Hauppauge HVR-1950 digital part

Hi,

Has anyone got the digital part of this device to work properly?

Modules are compiled from the latest (7/26) v4l-dvb snapshot with a 2.6.25.4 kernel. The modules seem to load properly and the analog part works in mythtv. The digital part kind of works.
The problems I can observe are:
1. Can only scan 3 digital channels using both the command line scan and mythtv. My other PCI TV card scans 36 of them.
2. Only occasionally locks in to a channel.
3. Takes 5 minutes to lock in to a channel when it actually does succeed.

I saw from another mailing list that people were trying to get the remote control to work so I'm guessing the core of the device functions properly. If this is the current state of support, I'd be glad to help testing.

Quoted 13 lines · Yusik Kim

Hi,

Has anyone got the digital part of this device to work properly?

Modules are compiled from the latest (7/26) v4l-dvb snapshot with a 2.6.25.4 kernel. The modules seem to load properly and the analog part works in mythtv. The digital part kind of works.
The problems I can observe are:
1. Can only scan 3 digital channels using both the command line scan and mythtv. My other PCI TV card scans 36 of them.
2. Only occasionally locks in to a channel.
3. Takes 5 minutes to lock in to a channel when it actually does succeed.

Quoted 4 lines

I saw from another mailing list that people were trying to get the remote control to work so I'm guessing the core of the device functions properly. If this is the current state of support, I'd be glad to help testing.

What steps did you take to prove your hardware is function properly, or your digital cable feed is reliable?

The drivers works for me, it sounds like you have an environmental issue.

- Steve

Quoted 20 lines · On Saturday 26 July 2008 08:39:16 Steven Toth wrote:

Quoted 14 lines · Yusik Kim

Hi,

Has anyone got the digital part of this device to work properly?

Modules are compiled from the latest (7/26) v4l-dvb snapshot with a 2.6.25.4 kernel. The modules seem to load properly and the analog part works in mythtv. The digital part kind of works.
The problems I can observe are:
1. Can only scan 3 digital channels using both the command line scan and mythtv. My other PCI TV card scans 36 of them.
2. Only occasionally locks in to a channel.
3. Takes 5 minutes to lock in to a channel when it actually does succeed.

Quoted 4 lines

I saw from another mailing list that people were trying to get the remote control to work so I'm guessing the core of the device functions properly. If this is the current state of support, I'd be glad to help testing.

Quoted 6 lines

What steps did you take to prove your hardware is function properly, or your digital cable feed is reliable?

The drivers works for me, it sounds like you have an environmental issue.

- Steve

Thank you for replying Steve.
I have a windows partition on the same machine and it works perfectly there. So I don't think there is a problem with the cable feed or hardware itself.

Not sure if it has any relevance but I noticed in windows, the red LED light in the front is always on whereas in linux, it only turns on right before it tries to lock in to a channel.

I should add that the 3 channels that were successfully scaned do not always get picked up in subsequent attempts. It seems like it has trouble tuning. At least it's good to know it's a problem on my end. Just have to find a way to fix it.

On Saturday 26 July 2008 11:30:39 Yusik Kim wrote:

Also, I tried re-extracting the firmware with the perl script
http://www.isely.net/downloads/fwextract.pl
I downloaded today and used it on the installation CD to get the following files
376836 2008-07-26 11:59 v4l-cx2341x-enc.fw
12559 2008-07-26 11:59 v4l-cx25840.fw

    8192 2008-07-26 11:59 v4l-pvrusb2-29xxx-01.fw
    8192 2008-07-26 11:59 v4l-pvrusb2-73xxx-01.fw

but still no luck. By the way, the filesize for the old v4l-cx25840.fw was 16382. Everything else the same.

Quoted 19 lines · On Saturday 26 July 2008 08:39:16 Steven Toth wrote:

Quoted 13 lines · Yusik Kim

Hi,

Has anyone got the digital part of this device to work properly?

Modules are compiled from the latest (7/26) v4l-dvb snapshot with a 2.6.25.4 kernel. The modules seem to load properly and the analog part works in mythtv. The digital part kind of works.
The problems I can observe are:
1. Can only scan 3 digital channels using both the command line scan and mythtv. My other PCI TV card scans 36 of them.
2. Only occasionally locks in to a channel.
3. Takes 5 minutes to lock in to a channel when it actually does succeed.

Quoted 4 lines

I saw from another mailing list that people were trying to get the remote control to work so I'm guessing the core of the device functions properly. If this is the current state of support, I'd be glad to help testing.

