Problems in LiveTV with analog card (BT878)

[andrew@…]

When I start live TV in EPG mode with an analog channel configured as starting channel I get a small preview picture OK, though without sound. If I go to full screen, or move to another analog channel in EPG, I get an error message saying "Irrecoverable recorder error". Sometimes I get a few seconds of full screen video, but other times mythfrontend crashes. See logs below - there appears to be a problem with audio capture, don't know if it is related to the video playback problem.

This card has worked fine previously on 0.21 using OSS audio capture device names, and works fine now in xawtv or tvtime. The following command pipes analog TV sound to HDMI audio, which shows that it is the correct capture device name and it is working properly:-

arecord -D hw:3,1 -r 119466 -f S16_LE | aplay -D plughw:2,3

DVB-T, DVDs, video files etc. all work fine in MythTV, and setting Audio Output Device to "ALSA: plughw:2,3" sends sound to HDMI audio without problem. I can play back the .nuv file in mplayer, though without sound - sound is not being captured, not just not played back.

The analog card is BT878 (Hauppauge WinTV Go!). System is Fedora 11 (kernel 2.6.30.10-105.fc11.x86_64). I have removed Pulseaudio.

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MythTV version info

MythTV Version   : 22973
MythTV Branch    : branches/release-0-22-fixes/mythtv/
Network Protocol : 50
Library API      : 0.22.20091023-1
QT Version       : 4.5.3
Options compiled in:
 linux release using_oss using_alsa using_pulse using_arts using_jack using_backend using_dvb using_firewire using_frontend using_hdhomerun using_hdpvr using_iptv using_ivtv using_joystick_menu using_libfftw3 using_lirc using_mheg using_opengl_video using_opengl_vsync using_qtwebkit using_v4l using_x11 using_xrandr using_xv using_xvmc using_xvmc_vld using_xvmcw using_bindings_perl using_bindings_python using_opengl using_vdpau using_ffmpeg_threads using_libavc_5_3 using_live using_mheg

mythbackend log

2010-01-08 23:52:26.013 TVRec(1): HW Tuner: 1->1
2010-01-08 23:52:33.111 MainServer::ANN Playback
2010-01-08 23:52:33.111 adding: localhost.localdomain as a client (events: 0)
2010-01-08 23:52:33.113 TVRec(1): Changing from Watching WatchingLiveTV to None
2010-01-08 23:52:33.114 Unknown type, recording width was 0
2010-01-08 23:52:33.288 Finished recording Unknown: channel 1003
2010-01-08 23:52:33.329 MainServer::ANN Playback
2010-01-08 23:52:33.329 adding: localhost.localdomain as a client (events: 0)
2010-01-08 23:52:33.332 TVRec(1): Changing from None to Watching WatchingLiveTV
2010-01-08 23:52:33.337 TVRec(1): HW Tuner: 1->1
2010-01-08 23:52:33.374 SampleRate: Attempted to add a rate 32000 Hz, which is not in the list of allowed rates.
2010-01-08 23:52:33.400 AudioInALSA(hw:3,1) Error: failed to set channels to 2: Invalid argument
2010-01-08 23:52:33.400 NVR(/dev/video1) Error: Failed to open audio device ALSA:hw:3,1
2010-01-08 23:52:33.400 NVR(/dev/video1) Error: Failed to init audio input device
2010-01-08 23:52:33.406 AutoExpire: CalcParams(): Max required Free Space: 2.0 GB w/freq: 15 min
ioctl VIDIOC_G_FMT: Invalid argument
2010-01-08 23:52:33.410 AudioInALSA(hw:3,1) Error: failed to set channels to 2: Invalid argument
2010-01-08 23:52:33.411 NVR(/dev/video1) Error: Failed to open audio device ALSA:hw:3,1
2010-01-08 23:52:33.420 MainServer, Warning: Unknown socket closing MythSocket(0x10c4f00)
2010-01-08 23:52:33.422 MythSocket(10c4f00:-1): writeStringList: Error, socket went unconnected.
                        We wrote 0 of 10 bytes with 1 errors
2010-01-08 23:52:33.486 TVRec(1): Changing from Watching WatchingLiveTV to None
2010-01-08 23:52:33.487 Unknown type, recording width was 0
2010-01-08 23:52:33.563 Finished recording Unknown: channel 1003

mythfrontend output

2010-01-08 23:52:33.046 MythSocket(2a9a280:29): readStringList: Error, timed out after 7000 ms.
2010-01-08 23:52:33.046 RemoteEncoder::SendReceiveStringList(): No response.
2010-01-08 23:52:33.047 NVP(0), Error: Unknown recorder error, exiting decoder
2010-01-08 23:52:33.055 LiveTVChain(live-localhost.localdomain-2010-01-08T23:51:58): SwitchTo() not switching to current
2010-01-08 23:52:33.088 TV: Attempting to change from Watching WatchingLiveTV to None
2010-01-08 23:52:33.110 MythContext: Connecting to backend server: 127.0.0.1:6543 (try 1 of 1)
2010-01-08 23:52:33.111 Using protocol version 50
2010-01-08 23:52:33.291 TV: Changing from Watching WatchingLiveTV to None
2010-01-08 23:52:33.319 ScreenSaverX11Private: DPMS Reactivated 1
2010-01-08 23:52:33.327 TV: Attempting to change from None to Watching WatchingLiveTV
2010-01-08 23:52:33.328 MythContext: Connecting to backend server: 127.0.0.1:6543 (try 1 of 1)
2010-01-08 23:52:33.329 Using protocol version 50
2010-01-08 23:52:33.330 Spawning LiveTV Recorder -- begin
2010-01-08 23:52:33.418 Spawning LiveTV Recorder -- end
2010-01-08 23:52:33.426 We have a playbackURL(/home/mythtv/1003_20100108235233.nuv) & cardtype(V4L)
2010-01-08 23:52:33.429 We have a RingBuffer
2010-01-08 23:52:33.480 TV Error: LiveTV not successfully started
2010-01-08 23:52:33.526 ScreenSaverX11Private: DPMS Deactivated 1
2010-01-08 23:52:33.530 ScreenSaverX11Private: DPMS Reactivated 1

Thanks,

Andrew Wasielewski

[robertm]

Your backend log indicates that your ALSA input device and recording profile sampling rate are invalid, making this a configuration issue. Please seek help on the users list if you require any further answers.

[Carlos Azevedo <geral@…>]

This is not a configuration issue: the ALSA initialization code is broken. Check out ticket #8361.