Need help configuring Tv Tuner Card (no audio problem)

BijuMathew · 11-03-2007, 11:15 AM

Hi all,
Ive recently decided to go the Open Source Way by changing my Operating System to Ubuntu 7.10 AMD64 Gutsy Gibbon Install. I must say I'm enjoying my experience but I'm kind of stuck with a single problem which I need help. Well actually two but the second one isn't something I can manage without.

Anyway here is my Computer Configuration

Ubuntu 7.10 AMD64 Gutsy Gibbon Install (Kernel 2.6.22-14-generic)
AMD 4400 Socket AM2
Asus M2N MX-SE Motherboard
Onboard Sound, Realtek HD Audio
Onboard Video, Geforce 6150
2 GB of Ram
1 x Sata Drive and 1 x Hard Drive (Both 80 GB)
TechCom Internal Tv Tuner (In Windows XP it shows something called TCL2002MB3 in Linux its the chipset is Philips 7130, and yes you probably found my problem by now. )

I can't get this TV Tuner (audio portion) to work over the past week. I have a Post on this here but there has been no reply other than me and one other poster who is having the same problem with the same audio chipset.

Im getting my Tuner to show Video now by doing the following.

sudo rmmod saa7134_alsa
sudo rmmod saa7134
sudo modprobe saa7134 card=3 tuner=69
sudo modprobe saa7134_alsa

This allows me to see Video in tvtime. I tried MythTv , ScanTv and XawTv other than the above.

Here is my lsmod | grep saa

Code:

biju@Venom:~$ lsmod|grep  saa

saa7134_alsa           17440  1 

snd_pcm                94344  3 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm_oss,saa7134_alsa

saa7134               148308  1 saa7134_alsa

video_buf              30084  2 saa7134_alsa,saa7134

compat_ioctl32         11136  1 saa7134

ir_kbd_i2c             11536  1 saa7134

ir_common              38916  2 saa7134,ir_kbd_i2c

videodev               31360  1 saa7134

v4l2_common            21888  3 saa7134,compat_ioctl32,videodev

snd                    69288  12 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,saa7134_alsa,snd_pcm,snd_seq_oss,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device

v4l1_compat            15364  2 saa7134,videodev

i2c_core               30208  4 saa7134,ir_kbd_i2c,nvidia,i2c_nforce2

biju@Venom:~$

Here is my dmesg | grep saa

Code:

biju@Venom:~$ dmesg | grep saa

[   29.504510] saa7130/34: v4l2 driver version 0.2.14 loaded

[   29.504922] saa7130[0]: found at 0000:01:06.0, rev: 1, irq: 19, latency: 64, mmio: 0xdffffc00

[   29.504928] saa7130[0]: subsystem: 1131:2005, board: UNKNOWN/GENERIC [card=0,autodetected]

[   29.504936] saa7130[0]: board init: gpio is 131c7

[   29.651479] saa7130[0]: i2c eeprom 00: 31 11 05 20 08 20 1c 55 43 43 a9 1c 55 43 43 a9

[   29.651487] saa7130[0]: i2c eeprom 10: ff ff 00 00 31 30 4d 4f 4f 4e 53 37 31 33 30 20

[   29.651494] saa7130[0]: i2c eeprom 20: 54 05 48 53 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff

[   29.651500] saa7130[0]: i2c eeprom 30: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff

[   29.651506] saa7130[0]: i2c eeprom 40: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff

[   29.651512] saa7130[0]: i2c eeprom 50: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff

[   29.651517] saa7130[0]: i2c eeprom 60: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff

[   29.651523] saa7130[0]: i2c eeprom 70: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff

[   29.651604] saa7130[0]: registered device video0 [v4l2]

[   29.651632] saa7130[0]: registered device vbi0

[   29.673239] saa7134 ALSA driver for DMA sound loaded

[   29.673268] saa7130[0]/alsa: saa7130[0] at 0xdffffc00 irq 19 registered as card -2

(I can post the whole thing if you all want. )

Here is my lspci

Code:

00:00.0 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP61 Memory Controller (rev a1)

00:01.0 ISA bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP61 LPC Bridge (rev a2)

00:01.1 SMBus: nVidia Corporation MCP61 SMBus (rev a2)

00:01.2 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP61 Memory Controller (rev a2)

00:02.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP61 USB Controller (rev a2)

00:02.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP61 USB Controller (rev a2)

00:04.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP61 PCI bridge (rev a1)

00:05.0 Audio device: nVidia Corporation MCP61 High Definition Audio (rev a2)

00:06.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP61 IDE (rev a2)

00:07.0 Bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP61 Ethernet (rev a2)

00:08.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP61 SATA Controller (rev a2)

00:09.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP61 PCI Express bridge (rev a2)

00:0b.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP61 PCI Express bridge (rev a2)

00:0c.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP61 PCI Express bridge (rev a2)

00:0d.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation GeForce 6100 nForce 430 (rev a2)

00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration

00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map

00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller

00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control

01:06.0 Multimedia controller: Philips Semiconductors SAA7130 Video Broadcast Decoder (rev 01)

biju@Venom:~$

Now heres another thing. I am using a loopback cable from the TV Tuner to the Audio in of my motherboard and I cant make sound work. Ive tried the Volume Control , Ive tried alsamixer. I'll even post pictures if someone needs it to help me out. If anyone could help me out with this I would deeply appreciate it. I just can't understand why some Philips 7134 chipset users can see it why others can't

.

