Hi!

Ok, so after my last upgrade of computer hardware, I ended up with an extra motherboard, processor, memory and GC, so I figured: Why not build my self a HTPC. Could be fun.

Got myself a new HD + DVD, box and a TV-card (PVR-350)

Knoppix MythTV seemed the easiest choice, as it was "plug'n'play", and I'm new to Linux.


Downloaded and burned the iso (R5F1) to a disk and strated. Managed to install it (using auto install option) and it started up in X, asking for my root pwd. Enter this and a configuration starts.

Here is where my trouble started. I'm located in sweden, so I'll use PAL (which is the only thing I've changed under the "General" setting), and swedish channels.

The configuration starts of with asking me if I want to configure my PVR-350 as TV-card. And then asks for time-zone.
A popup then tells me that the configuration isabout to start and once I'm done I should press Ctrl-Alt-Bckspc to restart X.

I've managed to run through all configuration (even though it took me a while to figure out that I had to switch to another window to manually ok all channels I wanted to add).
I picked Mpeg-2 encoder as card type.
I picked the "swedish channel set" in the "where to get chanel information from".
Also took me a few tries before I realised that once I've chosen channels, I had to open an Xterm and run the mythfilldatabase --manual.
After this I have my channellist. Since I don't know the frequency or ofset of either channel, I did a "Scan", which found a bounch of other channels (is there a way to match them togehter?)

According to the "popup" at the start of the configuration, once I was done I should press Ctrl-Alt-Bckspc. Shure enough, this restarts the X and also restarts the configuration. All my settings are lost.

After running thorugh this configuration a few times, always with the same result (in the log-screen I do on occation se a message about "timeout when contacting master backend"), I started looking at what was available in the X system, and started something I think was called knopbox.
This started some more configurations (like pick remote) and then something that I think is the "default program", since it included choices like "whatch TV", "Schedule recording", etc.
Still, my configuration was lost and I couldn't watch TV (It said "all connections of that type are busy" or something similar).
If I exited, all it did was restart that program.
Did a hard reset, and now there is no longer any display on the PVR-350 TV-out (havn't bothered to connect a monitor to my GC yet, to see if there's any output there)...

So, that was a long intro to my question, that is simply:

What am I doing wrong?

(I'm using ASUS K8N Motherboard with A AMD 64 processor if that makes any difference...)

I guess I could always put in my installation disk and start again. I'm guessing that that will ower-write anything I've done here, but that is really no use unless I figure out how to configure and keep the configuration.

Plus: I can't change the screen size until I started the knoppbox (or whatever it is called), so configuration is kind of hard, as most buttons are of-screen.

br,
Mike

It looks like you are most of the way there.


Firstly you should be able to access the box remotely over your network by using ssh and VNC.
Secondly did you start off the install by passing the "tv" paramter at the Lilo prompt?

Thirdly when it prompts for Ctrl-Alt-BkSp I would recommend exiting/rebooting using the KM menu as this should ensure any settings are saved.
I don't recall any mention of this but then I'm using a slightly earlier version of KM and not using a PVR-350 video-out.

In mythtv-setup, did you attach your Video Source that you created, to your tuner in Input Connections?


If you look at the setup of your TV or VCR, it should show the Frequency Channel number for a channel. If you go into the Channel Editor in mythtv-setup you enter this number in the Frequency text entry box, which is on the second screen for the settings for a particular channel.

BTW it might be worthwile googling for the "Pamphlet of Knoppmyth" and "MythTV-HOWTO" to give you some help.

Bruce S.

_________________
Updated 2019/10/26: AthlonII X2 265 Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P
16Gb PC 1866 DDR3, 500GB+2TB+4TB SATA HDD,
SATA DVD-RW Asus DRW-24D5MT , NVIDIA GeForce GT1080
Hauppauage Nova-T 500, Nova-T LinHes R8.6.1

Please don't post the same things under multiple different topics...
http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=96218
http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=96233
This is considered a form of spam and generally bad forum manners.

We have quite a number of Swedish users here. Your best bet is to search for "sweden" or check the memberlist for folks who've listed that as a location. (e.g. "beerfrog", "eztoril", "KurtJesus", ...) This is really one of those cases where a forum search is 1) easy and 2) your best bet.

