[mythtv-users] PVR-150 Tuner Quality Issues

Mon Apr 17 11:08:27 UTC 2006

> Wander, you suggested grounding my case, whats the best way to go
> about this to ensure its properly grounded?

Fastest way:
Buy a long extension cord, run it from a grounded outlet (here in The
Netherlands, the outlets in the kitchen and bathroom are allways
grounded (required by law))

Best way:
Get an electrician to convert your ungrounded outlet to grounded ones.
You just might be able to do this yourself, allthough you'd better be
SURE you are up to it.

Bad way:
Using heating, water, gas or cable wires/tubes to get ground. Just
don't do this, you might be able to ground your case, but you will
create other problems that are far worse. (neighbours getting
interference, electricity on the water supply, electrocuted pink
sheep, holes in the ozon layer etc. just don't do this ok?)

>
>
>  Wander Winkelhorst wrote:
>  Please check the following:
>
> - Are you SURE you are using the right frequencies? I'm living in the
> Netherlands, and my cable provider didn't actually use a standard
> frequency table. I had to set mine by hand to get a good signal. (I
> know you said you had the right frequency table, but I thought the
> exact same and it was wrong)
>
> - Use quality cables and connectors (very important)
>
> - Try grounding your case (this may a big difference with an old BT848
> card I had)
>
> - If you are using an amplifier, put it right after the point where
> the cable enters your house, so that you amplify the signal, and not
> the noise it might have picked up.
>
> Regards,
> Wander.
>
> On 4/16/06, Michael Horn <mjhorn at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>  Well I've gone ahead and added a signal booster on the line to the 150 and
> it seems to have greatly improved video quality all around. I'll need to do
> some more watching, but channel 2 is the only one where the "rolling"
> interference is really noticible anymore without very close examination. I
> may go ahead and another 150 just to see if it has any effect.
>
>  As for that 4th 150 of yours, it appears to be the same as mine, so if
> you'd like to get the tuner working at some point, adding:
>  options ivtv tuner=50
>  to the modprobe.conf should do the trick.
>
>
> On 4/16/06, Brian Wood <beww at beww.org> wrote:
>
>
>  On Apr 16, 2006, at 2:41 AM, Michael Horn wrote:
>
>
>
>  First of all it looks like I mis-spoke in my last reply. It wasn't
> that my tuner wasnt detected properly, it was that its type was
> being set incorrectly. I've been playing around with the setup, and
> if all tuner=xx options are removed, it is detected as type 4.
> However, type 4 seems to be equivilent to tuner not found or
> something of the sort (at least according to /usr/src/Documentation/
> video4linux/CARDLIST.tuners) So if I leave it without a tuner=xx
> option, or try to set it to 4, its unsuccessful, and I can only
> tune the channel that was last tuned, with no ability to change it.
> When set as type=50, which I chose originally as it was the closest
> match to my TCL M2523_5N_E. With that option, I can tune all my
> channels, but with the quality issues.
>
> As for the connections, I have tried both the vcr and the 150 on
> the exact same lines, and it appears the issue is confined to the
> card. I've tried both the 0.4.2 and 0.4.4 versions of ivtv,
> currently using the 0.4.4
>
> Now, you said one of your 150s is detected as type 4, do you think
> I could have a look at your modules.conf and appropriate section of
> the dmesg output? If I can't make any progress soon I guess I'll
> exchange this card for another 150 to see if perhaps it is just a
> bad card.
>
>
>  My fourth 150 is detected as type 4, and the tuner doesn't work !
> This does not bother me, as I use that card for my Dish receiver and
> thus use the baseband inputs. This is a PVR-150MCE card that has an
> FM tuner.
>
> The relevant portion of modules.conf is:
>
> #IVTV
> alias char-major-81-0 ivtv
> alias char-major-81-1 ivtv
>
> But I don't see that as being of any help to you.
>
> From the bootlog: (for the "bad" card)
> ---------------------------------
> tveeprom 5-0050: tuner model is TCL MFNM05-4 (idx 103, type 4)
>
> <skipped lines>
>
> tuner 5-0061: tuner type not set
> tuner 5-0061: tuner type not set
> ----------------------------------
>
> My first three 150s are all detected as type 50 thus:
> ----------------------------
> tveeprom 2-0050: tuner model is TCL 2002N 5H (idx 99, type 50)
> ----------------------------
> And these tuners work fine.
>
>
>
> I don't know if you noticed the post right after mine, but the poster
> stated:
>
> " I'm holding off on 150/500's,
> though they've been fine for many users---but some users just can't
> get them to work reliably. There have been many reports of "first
> tuner can't tune lowband video" which are quite probably FM issues,
> and reports of "one of the two tuners is DOA", and things like that."
>
> I have no idea what he meant by "FM issues", but the reference to
> "lowband video" was interesting, but it sounds like he's referring to
> a 500. He might mean that the tuner has a problem with strong FM
> signals on the TV input, more likely a problem with an antenna than
> with CATV.
>
> You might want to take this matter up on the ivtv forums. Replacing
> the card might get you one with a different tuner, I really wish
> HogPaws would stop the "tuner of the week" stuff, but maybe it's a
> supplier issue, or else they can save 3 cents per card by switching.
>
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