Quoted 6 lines

What steps did you take to prove your hardware is function properly, or your digital cable feed is reliable?

The drivers works for me, it sounds like you have an environmental issue.

- Steve

Thank you for replying Steve.
I have a windows partition on the same machine and it works perfectly there. So I don't think there is a problem with the cable feed or hardware itself.

Not sure if it has any relevance but I noticed in windows, the red LED light in the front is always on whereas in linux, it only turns on right before it tries to lock in to a channel.

I should add that the 3 channels that were successfully scaned do not always get picked up in subsequent attempts. It seems like it has trouble tuning. At least it's good to know it's a problem on my end. Just have to find a way to fix it.

Quoted 29 lines · Yusik Kim

Quoted 20 lines · On Saturday 26 July 2008 08:39:16 Steven Toth wrote:

Quoted 14 lines · Yusik Kim

Hi,

Has anyone got the digital part of this device to work properly?

Modules are compiled from the latest (7/26) v4l-dvb snapshot with a 2.6.25.4 kernel. The modules seem to load properly and the analog part works in mythtv. The digital part kind of works.
The problems I can observe are:
1. Can only scan 3 digital channels using both the command line scan and mythtv. My other PCI TV card scans 36 of them.
2. Only occasionally locks in to a channel.
3. Takes 5 minutes to lock in to a channel when it actually does succeed.

Quoted 4 lines

I saw from another mailing list that people were trying to get the remote control to work so I'm guessing the core of the device functions properly. If this is the current state of support, I'd be glad to help testing.

Quoted 7 lines

What steps did you take to prove your hardware is function properly, or your digital cable feed is reliable?

The drivers works for me, it sounds like you have an environmental issue.

- Steve

Quoted 8 lines

Thank you for replying Steve.
I have a windows partition on the same machine and it works perfectly there. So I don't think there is a problem with the cable feed or hardware itself.

Not sure if it has any relevance but I noticed in windows, the red LED light in the front is always on whereas in linux, it only turns on right before it tries to lock in to a channel.

While I can't vouch for what the Windows driver is doing, the Linux driver (pvrusb2) for this device deliberately only lights the LED when actual streaming is being attempted. Basically the LED becomes a "busy" indicator. It's a feature not a bug :-)

Quoted 4 lines

I should add that the 3 channels that were successfully scaned do not always get picked up in subsequent attempts. It seems like it has trouble tuning. At least it's good to know it's a problem on my end. Just have to find a way to fix it.

Sounds a lot like there's a significant tuning problem. Unfortunately I'm not seeing the issue here :-(

-Mike

Quoted 41 lines · On Saturday 26 July 2008 13:40:36 Mike Isely wrote:

Quoted 27 lines · Yusik Kim

Quoted 19 lines · On Saturday 26 July 2008 08:39:16 Steven Toth wrote:

Quoted 14 lines · Yusik Kim

Hi,

Has anyone got the digital part of this device to work properly?

Modules are compiled from the latest (7/26) v4l-dvb snapshot with a 2.6.25.4 kernel. The modules seem to load properly and the analog part works in mythtv. The digital part kind of works.
The problems I can observe are:
1. Can only scan 3 digital channels using both the command line scan and mythtv. My other PCI TV card scans 36 of them.
2. Only occasionally locks in to a channel.
3. Takes 5 minutes to lock in to a channel when it actually does succeed.

Quoted 4 lines

I saw from another mailing list that people were trying to get the remote control to work so I'm guessing the core of the device functions properly. If this is the current state of support, I'd be glad to help testing.

Quoted 7 lines

What steps did you take to prove your hardware is function properly, or your digital cable feed is reliable?

The drivers works for me, it sounds like you have an environmental issue.

- Steve

Quoted 8 lines

Thank you for replying Steve.
I have a windows partition on the same machine and it works perfectly there. So I don't think there is a problem with the cable feed or hardware itself.

Not sure if it has any relevance but I noticed in windows, the red LED light in the front is always on whereas in linux, it only turns on right before it tries to lock in to a channel.

While I can't vouch for what the Windows driver is doing, the Linux driver (pvrusb2) for this device deliberately only lights the LED when actual streaming is being attempted. Basically the LED becomes a "busy" indicator. It's a feature not a bug :-)

Quoted 8 lines

Quoted 4 lines

I should add that the 3 channels that were successfully scaned do not always get picked up in subsequent attempts. It seems like it has trouble tuning. At least it's good to know it's a problem on my end. Just have to find a way to fix it.

