Pinnacle PCTV TV tuner
 

I've scoured Google for the answer to this, I've asked on IRC channels, I've trial and errored my way around for a while, all to no avail.

I've even tried reading documents in other languages to see if I could find hints or tips on the module options for this, but alas I cannot read anything but english.

My question is this: I have a Pinnacle PCTV card (with remote). It uses the Brooktree 878 chip for video capture. I can get xawtv working. However, I cannot change channels. It remains on the channel I was on last time I was in Windows. I am assuming this has something to do with my tuner type, but I don't have a clue what my tuner type is. I'm guessing my card type is 39 (Pinnacle PCTV Studio/Rave).

dmesg and tail -f /var/log/messages doesn't reveal anything about tuner: finding a chip on an address (most of the posts I found on Google had that). So I'm guessing its my tuner module. I'm gonna look on the card itself right after I post this, but other than that, I don't have any ideas how to get this working properly. :( And they all said Red Hat was supposed to be easy.

Quoted below is what I think is the relevant portion of dmesg:

Just a quick follow up:

I seem to have managed to get the tuner to register a chip, but it only happened once (and I've not changed my /etc/modules.conf file at all). This is so friggin confusing that I'm giving up for now. If anyone has any ideas, feel free to post, but I honestly don't think Linux supports this crap very well yet. Guess I still do need Windows for something then. :(

How bout trying an 'lsmod' so we can see what modules are currently loaded?

Sorry, I got rather frustrated and forgot something simple like that. Here's my lsmod output:

Module Size Used by Tainted: P
tuner 11456 0 (autoclean) (unused)
tvaudio 14940 0 (autoclean) (unused)
bttv 71360 0 (unused)
i2c-algo-bit 8840 1 [bttv]
i2c-core 19268 0 [tuner tvaudio bttv i2c-algo-bit]
videodev 8320 2 [bttv]
sr_mod 18168 0 (autoclean)
snd-pcm-oss 43780 0 (autoclean)
snd-mixer-oss 15320 0 (autoclean) [snd-pcm-oss]
snd-trident 33208 3 (autoclean)
snd-pcm 82144 1 (autoclean) [snd-pcm-oss snd-trident]
snd-timer 15368 0 (autoclean) [snd-pcm]
snd-util-mem 3080 0 (autoclean) [snd-trident]
gameport 3412 0 (autoclean) [snd-trident]
snd-mpu401-uart 4716 0 (autoclean) [snd-trident]
snd-rawmidi 18336 0 (autoclean) [snd-mpu401-uart]
snd-seq-device 6144 0 (autoclean) [snd-trident snd-rawmidi]
snd-ac97-codec 35940 0 (autoclean) [snd-trident]
snd 39820 6 (autoclean) [snd-pcm-oss snd-mixer-oss snd-trident snd-pcm snd-timer snd-util-mem snd-mpu401-uart snd-rawmidi snd-seq-device snd-ac97-codec]
soundcore 6500 5 (autoclean) [snd]
agpgart 42944 3 (autoclean)
NVdriver 1149152 10 (autoclean)
parport_pc 19108 1 (autoclean)
lp 8996 0 (autoclean)
parport 37152 1 (autoclean) [parport_pc lp]
autofs 13348 0 (autoclean) (unused)
sis900 16812 1
iptable_filter 2412 0 (autoclean) (unused)
ip_tables 14840 1 [iptable_filter]
ide-scsi 10512 0
scsi_mod 107240 2 [sr_mod ide-scsi]
ide-cd 33608 0
cdrom 33696 0 [sr_mod ide-cd]
joydev 7168 0 (unused)
mousedev 5524 1
keybdev 2976 0 (unused)
hid 22244 0 (unused)
input 5920 0 [joydev mousedev keybdev hid]
usb-ohci 21288 0 (unused)
usbcore 77056 1 [hid usb-ohci]
ext3 70336 2
jbd 52212 2 [ext3]


And here's my /etc/modules.conf:
# misc
alias parport_lowlevel parport_pc
alias eth0 sis900
alias usb-controller usb-ohci

## Sound Card
# ALSA portion
alias char-major-116 snd
alias snd-card-0 snd-trident
# OSS/Free portion
alias char-major-14 soundcore
alias sound-slot-0 snd-card-0
# card #1
alias sound-service-0-0 snd-mixer-oss
alias sound-service-0-1 snd-seq-oss
alias sound-service-0-3 snd-pcm-oss
alias sound-service-0-8 snd-seq-oss
alias sound-service-0-12 snd-pcm-oss
# ALSA Control
post-install snd-card-0 /usr/sbin/alsactl restore >/dev/null 2>&1 || :
pre-remove snd-card-0 /usr/sbin/alsactl store >/dev/null 2>&1 || :
##

# bttv
alias char-major-81 bttv
post-install bttv modprobe tuner; modprobe videodev
options tuner type=11 debug=1
options bttv card=39 radio=0 pll=0

# dvd-rom
options ide-cd dma=1

# video card
alias char-major-195 NVdriver

does not being able to change channel just mean that you are not pressing the right buttons in xawtv? if you have a picture then the drivers must be correctly loaded. try pressing up and down to change channel. also read the manpage to get info setting a config file.

I've tried the up and down arrows. They seem to change the channel number, but the image being displayed stays exactly the same. I've tried this as root and as a normal user. As a normal user xawtv can't seem to create a config file. It gives me that dialog about creating a config file every time I start it.

I think my tuner type is wrong. Because in dmesg there is nothing about tuner: found chip @ 0x0c (or something similar). But I don't have the slightest idea how to figure out my tuner type.

You could try looking at the tuner itself and see if it says anything usefull which looks similar to one of the ones in the list below. Otherwise you can have some fun trying each one.

