[clug] Mythtv, Digital tuner, Canberra

Red Phoenix intersect at gmail.com
Thu Nov 17 05:59:46 GMT 2005


In recognition of the upcoming MythTV talk at the next CLUG, and in response
to a few queries I've received recently regarding MythTV and digital tuners
in Oz, I thought I'd make a few of my miscellaneous scrawlings available to
the list for anyone who is interested.

If you aren't interested in mythtv, feel free to hit the delete button now.

The following text represents my working notes, made when I updated my
analogue (PVR-350 based) mythtv box to use a Ultraview DVB-T (which is
basically a DVICO DVB-T re-badged). There's not a great deal of detail, but
anyone who is interested, can email me for more info. If anyone has any
suggestions for an appropriate 'wiki' location for this sort of info, drop
me an email.

Note: This assumes that you've followed the Fedora 'Mythology' HOWTO guide
on fedora core 3. For other distributions, YMMV, but things should be
reasonably close.

Regards,

Leigh.

Hardware Notes
--------------
I picked up my Ultraview card from AB&T in Philip - just under 200ish.
Belconnen should have some also - apparently they're fairly easy to find
around Canberra as of Nov 2005.

When installing your card, ensure that you plug the ultraview/dvico
audio-out port into the CD-in port (or AUX, if you have one), on your sound
card. This is an on-card port in both cases - not one of the ones at the
rear that you can access from outside your computer. A suitable cable is
supplied with the Ultraview.

Kernel
------
Update to the most recent kernel available. Older kernels may not have the
drivers required. I'm using 2.6.12.

Kudzu will add an entry into /etc/modprobe.conf for you for the card, which
should look like this:
alias char-major-81 cx8800

However, force the cx88xx module into DVICO mode as follows:
options cx88xx card=21

Alsa
----
Ensure that your 'CD' device on your sound card is enabled as a 'capture'
device. Run: alsamixer, press F4 to switch to the 'Capture' options. Move to
'CD' and press 'space' to set CD as a capture device. Press F3 to jump back
to 'Playback' and set the CD volume to 100%.

Permissions
-----------
Add to /etc/security/console.perms:

# Mythtv permissions
<dvb>=/dev/dvb/adapter?/*
<console> 0660 /dev/lirc0 0660 root.uucp
<console> 0660 <dvb> 0660 root.root

Reboot. This will allow the mythtv user (or whoever logs into the console)
to access the card, rather than restricting it to root only.

Tuner
-----
Go to http://www.dba.org.au/index.asp?sectionID=22, put in your post-code
(eg: 2902)
Select the region that is closest to you (eg: Tuggeranong Hill)
Note down the "middle frequency" for each channel. Convert it to HZ by
multiplying by 1000000 (788.5 becomes 788500000).

tv_grab_au_tuhs
---------------
Download tv_grab_au_tuhs, and follow the instructions from
http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~willu/xmltv/tv_grab_au_tuhs.html

Note: I fired up phpmyadmin at this point, and threw the xmlid into the
channels table (I didn't follow the above instructions exactly) - I suspect
you won't need to do this, so I won't go into significant detail.

MythTV Setup
------------
Run mythtvsetup

Set up the 'General' options as appropriate

Define a new Capture card, and configure it as a "Digital Video Broadcast
Card (DVB)"
The DVB Card Number, is generally '0', but may be different on your system.
Once you have the correct Card type, and card number, the 'Card Name' and
'Type' should show appropriate values.
Under Advanced -> Recording Options: Check 'Use Hardware MPEG Encoder'
Finish

Video Sources -> New Video Source
Video Source Name: HDTV Tuner (this name can be pretty-much arbitrary)
XMLTV Listings Grabber: Australia
Channel frequency table: default

Input Connections: Set DVB0 to a video source of 'HDTV Tuner'

Channel Editor
--------------
Go to 'Advanced' (Note: the 'm' key will allow you to edit/delete stuff in
this submenu)
Select 'New Transport'
Enter each frequency you found above (in Hz). Select a Bandwidth of 7Hz

Select 'scan for channels'
Change 'scan type' to 'Existing transport scan'
Select each transport in turn, and Scan. Channels should be added to the
main
listing once they're found.

LIRC
----
Grab lircd patch from http://www.itee.uq.edu.au/~chrisp/Linux-DVB/DVICO/.
download lircd 07, patch, make as per instructions on the site. Copy the
resulting lircd binary over /usr/sbin/lircd
(beware: apt-get upgrades that include lircd may break your remote config.
Might be worth saving off a copy of the binary somewhere else).

modify /etc/sysconfig/lircd to:
LIRCD_OPTIONS="--driver=dvico --device=/dev/hiddev0"

(NOTE: There could potentially be other hiddev devices on your system.. in
this case, your tuner may be hiddev1 or 2 - not sure how to best determine
this).

~mythtv/.mythtv/lirc: Set as follows:

Note: This config roughly mirrors the Hauppauge grey remote configuration,
with a few extras added to cope with the specific buttons on the DVICO
remote.

