[mythtv-users] Digital Cable Box, MythTV, and Serial CablesOhMy!

[Warren Pattison]

Donald,

I went back and wiped the mythdatabase, along with the settings on the card.  I had duplicate entries in the database, and so I decided to "start clean".  I also went through the test with test_ioctl, and sure enough it is Composite4.  Once myth was set to that - it worked!  Thank you for your help on that.  I guess I just had too many iterations of trying to config everything.

Now my last hurdle, I think, is getting the channel to change.  I have this defined in the Video Input section of mythtvsetup - [/usr/local/bin/channel $1 &].  The setup displays a blurb about Myth using the first argument for the channel number, so I assume I should add the '$1'.  And then set the program to run in the background with the '&'.

The 'channel' binary has mythtv:mythtv as owner, and I chmod-666 the /dev/ttyS0 to allow the user 'myth' to execute it - so I believe I'm good there with permissions.  But when I'm in MythTV, I still cannot use the remote control to change the channels.  The remote I'm using is the gray one that came with the Hauppauge PVR-250 card.  I either hit Channel Up or Down, or manually type in the channel.  I get a brief display of the time on the screen, then that fades away with no channel changing.

Thoughts?  I'm not 100% if my command line that I defined in the mythtvsetup is correct.

As for what my logs show, they aren't listing anything that is apparent as being wrong, from what I can tell.  I do notice that bttv stuff is loading.

I have some picture related issues to sort through as well.  For instance, choppiness when items on the screen are moving fast.  And I need to adjust the refresh rate or something, the picture is too "flashy".

Thanks,

Warren Pattison
wjp3 at wjp3.com

"In a world of compromise, some don't."


----- Original Message ----- 
From: Donald Saltarelli 
To: wjp3 at wjp3.com
Sent: 12/12/2003 2:58:50 AM 
Subject: Re: [mythtv-users] Digital Cable Box, MythTV, and Serial CablesOhMy!


well, apparently the chip itself supports more inputs than the board designers put on. for whatever reason, it appears that the Composite 4 is the actual input. at least it is on my PVR 250. you can test this by using the test_ioctl program and mplayer:

test_ioctl -p 5
mplayer -cache 8192 /dev/video0

That should show video. If not, then try test_ioctl -p 4, etc. until you find the right one.

btw- what do you show in your /var/log/mythtv/mythbackend.log (or equiv) and /var/log/messages?

Let me know what happens.

/djs


On Thu, 2003-12-11 at 07:08, Warren Pattison wrote: 
Donald,
 
Many thanks for your reply!
 
I went ahead and config'ed like you mentioned:  Comp4 OUT of Cable Box to Comp0 IN on the PVR Card.  And I specified the channel change script in the Input section.
 
When I go to watch TV, there's no snow!  But there's no picture, either.  It flickered like it had life when switching to TV, but no joy.
 
Now I've got two questions:  I have Vid Inputs for Comp0-4 - which is 5 choices.  Why Comp4?  And, does the serial/DB9 cable have to be plugged in and working for this setup to produce a picture?  I'm not entirely sure that my data cable setup is 100% correct, so I'm willing to give up on channel changing at the moment - I just want to get a picture from the Cable Box with the Composite cables.
 
I hope this makes sense, and again, thanks for your help!
 
Warren Pattison
wjp3 at wjp3.com
 
"In a world of compromise, some don't."
 
  
----- Original Message ----- 
From: Donald Saltarelli
To: wjp3 at wjp3.com;Discussion about mythtv
Sent: 12/11/2003 3:45:16 AM 
Subject: Re: [mythtv-users] Digital Cable Box, MythTV, and Serial Cables OhMy!

Warren- you need a straight through db9 cable to connect the PC serial to the serial on the cable box. i got a 'switch box' db9 male-male and a female-female gender changer to do the trick. the next thing is you have to configure only the 'Composite 4' input in the Video inputs configuration of the mythtv 'setup' program (mythsetup under Gentoo) and use the Composite out on the cable box to the composite in on the pvr card. You also specify the channelchange script in the same place (you must do so).

I'm writing a soup to nuts HOW-TO on the dct2xxx, MythTV and PVR-250 w/remote that i hope to have finished as soon as i get clarity on the ivtv/firmware/? problem i'm having. maybe they can link to it off the FAQ if everyone likes it. Took me a few days of digging around the net to get to where i am, too.

Donald 
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