Bristol Digest, Vol 558, Issue 4

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Today's Topics:

1. Re: 2 TV cards - can they work together!? (Peter Hemmings)
2. Re: 2 TV cards - can they work together!? (Peter Hemmings)
3. Re: 2 TV cards - can they work together!? (Alex Butcher)
4. Introducing myself (Cleto Mart?n Angelina)
5. Re: 2 TV cards - can they work together!? (Peter Hemmings)
6. Re: 2 TV cards - can they work together!? (David Smith)
7. Re: 2 TV cards - can they work together!? (Alex Butcher)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2014 15:51:40 +0100
From: Peter Hemmings <peter@hemmings.eclipse.co.uk>
To: Bristol and Bath Linux User Group <bristol@mailman.lug.org.uk>
Subject: Re: [bristol] 2 TV cards - can they work together!?
Message-ID: <53BEA87C.8020600@hemmings.eclipse.co.uk>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

On 10/07/14 11:45, Alex Butcher wrote:
> On Thu, 10 Jul 2014, Peter Hemmings wrote:
>
>> After many a long hour trying to get a HVR 1100 card to work on Linux
>> I gave up and got it to work on Windoze XP Pro!
>> (with radio and TV)
>
> Is that a rectangular HVR-1100 or a triangular HVR-1110?

Rectangular

>
> <http://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/Hauppauge_WinTV-HVR-1100>
>
>> As I cannot get it to run as a tuner on Linux
>
> The different (DVB, analogue, FM) tuners on Hybrid cards can't be used
> simultaneously.

That 's OK, I only want DVB on its own.


My take is that you'd need to rmmod the drivers for the
> tuners you don't want to use in order to be able to load and use the
> drivers
> for the tuner you do want to use.

OK but what drivers must I remove to get both card's DVB tuners to work!?

(or have I got the wrong end of the stick!?)

>
>> I need my WinTV nova T-500 so I can see TV when the "other arf" want to
>> see her Eastenders!
>>
>> If I have both cards in the PC neither Kaffeine or other TV
>> application seems to be able to tune the input device BUT they appear
>> on the applications.
>
> The combination of a hybrid card and an extra card may be confusing the
> applications (and/or you!)

Who me!!

>
> Also note that cards may/will shuffle around on each reboot depending on
> enumeration order. You can use the adapter_nr module parameter to force the
> order to remain static, e.g.
>
> $ grep adapter_nr /etc/modprobe.d/*
> /etc/modprobe.d/nova-t-500-force-lna.conf:options dvb-usb-dib0700
> adapter_nr=1,2 force_lna_activation=1 debug=7
> /etc/modprobe.d/nova-t-adapter_nr.conf:options cx88-dvb adapter_nr=0
>
> That forces my Nova-T to use slot 0, and my Nova-T-500 to use slots 1
> and 2.


OK TA

>
>> The drivers for both cards seem to be installed, so the questions are:
>>
>>
>> 1. Is it possible to have 2 TV tuners on one M/B, if so how?
>
> See above. Works for me with a total of three DVB tuners over two cards.

OK

>
> If you have a particularly crappy motherboard and/or PSU, there might be
> problems as tuner cards are fairly power-hungry, but that should be the
> only
> physical limitation.
>
I have a reasonable MSI board


>> 2. Are there any problems in the attached file parts?
>>
>>
>> As I was about to post, I saw this!:
>>
>>
>> [ 8.813429] cx88-mpeg driver manager 0000:05:00.2: DVB: registering
>> adapter 0 frontend 0 (Conexant CX22702 DVB-T)...
>> [ 8.992862] dvb-usb: downloading firmware from file
>> 'dvb-usb-dib0700-1.20.fw'
>
> My dib0700 Nova-T-500 has a bug which means that it only works properly on
> cold boots. I can't remember if this is a problem with all dib0700
> cards. It
> doesn't bother me as my MythTV box is running from power cut to power cut,
> and I remember to shut it down, switch off the PSU, and do a cold boot
> every
> time I reboot it. You might need to do the same, which is more of a pain
> with a desktop that gets shut down every night.

I have not noticed this with just the T-500 installed in the past -how
do you do a hot boot with a pci card!?

>
>> [ 9.024034] EXT4-fs (sdc1): warning: maximal mount count reached,
>> running e2fsck is recommended

>
> Unrelated to tuners, but you probably ought to do that.

