pcHDTV :: View topic - Can't do a channel scan in Myth w/HD-3000

fatbird

I have set up my HD-3000 and I can watch my local OTA channels with xine and mplayer but I can't get Mythtv to work. In mythtv-setup when I try to do a channel scan in the Channel Editor I get the message:

pcHDTV_tech

All I can think of is to check the permissions on your /dev/dvb/adapter0 files to make sure that your instance of Myth can access the device. Especially since mplayer and xine can access it just fine...

I haven't done much with myth other than try to amek it work once (which I thought was too much hassle and gave up.)

Rusty

fatbird

Rusty: thanks for the reply. I gave 'others' all the same permissions as 'owner' and 'group' for all the /dev/dvb folders and devices but it made no difference. If you don't use Myth what do you use?

Can anyone answer my first question -

HDTVelectron

fatbird

HDTVelectron: Thanks for answering my question. Now I know that the problem is in the Capture Card Set-up section of Myth rather than later on.

I still don't know what the problem is though. I didn't think there was a problem with the modules themselves but to be sure I did exactly as you suggested and I still have the "Could not get card info for card #0" message.

Since the last time I tried Myth I have a new motherboard, CPU and RAM so that eliminates a lot of possible hardware problems. I'm guessing that there is either a problem with the HD-3000 (doesn't seem likely) or there is some small software or configuration glitch. If you or anyone else has any idea how I can determine why Myth can't read the card please let me know.

Left to my own resources the only thing I can think to do I start looking at the Myth code to see how it is trying to get the card info. Since my programming skills are mostly self-taught this approach is an act of desperation.

HDTVelectron

fatbird

HDTVelectron:
I'm using Arch Linux with kernel 2.6.13. Mythtv was installed using an Arch pkgbuild script which compiles from source. This installation worked with my ATI TVWonder card for analog TV.

I just tried again:

I still get "Could not get card info for card #0"

At this point I think I need to find out how Myth tries to get the card info so I can determine what it is that's failing.

waterhead · Last edited by waterhead on Wed Dec 21, 2005 7:12 am; edited 1 time in total

waterhead

Another thought, it can't access that card if it's "busy". Another application may be accessing the card, making it unavailable.

fatbird

waterhead:

waterhead

I know that you had already tried some of the things I mentioned, I'm just relating what I have to do.

I don't recall if you tried moving the card to a different slot, or maybe changing the IRQ. Some people say that this helps. But yours works with xine and mplayer, so this probably wouldn't help.

I also uninstalled and reinstalled Linux and MythTV several times before I got a properly working set up. (I'm using Fedora Core 4) I wish I could be of more help, sorry.

fatbird

waterhead: I appreciate the fact that you're trying to help. If someone takes the time to offer suggestions I feel I should make an effort to try them so I did reverify some of your suggestions yesterday. When I first set up myth I was starting the backend on boot. If I hadn't already stopped doing that your suggestion to explicitly stop the backend might have been just what I needed.

I haven't mentioned it before but I have also tried installing myth in Ubuntu and using Knoppmyth, neither of which worked so I dropped them in favor of the Arch installation which at least worked with my analog card.

I worked as an electronics technician for years and I learned that the "Try this" approach may work 90% of the time and is worth a shot but then you have to get out the test equipment, pull out the prints and take a more directed approach. What I'm getting at is I've spent many hours on this and I've reached the point where, as I said in an earlier post, my next step is to look at the code and try to determine how myth is trying to probe the card. It may be, for example, that myth is trying to read a file that is in a non-standard location on my system and I'll never find something like that unless I know to look for it.

Therefore, until I know differently, problem has changed from "Can't do a channel scan" to "Can't probe the card".

Thanks.

waterhead

I was just looking through my setup screens to see if there may be something you may have missed. The only thing that I can find is in the General section.

For TV Format I have ATSC, and for Channel Frequency Table I have us-bcast.

Also for the IP address, if you changed it from the default, it may affect things.

It seems to me as there is something that you may have missed in your setup.
I used Jarod Wilson's guide to set up my system. If your not familiar with it, you can get it here:
http://www.wilsonet.com/mythtv/ [url]
It may help you find out if you missed something. I couldn't have done it without it.

As for me, I'm no longer a Linux newbie, but I'm far from being an expert. Also, I just recently learned some Visual Basic programming to use with MS Office, and I'm 48 years old. Better late then never.

waterhead

Another thing, have you installed the firmare update? I installed the pchdtv-extras file. This package has the firmware, udev and other updates. Some posts say that all you need is the firmware, and that installing the entire package could make things worse.

fatbird

waterhead: