[mythtv-users] Myth 0.15.1 + FC2 + kernell 2.6.7 + pcHDTV and MCEPVR-250

[William Lanfox]

Hi,

I just wanted to share what I have gotten working for pcHDTV running with 
MythTV. I started with the FC1 and ATprms kernel (Jarod’s guide) using a 2.4 
kernel this worked great for the PVR card and MythTV but was never able to 
cleanly compile the pcHDTV drivers with out modifying source code. Fruder 
more I was not able to make pcHDTV work from myth only command line.

I decided to take a jump to FC2 and the 2.6.x series kernel since these seem 
to have most all I needed, just add the appropriate 2.6.x patch found in the 
download area at www.pcHDTV.com. I spend a lot of time trying different 
kernels configurations as well as kraxel patches and even ATprms kernels. I 
even at one point updated to that latest FC2 kernel. All to no avail; then I 
read a post I believe here or pcHDTV forums of some one having success with 
plain vanilla 2.6.7 kernel + the 2.6.6 patches kernel configure to use 
pcHDTV and non 4K stacks.

Success that did it, I should say that I recompiled MythTV after booting in 
the 2.6.7 kernel. I still have to do dtvsignal /dev/video32 <some chan with 
good signal> before starting the mythbackend, does any one know how to 
automate this within mythTV?

I had to add the /dev/video32 myself since the kernel patch won’t add this. 
Myth uses /dev/video32 not /dev/video0 (witch is also used by pcHDTV why?)

Also don’t forget to change the chan freq for all you HDTV channels with 
mythweb or chan editor (myth setup).

At first I could not switch tuners when in LiveTV (I could record no 
problem) it would only use the PVR250 (since is my primary card) I could see 
HDTV in the pip window but no switch. Then I read a trick you can do where 
one will start a recording on the first tuner then go to live TV; great 
first time ever I saw HDTV on my MythTV live TV window.

Now The KICKER after that I deleted the dummy recorded program but know I 
can switch tuners with out having to start a recording on the first!!!! At 
first I thought this was temporary but I have since then rebooted the pc and 
I can still go watch live TV and then press “y” to switch to the HDTV tuner.

Does any one know what is needed to initialize in MythTV to allow this from 
the beginning without having to do the trick?

My setup:
HW:
ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe mobo
AMD XP 2500+
1GB RAM
2x 200 GB Seagate
NVIDIA TI 4600
MCE PVR-250
pcHDTV
Pioneer 8x DVD recorder

SW:
* FC2
* Kernel 2.6.7 (from kernel.org) + 2.6.6 pcHDTV patches + no 4k stack
* pcHDTV is /dev/video0 and /dev/video32
* IVTV pre2-ck100m driver (/dev/video1) installed after pcHDTV
* Using ext2 (100mb boot) ext3(30GB system) LVM+XFS (all video, and data) 
swap(1GB)
* mondo rescue to do backups (you know you worked so hard to get to a good 
point, you don’t want to start from scratch is you need to go back)

I hope this helps people out there. I know I hat to read and read and read 
and at times I would get so frustrated not to gain any progress. But things 
seems to be moving smoothly now. I backed up my current working setup.

Cheers,
William Lanfox

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