Sorry about my duble post. I went in last a few hours after I posted the first to see if someone had replied, but couldn't find my post (probably since someone moved it). Figuring it had been deleted du to wrong thread, I re-posted it.

I've deleted the other post now.

Sure did. I think the problem is called "overscaning", which can be fixed from the setup-emnu once it is up and running. Problem is that the input/videochannel/etc setup are prior to this.
Did manage to get through those screens anyway (I hope).


I that the "right-click" menu from the X? The one with "Apps", etc. (last two entrieas are "Reboot" and "Exit"?



Yes, I've connected everying (except for the frequencies of the channels) . At least I think I did. Problem is, as I said, that it doesn't save my settings. I'll try the other form of reboot you described here.
Now, it's been a while since I set my TC/VCR up, but I think I remember the frequency being devided into "bands" (one or more letters) and then a number. Do I just enter this letter along with the frequency number?


Oh... I did. I actually had the pamphlet printed infront of me when I did the configure (which is why I knew about hwo to connect input source, etc.)

Thanx for the answers. I'll try them this weekend, and hope for the best.

br,
Mike

That should be OK, but also from within the front end itself (the application with Watch TV etc), if you go into the Knoppmyth menu (you may have to scroll all the way down to see it), there should be entries for Shut Down and Reboot.


I don't know the allocation in Sweden, but as I understand it, it's normally it's the just the numbers.
If you search for "European channels, system B (VHF) and G,H (UHF)" in this this should give you some idea.


It's possible you are rebooting too early in the sequence, therefore the setup is not completed properly, the normal sequence of events is something like:

Boot off of CD
Start Textmode setup
Finish Textmode setup, eject CD and reboot.
After booting up, goes into X with text window.
After finishing text setup, mythtv-setup starts
Go through:
General
Capture Cards
Video Sources (you may need to Alt-Tab to set up your grabber)
Input Connections
(you can go into the channel editor to set up the channels manually but it's easier to skip this step at the moment)
Escape from mythtv-setup (well by using the Esc key)
Mythfilldatabase should automatically run, and with some more text window setup.
Mythtv-setup should restart,
Go through:
Channel Editor (to set up the frequency channel numbers, the channel ID number etc.)
Escape from mythtv-setup
Frontend should start
This is where you should reboot to switch over to your video out and hopefully all your settings should be saved.

Bruce S.

_________________
Updated 2019/10/26: AthlonII X2 265 Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P
16Gb PC 1866 DDR3, 500GB+2TB+4TB SATA HDD,
SATA DVD-RW Asus DRW-24D5MT , NVIDIA GeForce GT1080
Hauppauage Nova-T 500, Nova-T LinHes R8.6.1

Did some checking. The letter-number thing I was taling about was the how the TV displays it:
S8, B5 (Meaning, I realised today "VHF 5"), etc.
I've never dealt with frequencies when tuning my TV (usually do it by auto-search). The page you mentioned there should help a lot though. Hopefully I'll get it working...



Ok, now I see what I did wrong:

Once I was done with Channel setup (first time in your description), I pressed Crtl-Alt-BkSpc. Instead I should have escaped out...

I'll try to re-install everything this weekend, and see what happends.
Doing "Auto Install" should remove everything I've done so far (re-format the HDD), right?

Thanx so much for the help.


Mike

Yes.

Bruce S.

_________________
Updated 2019/10/26: AthlonII X2 265 Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P
16Gb PC 1866 DDR3, 500GB+2TB+4TB SATA HDD,
SATA DVD-RW Asus DRW-24D5MT , NVIDIA GeForce GT1080
Hauppauage Nova-T 500, Nova-T LinHes R8.6.1

It worked much better this time. Thanx.

Now, I only have two problems:

1) I opted for the splash-screen. I don't know if this is the reason or not, but now it boots, using my GC instead of the PVR-350. I also get the "... respawning to fast..." error. My plan was not to have it use the GC at all, since the PVR-350 can handle this. Am I being naive?
Can anyone prompt me the name of the script to run to remove the splash-screen? (I was told about it during installation, but since I didn't expect problems I never wrote it down).

