
YOff: 0
Using XV port 77
Changing from WatchingLiveTV to None
Changing from None to None

==============================
[ selection from dmesg ]

Linux video capture interface: v1.00
i2c-core.o: i2c core module
i2c-algo-bit.o: i2c bit algorithm module
bttv: driver version 0.7.96 loaded
bttv: using 4 buffers with 2080k (8320k total) for
capture
bttv: Host bridge is nVidia Corporation nForce CPU
bridge
bttv: Bt8xx card found (0).
bttv0: Bt878 (rev 17) at 01:08.0, irq: 5, latency: 64,
mmio: 0xf7800000
bttv0: detected: ATI TV Wonder/VE [card=64], PCI
subsystem ID is 1002:0003
bttv0: using: BT878(ATI TV-Wonder VE)
[card=64,autodetected]
i2c-core.o: adapter bt848 #0 registered as adapter 0.
bttv0: using tuner=19
bttv0: i2c: checking for TDA9875 @ 0xb0... not found
bttv0: i2c: checking for TDA7432 @ 0x8a... not found
i2c-core.o: driver i2c TV tuner driver registered.
tuner: probing bt848 #0 i2c adapter [id=0x10005]
tuner: chip found @ 0xc0
bttv0: i2c attach [client=Temic PAL* auto (4006
FN5),ok]
i2c-core.o: client [Temic PAL* auto (4006 FN5)]
registered to adapter [bt848 #0](pos. 0).
bttv0: registered device video0
bttv0: registered device vbi0
bttv0: PLL: 28636363 => 35468950 ... ok

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RE: Unable to watch TV, display issue [ In reply to ]

jcaputo1 at comcast

May 28, 2003, 7:01 AM

Post #2 of 6 (2292 views)

Permalink

Sounds like your tuner isn't set up correctly... either you need to change
your tuner setup, or fine-tune your channels. Actually, based on your dmesg
output, it looks like your tuner card is not being detected correctly... the
driver seems to think you've got a PAL tuner. Take a look in the kernel
documentation for the correct tuner type for your card (it's currently using
'19'). A good test would be to see what kind of picture you get with Xawtv.

Also, looks like your audio isn't set up right... either you've
misconfigured your audio devices, or some other process (KDE's artsd, or
esd) is grabbing the sound card.

-JAC

> -----Original Message-----
> From: mythtv-users-bounces@snowman.net
> [mailto:mythtv-users-bounces@snowman.net]On Behalf Of Joshua Santelli
> Sent: Wednesday, May 28, 2003 9:43 AM
> To: mythtv-users@snowman.net
> Subject: [mythtv-users] Unable to watch TV, display issue
>
>
> I might be missing something in the setup or
> configuration process. I'm running mythtv 0.8 on RH 9
> (2.4.20-8, compiled locally). When I start MythTV
> frontend I can navigate the menu. The picture,
> although it runs off the sides a little, is pretty
> crisp and clear. When I select "watch TV" I get a
> mangled, black and white, jittery picture...If I'm
> lucky (below is what is spit to the terminal)
>
> TIA,
> josh
>
> more hardware details:
> asus a7n266-vm, AMD 2100+ XP
> 512 PC 2100, 20 gig + 200 gig West. Dig. HDs (DMA
> enables on both)
> ati TV Wonder ve
> onboard (nvidia geforce 2) VGA out -> webcable (using
> the S-vid output)
>
> ==================================
> [ from terminal when watching tv starts ]
>
> connecting to backend server: 192.168.1.4:6543
> Unable to open mixer: '/dev/mixer'
> Changing from None to WatchingLiveTV
> open: No such device
>
> [repeats...]
>
> open: No such device
> player: Can't open audio device: /dev/dsp
> Over/underscanning. V: 0.000000, H: 0.000000, XOff: 0,
> YOff: 0
> Using XV port 77
> Changing from WatchingLiveTV to None
> Changing from None to None
>
> ==============================
> [ selection from dmesg ]
>
> Linux video capture interface: v1.00
> i2c-core.o: i2c core module
> i2c-algo-bit.o: i2c bit algorithm module
> bttv: driver version 0.7.96 loaded
> bttv: using 4 buffers with 2080k (8320k total) for
> capture
> bttv: Host bridge is nVidia Corporation nForce CPU
> bridge
> bttv: Bt8xx card found (0).
> bttv0: Bt878 (rev 17) at 01:08.0, irq: 5, latency: 64,
> mmio: 0xf7800000
> bttv0: detected: ATI TV Wonder/VE [card=64], PCI
> subsystem ID is 1002:0003
> bttv0: using: BT878(ATI TV-Wonder VE)
> [card=64,autodetected]
> i2c-core.o: adapter bt848 #0 registered as adapter 0.
> bttv0: using tuner=19
> bttv0: i2c: checking for TDA9875 @ 0xb0... not found
> bttv0: i2c: checking for TDA7432 @ 0x8a... not found
> i2c-core.o: driver i2c TV tuner driver registered.
> tuner: probing bt848 #0 i2c adapter [id=0x10005]
> tuner: chip found @ 0xc0
> bttv0: i2c attach [client=Temic PAL* auto (4006
> FN5),ok]
> i2c-core.o: client [Temic PAL* auto (4006 FN5)]
> registered to adapter [bt848 #0](pos. 0).
> bttv0: registered device video0
> bttv0: registered device vbi0
> bttv0: PLL: 28636363 => 35468950 ... ok