Sounds a lot like there's a significant tuning problem. Unfortunately I'm not seeing the issue here :-(

-Mike

Thanks Mike.
Nobody else seems to have the same problem. What's driving me crazy is that I have 2 laptops where I can test (c2d 1.06GHz/ Pentium-M 1.4GHz(backend only);both Debian testing) and both have the exact same problem so it's most likely not machine specific. It works on a windows partition of the c2d machine so it's not hardware related nor is it because of a bad signal source. So the only thing that stands between me and all the other people who are happily using it can be narrowed down to kernel options or the distro. Are there any known kernel options/modules that may interfere with the tuning?

Another interesting thing is that in mythtv-setup, I have no option to choose ATSC. Only NTSC, NTSC-JP, SECAM, etc. but no ATSC. It doesn't even allow me the option to manually create an ATSC channel. The only way I get an ATSC channel is through active scan (which most of the time doesn't work). I can select ATSC on my desktop with a pci capture card. I can't use the desktop to test it because it's USB1.1.

It looks like a dead end for now. Thanks to everyone who tried to help.

Quoted 73 lines · Yusik Kim

Quoted 49 lines · On Saturday 26 July 2008 13:40:36 Mike Isely wrote:

Quoted 29 lines · Yusik Kim

Quoted 20 lines · On Saturday 26 July 2008 08:39:16 Steven Toth wrote:

Quoted 14 lines · Yusik Kim

Hi,

Has anyone got the digital part of this device to work properly?

Modules are compiled from the latest (7/26) v4l-dvb snapshot with a 2.6.25.4 kernel. The modules seem to load properly and the analog part works in mythtv. The digital part kind of works.
The problems I can observe are:
1. Can only scan 3 digital channels using both the command line scan and mythtv. My other PCI TV card scans 36 of them.
2. Only occasionally locks in to a channel.
3. Takes 5 minutes to lock in to a channel when it actually does succeed.

Quoted 4 lines

I saw from another mailing list that people were trying to get the remote control to work so I'm guessing the core of the device functions properly. If this is the current state of support, I'd be glad to help testing.

Quoted 7 lines

What steps did you take to prove your hardware is function properly, or your digital cable feed is reliable?

The drivers works for me, it sounds like you have an environmental issue.

- Steve

Quoted 8 lines

Thank you for replying Steve.
I have a windows partition on the same machine and it works perfectly there. So I don't think there is a problem with the cable feed or hardware itself.

Not sure if it has any relevance but I noticed in windows, the red LED light in the front is always on whereas in linux, it only turns on right before it tries to lock in to a channel.

While I can't vouch for what the Windows driver is doing, the Linux driver (pvrusb2) for this device deliberately only lights the LED when actual streaming is being attempted. Basically the LED becomes a "busy" indicator. It's a feature not a bug :-)

Quoted 4 lines

I should add that the 3 channels that were successfully scaned do not always get picked up in subsequent attempts. It seems like it has trouble tuning. At least it's good to know it's a problem on my end. Just have to find a way to fix it.

Quoted 4 lines

Sounds a lot like there's a significant tuning problem. Unfortunately I'm not seeing the issue here :-(

-Mike

Thanks Mike.
Nobody else seems to have the same problem. What's driving me crazy is that I have 2 laptops where I can test (c2d 1.06GHz/ Pentium-M 1.4GHz(backend only);both Debian testing) and both have the exact same problem so it's most likely not machine specific. It works on a windows partition of the c2d machine so it's not hardware related nor is it because of a bad signal source. So the only thing that stands between me and all the other people who are happily using it can be narrowed down to kernel options or the distro. Are there any known kernel options/modules that may interfere with the tuning?

Another interesting thing is that in mythtv-setup, I have no option to choose ATSC. Only NTSC, NTSC-JP, SECAM, etc. but no ATSC. It doesn't even allow me the option to manually create an ATSC channel. The only way I get an ATSC channel is through active scan (which most of the time doesn't work). I can select ATSC on my desktop with a pci capture card. I can't use the desktop to test it because it's USB1.1.

Quoted 1 line

It looks like a dead end for now. Thanks to everyone who tried to help.

To use ATSC in mythtv, set the device up as a DVB device, not a video4linux device. You set up two devices, one video4linux for the analog encoding, the other "DVB" for ATSC.

I also suggest that you try adding a signal amplifier and see if that helps the reception.

Regards,

Mike