Avermedia 777 TV Quality issues

[wombiroller]

Hi All,

Not sure hat my chances are here but I was looking for some advice in getting my Avermedia 777 PCI digital tuner working properly.

I have it installed, successfully scanned for channels (and have XMLTV working). I can watch live tv and record.

Problem is the quality is very poor. All channels have regular artifacts and the sounds pops and crackles every 15 seconds or so (approx). I have tried changing quality options including MP3 sampling, changing the deinterlace options and preferred MPEG decoder but I'm flying dark with most of these and nothing seems to make any positive improvements.

This card is installed as a "DVB DTV capture card (v3.x)" in Myth backend. It shows up as "Zarlink MT352 DVB-T Subtype DVB". I know this looks odd but it is the only way it'll work and I have had the same config in Mythbuntu before with no quality issues.

If anyone could give me a shove in the right direction it'd be appreciated. If this card simple won't work - that'd be OK as I probably should get a dual PCIe one anyway at some point.

Many Thanks,
WR

[ShamIAm]

WR,

Your issues sound like they could be created by a weak input signal. Have you verified that the line you are using works correctly in other equipment, perhaps by hooking it directly to a tv?

Then beyond that I have seen where the signal is strong enough for a tv, but not for a PVR or tuner card, for some reason they seem to need a stronger cleaner signal. Try hooking up to another line that is closer to your signal source.

I know these seem like simple answers, but I've seen them solve similiar issues several times in the past.

SR

[totallymaxed]

Hi All,

Not sure hat my chances are here but I was looking for some advice in getting my Avermedia 777 PCI digital tuner working properly.

I have it installed, successfully scanned for channels (and have XMLTV working). I can watch live tv and record.

Problem is the quality is very poor. All channels have regular artifacts and the sounds pops and crackles every 15 seconds or so (approx). I have tried changing quality options including MP3 sampling, changing the deinterlace options and preferred MPEG decoder but I'm flying dark with most of these and nothing seems to make any positive improvements.

This card is installed as a "DVB DTV capture card (v3.x)" in Myth backend. It shows up as "Zarlink MT352 DVB-T Subtype DVB". I know this looks odd but it is the only way it'll work and I have had the same config in Mythbuntu before with no quality issues.

If anyone could give me a shove in the right direction it'd be appreciated. If this card simple won't work - that'd be OK as I probably should get a dual PCIe one anyway at some point.

Many Thanks,
WR

Hi there,

Sounds like the 777 is working fine to me (it should as 7.10 will auto-detect it)... its just your signal quality from your aerial that is causing a problem. Try a variable gain aerial amplifier to boost the signal... it could also be that that signal is over modulated too... in which case you need to use a filter to reduce the amount of signal getting to the 777.

Hope the above helps.

Andrew

[wombiroller]

Thanks ShamIAm & totallymaxed.

I had kinda assumed that it wasn't a signal issue as its the same line that was working with Mythbuntu - but to be honest I have not really troubleshooted signal strength and I guess something may have been damaged recently... It seems to have no trouble finding channels/locking onto the signal but I'll try a few isolation tests etc...

Thanks for the help - will post results once I am able to test.

Cheers,
WR

[wombiroller]

Hmmmm, still no joy I'm afraid.

* Using the same cable direct to the Samsung M8 46" LCD and have no issues at all.
* Putting the Avermedia 777 into a Windows XP machine (using the same cable - they are sitting almost side by side), again no quality issues
*Quality issues continue on LinuxMCE box (the degree depends on the channel - HD Ten seems to suffer the most). I have also moved the box to within a metre of the signal source.

On Mythtv/LinuxMCE box ABC1 displays a signal strength of 40% with a S/N ratio of 4.8 %. This still has video quality issues (artifacts), with occasional sounds cut outs/pops. Would this signal normally prove insufficient in others experience?

If it is not driver related, the only thing I can think of is something in the box is causing interference? Are there any other things I can do to isolate the problem that doesn't require additional equipment?

Thanks again for the help.

Cheers,
Adriel.

[nosilla99]

@wombiroller

As you have hinted it may be interference, I had to move my DVB-T tuner as far as possible from my graphics card as I also experienced the issues you have described albeit with a Hauppauge card.

An additional thing to do is enble spread spectrum in your bios this substantially improved the reception on my DVB card allowing me to pull in channels that were not previously available (probably caused by intereference from the PCI bus).

NOS

[wombiroller]

Thanks NOS. Spread spectrum is already on (or at least on Auto, I only have Auto and disabled options in BIOS)

I moved the card but I only have 2 PCI slots to choose from - the rest are PCIe. It is now as far away as it can get from the GPU however it is closer to the PSU now. I think I'll try and dual boot to Windows to confirm it is hardware/interference in the box. Once that is confirmed (and I know it isn't anything to do with LinuxMCE) I can move forward. Thanks for your help.

