On Fri, 2010-09-17 at 18:23 -0400, Josh Borke wrote: > Thanks for the response! Replies are in line. > > On Thu, Sep 16, 2010 at 6:48 PM, Andy Walls <awalls@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > On Wed, 2010-09-15 at 22:54 -0400, Josh Borke wrote: > >> I've recently noticed some distortion coming from my hvr1600 when > >> viewing analog channels. It happens to all analog channels with some > >> slightly better than others. I am running Fedora 12 linux with kernel > >> version 2.6.32.21-166. > > > > > >> I know I need to include more information but I'm not sure what to > >> include. Any help would be appreciated. > > > > 1. Would you say the distortion is something you would possibly > > encounter on an analog television set, or does it look "uniquely > > digital"? On systems with a long uptime and lots of usage, MPEG encoder > > firmware could wind up in a screwed up state giving weird output image. > > Simple solution in this case is to reboot. > > I'm not sure if I would classify it as "uniquely digital". The > distortion happens across most of the screen with it being > concentrated in the top third. Additionally shows that include black > bars the top black bar is seemingly stretched and the image seems like > the colors are over-saturated where they colors are brighter. > Rebooting had no effect :( OK. > > 2. Have you ensured your cable plant isn't affecting signal integrity? > > http://ivtvdriver.org/index.php/Howto:Improve_signal_quality > > The cable plant hasn't changed the signal strength or integrity as far > as I know. OK. Keep it in the back of your mind though. > > 3. Does this happen with only the RF tuner or only CVBS or only SVideo > > or more than one of them? If the problem is only with RF, then it could > > be an incoming signal distortion problem. Do you have cable or an over > > the air antenna for analog RF? > > I only have input for the RF tuner. I have cable for analog RF. Please try and test the output of a VCR or DVD play plugged into the HVR-1600. (We don't need sound, just the video.) This will tell us if the problem happens before the CX23418 chip's analog front end (i.e. in the RF and analog tuner) or not. $ v4l2-ctl -d /dev/video0 -n (List of possible inputs displayed) $ v4l2-ctl -d /dev/video0 -i 2 Video input set to 2 (Composite 1) # v4l2-ctl -d /dev/video0 -s ntsc-m Standard set to 00001000 $ cat /dev/video0 > foo.mpg ^C > > 4. What does v4l2-ctl --log-status show as your analog tuner? > > Not sure what you mean so I've included the full output: > # v4l2-ctl -d /dev/hvr1600 --log-status > > Status Log: > > cx18-0: ================= START STATUS CARD #0 ================= > cx18-0: Version: 1.2.0 Card: Hauppauge HVR-1600 > tveeprom 3-0050: Hauppauge model 74041, rev C6B2, serial# 898361 > tveeprom 3-0050: MAC address is 00-0D-FE-0D-B5-39 > tveeprom 3-0050: tuner model is TCL M2523_5N_E (idx 112, type 50) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ OK. You have a board with the same tuner as I have. All I have for an analog RF source is a DTV STB, so a very clean channel 3 is all I have to try and duplicate the problem. > tveeprom 3-0050: TV standards NTSC(M) (eeprom 0x08) > tveeprom 3-0050: audio processor is CX23418 (idx 38) > tveeprom 3-0050: decoder processor is CX23418 (idx 31) > tveeprom 3-0050: has no radio, has IR receiver, has IR transmitter > cx18-0 843: Video signal: present > cx18-0 843: Detected format: NTSC-M > cx18-0 843: Specified standard: NTSC-M > cx18-0 843: Specified video input: Composite 7 > cx18-0 843: Specified audioclock freq: 48000 Hz > cx18-0 843: Detected audio mode: mono > cx18-0 843: Detected audio standard: BTSC > cx18-0 843: Audio muted: no > cx18-0 843: Audio microcontroller: running > cx18-0 843: Configured audio standard: automatic detection > cx18-0 843: Configured audio system: BTSC > cx18-0 843: Specified audio input: Tuner (In8) > cx18-0 843: Preferred audio mode: stereo > cx18-0 gpio-reset-ctrl: GPIO: direction 0x00003001, value 0x00003001 > tuner 4-0061: Tuner mode: analog