OK

>
>> Is that likely to be a result of having 2 cards or the reason the HVR
>> 1100 does not work!?
>> (I will remove the USB card later to check)
>>
>> Also noticed the HVR 1100 seems to be reported as HVR 110!
>
> See above.
>
> HTH,
> Alex
>
> _______________________________________________
> Bristol mailing list
> Bristol@mailman.lug.org.uk
> https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/bristol


Regards
--
Peter H



------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2014 16:00:58 +0100
From: Peter Hemmings <peter@hemmings.eclipse.co.uk>
To: Bristol and Bath Linux User Group <bristol@mailman.lug.org.uk>
Subject: Re: [bristol] 2 TV cards - can they work together!?
Message-ID: <53BEAAAA.2020709@hemmings.eclipse.co.uk>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed



On 10/07/14 12:03, Shane McEwan wrote:
> On 10/07/14 10:17, Peter Hemmings wrote:
>> 1. Is it possible to have 2 TV tuners on one M/B, if so how?
>
> Absolutely. It should Just Work(tm).
>

OK , you agree with Alex!

> In a recent thread on another mailing list someone said they were running:
>
> Hauppauge Nova-T Stick 3 (DVB-T)
> Technisat DVB-PX TV Star HD (DVB-S2)
> DVBSky S960 (DVB-S2)
> PCI Conexant (DVB-S2)
>
> Someone else in the same thread said they were running:
>
> EyeTV
> EyeTV DTT (dual-tuner version of the above)
> PCTV T2-290e (only HD one they've found with decent Linux support)
>
> Another thing that came up in this thread was that you might have better
> success if you compile the latest version of the driver(s) from GitHub.
> I'm not sure if you're up to that level of complication.

Just about!




>> [ 8.813429] cx88-mpeg driver manager 0000:05:00.2: DVB: registering
>> adapter 0 frontend 0 (Conexant CX22702 DVB-T)...
>> [ 8.992862] dvb-usb: downloading firmware from file
>> 'dvb-usb-dib0700-1.20.fw'
>> [ 9.024034] EXT4-fs (sdc1): warning: maximal mount count reached,
>> running e2fsck is recommended
>
> I'm not sure what you're worried about here. Is it the e2fsck
> recommendation? That's a normal message after a filesystem has been
> mounted X number of times. It's just a message to remind you to check
> your disks for errors regularly. Some systems (Ubuntu) will force a disk
> check when you reboot them.

Well I thought Fedora periodically ran it, I have sen it many time over
the years, that was why I thought it strange.

>
> In the logs you sent I see:
>
> [ 8.723745] cx88[0]: warning: unknown hauppauge model #94500
>
> Which could be why your HVR 1100 doesn't work.

A-Ha, I missed that, but not much the wiser except that its the module
cx88 that is reporting and failing I assume!

>
> Everything else looks fine. Have you tried software like TVHeadend?

Nope, but I did try it with XBMC and could not get that to work (with
just the Nova T-500.

>
> Shane.
>
> _______________________________________________
> Bristol mailing list
> Bristol@mailman.lug.org.uk
> https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/bristol
>

Thanks

Regards

--
Peter H



------------------------------

Message: 3
Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2014 16:46:30 +0100 (BST)
From: Alex Butcher <lug@assursys.co.uk>
To: Bristol and Bath Linux User Group <bristol@mailman.lug.org.uk>
Subject: Re: [bristol] 2 TV cards - can they work together!?
Message-ID: <alpine.LFD.2.03.1407101638300.7968@nffheflf.pb.hx>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed

On Thu, 10 Jul 2014, Peter Hemmings wrote:

> On 10/07/14 11:45, Alex Butcher wrote:
>> My dib0700 Nova-T-500 has a bug which means that it only works properly on
>> cold boots. I can't remember if this is a problem with all dib0700
>> cards. It
>> doesn't bother me as my MythTV box is running from power cut to power cut,
>> and I remember to shut it down, switch off the PSU, and do a cold boot
>> every
>> time I reboot it. You might need to do the same, which is more of a pain
>> with a desktop that gets shut down every night.
>
> I have not noticed this with just the T-500 installed in the past -how do you
> do a hot boot with a pci card!?