WR

[wombiroller]

OK people - looking for some words of wisdom 

Tonight I installed Mythbuntu 8.10 on my Core/Hybrid (Dual Boot). So this setup is identical in all ways (- LMCE drivers/software/config).

1. Booting into MythBuntu; with the notable exception of TEN HD - all channels work when using Mythbuntu with no quality issues. 
2. Boot into LMCE; Every channel has video artifacts and occasional sound pops/crackles. This happens on recordings and when viewing live TV.   

Both Mythbuntu and LMCE have the Avermedia 777 setup as a DVB DTV capture card (v3.x)... I rescanned the channels in LMCE to make sure but no change. Both OS's report the same Signal and S/N levels from what I can tell.

Anyone have any suggestions on this one? Are there different drivers here or something else setup differently by default in LMCE? I have used Mythbuntu 7.10 before also with the card with no issues. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Many Thanks,
Adriel.

[wombiroller]

Sorry to bump all but thought I'd try one last time. Anyone got any suggestions? Anyone else have an Avermedia 777 working in LMCE 0710?

[wombiroller]

More bad news for me. I recently got a variable gain aerial amplifier (from Dick Smiths) but this did seem to make any significant difference in LMCE.

So I removed the Avermedia 777 and installed a DVICO dual digital 2 (already had this in another PC). Not auto detected, however I got the drivers installed (following these: http://www.itee.uq.edu.au/~chrisp/Linux-DVB/DVICO/) and both receivers working.

PROBLEM REMAINS!

Boot up in LMCE with either card and I get quality issues. Boot up in Mythbuntu with either card installed, no quality issues at all (the amplifier seems to have fixed this issues with Ten HD in Mythbuntu).

So - I'm thinking there has to be something else I can do? I have considered going and buying a PCIe card (current ones are PCI) but after doing the above I am not sure it'll make any diff.

Anyone know are there some settings or driver I can replace? Anything else? Doesn't make sense to me I'm afraid...

[totallymaxed]

More bad news for me. I recently got a variable gain aerial amplifier (from Dick Smiths) but this did seem to make any significant difference in LMCE.

So I removed the Avermedia 777 and installed a DVICO dual digital 2 (already had this in another PC). Not auto detected, however I got the drivers installed (following these: http://www.itee.uq.edu.au/~chrisp/Linux-DVB/DVICO/) and both receivers working.

PROBLEM REMAINS!

Boot up in LMCE with either card and I get quality issues. Boot up in Mythbuntu with either card installed, no quality issues at all (the amplifier seems to have fixed this issues with Ten HD in Mythbuntu).

So - I'm thinking there has to be something else I can do? I have considered going and buying a PCIe card (current ones are PCI) but after doing the above I am not sure it'll make any diff.

Anyone know are there some settings or driver I can replace? Anything else? Doesn't make sense to me I'm afraid...

It Sounds to me like something inside the MythTV integration must be causing the problem - if it was the card then you would see it either under LinuxMCE  or Mythbuntu. We also have both of those cards working under LinuxMCE-0710 with vdr and they work fine for us.

[wombiroller]

It Sounds to me like something inside the MythTV integration must be causing the problem - if it was the card then you would see it either under LinuxMCE  or Mythbuntu. We also have both of those cards working under LinuxMCE-0710 with vdr and they work fine for us.

Thanks Andrew, appreciate the note. I'm pretty sure I tested PVR when I first installed but had the same problems. I'll double-check this tonight. I would however prefer to keep MythTV for the XMLTV grabber and Mythweb.

Assuming its both - anyone know of some underlying driver/module/config I can update or change that wouldn't require a complete reinstall?

[wombiroller]

Just installed VDR. Same problem (if anything it seems a little worse than Mythtv)!!!!

This is killing me. Everything else is working a treat. Any experts out there can help? ANY suggestions more than welcome. The only thing I don't want to do is a full reinstall if it can be avoided...

Many Thanks.

[totallymaxed]

Just installed VDR. Same problem (if anything it seems a little worse than Mythtv)!!!!

This is killing me. Everything else is working a treat. Any experts out there can help? ANY suggestions more than welcome. The only thing I don't want to do is a full reinstall if it can be avoided...

Many Thanks.

Hmmm... well I guess its got to be something to do with your underlying installation then as the drivers/firmware for the cards will be common to both Myth & VDR and are in no way modified by LinuxMCE.

Looks to me like a reinstall may be needed... remind me are you running the 0710 release?

Andrew

[wombiroller]

Hmmm... well I guess its got to be something to do with your underlying installation then as the drivers/firmware for the cards will be common to both Myth & VDR and are in no way modified by LinuxMCE.

Looks to me like a reinstall may be needed... remind me are you running the 0710 release?

Andrew

Thanks for your help Andrew. I was really hoping I wouldn't have to do that though

Kinda hard for me to backup 1.3TB of Media. I'd really hate to have to rip this all over again.

Oh and yes - running 0710. Downloaded/Installed the RC1 a month or two ago.