RE: Unable to watch TV, display issue [ In reply to ]

santellij at yahoo

May 28, 2003, 7:52 PM

Post #3 of 6 (2305 views)

Permalink

thanks for the advice - I'm a little new to a lot of
the things in the mythtv project. (sorry if I'm a
little to verbose, or am missing something obvious)

I've looked but was unable to figure out how to change
the channel setting. If anyone know a good doc to
look at for setting up this TV card, let me know.
I've see a lot of conflicting things.

I tried a few other settings for the tuner and bttv
modules. Here is what I have in the modules.conf
right now:

alias char-major-81 bttv
options tuner type=2 debug=0
options bttv card=0 autoload=0 radio=0 pll=0
post-install bttv modprobe tuner; modprobe videodev

The picture still looks out of sync. It looks like I
have the vert and horz sync rate wrong. I'm not sure
why the MythTV GUI looks fine but the TV does not. I
tried it connected to a monitor but had the same
results. Here are the additions to dmesg after I
startx and start watching tv:

0: nvidia: loading NVIDIA Linux x86 nvidia.o Kernel
Module 1.0-4349 Thu Mar 27 19:00:02 PST 2003
Linux agpgart interface v0.99 (c) Jeff Hartmann
agpgart: Maximum main memory to use for agp memory:
409M
agpgart: unsupported bridge
agpgart: no supported devices found.
0: NVRM: AGPGART: unable to retrieve symbol table

#######################################
Here is the bootup section from dmesg:

Linux video capture interface: v1.00
i2c-core.o: i2c core module
i2c-algo-bit.o: i2c bit algorithm module
bttv: driver version 0.7.96 loaded
bttv: using 4 buffers with 2080k (8320k total) for
capture
bttv: Host bridge is nVidia Corporation nForce CPU
bridge
bttv: Bt8xx card found (0).
bttv0: Bt878 (rev 17) at 01:08.0, irq: 5, latency: 64,
mmio: 0xf7800000
bttv0: detected: ATI TV Wonder/VE [card=64], PCI
subsystem ID is 1002:0003
bttv0: using: BT878( *** UNKNOWN/GENERIC **)
[card=0,insmod option]
i2c-core.o: adapter bt848 #0 registered as adapter 0.
bttv0: using tuner=-1
bttv0: i2c: checking for MSP34xx @ 0x80... not found
bttv0: i2c: checking for TDA9875 @ 0xb0... not found
bttv0: i2c: checking for TDA7432 @ 0x8a... not found
bttv0: registered device video0
bttv0: registered device vbi0
i2c-core.o: driver i2c TV tuner driver registered.
tuner: probing bt848 #0 i2c adapter [id=0x10005]
tuner: chip found @ 0xc0
bttv0: i2c attach [client=Philips NTSC (FI1236 and
compati,ok]
i2c-core.o: client [Philips NTSC (FI1236 and compati]
registered to adapter [bt848 #0](pos. 0).

