Messages

1

Installation issues / Re: LinuxMCE won't display on my TV!

« on: June 22, 2008, 01:35:13 pm »

Is EDID set to true in your Xorg.  There are two locations in Xorg.conf where it should be set to true and not false.  Then it may be detected and setup correctly.

Al

2

Installation issues / Re: First instal blank screen 8800gts 312mb

« on: June 21, 2008, 09:48:14 pm »

Did you check the sticky post in this forum?

http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=3931.0

You've gone too far into the setup to allow you to press the mode keys if you can hear Sarah giving you prompts.

Your card probably has two outputs.  Connect one to a VGA Monitor and the other to your TV.  You may have to swap the connections before it will come up.

You'll hear ascending beeps when LinuxMCE starts up - make sure you connect your PC Speaker (the one on the motherboard not on your sound card) to the speaker in your case.  select 2 a few times - it should be acknowledged with one beep.  Wait a while for the X-Server to restart it can take 15 seconds or so.  If you don't see anything then try 6, wait..... and then 7.... and so on.  Each time swap the cables around - you may find one port will be VGA and not the other. 

Good luck,
Al

3

Installation issues / Re: Preferred method of tv signal input? What is a capture card?

« on: June 21, 2008, 09:41:00 pm »

A capture card will only capture a video signal.

You wish to connect your TV Antenna I guess so you will need a TV Tuner Card.  This will take in the RF Signal from the Antenna Cable (many different TV channels carried on the same cable) and then will enable you to tune to channels and be able to stream these to different media directors if it is installed in the core.  If you want to view more than one Station at a time you will need to have the required number of tuners.  Some TV Cards have multiple tuners or you can use multiple cards.  You can check the wiki:
http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Category:TV_Cards

Or the MythTV site to give you some clues.  Better to go with something that is known to work rather than try and hack something that may appear to be a bargain.

Don't forget the cards will cover DVB-T (Regular Digital TV),  DVB-S (Sat) and DVB-C (Cable TV).  If you get HD channels then you will need a HD Card which will allow you to view SD Channels too.  If you want to view more than one type then you will need additional cards.

Alternatively you can use a Set Top Box under the control of LinuxMCE and then use a video capture device (which will capture Composite, S-Video or maybe even HD Sources) but you won't get as much functionality with LinuxMCE.  For example being able to view the program guide and book events and series to record.

Good luck,
Al

4

Installation issues / Re: Setting Nvidia Card to HDMI modes

« on: June 21, 2008, 06:26:17 pm »

Hi,

You are right, HDMI does work - in Xorg.conf you have to switch EDID from false to true.  I'm using HDMI audio without problems.  Though LinuxMCE makes a mess of setting up SPDIF on the SBLive - but that is easily stopped.

As soon as I set EDID on the analyser picked up that it was a HDMI source and also my TV was picking up the Digital Audio.

Kind Regards,
Al

5

Installation issues / Setting Nvidia Card to HDMI modes

« on: June 20, 2008, 03:03:09 pm »

Hi,

I was lucky enough to borrow a HDMI Analyser and I have found that my Nvidia 8600GT is showing as a DVI device rather than HDMI.  I'm wondering do I need to make further modifications to my xorg.conf files to tell the card to signal that it is HDMI?  I know this is why I'm not getting sound routed correctly.

Thanks,
Al

6

Installation issues / Re: PCI Soundcard Recommendations

« on: June 20, 2008, 02:56:32 pm »

Hi,

I got SPDIF working on my SBLive.  By connecting the coax connection to my Amp I could verify that AC3 and DTS Passthrough was working.  I modified asound.conf to give the pcm.!default to the HW Plug of the IEC958.  Using mplayer I could play out AC3/DTS WAV Files.

I then checked with a DVM the connections around the ports and found the pins needed on the board.

Looking at the board with the pins backplane to the left and the chips facing you there is a 4 pin header at the top left of the board near the coax 3.5mm output.  You need to connect to the top two pins.  The pin on the left is ground the pin on the right is SPDIF.  I measured it at just over 1.8v on DC (bear in mind it's clocked signal).