Rebooting without a power cycle. The driver will report that it found the
card in a warm state so it doesn't need to upload the firmware to it.
However, the card isn't properly initialised. I can't remember precisely
what happens, but it fails to tune until power cycled.

Incidentally, as I think I've mentioned before, the Nova-T-500 is internally
two USB tuners connected to a VIA PCI/USB bridge. That VIA PCI/USB bridge
is buggy and reportedly doesn't handle the kernel automatically enabling
power saving very well. Hence, in my /etc/rc.d/rc.local:

for i in `find /sys -name 'autosuspend'` ; do echo "-1" >$i; done

to stop the kernel from doing that.

I also use the dvb-usb-dib0700 module parameter

force_lna_activation=1

to enable the low noise amplifier.

Best Regards,
Alex



------------------------------

Message: 4
Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2014 22:14:08 +0100
From: Cleto Mart?n Angelina <cleto.martin@gmail.com>
To: bristol@mailman.lug.org.uk
Subject: [bristol] Introducing myself
Message-ID: <53BF0220.1030002@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed

Hi everyone!

It is a pleasure for me to join your mailing list and hopefully I will
meet you in the following group meeting.

My name is Cleto Martin. I come from Spain and I'm living in Bristol
since 1 year and a half ago. I'm software developer and I'm very
interested on free software in technicals terms but also in the "social"
side of the project. In fact, I'm currently involved in Debian as
developer but not as much as I would like... :-)

Anyway, thanks for maintaining this group and see you soon.
cleto.




------------------------------

Message: 5
Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2014 23:56:56 +0100
From: Peter Hemmings <peter@hemmings.eclipse.co.uk>
To: Bristol and Bath Linux User Group <bristol@mailman.lug.org.uk>
Subject: Re: [bristol] 2 TV cards - can they work together!?
Message-ID: <53BF1A38.9090509@hemmings.eclipse.co.uk>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

On 10/07/14 16:46, Alex Butcher wrote:
> On Thu, 10 Jul 2014, Peter Hemmings wrote:
>
>> On 10/07/14 11:45, Alex Butcher wrote:
>>> My dib0700 Nova-T-500 has a bug which means that it only works
>>> properly on
>>> cold boots. I can't remember if this is a problem with all dib0700
>>> cards. It
>>> doesn't bother me as my MythTV box is running from power cut to power
>>> cut,
>>> and I remember to shut it down, switch off the PSU, and do a cold boot
>>> every
>>> time I reboot it. You might need to do the same, which is more of a pain
>>> with a desktop that gets shut down every night.
>>
>> I have not noticed this with just the T-500 installed in the past -how
>> do you do a hot boot with a pci card!?
>
> Rebooting without a power cycle. The driver will report that it found the
> card in a warm state so it doesn't need to upload the firmware to it.
> However, the card isn't properly initialised. I can't remember precisely
> what happens, but it fails to tune until power cycled.

So, for my poor little brain, in general, when a box is rebooted
without a power cycle, modules remain loaded because I never realized
that!?

>
> Incidentally, as I think I've mentioned before,

yep

the Nova-T-500 is
> internally
> two USB tuners connected to a VIA PCI/USB bridge. That VIA PCI/USB bridge
> is buggy and reportedly doesn't handle the kernel automatically enabling
> power saving very well. Hence, in my /etc/rc.d/rc.local:
>
> for i in `find /sys -name 'autosuspend'` ; do echo "-1" >$i; done

That is a bit OTT for me but I assume it puts "autosuspend " to
"autosuspend -1" to stop it.

I have a whole bunch (wrong terminology!) of pci devices with
"autosuspend " in /sys/devices/ but generally I only boot up and watch
a programme so am unaffected.

>
> to stop the kernel from doing that.
>
> I also use the dvb-usb-dib0700 module parameter
>
> force_lna_activation=1

yep I did do that one.

