# TV Card getting me crazy...

## eunuque

Hi all!

I just bought a MAXI TV Video PCI2 but I cannot get it to work!

This is a BT878 chipset so it SHOULD work properly.

I compiled I2C + video4linux with BT848 support, and after a 

```
modprobe tuner type=3    

modprobe bttv card=27
```

('3' is for SECAM and '27' for my MAXI TV Video PCI2 card),

dmesg says:

```
tuner: chip found @ 0xc0

tuner(bttv): type forced to 3 (Philips (SECAM+PAL_BG) (FI1216MF, FM1216MF, FR1216MF)) [insmod]

i2c-core.o: client [Philips (SECAM+PAL_BG) (FI1216M] registered to adapter [bt848 #0](pos. 0).

i2c-core.o: adapter bt848 #0 registered as adapter 0.

bttv0: FlyVideo Radio=no  RemoteControl=no  Tuner=2 gpio=0x10ffbf

bttv0: FlyVideo  LR90=no  tda9821/tda9820=no  capture_only=no 

bttv0: using tuner=2

tuner: type already set (3)

bttv0: i2c: checking for MSP34xx @ 0x80... not found

bttv0: i2c: checking for TDA9875 @ 0xb0... not found

bttv0: i2c: checking for TDA7432 @ 0x8a... not found

bttv0: PLL: 28636363 => 35468950 .. ok

bttv0: registered device video0

bttv0: registered device vbi0

```

So it seams to work!

But my TV card doesn't sent me any signal:

```
# cat /proc/interrupts 

           CPU0       

  0:     933264          XT-PIC  timer

  1:       9660          XT-PIC  keyboard

  2:          0          XT-PIC  cascade

  8:     414725          XT-PIC  rtc

  9:        222          XT-PIC  Ensoniq AudioPCI

 10:     532224          XT-PIC  usb-uhci

 11:          7          XT-PIC  bttv

 12:     143857          XT-PIC  PS/2 Mouse

 14:      72880          XT-PIC  ide0

 15:          3          XT-PIC  ide1

NMI:          0 

ERR:          0
```

The bttv drivers does not receives many interrupts (IRQ 11).

Moreover, when using tvtime, it says:

```
videoinput: Can't wait for frame 1: Interrupted system call

    Your capture card driver: BT878(Lifeview FlyVideo 98/ M)

    is taking too long to provide frames to tvtime.  This could be due

    either to a broken capture card, a signal that has become unstable

    or very noisy, or a driver misconfiguration.
```

Any help???

----------

## Corw|n of Amber

Which kernel version? My card (same chip) works fine with 2.4.22 and worked well with 2.6.0

----------

## NeddySeagoon

eunuque,

Just modprobe bttv amd let the auto detect have a go.

You could try xawtv as a player for testing with.

Run it in a terminal with 

```
xawtv -c /dev/v4l/video0 
```

 because it won't follow the softlink.

You may find

```
 xawtv -h
```

 useful too

----------

## Corw|n of Amber

and 'xawtv -hwscan' is useful too  :Smile: 

```
# xawtv -hwscan

This is xawtv-3.90, running on Linux/i686 (2.4.20-gaming-r6)

looking for available devices

port 139-139

    type : Xvideo, image scaler

    name : NV17 Video Overlay

port 140-171

    type : Xvideo, image scaler

    name : NV05 Video Blitter

port 172-172                            [ -xvport 172 ]

    type : Xvideo, video overlay

    name : NVIDIA Video Interface Port

/dev/v4l/video0: OK                     [ -device /dev/v4l/video0 ]

    type : v4l

    name : Creative PD1001

    flags:  capture  

/dev/v4l/video1: OK                     [ -device /dev/v4l/video1 ]

    type : v4l

    name : BT878(Pinnacle PCTV Studio/Ra)

    flags: overlay capture tuner 
```

----------

## eunuque

I first tried my card with a 2.6.0 kernel. As it didn't work, I tried with an 'old' 2.4.22. (The only applied patch is bootsplash).