The second problem was that I wanted to check if anyone could run the game Chessmaster 10th on Linux. I would like to know if they had success running all the features. I recently installed Windows XP on Virtualbox just for fun so before I delete it I was going to try running it in there. I even tried installing the drivers for my TV Tuner card here and that didn't work either.

Thanks in advance.
Biju

Kenarkies · 11-05-2007, 05:19 AM

Have you looked closely at ALSA? I have an identical mobo except with a different Tuner card with the audio passed internally to the CD input. Alsa does not apparently recognise this input. Also while it does recognise something called Line, I can't tell if it is line in or out. There is a whole world of other missing options relating to front and rear mounted HDA and digital sound extender cards.

I'm currently working on this, I believe it is a question of getting Alsa to work. It is getting the module options screwed up. dmesg shows:

hda_codec: Unknown model for ALC662, trying auto-probe from BIOS...

Apparently Alsa 1.0.15 has more relevant stuff for the ADC662 codec, but it is a dog of a thing to compile. I ended up having to reload Ubuntu just to get some sound back.

There are some models given in the latest Alsa configuration guide

3stack-dig 3-stack (2-channel) with SPDIF
3stack-6ch 3-stack (6-channel)
3stack-6ch-dig 3-stack (6-channel) with SPDIF
6stack-dig 6-stack with SPDIF
lenovo-101e Lenovo laptop
auto auto-config reading BIOS (default)

I'm going to try these. If you have any more ideas or progress, let us know.

Ken

BijuMathew · 11-05-2007, 07:10 AM

Quote:

I'm currently working on this, I believe it is a question of getting Alsa to work. It is getting the module options screwed up. dmesg shows:

hda_codec: Unknown model for ALC662, trying auto-probe from BIOS...

Apparently Alsa 1.0.15 has more relevant stuff for the ADC662 codec, but it is a dog of a thing to compile. I ended up having to reload Ubuntu just to get some sound back.

There are some models given in the latest Alsa configuration guide

Yes my suspicion the same I was goign to make my IPod play into the Line in and see if I can get sound somehow . I dont think that plugging in my earphones into the Audio out of the tuner would work would it?

I did the same thing you were trying. I ran alsa 1.0.15 ended up in no sound at all. I have been having this doubt about the Line in for some time now. I have no clue on what to try next. I was even thinking of buying a new one till I thought it might be a problem with the audio. Theres a thread about the same thing on ubuntuforums.org. Search for techcom and you'll find the thread Im on a dial up at the moment and just browsing itself is a pain (Im in India at a remote place where broadband isnt available

).

If you do find anything out please do message me my email is exx_2000[AT]yahoo[dot]com .

Or if you could even post it here I would be extremly thankful.

Thanks again.

Edit:
======================

Yup I plugged in my IPod and I can't seem to get it to work with sound recorder. I cant record any sound from the Line in . My Board has a Realtek ALC662 chip. Anyone know what I should do?

Kenarkies · 11-05-2007, 05:24 PM

Biju

Quote:

Originally Posted by BijuMathew

Yes my suspicion the same I was goign to make my IPod play into the Line in and see if I can get sound somehow . I dont think that plugging in my earphones into the Audio out of the tuner would work would it?

I would expect you would hear sound out from the tuner - it is worth a try just to eliminate that possibility. My tuner card (not the same as yours) runs flawlessly on Ubuntu on another older mobo. That means sound is coming out OK but is not being picked up on the new mobo. It is almost certainly Alsa at fault.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BijuMathew

I was even thinking of buying a new one

But you may well end up with similar problems - it is a question of how fast can the Alsa developers keep up with new offerings on the market.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BijuMathew

Yup I plugged in my IPod and I can't seem to get it to work with sound recorder. I cant record any sound from the Line in . My Board has a Realtek ALC662 chip. Anyone know what I should do?

I tried some of the models that Alsa offers for the ALC662. They did in fact give additional channels including CD. However there was still no sound coming through any of them. The model 3stack-6ch-dig even offered the capability to link line in and CD to the capture channel but setting this up didn't work. I need to experiment a bit more just to verify that. Note that I am getting Ubuntu sound OK so internally it seems to be working (I think that is the PCM channel).