---- start ----
# Ultraview / dvico DVB-T Black remote

# Channel Up
begin
prog = mythtv
button = ch_up
repeat = 3
config = Up
end

# Channel Down
begin
prog = mythtv
button = ch_down
repeat = 3
config = Down
end

# OK/Select
begin
prog = mythtv
button = ok
config = Space
end

# Play/Pause
begin
prog = mythtv
button = playpause
config = P
end

begin
prog = mythtv
button = stop
config = Esc
end

# Escape/Exit/Back
begin
prog = mythtv
button = back
config = Esc
end

# Escape/Exit/Back
begin
prog = mythtv
button = tv_onoff
config = Esc
end

# big green start button
begin
prog = mythtv
button = start
repeat = 3
config = Esc
end

# Mute
begin
prog = mythtv
button = mute
repeat = 3
config = F9
end

# Fast forward (30 sec default)
begin
prog = mythtv
button = fastforward
repeat = 24
config = Right
end

# Back (10 sec default)
begin
prog = mythtv
button = rewind
repeat = 24
config = Left
end

# Skip forward (10 min default)
begin
prog = mythtv
button = skip
repeat = 3
config = PgDown
end

# Skip backward (10 min default)
begin
prog = mythtv
button = replay
repeat = 3
config = PgUp
end

# Record
begin
prog = mythtv
button = record
repeat = 3
config = R
end

# OSD browse
begin
prog = mythtv
button = guide
repeat = 3
config = O
end

# Display EPG while in live TV,
# View selected show while in EPG
begin
prog = mythtv
button = setup
repeat = 3
config = M
end

# Scroll up
begin
prog = mythtv
button = up
repeat = 3
config = Up
end

# Scroll down
begin
prog = mythtv
button = down
repeat = 3
config = Down
end

# Scroll Left
begin
prog = mythtv
button = left
repeat = 3
config = Left
end

# Scroll Right
begin
prog = mythtv
button = right
repeat = 3
config = Right
end

# Bring up OSD info
begin
prog = mythtv
button = more
repeat = 3
config = I
end

# Change display aspect ratio
begin
prog = mythtv
button = aspect
repeat = 3
config = W
end

# Seek to previous commercial cut point
begin
prog = mythtv
button = snapshot
repeat = 3
config = Q
end

# Seek to next commercial cut point
begin
prog = mythtv
button = folder_open
repeat = 3
config = Z
end

# Numbers 0-9

begin
prog = mythtv
button = 0
repeat = 3
config = 0
end

begin
prog = mythtv
button = 1
repeat = 3
config = 1
end

begin
prog = mythtv
button = 2
repeat = 3
config = 2
end

begin
prog = mythtv
button = 3
repeat = 3
config = 3
end

begin
prog = mythtv
button = 4
repeat = 3
config = 4
end

begin
prog = mythtv
button = 5
repeat = 3
config = 5
end

begin
prog = mythtv
button = 6
repeat = 3
config = 6
end

begin
prog = mythtv
button = 7
repeat = 3
config = 7
end

begin
prog = mythtv
button = 8
repeat = 3
config = 8
end

begin
prog = mythtv
button = 9
repeat = 3
config = 9
end

begin
prog = mythtv
button = dvd_menu
config = M
end

begin
prog = mythtv
button = vol_down
repeat = 3
config = [
end

begin
prog = mythtv
button = vol_up
repeat = 3
config = ]
end

begin
prog = mythtv
button = dtv
config = C
end

---- end ----




~mythtv/lirc: Set as follows:
---- start ----
### MPlayer/Xine lirc setup

# Show OSD
begin
prog = mplayer
button = guide
repeat = 3
config = osd
end

# Pause playback
begin
prog = mplayer
button = stop
repeat = 3
config = pause
end

# Skip ahead a minute if playing
# If paused, resume playing
begin
prog = mplayer
button = playpause
repeat = 3
config = seek +1
end

# Stop playback and exit
begin
prog = mplayer
button = tv_onoff
repeat = 3
config = quit
end
begin
prog = mplayer
button = back
repeat = 3
config = quit
end

# big green start button
begin
prog = mplayer
button = start
repeat = 3
config = quit
end

# Mute
begin
prog = mplayer
button = mute
repeat = 3
config = mute
end

# Seek back 10 seconds
begin
prog = mplayer
button = left
repeat = 3
config = seek -10
end

# Seek forward 30 seconds
begin
prog = mplayer
button = right
repeat = 3
config = seek +30
end

# Seek forward 3 minutes
begin
prog = mplayer
button = fastforward
repeat = 3
config = seek +180
end

# Seek backward 3 minutes
begin
prog = mplayer
button = rewind
repeat = 3
config = seek -180
end

# Seek forward 10 minutes
begin
prog = mplayer
button = skip
repeat = 3
config = seek +600
end

# Seek backward 10 minutes
begin
prog = mplayer
button = replay
repeat = 3
config = seek -600
end

# Toggle full-screen
begin
prog = mplayer
button = fullscreen
repeat = 3
config = vo_fullscreen
end

# Xine

begin
prog = xine
button = playpause
repeat = 3
config = Play
end

begin
prog = xine
button = stop
repeat = 3
config = Pause
end

begin
prog = xine
button = back
config = Quit
end

begin
prog = xine
button = tv_onoff
config = Quit
end

begin
prog = xine
button = right
repeat = 3
config = SeekRelative+10
end

begin
prog = xine
button = left
repeat = 3
config = SeekRelative-10
end

begin
prog = xine
button = fastforward
repeat = 3
config = SeekRelative+30
end

begin
prog = xine
button = rewind
repeat = 3
config = SeekRelative-30
end

begin
prog = xine
button = skip
repeat = 3
config = SeekRelative+300
end

begin
prog = xine
button = replay
repeat = 3
config = SeekRelative-300
end

begin
prog = xine
button = up
repeat = 1
config = EventUp
end

begin
prog = xine
button = down
repeat = 1
config = EventDown
end

begin
prog = xine
button = ok
repeat = 0
config = EventSelect
end

begin
prog = xine
button = guide
repeat = 0
config = Menu
end

begin
prog = xine
button = setup
repeat = 0
config = Menu
end

begin
prog = xine
button = vol_up
repeat = 1
config = Volume+
end

begin
prog = xine
button = vol_down
repeat = 1
config = Volume-
end

---- end ----

reboot.


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