Pinnacle PCTV HD Card not able to receive TV

Asked by Tom Haddon

I've just bought a Pinnacle PCTV HD Card as per http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8512424&type=product&id=1186005934822 and I'm trying to configure it to worth with my hardy Mythbuntu install.

I've been following the instructions on http://mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Pinnacle_PCTV_HD_Card_(800i) and have extracted the firmware, and compiled the v4l-dvb drivers per that page. I'm then able to see the device as an option in mythtvsetup. I've configured it as an MPEG-2 encoder card, and in the "Probed Info" section it's showing "Pinnacle PCTV HD800i [cx8800]". I've then setup Schedules Direct as a Video Source, and under "Input Connections" I've defined "[MPEG: /dev/video0] (Television) -> Schedules Direct". I've then performed the "Scan for Channels" and have got a bunch of channels showing up (I'm just using rabbit ears, don't have cable or satellite), but when I go to "Watch TV" on the mythfrontend I get a blank screen for a few seconds and then I'm returned to the main menu. I see the following in the frontend log:

2008-06-07 09:28:57.828 TV: Attempting to change from None to WatchingLiveTV
2008-06-07 09:28:57.829 Using protocol version 40
2008-06-07 09:29:03.102 GetEntryAt(-1) failed.
2008-06-07 09:29:03.103 EntryToProgram(0@Wed Dec 31 16:00:00 1969) failed to get pginfo
2008-06-07 09:29:03.103 TV Error: LiveTV not successfully started
2008-06-07 09:29:03.138 TV Error: LiveTV not successfully started
2008-06-07 09:29:03.234 TV: Deleting TV Chain in destructor
2008-06-07 09:29:03.238 DPMS Deactivated
2008-06-07 09:29:03.238 DPMS Reactivated.

Any ideas what I'm missing?

Thanks - really looking forward to getting it all working!

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Tom Haddon (mthaddon) said :
#1

And now after I think an update to linux-restricted-modules, whenever I run the mythtv-setup script and try to go to any of the pages (General, Capture Cards, Video Source, etc.) I get a message saying "If this is the master backend server, please run mythfilldatabase to populate the database with channel information". The only option is "OK" at which point mythtv-setup exits and I'm asked to run that command. If I do, it runs fine, but still I get the same message when I re-run mythtv-setup. So now I can't see my current config, or change it in any way...

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Launchpad Janitor (janitor) said :
#2

This question was expired because it remained in the 'Open' state without activity for the last 15 days.

Revision history for this message
Tom Haddon (mthaddon) said :
#3

I've recompiled the drivers for the card since I had a kernel update. I am now able to watch TV in mplayer if I use the channels.conf I've created and run "mplayer dvb://", however, I still can't watch TV in MythTV. I get the following when I try in the backend log:

 2008-06-21 14:40:22.545 MainServer::HandleAnnounce Monitor
2008-06-21 14:40:22.546 adding: sentinel as a client (events: 0)
2008-06-21 14:40:22.547 MainServer::HandleAnnounce Monitor
2008-06-21 14:40:22.548 adding: sentinel as a client (events: 1)
2008-06-21 14:40:22.552 MainServer::HandleAnnounce Playback
2008-06-21 14:40:22.584 adding: sentinel as a client (events: 0)
2008-06-21 14:40:22.586 TVRec(6): Changing from None to WatchingLiveTV
2008-06-21 14:40:22.603 TVRec(6): HW Tuner: 6->6
2008-06-21 14:40:27.884

Not ivtv driver??

2008-06-21 14:40:27.885 AutoExpire: CalcParams(): Max required Free
Space: 2.0 GB w/freq: 15 min
2008-06-21 14:40:27.893 MPEGRec(/dev/video0) Error: Could not set Audio
Sampling Frequency to 2
                        eno: Invalid argument (22)
2008-06-21 14:40:27.914 MPEGRec(/dev/video0) Error: Could not set Video
Aspect ratio to 1
                        eno: Invalid argument (22)
2008-06-21 14:40:27.915 MPEGRec(/dev/video0) Error: Could not set Audio
Encoding to 1
                        eno: Invalid argument (22)
2008-06-21 14:40:27.916 MPEGRec(/dev/video0) Error: Could not set Audio
L2 Bitrate to 13
                        eno: Invalid argument (22)
2008-06-21 14:40:27.916 MPEGRec(/dev/video0) Error: Could not set Video
Peak Bitrate to 6000000
                        eno: Invalid argument (22)
2008-06-21 14:40:27.917 MPEGRec(/dev/video0) Error: Could not set Video
Average Bitrate to 4500000
                        eno: Invalid argument (22)
2008-06-21 14:40:27.918 MPEGRec(/dev/video0) Error: Could not set MPEG
Stream type to 0
                        eno: Invalid argument (22)
2008-06-21 14:40:27.918 MPEGRec(/dev/video0) Warning: Unable to get
V4L2_CID_MPEG_VIDEO_GOP_SIZE, defaulting to 12
                        eno: Invalid argument (22)
2008-06-21 14:40:36.198 Expiring 8 MBytes for 1002 @ Sat Jun 7 09:00:00
2008 => Chaotic "Trading Cards"
2008-06-21 14:40:36.258 ERROR when trying to delete
file: /GetPlaybackURL/UNABLE/TO/FIND/LOCAL/FILE/ON/sentinel/1002_20080607092554.mpg. File doesn't exist. Database metadata will not be removed.
2008-06-21 14:40:48.198 TVRec(6): Changing from WatchingLiveTV to None
2008-06-21 14:40:48.358 Finished recording PGA Tour Golf "Travelers
Championship, Third Round": channel 1005

And when I try to go into mythtv-setup, I doesn't let me get very far. Thought this screencast might help show what I mean:

http://tom.haddons.net/mythtv-setup.ogg

I have no idea why it's trying to record or delete the files/shows it mentions at the bottom, as I definitely haven't scheduled those...

Thanks, Tom

Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) said :
#4

This question was expired because it remained in the 'Open' state without activity for the last 15 days.