thanks again,
josh

--- "Joseph A. Caputo" <jcaputo1@comcast.net> wrote:
> Sounds like your tuner isn't set up correctly...
> either you need to change
> your tuner setup, or fine-tune your channels.
> Actually, based on your dmesg
> output, it looks like your tuner card is not being
> detected correctly... the
> driver seems to think you've got a PAL tuner. Take
> a look in the kernel
> documentation for the correct tuner type for your
> card (it's currently using
> '19'). A good test would be to see what kind of
> picture you get with Xawtv.
>
> Also, looks like your audio isn't set up right...
> either you've
> misconfigured your audio devices, or some other
> process (KDE's artsd, or
> esd) is grabbing the sound card.
>
> -JAC
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: mythtv-users-bounces@snowman.net
> > [mailto:mythtv-users-bounces@snowman.net]On Behalf
> Of Joshua Santelli
> > Sent: Wednesday, May 28, 2003 9:43 AM
> > To: mythtv-users@snowman.net
> > Subject: [mythtv-users] Unable to watch TV,
> display issue
> >
> >
> > I might be missing something in the setup or
> > configuration process. I'm running mythtv 0.8 on
> RH 9
> > (2.4.20-8, compiled locally). When I start MythTV
> > frontend I can navigate the menu. The picture,
> > although it runs off the sides a little, is pretty
> > crisp and clear. When I select "watch TV" I get a
> > mangled, black and white, jittery picture...If I'm
> > lucky (below is what is spit to the terminal)
> >
> > TIA,
> > josh
> >
> > more hardware details:
> > asus a7n266-vm, AMD 2100+ XP
> > 512 PC 2100, 20 gig + 200 gig West. Dig. HDs (DMA
> > enables on both)
> > ati TV Wonder ve
> > onboard (nvidia geforce 2) VGA out -> webcable
> (using
> > the S-vid output)
> >
> > ==================================
> > [ from terminal when watching tv starts ]
> >
> > connecting to backend server: 192.168.1.4:6543
> > Unable to open mixer: '/dev/mixer'
> > Changing from None to WatchingLiveTV
> > open: No such device
> >
> > [repeats...]
> >
> > open: No such device
> > player: Can't open audio device: /dev/dsp
> > Over/underscanning. V: 0.000000, H: 0.000000,
> XOff: 0,
> > YOff: 0
> > Using XV port 77
> > Changing from WatchingLiveTV to None
> > Changing from None to None
> >

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Re: Unable to watch TV, display issue [ In reply to ]

jcaputo1 at comcast

May 28, 2003, 8:40 PM

Post #4 of 6 (2284 views)

Permalink

On Wednesday 28 May 2003 10:52 pm, Joshua Santelli wrote:
>
> I've looked but was unable to figure out how to change
> the channel setting. If anyone know a good doc to
> look at for setting up this TV card, let me know.
> I've see a lot of conflicting things.

There is no GUI for fine-tuning channels. You can either tweak channel
frequencies in the database, or you can use mythfilldatabase to import
channel settings from an Xawtv settings file.

>
> I tried a few other settings for the tuner and bttv
> modules. Here is what I have in the modules.conf
> right now:
>
> alias char-major-81 bttv
> options tuner type=2 debug=0
> options bttv card=0 autoload=0 radio=0 pll=0
> post-install bttv modprobe tuner; modprobe videodev

Get rid of the "card=0"... it's detecting your card correctly, and you're
forcing it to "UNKNOWN". It's the *tuner* that was not being correctly
detected (your previous message indicated it detected a PAL tuner, whereas
you indicated you're in NTSC-land). Looking through the list archives,
others have reported that "tuner type=17" works.