G S
N N

G - Ground
S - SPDIF
N - Not used
N - Not used

Cheers,
Al

7

Installation issues / Re: PCI Soundcard Recommendations

« on: June 19, 2008, 12:49:28 pm »

No My motherboard doesn't have SPDIF out.  It's the ASRock939-Dual-SATA2.  I was hoping perhaps there is the output on the chip but I've not found it.  From my reading about this though I've heard that the Nvidia chips will take either a TTL or Coax Level input on SPDIF in.  Though I can't find anything formally that verifies this. 

I've got another post in the forum about getting SPDIF output working on the SB Live (CT4670?) but without success so far.

Cheers,
Al

8

Installation issues / Re: ASUS 8600GT Silent 512MB NOT WORKING

« on: June 19, 2008, 12:32:00 pm »

Expand on does not work?

Do you see your bios screen?

What are you connecting your card to? TV, LCD Monitor on VGA, HDMI, DVI.  Did you read the sticky on this forum? :
http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=3931.0  (Blank Screen After Install)

I have a Zotac 8600GT and the current drivers from the Nvidia Site worked fine with my AMD64 install.

Cheers,
Al

9

Installation issues / PCI Soundcard Recommendations

« on: June 18, 2008, 01:08:21 pm »

Hi,

I need a PCI soundcard that is supported in LinuxMCE that has SPDIF output at TTL Level suitable for connection to a Nvidia 8600GT.  Any recommendations?

Thanks,
Al

10

Installation issues / Re: Soundblaster Live Player 1024 (emu10k1) SPDIF Output

« on: June 18, 2008, 11:37:45 am »

Okay I did get digital output working but not through HDMI.  It seems the SB doesn't have a SPDIF Output, only the coax output and as such won't drive the TTL input on the graphics card.

However, you could trick the SB into thinking it has a live drive attached and this may then allow you to use the SPDIF Outputs.  Though I'm not able to confirm if this works.

I'm going to have to find a new soundcard that has SPDIF Output.

Thanks,
Al

11

Installation issues / Re: Soundblaster Live Player 1024 (emu10k1) SPDIF Output

« on: June 17, 2008, 04:29:03 pm »

Yes I have tried both the TV and Amp.

I've also tried the Analogue, optical and coax options - I'll definitely need the Coax option set.  However, in the "LinuxMCE Control Panel" under Audio options there is nothing in the device field.  I wonder if that is because it is built into the kernel.

I'll have a look again tonight when I am home - I found a few useful entries on the wiki.

Cheers,
Al

12

Installation issues / Re: Issues with 0710 RC

« on: June 17, 2008, 02:28:25 pm »

It could be useful to flash or scan the Keyboard lights at this point.

13

Installation issues / Soundblaster Live Player 1024 (emu10k1) SPDIF Output

« on: June 17, 2008, 02:25:37 pm »

Hi,

I've got a new installation of LinuxMCE 0710, Hybrid Install (one PC with MD/Core) - I'm having trouble getting the SPDIF output recognised by my A/V amp.  I'm using a GF 8600GT Card which encodes AC3 over HDMI (the card has HDMI output and can take an SPDIF input).

I have installed the latest Nvidia Drivers.  The card is functioning perfectly at 1080p on my Samsung TV.

When I open the audio properties on the Main LinuxMCE control panel* (the one that is visible as the MD/Core starts up) the line for audio device is blank and I can't seem to edit it.

Under /proc/sound/asound ( I forget the location to be exact) I can see that the emu10k1 is detected in the correct PCI Slot.  However, I'm stuck from there on how I can next configure the SPDIF output - I assume I have to get some sort of mixer settings up but I don't know where they might be.  *Also I'm not sure this will help as the device is not being shown in the Audio Tab or the LMCE Control Panel (as detailed above).

Please does anyone have an SB Live 1024 Player working on AMD64 - if so what steps did you need to take to get this card recognised by LMCE and working with SPDIF output.

Many thanks,
Al