I'm really at sea with Alsa. There are heaps of Recipe type Howtos but so far I've found nothing to give a deeper understanding of why things don't work and how to make them work. Nevertheless it is worth persevering and I will try recompiling Alsa 1.0.15, now that the machine has a fresh Ubuntu install and the cost of a reinstall is not as great. Stay tuned and please let me know how you are getting on too.

It is probably best to keep posting here so that others in future can get some clues about their problems. I get 90% of my help from old posts on various fora.

Ken

BijuMathew · 11-06-2007, 01:08 AM

Ty Ken, Ive been thinking of getting an old sound card. But since I can't confirm if the audio out of my tv tuner card would or would not work by using ear phones Im not sure on how to continue with this. I do have sound in UBuntu Gutsy 7.10 AMD 64 install. The only issue is my Line in and Im not sure about the Mic either. I havenmt tried it. There are a couple of instructions here and there to install the new realtek driver and alsa package but Ive tried that twice and both ended up with me having to reformat ubuntu. Im pretty sure that Im missing something or doing something. Its my first time at Linux and hence Im not very experienced with the stuff etc. Anyway please do post your findings here so I may also try to get my audio in working.

Thanks again.

Biju

Kenarkies · 11-06-2007, 05:47 AM

Yay - here we go!

Here is the story. With my newly installed Ubuntu 7.10, I had Alsa 1.0.14. I added the following line to the end of /etc/modprobe/alsa-base file:

options snd-hda-intel model=6stack-dig

I found that the capture device was working. As a test, I opened Audacity and set the preferences to use Alsa for recording, and then opened TVtime. I could see the picture of course, and the sound was going into Audacity, but there was no sound from the speakers. By plugging in a microphone to the Line and Microphone input ports, it also turned out that every input was being mixed into the capture device. Also muting in Alsamixer had no effect. I could get sound from the speakers by opening the system preferences, selecting sound and activating the test button on the capture entry (ignoring the error message for this test).

Since I had just reinstalled Ubuntu I figured it was worth a try recompiling Alsa 1.0.15, however I didn't follow the comprehensive (and disastrous for me) hda-intel howto someone posted. Instead I found this one for the Toshiba Satellite

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=568463

Actions 1,2,3 are fairly innocuous; get the latest versions of course (they are available directly from the home page of alsa, don't bother with the download page). You can follow 4 but I just created directories in my home directory. Now for 5 I followed a suggestion I saw somewhere, which is probably what the Ubuntu people do anyway:

cd alsa-driver-1.0.15
./configure --with-cards=all --with-cards-options=all
make
sudo make install

Note you don't need sudo for the first two actions.

cd ../alsa-lib-1.0.15
./configure
make
sudo make install

Then:

sudo gedit /etc/modprobe/alsa-base

and add to the end:

options snd-hda-intel model=6stack-dig

Reboot. At that point my TVtime gave me full sound from the speakers. It seems to be using the CD input directly rather than the capture input, although the sound is in sync with the picture. So there are some further tests to be done when MythTV is installed.

Later in the above thread someone suggested that installing alsa-utils screwed up their mixer settings, so I left it out. It is not really needed unless there are problems to be fixed. Note my solution may not be the whole answer as it may have depended on other things I did before compiling alsa.

I'll check back later on this thread, in case I have some tweaks to add. If you still have trouble, post a question here, I may be able to help, but Alsa is just as much a mystery to me as it is to most other people. Unfortunately no one with enough expertise has provided a decent set of documentation yet. One thing, if the above fails, try reinstalling Ubuntu, I think having a reasonably fresh install is possibly important.

Cheers, Ken

BijuMathew · 11-06-2007, 08:38 AM

I tried just running the alsa-lib and driver but I still get no sound from Line in will try downloading the firmware and try again. I tried using my IPod into my Line in as I did and I couldnt record any sound in Sound Recorder. However I tried tv time when I try to load

modprobe saa7134 card=3 and tuner=69

It gives me the error

Ignoring line 43 . Which is where the line "options snd-hda-intel=6stack-dig" is

Will try downloading the firmware alos and try again. Maybe im missing something. Will check and try. Will post results tomorrow.

OK so i did the above steps and I managed to get sound. Well sort of .

I cant hear sound only when I press the test button for Sound capture. I do get an error though. if I close the test sound button dialog. I cant get sound from tvtime . It may be somethign with my tv tuner though Dont have charge in my ipod to check at the moment. Will check tomorrow morning. Any ideas at this point.

Kenarkies · 11-06-2007, 04:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BijuMathew

I tried just running the alsa-lib and driver but I still get no sound from Line in will try downloading the firmware and try again. I tried using my IPod into my Line in as I did and I couldnt record any sound in Sound Recorder.

Not sure what you mean - did you compile (configure & make) and make install the alsa-lib and driver for alsa 1.0.15?

