[ivtv-users] cx18 analog cable problems

[Andy Walls]

On Mon, 2009-08-24 at 17:42 -0400, SoxSlayer wrote:
> I have just gotten my HVR 1600 working, well sortof, and I'm running
> into some problems.  I have used the latest driver from linuxtv.org.
> The driver and firmware load just fine and dmesg report nothing which
> would indicate an error.  When I try and view the tv feed with mplayer
> tv:// the following is the output:
> 
> $ mplayer tv://
> MPlayer SVN-r29463-4.3.2 (C) 2000-2009 MPlayer Team


Do this instead:

$ v4l2-ctl -i 0
Video input set to 0 (Tuner 1)

$ ivtv-tune -t us-cable -c 4
/dev/video0: 67.250 MHz  (Signal Detected)

$ mplayer /dev/video0 -cache 8192
MPlayer dev-SVN-r26936-4.3.0 (C) 2000-2008 MPlayer Team
CPU: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5200+ (Family: 15, Model: 107, Stepping: 2)
CPUflags:  MMX: 1 MMX2: 1 3DNow: 1 3DNow2: 1 SSE: 1 SSE2: 1
Compiled with runtime CPU detection.
mplayer: could not connect to socket
mplayer: No such file or directory
Failed to open LIRC support. You will not be able to use your remote control.

Playing /dev/video0.
Cache fill: 18.85% (1581056 bytes)   
MPEG-PS file format detected.
VIDEO:  MPEG2  720x480  (aspect 2)  29.970 fps  8000.0 kbps (1000.0 kbyte/s)
....


> When I do cat /dev/video0 > test.mpg then play the file there is no
> audio and the video is not clear.  I can barely tell what channel it is
> but it is in black and white and is very badly distorted.

Hmmm, that should always work.  Perhaps trying to use the tv:// option
to mplayer set the cx18 driver to an unusual state.  Unload and reload
the module just to be sure you're in a known good state before running
the above test.

Regards,
Andy

> My linux distro is Gentoo with the latest, 2.6.30-gentoo-r4, kernel.
> Can anyone help with this problem?  I just want to be able to watch tv
> from my linux box, no fancy mythtv or recording.