2) I tried enter the letter/number version as "frequency or channelnumber" for each channel. Now, when I choose "Watch TV", most of the screen is black and the lower part (a part that is outside the part where the menues was" is static. I'm guessing this is due to my channels being set up wrong. How can I re-run the channel-setup (I did not find any entry in the menu that allowed me to do this.)

Any Sweeds, or europeans, out there, that can tell me if it is possible to enter the channelnumbers (like S8 or VHS 5), and if so: How the format should be.

I have searched this forum for channel re-setup, but no result. That, of course, doesn't mean it's not there, just that I didn't find it.

regards,
Mike

Perhaps the folllowing two threads may help, this and this.


You can go back into mythtv-setup (use Alt-2 to stop myth-backend, Alt-s to run mythtv-setup and Alt-3 to restart the backend) and go back into the Channel Editor, or use MythWeb (using your browser on your other PC go to the IP address of your Mythbox, login to MythWeb and then go to Settings then Channel Info.
Try either removing the prefix letters to see what happens.

Bruce S.

_________________
Updated 2019/10/26: AthlonII X2 265 Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P
16Gb PC 1866 DDR3, 500GB+2TB+4TB SATA HDD,
SATA DVD-RW Asus DRW-24D5MT , NVIDIA GeForce GT1080
Hauppauage Nova-T 500, Nova-T LinHes R8.6.1

I finally got it working. Thanx a lot for your help, Bruce.

The document you pointed to first, with the frequencies is what I ended up using in the end (I did a search for channels, and found numbers that match that document, and took it from there).

The problem with only part of the screen being shown (and that being static) was solved by an entry in the ivtv file (which also had the effect that MythTV-menu started using the entire screen).

Now all I have to do is get a keyboard/mouse that is wireless (I guess ps/2 is to prefere compared to USB?), and some more cables to be able to hook it up permanently to the TV (during installation I've been using cables from other devices).

Oh, one thing: I tried using another PC and connect using the browser. I got a login-popup, but none of the useres defined on box seemed to work. Is there a setting I need to set? This is no panic, since I can record through the TV...
I tried doing a search for that on this forum, but always seem to end up with 130 pages of results...

Thanx again for all your help...

br,
Mike

The user ID is mythtv and the password is the one set during install (not your or the root account).

Bruce S.

_________________
Updated 2019/10/26: AthlonII X2 265 Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P
16Gb PC 1866 DDR3, 500GB+2TB+4TB SATA HDD,
SATA DVD-RW Asus DRW-24D5MT , NVIDIA GeForce GT1080
Hauppauage Nova-T 500, Nova-T LinHes R8.6.1

Most things work now. I can watch TV, I can record, I can log in from a remote PC.

However:
I can't get the the sound through the sound card (or rather the built in sound function on my mother board) to work.
I've connected the RCA (red/white) from the 350s out (the same adapter that I get the video-signal to the TV) via a RCA/phono adapter to the line-in on the sound card. Then I take an identical adapter from the line out and connects it with the video-signal on a RCA/SCART on my TV. No sound! I've tried pushing the "mute" button on the remote, but no effect (and I see no reaction on the screen, so I'm not sure it actually takes the button push).

If I connect the RCA from the 350s adapter directly to the scart I get sound when watching TV or recordings.

I tried streaming sound (radio, I guess) when hooked up only through the 350s sound, but no sound.


Any ideas on what do do/look for?

I'm using a Asus K8N mother board.

br,
Mike

Does your sound from mp3s, streaming etc work when taken from the motherboard sound out ?

Bruce S.

_________________
Updated 2019/10/26: AthlonII X2 265 Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P
16Gb PC 1866 DDR3, 500GB+2TB+4TB SATA HDD,
SATA DVD-RW Asus DRW-24D5MT , NVIDIA GeForce GT1080
Hauppauage Nova-T 500, Nova-T LinHes R8.6.1

Ok solved it.

Looking around in the menus, I found a sound-program with volume settings for each in/out channel. I maxe Line, Line 1 and PhoneIn, since these where set to 0. No everthing works.

Thanx.

br,
Mike