Quote:

Originally Posted by BijuMathew

However I tried tv time when I try to load

modprobe saa7134 card=3 and tuner=69

It gives me the error

Ignoring line 43 . Which is where the line "options snd-hda-intel=6stack-dig" is

Oops, my fault, I gave you the wrong statement. You should have

"options snd-hda-intel model=6stack-dig"

It is telling the module for the particular driver snd-hda-intel (for our ALC662 chipset) to use the model 6stack-dig. I'm not sure what the models are, but I am guessing that they describe the way the sound chip is connected to various inputs and outputs. Therefore it is a bit of trial and error to find one that seems to match our hardware. The one I found above seems to do it, at least the CD, mike and line inputs respond correctly to volume controls. You can double-click the Gnome volume control (small speaker icon in lower right of screen) and you should see heaps of controls and options to test out.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BijuMathew

Will try downloading the firmware alos and try again. Maybe im missing something. Will check and try. Will post results tomorrow.

OK so i did the above steps and I managed to get sound. Well sort of .

I cant hear sound only when I press the test button for Sound capture. I do get an error though. if I close the test sound button dialog. I cant get sound from tvtime . It may be somethign with my tv tuner though Dont have charge in my ipod to check at the moment. Will check tomorrow morning. Any ideas at this point.

I assume you mean you CAN hear sound only when you press the test button for Sound capture. That is the same thing I found. The error message isn't important at present, just that sound is happening, which is a step forward. It means also that the hardware is working, but not Alsa as yet.

It was at that point that I compiled alsa and rebooted and got sound. If you do have an error in the /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base file, then you may see things happen when it is fixed.

Alsa is still not really correct. I am getting Tvtime and XawTV sound at the speakers, and only the CD volume control affects it. I think that is how it works. Capture is going into Audacity OK. However I may still have trouble in MythTV which relies on capture being passed through to the speakers. Will install it today.

Ken

Kenarkies · 11-07-2007, 01:21 AM

Just an update. Mythtv is installed and sound works as expected. The gnome volume applet allows the CD input to be connected to the capture device, and the CD input needs to be muted to prevent echoing sound coming from both devices. Mythtv sound from the capture device is in perfect sync.

Biju as you have the identical mobo you should be able to reproduce this. Your card should have no effect on the sound, it is passing sound physically to the Line input, so you just need to set it up as above replacing Line in for CD.

Ken

BijuMathew · 11-07-2007, 05:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kenarkies

Just an update. Mythtv is installed and sound works as expected. The gnome volume applet allows the CD input to be connected to the capture device, and the CD input needs to be muted to prevent echoing sound coming from both devices. Mythtv sound from the capture device is in perfect sync.

Biju as you have the identical mobo you should be able to reproduce this. Your card should have no effect on the sound, it is passing sound physically to the Line input, so you just need to set it up as above replacing Line in for CD.

Ken

Thank you ken for helping me alot. I did the instructions above and as in the thread pointed out and I have finally got everything to work. Well almost everything that is. When I had the audio out of my tv tuner plugged directly in to the Audio card line in I was gettign sound only when I clicked on the test button and couldnt get sound to play at all. I can even increase volume through the Gnome applet Volume control. However the one that inreases it for me is in-gain. Just to make sure it wasnt a problem with my audio card I plugged in my IPod and guess what. Crystal clear recordings are now possible. So I guess other than my TV Tuner card everythign else seesm to be working normally.

Now comes the question. Im thinking of getting an External TV Tuner card. One of those which possibly works without the PC and just on the CRT monitor. If I feel like connecting this to the PC at any time, would it be possible to do so if I wanted?

Kenarkies · 11-07-2007, 07:57 PM

Hi Biju

Glad it worked out - we got off lightly; some people seem to take weeks to get sound working. We have to thank the Alsa developers for working on this particular chip.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BijuMathew

Now comes the question. Im thinking of getting an External TV Tuner card. One of those which possibly works without the PC and just on the CRT monitor. If I feel like connecting this to the PC at any time, would it be possible to do so if I wanted?

I'm afraid you are stretching my knowledge a bit far there. I haven't really looked into the external devices. I gather you want to have something that works directly on the TV or a monitor and alternately on the PC. To do that it would have to have USB as well, otherwise there would be no real way to connect it in. There are quite a few USB tuners supported under Linux. I have been mainly interested in MythTV and they have a lot of information about supported external devices. You would do best to post a question on one of their main fora. There is also a more general site you could try:

http://www.linuxtv.org/

cheers, Ken

ps I probably won't revisit here, so all the best Biju.

jobinau · 02-17-2009, 08:10 AM

its is not straight forwad to configure the Techcom tuner which is widely available in india
It took almost 1 year search and findout right setup for that.
so i documented it here http://jobinau.googlepages.com/saa71...cardunderlinux