v31, Ubuntu 18.04, and Hauppauge HVR-1600

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kdx7214
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v31, Ubuntu 18.04, and Hauppauge HVR-1600

Post by kdx7214 »

I've been running a MythTV machine for years. Right now it's running Ubuntu 18.04. Everything was working fine on v30 and then I chose to update to v31. I got all the guide data sorted out and configured, but ran into a problem with the capture card and the entire mythtv-setup routine.

In the past I've added the HVR-1600 as a DVB card and it worked just fine using /dev/dvb/adapter0/frontend0. After the update this no longer works. It's unable to retrieve the information from the card. This machine only runs a combo frontend/backend and nothing is using the card (according to lsof anyway). Here's where it gets weird. I can tell setup that it's a V4L card on /dev/dvb/adapter0/frontend0 and it then returns that it's a cx18 based Hauppauge card.

If I then go to setup all the sundry other parts to make live tv work I run into problems. Prompt that come up with no options, just gray screen and so on.

I've included a pastebin of a logfile from when I tried to record a 30-min program in case it helps.

https://pastebin.com/4VnKDD6f

I want to try updating the OS to 20.04, but the last time I tried this MythTV installation failed due to a problem with the database creation script or something and I could never get it to work. Anyone know if that is working yet? I tried searching, but couldn't find the right keywords to get to it.
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kmdewaal
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Re: v31, Ubuntu 18.04, and Hauppauge HVR-1600

Post by kmdewaal »

The logfile is most useful, it shows that the problem is in the Delivery System configuration which is new in v31. The idea was that upgrading to v31 should be painless but that obviously did not work in your case.... sorry.

In mythtv-setup go to the Capture Card and set the Delivery System to ATSC. This might be enough to fix it.
If not, then please try the following in mythtv-setup:
- delete the capture card
- create a new capture card
- connect the new capture card to the video source.
If the configuration is OK then you should be able to do a channel scan. If you can do that then I expect that the mythbackend will also work.

Klaas.
kdx7214
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Re: v31, Ubuntu 18.04, and Hauppauge HVR-1600

Post by kdx7214 »

Okay, I tried that and get an empty dialog when I try to select the Delivery System (this is after deleting and adding the capture card back).

https://imgur.com/a/mXXljB5

The link should show what I get. I am thoroughly confused. Considering getting a new capture card, wiping the machine, and installing Ubuntu 20.04 - assuming the install script that creates the database is fixed.

It might be worth noting that I've never been able to get a channel scan to work in MythTV. Ever. I got the digital frequency ID's for the channels from other utilities and just manually dump them into channels via sql. It's always worked, so I've only updated the xmltvid and assumed it would still work. I also noticed that the Frontend ID (or whatever it's called) in the screen cap is empty. If I save it and go back in, it gives an unable to open /dev/dvb/adapter0/frontend0. I've double checked with lsof and nothing has it open, the rights are correct, the user is in the video group, and it still can't get it. Bad card maybe?
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bill6502
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Re: v31, Ubuntu 18.04, and Hauppauge HVR-1600

Post by bill6502 »

FWIW, I have that card and just installed it on a 20.04 host using master (v32-Pre) and the Steppes theme.

If I go back and change the card:

I can duplicate the 'Delivery system:' popup with no choices by not stopping the backend (I understand that lsof
didn't show the path in use.) I'd manually stop the backend and try again: sudo systemctl stop mythtv-backend.
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kmdewaal
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Re: v31, Ubuntu 18.04, and Hauppauge HVR-1600

Post by kmdewaal »

To be more explicit, if the "Delivery System" popup does not have choices then mythtv-setup cannot access the Hauppauge card so it cannot read which delivery systems the card does support. The most likely cause, as indicated by bill6502, is that mythbackend is still running. If mythtv-setup still fails when mythbackend is not running then it is possible that you are not allowed to access /dev/dvb/adapter*/* from the account you use to run mythtv-setup.

N.B. Your backend log shows that the card supports DVB-C/B and ATSC so your card is OK. It is the mythtv configuration that is not correct.
Once you can select the delivery system with mythtv-setup you should be able to do a channel scan. Even if you have another means of getting a correct channel list doing a channel scan is a good test to see if your hardware works OK.

The full story on how to do a channel scan can be found in the Wiki in https://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Channel_Scanning
kdx7214
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Re: v31, Ubuntu 18.04, and Hauppauge HVR-1600

Post by kdx7214 »

Yeah. I checked again. The backend is definitely not running. Did the systemctl stop stuff as usual, and verified with "ps ax | grep myth" to make sure nothing was running.

The wife noticed something odd. It stopped recording back on May 12th, which was before I did the update to v31. Starting to think the card might be borked. Going to order a pcHDTV card tomorrow and see if I can get that working. Is it worthwhile to start out with v32-Pre instead of v31? Might make the eventual update easier. I've never managed to get an update of version to work without a complete reinstall of MythTV.

I've gone through the channel scanning link many, many times over the years. The last time I managed to get it to work was back in analog tv days (good old V4L and NTSC). I'll probably wipe the machine tomorrow and do a complete rebuild. Have a new video card for it anyway.
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