I don't have xawtv yet, because of a libquicktime-0.9.2 compile error. I will try to fix this and give you more info.

Note: I emerged Xawdecode (which is based on Xawtv) successfully.

It gives me this error message:

```
This is xawdecode 1.8.1 running on Linux/i686 (2.6.0).

sacandir: No such file or directory

No plugin found.

wmhooks: nothing found...

DGA: server=2.0, include=2.0

VidMode: server=2.2, include=2.2

  available video mode(s): 1024x768 800x600 640x480 1024x768 1024x768 1024x768 832x624 800x600 800x600 800x600 800x600 800x600 800x600 700x525 700x525 640x512 640x512 640x480 640x480 640x480 640x480 720x400 640x400 576x432 640x350 576x384 512x384 512x384 512x384 512x384 416x312 400x300 400x300 400x300 400x300 400x300 320x240 320x240 320x240 320x240 360x200 320x200 320x175

Selected XvImage adaptor with YUY2 support: 3dfx Video Overlay on port 85 (grabdisplay)

No XvVideo port available.

x11: 1024x768, 16 bit/pixel, 2048 byte/scanline

MMX, SSE, AMD MMX extensions, have been detected.

ioctl VIDIOC_DQBUF: Input/output error

total reset

ioctl VIDIOC_DQBUF: Input/output error

ioctl VIDIOC_DQBUF: Input/output error

ioctl VIDIOC_DQBUF: Invalid argument

```

----------

## eunuque

Finally I re-emerged OpenGL+XFree and I got xawtv to compile:

```
~ xawtv -hwscan

This is xawtv-3.90, running on Linux/i686 (2.4.22)

looking for available devices

port 85-85

    type : Xvideo, image scaler

    name : 3dfx Video Overlay

/dev/video0: OK                         [ -device /dev/video0 ]

    type : v4l

    name : BT878(Lifeview FlyVideo 98/ M)

    flags: overlay capture tuner 
```

Looks good, no?

But I still get no tv-signal...

Any hint?

----------

## NeddySeagoon

eunuque,

That looks good. run 

```
xawtv -c /dev/v4l/video0
```

 in a terminal.

Right click in the TV window and make sure the follwing are set for your region

TV norm

Video source

Frequency table

Capture - Try them All

Flickering noise is a good sign.

You will need to step through the channels with up and down arrow, since you don't have a config file yet

----------

## eunuque

I've done what you said with the correct settings (SECAM/Television/France).

I have flickering noise but ... ONLY flickering noise  :Sad: 

I tried all channels but I still have no clean images.

I'm starting to wonder if my TV-Card is broken...

----------

## NeddySeagoon

eunuque,

How are you getting the the aerial signal to the TV card?

If you are using a passive splitter , than can be a problem. Can you move the RF signal, which is going to you TV card just now to a TV to test that there really is a signal to the card?

Do you have a video player that can generate an RF TV signal output? 

Try that.

Beacause of the radio noise from the computer, TV cards typically need more signal than a TV.

----------

## eunuque

Hi!

Yes I use a passive splitter, and the TV signal was too weak.

I've just bought a x6 TV amplifier, and now it works!

I tried XawTV, Xawdecode and TvTime as TV viewer, and I got the best performance

with XawTV (1% CPU activity while watchingTV!).

Thanks for your help guys!!!

cheers

----------

## Javier Lopez

Be sure you have in /etc/X11/XF86Config 

```

Section "Module"

...

              load "v4l"

...

EndSection

```

----------

## eunuque

I added this module to XF86Config. It works fine.

However, from time to time, I get no images from the TV card, and tuner says:

```
tuner: TV freq (268435455.93) out of range (44-958)
```

I found no explaination using google.

To me it looks like a hardware problem: depending on the signal level, maybe the TV card is syncing to different frequencies... 

any thoughts?

----------