>
> The picture still looks out of sync. It looks like I
> have the vert and horz sync rate wrong. I'm not sure
> why the MythTV GUI looks fine but the TV does not. I
> tried it connected to a monitor but had the same
> results. Here are the additions to dmesg after I
> startx and start watching tv:

The GUI looks fine because the problem is not with your TV-out; it's with your
TV-in (i.e., the tuner). What you're seeing is incorrect tuning of TV
channels. If the "tuner type=17" doesn't fix your problem, you may want to
re-run the backend setup program ('setup/setup' in the mythtv source
directory) and check the channel frequency table under 'General' settings.
It should probably be set to something like 'us-cable', 'us-bcast' or
'us-cable-hrc'. Try those and see if your situation improves.

Again, Xawtv is a good application to use to make sure you're tuning the
channels properly. If you need to fine-tune individual channels, you can do
it easily with Xawtv and then import the settings into Myth via
mythfilldatabase. You can also use Xawtv to figure out which channel
frequency table to use.

-JAC

RE: Unable to watch TV, display issue [ In reply to ]

ray at comarre

May 28, 2003, 9:07 PM

Post #5 of 6 (2300 views)

Permalink

There are a lot of oddities scattered through the history of this thread.
Perhaps a review of them is in order.

1. Sound oddities: you report these messages when trying to watch "live" TV:

> > > Unable to open mixer: '/dev/mixer'
> > > Changing from None to WatchingLiveTV
> > > open: No such device
> > >
-AND-
> > > open: No such device
> > > player: Can't open audio device: /dev/dsp

You don't say if sound works right when watching "live" TVor not. These
messages would make me suspect it does not. If that's the case ...

See if the userid you are running MythTV as has access to these audio
devices (one way it to add it to group audio). Also make sure the device
entries exist and that they work (at the most primitive, that you can cat a
file to them and hear something).

2. TV video problem: you describe it this way:

> > > When I select "watch TV" I get a
> > > mangled, black and white, jittery picture...If I'm
> > > lucky

Well ... you say you are using an "ati TV Wonder ve" vidcap card. The
CARDLIST file with my kernel source has this entry:
"card=64 - ATI TV-Wonder VE"

And this is consistent with what the bttv driver finds when it autoprobes
the card (reported in dmesg):

>bttv0: detected: ATI TV Wonder/VE [card=64], PCI
>subsystem ID is 1002:0003

But you say use use this value, the one for a "generic" vidcap card, in
modules.conf:

>options bttv card=0 autoload=0 radio=0 pll=0

That mismatch may be causing your vidcap problem. (That the GUI displays
properly is irrelevant to this discussion; motion video uses an entirely
separate mechanism for display, xVideo ... but I doubt the problem is on
the display side.

3. You say: "I've looked but was unable to figure out how to change
the channel setting." I'm not quite sure what this means ... are you trying
to change channels in MythTV (with a keyboard, just key in the numbers you
want ... once you've done the right setup of mythfrontend and mythbackend)?
In xawtv, for testing purposes (one way is to use scantv to generate a
channel list for an xawtvrc file)? In some other app?

Your specification of tuner type 2 is probably right; your dmesg output
reports this ...

>tuner: probing bt848 #0 i2c adapter [id=0x10005]
>tuner: chip found @ 0xc0
>bttv0: i2c attach [client=Philips NTSC (FI1236 and
>compati,ok]

... and my CARDLIST file says "type=2 - Philips NTSC".

So I would expect the card itself to work, if you set up MythTV's backend
component right (exactly how to this varies a bit by distro for the
prepackaged versions, but the Myth HowTo has the basics).

I doubt these comments will help you to the point where you can fix your
problems. Bt perhaps they will let you focus in more exactly on the precise
nature of the problems.

At 07:52 PM 5/28/2003 -0700, Joshua Santelli wrote:
[old stuff deleted]

Re: Unable to watch TV, display issue [ In reply to ]

santellij at yahoo

May 29, 2003, 9:06 PM

Post #6 of 6 (2296 views)

Permalink

thanks all for the help. NTSC and us-cable did the
trick after a recompiling mythtv and running setup
again.

I also changed the type on tuner to type=2 (17 might
work as well, I should try it)

on to other problems..including sound.

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