[mythtv-users] HDPVR Crashes With Missing S/PDIF Input

[Kirk Bocek]

I installed my HDPVR a few weeks ago and everything was going
swimmingly: beautiful HD recordings, I loved watching the Tour of
California in HD. Then recordings started to fail. The backend would
record a few minutes at the beginning of a program and then lock up.
Backend logs would show things like:

2010-05-25 16:06:56.006 DevRdB(/dev/hdpvr0) Error: Poll giving up
2010-05-25 16:06:56.010 MPEGRec(/dev/hdpvr0) Error: Device error detected

and

2010-05-25 15:42:41.253 Channel(/dev/hdpvr0) Error: SetInputAndFormat(7, NTSC)
                        while setting input (v4l v2)
                        eno: Connection timed out (110)

After many backend reboots and power-cycling of the HDPVR I finally
figured out that I had knocked out the optical S/PDIF cable from my
STB to the HDPVR during an upgrade. After reconnecting the cable,
balance was once more restored to the force and high-def flowed again
into the hands of the faithful.

Note that I am *not* using the IR transmitter. I've seen the reports
of lockups using the current software.

I'm posting this because I've haven't seen this problem mentioned
before. Please let me know if this has been addressed previously. I
believe the error is with the HDPVR hardware. One of the steps I took
trying to get things back up and running was to unplug and replug the
USB cable. When doing so, the kernel would report an error connecting
the USB device. If I power-cycled the HDPVR, I could reconnect it. But
it would crash again on the next recording until I found the
disconnected audio cable.

Kirk Bocek