# Tuner TV Pixelview PlayTV pro 2

## bijou

Hi,

I need some help with this tunerTV card: Pixelview PlayTV pro 2.

The results of lspci is:

...

0000:01:08.0 Multimedia video controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Video Capture (rev 11)

0000:01:08.1 Multimedia controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Audio Capture (rev 11)

...

I have in /etc/modules.d one file named bttv with this lines:

# bttv

alias char-major-81 videodev

alias char-major-81-0 bttv

options bttv card=37 radio=1 tuner=5

I have made modules-update and modprobe bttv, and the dmesg result is:

...

bttv0: unloading

bttv: driver version 0.9.15 loaded

bttv: using 8 buffers with 2080k (520 pages) each for capture

bttv: Bt8xx card found (0).

bttv0: Bt878 (rev 17) at 0000:01:08.0, irq: 5, latency: 32, mmio: 0xe4000000

bttv0: using: Prolink PixelView PlayTV pro [card=37,insmod option]

bttv0: gpio: en=00000000, out=00000000 in=009fc0ff [init]

bttv0: using tuner=5

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

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

bttv0: i2c: checking for TDA9887 @ 0x86... not found

tuner: chip found at addr 0xc0 i2c-bus bt878 #0 [sw]

tuner: type set to 5 (Philips PAL_BG (FI1216 and compatibles)) by bt878 #0 [sw]

bttv0: registered device video0

bttv0: registered device vbi0

bttv0: registered device radio0

bttv0: PLL: 28636363 => 35468950 . ok

...

scantv or tvtime-scanner give me an no signal message (0 channels found).

Can you help me with this becasuse I don't know what I can do more about it.

Best regards.

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## bijou

Can you give me some advice or plase tell me if this card will ever work in linux (I got no results in of all the changes that I've made in order to make it functional)

Best regards.

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## bijou

I want to add more info about this card:

Pixelview PlayTv Pro 2 - PV-M4500 (W/FM,RC)

CONEXANT FUSION 878A

The only card from CARDLIST.bttv file that has 878A chipset is "card=51 - Eagle Wireless Capricorn2 (878A)". I've got the same result using this value - no signal.

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## Fulgore

I have the PixelView PlayTV Pro 2 [PV-M4500(FR)] PAL with the FM tuner.

I have tvtime working flawlessly using...

- Card=70 tuner=37 (tuner=38 also works)

Card=72 works but gives me a sound problem (I get a 1/2 second burst of sound when as I change channels, then zip. But I get clear sound from the tuner when I change the input off the television input)

Still having remote, radio & MythTv issues but not ready to give up yet.

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## morbidi

ok I have a little trouble, I also have a PixelView PlayTV Pro 2 and I can't get my card to do a scantv 

```

VideoServer linux # scantv -a -c /dev/video0 -C /dev/vbi -o stations

please select your TV norm

   0: PAL

   1: NTSC

   2: SECAM

   3: PAL-Nc

   4: PAL-M

   5: PAL-N

   6: NTSC-JP

   7: PAL-60

nr ? 0

please select a frequency table

   0: us-bcast

   1: us-cable

   2: us-cable-hrc

   3: japan-bcast

   4: japan-cable

   5: europe-west

   6: europe-east

   7: italy

   8: newzealand

   9: australia

  10: ireland

  11: france

  12: china-bcast

  13: southafrica

  14: argentina

  15: australia-optus

  16: russia

nr ? 5

vbi: open failed [/dev/vbi]

open /dev/vbi: Invalid argument

VideoServer linux #      

```

```

VideoServer linux # ls -l /dev/vbi

lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root 9 Mar 31 18:06 /dev/vbi -> /dev/vbi0

VideoServer linux # ls -l /dev/vbi0

lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root 8 Mar 31 19:59 /dev/vbi0 -> v4l/vbi0

VideoServer linux # ls -l /dev/v4l/vbi0

crw-rw----  1 root video 81, 224 Mar 31 19:59 /dev/v4l/vbi0

```

how did you guys solve that ?

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## maigret

same problem here... Help! I want my tv!

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## dilandau

same problem with xawtv here (cant find vbi). though tvtime works!

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## maigret

I would say the solution in this case is simple:

```
emerge -C xawtv
```

Works for me  :Wink: 

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## dilandau

no, i want xawtv. only xawtv really supports my needs.

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## Ernetas

Does anybody solved the problem?

I have this tuner, but it doesn't give me sound and I can find only one channel. Where is the promblem? I tried mplayer, xawtv, tvtime, but it doesn't works.

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## br0theris

 *Ernetas wrote:*   

> Does anybody solved the problem?
> 
> I have this tuner, but it doesn't give me sound and I can find only one channel. Where is the promblem? I tried mplayer, xawtv, tvtime, but it doesn't works.

 

First: I have the same problem as Fulgore (card=72 sound only when setting mono and after few seconds it stops, have to set to mono again to get few seconds of sound)

Second: Ernetas, try "modprobe bttv card=70 tuner=44". CableTV in Vilnius works with KDETV and TVTime (I've entered channel MHz values manualy from cable tv website)

I can't get remote and radio to function at all

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## Ernetas

 *br0theris wrote:*   

>  *Ernetas wrote:*   Does anybody solved the problem?
> 
> I have this tuner, but it doesn't give me sound and I can find only one channel. Where is the promblem? I tried mplayer, xawtv, tvtime, but it doesn't works. 
> 
> First: I have the same problem as Fulgore (card=72 sound only when setting mono and after few seconds it stops, have to set to mono again to get few seconds of sound)
> ...

 

First: I've solved this problem. I've created file /etc/modules.d/bttv:

```
# i2c 

alias char-major-89 i2c-devb 

options i2c-algo-bit bit_test=1 

# bttv 

alias char-major-81 videodev 

alias char-major-81-0 bttv 

# My TV Card 

options bttv card=70 tuner=37 radio=1 pll=1 adc_crush=0
```

As I see, everything works well with analog TV  :Smile:  . Of course tvtime and KDETV works well.

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## Ernetas

Has anyone ever solved the radio and remote problems? I can't get them working yet...

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## depontius

I have one of these, (or something like it) though I haven't used it in about a year, in favor of a pair of Hauppauge cards.  

I don't know if it had an FM tuner, or not.  I never used it.

It has a remote control, though I've never used it, either.

Though it has a bt-878 chipset, which is supposed to include sound, I don't believe the card is wired to use it.  My card came with a short audio cord to route sound over to my line-in for the main sound system.

I believe it also has an svideo input, so if you're not getting a picture you might want to check on input selection.  (RF vs svideo)  Never having had the problem, I don't know how to do that, I fear.

One problem I did have was with band switching.  There were several i2c bits enumerated for band switching, and "tuner_simple" specified the wrong bit from switching from VHF_HI to UHF.  I had to tweak a "4" to an "8" (or was that vice-versa) in tuner_simple every time I compiled a new kernel.  I also looked up the tuner module, and found that they didn't have the band switching points quite right, according to spec.  For a while I updated that too, but then found that it really didn't matter.  The band switching points in the driver worked well enough, and only the switch control bit needed updating.

I can dig further if needed.  This is kind of ancient history for me, but I suppose I can find my old info.  I can also find if I have the exact card you're talking about - PixelPro had a whole pile of slightly different cards with that general name.

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## Ernetas

That would be awesome if you'd find out you got radio working, because radio is the only thing I need this card for.  :Smile: 

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