>
> to enable the low noise amplifier.
>
> Best Regards,
> Alex
>
> _______________________________________________
> Bristol mailing list
> Bristol@mailman.lug.org.uk
> https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/bristol

Regards
--
Peter H



------------------------------

Message: 6
Date: Fri, 11 Jul 2014 08:14:08 +0000
From: David Smith <David.Smith@imgtec.com>
To: Bristol and Bath Linux User Group <bristol@mailman.lug.org.uk>
Subject: Re: [bristol] 2 TV cards - can they work together!?
Message-ID:
<15A9D35B5490FC49AC0524AE3A085F086A06CF@BRMAIL01.br.imgtec.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

> -----Original Message-----
> From: bristol-bounces@mailman.lug.org.uk [mailto:bristol-
> bounces@mailman.lug.org.uk] On Behalf Of Peter Hemmings
> > Rebooting without a power cycle. The driver will report that it found
> > the card in a warm state so it doesn't need to upload the firmware to it.
> > However, the card isn't properly initialised. I can't remember
> > precisely what happens, but it fails to tune until power cycled.
>
> So, for my poor little brain, in general, when a box is rebooted without a
> power cycle, modules remain loaded because I never realized that!?

No. The card itself has some form of software that is loaded when the kernel module boots. However, if you do a warm boot, when the kernel module boots it will query the state of the card, retrieve some status information and think "oh, the card has already been configured, so I don't need to re-load the firmware". However, the card isn't in a good state, and won't work properly.



------------------------------

Message: 7
Date: Fri, 11 Jul 2014 10:46:00 +0100 (BST)
From: Alex Butcher <lug@assursys.co.uk>
To: Bristol and Bath Linux User Group <bristol@mailman.lug.org.uk>
Subject: Re: [bristol] 2 TV cards - can they work together!?
Message-ID: <alpine.LFD.2.03.1407111039590.6966@nffheflf.pb.hx>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed

On Thu, 10 Jul 2014, Peter Hemmings wrote:

> On 10/07/14 16:46, Alex Butcher wrote:
>> On Thu, 10 Jul 2014, Peter Hemmings wrote:
>>
>>> On 10/07/14 11:45, Alex Butcher wrote:
>>>> My dib0700 Nova-T-500 has a bug which means that it only works
>>>> properly on
>>>> cold boots. I can't remember if this is a problem with all dib0700
>>>> cards. It
>>>> doesn't bother me as my MythTV box is running from power cut to power
>>>> cut,
>>>> and I remember to shut it down, switch off the PSU, and do a cold boot
>>>> every
>>>> time I reboot it. You might need to do the same, which is more of a pain
>>>> with a desktop that gets shut down every night.
>>>
>>> I have not noticed this with just the T-500 installed in the past -how
>>> do you do a hot boot with a pci card!?
>>
>> Rebooting without a power cycle. The driver will report that it found the
>> card in a warm state so it doesn't need to upload the firmware to it.
>> However, the card isn't properly initialised. I can't remember precisely
>> what happens, but it fails to tune until power cycled.
>
> So, for my poor little brain, in general, when a box is rebooted without a
> power cycle, modules remain loaded because I never realized that!?

Already most capably explained by David, but to emphasise 'module' is not
the same thing as 'firmware'. A kernel module is part of the OS kernel
(i.e. Linux proper) and runs on your system's main CPU (i.e. the Intel or
AMD x86), firmware runs on embedded processor(s) (probably an ARM core of
some description, these days, but could be something proprietary - a la
nVidia or ATI's GPUs - or even a Z80 on a hard drive's integrated
electronics) on the peripheral itself.

>> Incidentally, as I think I've mentioned before,
>
> yep
>
> the Nova-T-500 is
>> internally
>> two USB tuners connected to a VIA PCI/USB bridge. That VIA PCI/USB bridge
>> is buggy and reportedly doesn't handle the kernel automatically enabling
>> power saving very well. Hence, in my /etc/rc.d/rc.local:
>>
>> for i in `find /sys -name 'autosuspend'` ; do echo "-1" >$i; done
>
> That is a bit OTT for me but I assume it puts "autosuspend " to "autosuspend
> -1" to stop it.

It echos "-1" to every /sys node named 'autosuspend', thereby disabling
autosuspend for /every/ device in the system whose driver supports that
feature. Overkill, but it guarantees that won't be a possible cause of
problems.

> I have a whole bunch (wrong terminology!) of pci devices with "autosuspend "
> in /sys/devices/ but generally I only boot up and watch a programme so am
> unaffected.

Auto-suspend can, AFAIK, happen at any time a device is idle. So potentially
between power-up and getting to a desktop and running your TV application.

Best Regards,
Alex



------------------------------

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End of Bristol Digest, Vol 558, Issue 4
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