MythTV and HVR-1600 card

[buschbarber]

I recently installed Ubuntu 14.04 on a PC that has been running various versions of Ubuntu for a number of years. I have installed and used MythTV several times in the past, and it has worked well. My last version of Ubuntu was 11. I haven't been using Ubuntu for a while. I installed MythTV from the Software Center. I am having trouble configuring mythTV for the WinTV HVR-1600 card. This is the same card I have used before for mythTV on this PC. I chose the Mpeg2 card type but the Probe fails. I tried DVB, but a Channel Scan will not pick up any channels.

Can someone help me with the configuration.

[brotherchris]

I had the same problems with my HVR 1600. I can use it for analog cable if I chose it as a PVR 150, and use /dev/video0, but only for analog. It will not scan channels, I had to build the channels manually. Are you trying to use analog? If so just do the scan to build the list, then try watch tv, you should still get the channels even though the scan found nothing. As for digital, I don’t have any so I have no info there.

[rwagner]

If you are using an HVR-1600 for analog cable, you should not need to scan channels. Pull them from your Schedules Direct account.

If you are using an HVR-1600 for digital, you will need to configure it as a DVB DTV tuner type. When you select that type from the dropdown in mythtv-setup, MythTV will autodetect the card.

Note that this card basically behaves as two completely independent devices on a single card. The analog and digital sides are exposed by their drivers independently, and need to be configured in MythTV independently.

[buschbarber]

Thanks to all!
It turns out that selecting the Mpeg-2 as the card type was correct. What I needed to do was enter /dev/video0 into the proper place and the card was recognized. I have been playing around with the settings. What I liked most about this PVR app was that I could record a show and Skip commercials. I could burn the recording to a DVD without commercials, as well. I need to find the setting to improve the video quality compared to what I am getting with the WinTV app when I boot this same PC into Windows 7.

I output the video from my PC to a 50" Sony HDTV. I have been doing this for years, successfully. I have an Nvidia 9800GTX card, so I go DVI to HDMI on the HDTV, at 1920 x 1080.

I just have Time Warner analog cable. I do not use an antenna or cable box.

[xmjsilverx]

Hey Buschbarber. I had a question about your display setup. I am using am integrated AMD graphics card and am connected to a sony 60" LCD. I cannot get the setting right on the catalyst control center. It will not allow me to adjust the underscan and when displayed at 1920x1080 I get weird horizontal lines. Do you think using a DVI to HDMI would fix that?

[xmjsilverx]

Also a question about your setup. I am tring to configure mythtv with a HVR1250 but I am having similar problems as you. I do not see a video0 file under dev and when I enter that as a source it fails to open the card. I am assuming that is where the driver is located for the card? If so where should I look for my card driver?

[buschbarber]

Hey Buschbarber. I had a question about your display setup. I am using am integrated AMD graphics card and am connected to a sony 60" LCD. I cannot get the setting right on the catalyst control center. It will not allow me to adjust the underscan and when displayed at 1920x1080 I get weird horizontal lines. Do you think using a DVI to HDMI would fix that?

I am using an Nvidia graphics adapter so I am not familiar with the Catalyst Control Center. Generally, the Integrated Video Adapters are not as full featured as the versions that can be installed in an Expansion slot. When I first bought my HDTV, my PC only had an Integrated Video adapter with a 15 pin VGA port. Connecting that to the VGA port on the HDTV limited me to a much lower resolution like 1280x1024. I was able to find a PCI Nvidia card that I could add a VGA to DVI adapter and then use a DVI to HDMI cable to connect to the HDMI port on the HDTV, at 1920x1080. When I built a new PC with a Quad Core Intel processor, I bought the Nvidia 9800GTX card which came with two DVI ports. That is what I use now. I can connect one port to the HDTV and the other to a Monitor, if I wish.

In earlier versions of Ubuntu, the Nvidia drivers were lame and I had to deal with Overscan. There were no controls, like there were with Windows Nvidia drivers, to ReSize the Desktop. Eventually, there were improved Nvidia drivers for Ubuntu that enabled me to ReSize the Desktop like I do in Windows. I usually don't like the Default drivers that load with Ubuntu and I try to find and install the newest drivers for my Graphics card. There are Sliders that let me Shrink the Desktop, Top to Botton, and Side to Side, so nothing is cut off on the edges.

Early on, I found out how to get into the secret Technician Menu for my HDTV and change the values for Over or Under Scan. That helped a little bit until the newer drivers came out.

[buschbarber]

Also a question about your setup. I am tring to configure mythtv with a HVR1250 but I am having similar problems as you. I do not see a video0 file under dev and when I enter that as a source it fails to open the card. I am assuming that is where the driver is located for the card? If so where should I look for my card driver?

Under Capture Cards, I had to choose Analog to Mpeg-2, for the card type, and type in /dev/video0 in the Video Device field. Then, my HVR 1600 card was detected and the name was displayed. After that, I set the resolution for the GUI and the Main Display. I used the defaults for fields I did not understand. I changed the Theme to the one I liked. I then launched the Frontend and configured it.

[rwagner]

Also a question about your setup. I am tring to configure mythtv with a HVR1250 but I am having similar problems as you.

No you are not. The HVR1250 and HVR1600 are completely different cards using completely different drivers. Additionally, the HVR1250 does not have an MPEG encoder, so you have to use it as a V4L framegrabber. Arguably framegrabbers should not be used for recording in MythTV anyway, and this card should be used as digital only. If only using the digital side, you don't even have to deal with firmware, which should make this one of the easiest digital tuners to install.

[rwagner]

I could add a VGA to DVI adapter and then use a DVI to HDMI cable to connect to the HDMI port on the HDTV

You can go from VGA to DVI-A. You can go from DVI-D to HDMI. You cannot go from DVI-A to DVI-D. One is analog, the other digital. The only way to do that is with a relatively expensive and low quality scan converter, at which point you're better off just buying a new video card with the proper ports.

[xmjsilverx]

Thanks for the info buschbarber. Rwagner: I bought this card because it supposedly works well with Linux but once again I am having trouble. I am only using it on OTA channels which I believe are all digital correct?