Author Topic: Troubles with Linux MCE on new hardware in Australia  (Read 2928 times)

doopz

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Troubles with Linux MCE on new hardware in Australia
« on: July 14, 2008, 02:46:15 pm »
I have tried installing Linux MCE on a brand new config and have no luck in getting my capture card detected or watching a DVD. My config is:

1 x AMD DC-6000-AM2+ ATHLON64B Dual Core CPU
1 x Gigabyte MA78GM-S2H VGA/DVI/HDMI/SPDIF/HD
2 x Transcend 2GB-DDR2-800 RAM
1 x WD 1TB-SATAII
1 x HP SATA Dual Layer DVD Burner
1 x WINFAST DTV1800H Analog/ Digital/ FM/ DVB-T/Record/
1 x USB-Bluetooth-DONGLE


I also tried a WINFAST 2000XP which also did not get detected. The cards do work as I have tried with Windows MCE (just to check).

I am using Kubuntu 7.10 AMD and LinuxMCE 0710 Beta4-amd64 which does install ok.

Apart from getting the capture card working, I am not able to find any TV guide online to point Linux MCE .

My plan is to get a giro mouse...but without getting my existing hardware working I am not sure how to proceed. If anyone can provide insite then I will really really appreciate it.

Thanks  :)

Cheers,
DoopZ

colinjones

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Re: Troubles with Linux MCE on new hardware in Australia
« Reply #1 on: July 14, 2008, 03:32:47 pm »
First, have you confirmed that this card works with LMCE in the wiki? Or at least works with Linux? You should be able to see it on the PCI bus (assuming it is a PCI card) by typing lspci in a terminal. Also, you should see it initialising during start up by typing dmesg in a terminal and looking for the card name.

As long as you see that successfully, it will probably work - when you say it doesn't get detected, do you mean that it doesn't appear during the setup wizard when she talks about TV cards? No idea if they normally do, but my one certainly doesn't and that is known "normal behaviour". Just ignore it and move on.

Can't advise you on Myth setups, but you really ought to choose VDR - it is specifically designed for DVB areas (including Australia). It needs to be tuned before the TV system will work - so do a search on the wiki for the TV tuning instructions, probably search on "dvb-utils", "channels.conf" or "scan -o", find the tuning file for your area and use that to generate the channels.conf file. Then upload that in the VDR section of the web admin and reload the router. Then your TV should work ....

You don't need a TV guide, this is transmitted over the air as part of the TV signal. You haven't really actually described the symptoms of any of your problems, so this advice is general to get TV going.... but I can't tell you anything about your DVD problems, all you said is it doesn't work!
« Last Edit: July 14, 2008, 03:35:15 pm by colinjones »

Zaerc

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Re: Troubles with Linux MCE on new hardware in Australia
« Reply #2 on: July 14, 2008, 03:49:46 pm »
That card probably needs some firmware, see if you can find anything about it on the linuxtv wiki.  And then you probably have to set it up manually in the mythtv-setup.
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doopz

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Re: Troubles with Linux MCE on new hardware in Australia
« Reply #3 on: July 14, 2008, 04:05:16 pm »
Thanks for the reply Colinjones :-)

Quote
You should be able to see it on the PCI bus (assuming it is a PCI card) by typing lspci in a terminal. Also, you should see it initialising during start up by typing dmesg in a terminal and looking for the card name.

With the Winfast 2000XP I have seen it get detected at startup and the lcpci does pick it up. I was able to get MythTV to see this card and was able to scan for available channels (only picked 2 channels). When I googled, this particular card does work with Linux. I am not sure where to look for the compatibility in LinuxMCE.

Quote
You haven't really actually described the symptoms of any of your problems, so this advice is general to get TV going

With Linux MCE or Myth TV, if I click on the "Watch TV" option, i just get put to a blank screen for a second and then back to the menu.

Quote
...but I can't tell you anything about your DVD problems, all you said is it doesn't work!

Now with regards to the SATA DVD player, I am able to put in a DVD and see the open credits, but as soon as your meant to see the DVD menu (and select "play the movie") I get put to the LinuxMCE menu.

doopz

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Re: Troubles with Linux MCE on new hardware in Australia
« Reply #4 on: July 14, 2008, 04:33:24 pm »
Hi Zaerc,

Quote
That card probably needs some firmware, see if you can find anything about it on the linuxtv wiki.

With regards to the Winfast 2000XP card, it does show support (http://www.linuxtv.org/v4lwiki/index.php/Leadtek_WinFast_2000) and no patches to get the TV going. If I want to use its remote, there is a patch from that site but I am unable to see the download to the patch from the referred url.

Thats ok, I can survive with using the mouse for now.

colinjones

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Re: Troubles with Linux MCE on new hardware in Australia
« Reply #5 on: July 14, 2008, 04:39:48 pm »
As I say, I can't advise on Myth, I've never used it. Use VDR. Also, be aware that many cards' tuners are not very sensitive so you need a really good signal or they won't be able to lock on to the weaker channels.

Can't help you with SATA DVD drives either, are you sure you installed the CSS library when you were given the option? What you're describing sounds like you are hitting the encryption on the disk... but it would flag that up with a warning in the top right of the screen as the DVD exits... If you are still having problems with this, start a new thread with SATA DVD somewhere in the subject to attract someone who knows about these things to respond.

As for where to look for LMCE info..... hmmm the wiki sounds like a good place to start! If you haven't been there and done lots of reading on installing and setting up yet, you shouldn't be installing yet!

doopz

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Re: Troubles with Linux MCE on new hardware in Australia
« Reply #6 on: July 14, 2008, 04:59:32 pm »
Quote
If you are still having problems with this, start a new thread with SATA DVD somewhere in the subject to attract someone who knows about these things to respond.

Thanks for the tip!

Quote
As for where to look for LMCE info..... hmmm the wiki sounds like a good place to start! If you haven't been there and done lots of reading on installing and setting up yet, you shouldn't be installing yet!

Hehe...I have been reading the wiki. Under the Linux MCE wiki the Winfast 2000 card is green under the tested good hardware section http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Tested_good_hardware.

I will take up your advice on using VDR and see how I go. I did play with dvb-utils when I used MythTV but not in MCE. Let me try.