TV > tuner 4-0061: Frequency: 175.25 MHz ^^^^^^ This is the freq for both US Broadcast and US Cable channel 7 BTW. > tuner 4-0061: Standard: 0x0000b000 > cs5345 3-004c: Input: 1 > cs5345 3-004c: Volume: 0 dB > cx18-0: Video Input: Tuner 1 > cx18-0: Audio Input: Tuner 1 > cx18-0: GPIO: direction 0x00003001, value 0x00003001 > cx18-0: Tuner: TV > cx18-0: Stream: MPEG-2 Program Stream > cx18-0: VBI Format: Private packet, IVTV format > cx18-0: Video: 720x480, 30 fps > cx18-0: Video: MPEG-2, 4x3, Variable Bitrate, 6600000, Peak 6600000 > cx18-0: Video: GOP Size 15, 2 B-Frames, GOP Closure > cx18-0: Audio: 48 kHz, MPEG-1/2 Layer II, 384 kbps, Stereo, No > Emphasis, No CRC > cx18-0: Spatial Filter: Manual, Luma 1D Horizontal, Chroma 1D Horizontal, 0 > cx18-0: Temporal Filter: Manual, 8 > cx18-0: Median Filter: Off, Luma [0, 255], Chroma [0, 255] > cx18-0: Status flags: 0x00200001 > cx18-0: Stream encoder MPEG: status 0x0000, 0% of 2048 KiB (64 > buffers) in use > cx18-0: Stream encoder YUV: status 0x0000, 0% of 2048 KiB (16 buffers) in use > cx18-0: Stream encoder VBI: status 0x0000, 0% of 1015 KiB (20 buffers) in use > cx18-0: Stream encoder PCM audio: status 0x0000, 0% of 1024 KiB > (256 buffers) in use > cx18-0: Read MPEG/VBI: 3507263488/15001920 bytes > cx18-0: ================== END STATUS CARD #0 ================== > > > > 5. Do you have a kernel with the new concurrency managed workqueues? > > On these kernels 'ps axf' will *not* show kernel threads with names like > > [cx18-0-in], [cx18-0-out/0], [cx18-0-out/1]. This is a major kernel > > change which could cause some MPEG buffers to be lost or reordered, if > > the new workqueue implementation has bugs. > > > ps axf shows [cx18-0-in], [cx18-0-out/0], [cx18-0-out/1], > [cx18-0-out/2], [cx18-0-out/3] OK. That eliminates that potential source of problems. > > 6. Have you recently installed new hardware in the subject computer? Of > > most interest are adapter cards with cables coming off of them and cards > > very close to the HVR-1600. EMI can be picked up by the HVR-1600's > > board traces that are not shielded. > > > > Haven't changed any of the hardware in the system. OK. > > 7. Does the distortion look like loss of horizontal line sync and happen > > only near very bright parts of the image on the left edge? If it does, > > the baseband video signal level is too high. > > It does seem to be worse in brighter areas of the screen. Inserting > additional splitters (to reduce the signal strength) has no affect. OK. The problem I mentioned is usually for when you have a very good picture otherwise. If the entire image is poor, then this likely isn't the cause. > > 8. Care to post a short image in a paste bin or email a small MPEG to > > me? > > I've tried using $ ivtv-tune -c 71 -d /dev/hvr1600 followed by $ cat > /dev/hvr1600 > /tmp/test.mpg then ctrl+c'ing that after a few seconds > but it results in garbage. Do you have a better method? So try this: 1. Configure your system so they MythTV backend, or any other application that messes with the video card, won't start up on reboot. 2. Shutdown the machine & power-off & power back on. 3. Do these for steps for US Cable $ v4l2-ctl -d /dev/video0 -i 0 Video input set to 0 (Tuner 1) $ ivtv-tune -d /dev/video0 -t us-cable -c 7 /dev/video0: 175.250 MHz $ cat /dev/video0 > foo.mpg Note that v4l2-ctl and ivtv-tune default to "/dev/video0", but I see you have a "/dev/hvr1600"(?). In all my examples, I explicitly call out the device node as "/dev/video0". Please replace "/dev/video0" with the appropriate device node name on your system. > I'll email > you that file so you can see it anyway. Most of my recordings are > from using mythtv and the results are at least watchable. > > Regards, > > Andy > > Received it. It looks really, really bad: like an untuned channel. Please try again with the steps I provided explicitly calling out the device node. Thanks, Andy -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-media" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html