I have looked at the card itself already. I did not see any text that looked similar to anything listed in the tuner type list you pasted.

I have yet to try cycling through and every one.

Oh thank god I ran across this forum, I am using a fresh install of red hat 8.0 and I was just about to go looking for some linux drivers for the tv tunner, I have the exact same one pctv studio if anyone knows anything please email me Shiggi@tampabay.rr.com

no, they will say so here... that's the point of a forum...

I'm still having the same old problem. I've tried this with a couple different distros, and no luck. If anything magically happens and it works, I'll be sure to update this...

Okay! I got it to work! I gave it a rest, and just got back to it tonight. Turns out that the latest version of the Kernel (2.4.20 as of this writing) uses version 0.7.96 of the bttv drivers. Since this card is new, I had to download and install the latest bttv drivers.
This isn't _that_ terrifying a task either. Download the tarball off http://bytesex.org/bttv/ and untar it. Make sure you have an unpacked source tree of your kernel version. I've got mine in /usr/src/linux. I suggest you do the same. The bttv Makefile will look there automatically, and begin building the bttv modules. (There's great instructions in the README file). Once the modules are installed, you need to set up the modules.conf file. Here is my relevant entry (I've not tweaked this to perfection yet, these are just some initial settings that actually allow me to tune the channel frequencies).
With that, depmod -a (or modprobe -r bttv;modprobe -r tuner; modprobe bttv). Start up xawtv, set up your frequency table, tv norm, etc and you should be able to change channels (with up & down). If this doesn't work, try card=52 (that's another Pinnacle PCTV card type).

I'll post some more up here when I tweak out my settings to my satisfaction. But for now, enjoy rotting your brain in Linux!

One less reason to reboot to Windows now... :D

I am also facing same problem with pinnacle tv tuner card. Is there any other application other then xawtv for viewing tv??

Well, there's a gnome/gtk application called zapping that I sometimes use. Don't know about Qt/KDE apps. Chances are that if xawtv doesn't fix the tuning problem you're having, its the version of bttv your kernel has. Other than the fix I've already mentioned I can't think of any way to get it working (besides just waiting for Linux to include the latest bttv modules.

I use TVtime instead of xawtv and zapping. Bot xawtv and zapping glitches. TVtime has better descalers than xawtv and zapping although TVtime uses some source code from descaler.org .

Does anybody know where I can find a GUI video capture program. I know there is command line programs but I will like to see what I'm capturing.

Try as I might, I can't get my above solution to work on Debian Sid. I get crap about kernel versions, etc. I'll keep banging at it and see if it magically works. :) This thread's not dead, I'm still working on this.

Hi,

I've just installed Suse 8.2 and I've got a Pinnacle PCTV Pro card.

The suse installation automatically detected it as a Pinnacle PCTV Studio/Rave card. But when i start any tv application I just see a blue screen.

I've tried several applications, I've installed the new bttv drivers as metioned above, I've downloaded a script from:
http://www.mind.lu/~yg/ftvco/
to cycle to different tuner types to test them.

I've ran the script using card type 52 and 39 (both pinnacle cards)

But I still get the blue screen.
I live in Holland and we have PAL over here I think.

Does any one know some good recources to get my card installed.
I don't have windows installed anymore (I had some errors in the windows register, so i formatted my disk and installed Suse 8.2) so I can't boot windows to watch tv.

Are you sure that the device is on Cable (as opposed to Composite or S-Video)? In TVTime, right-click on the window to change input methods. I'd also try TVTime if you haven't already. I've had a lot better experience with that than with xawtv or any other application.

Have you looked in dmesg and /var/log/messages for anything odd about the bttv drivers? And are you sure you're loading the modules with the right options. My relavent portion of /etc/modules.conf is as follows:
I have a Pinnacle PCTV (not Pro). Maybe posting some output of dmesg etc will help out. I'm not an expert on all this TV stuff, though I've spent many an hour with it. It'd be nice if someone like the bttv author's were reading this. :\

tnx for your help,

a question:
I applied the patches to the kernel source, and installed the new bttv module as described in a post above.

Do I need to recompile my kernel after that or will a change in modules.conf do?

I didn't compile my kernel I think. I did recompile my kernel before but not after I applied the patches (linux wouldn't boot with new kernel).

So I might be forgetting some things (still n00b in linux)

I no have a total clean system again, so I'm waiting your answer befor I start installing things again, after the installation i'll send you some snippets from my error logs if things still don't work

In my experience, compiling and installing the newer bttv drivers won't work right unless you've compiled your kernel from source yourself. This means that if you're using Debian or Red Hat or any other of those distros that use precompiled kernel images, you're going to have to build and install one on your own. I've tried quite a bit to get it to work with one of Debian's prebuilt images, but I do not think its possible. So install a kernel from source, following the normal procedure. Boot it, make sure it works, etc, then you'll be able to build the newer bttv modules and install them as I mention above. Set up the modules.conf file properly, then either reboot, or reload the bttv modules. (What I do is install all the bttv modules during the make menuconfig period of the kernel install. That way, the newer bttv modules can just overwrite the old ones, and make dep will guarrentee that all the necessary modules get compiled.)

That's all I had to do to get things working. I run Gentoo, so source-based stuff is rather easy for me to deal with though.

the same problem
 

I'm also using Pinnacle PCTV rave. and I use linux mandrake 9.1. My kernel's version is the 2.4.21. I have exactly the same problem as you sub_pop_culture. Ican't change the channel in xawtv. You have installed bttv 0.7.96. But i have a newst version. I have the 0.7.100. It is automaticilly installed with my mandrake 9.1. and I have the same problem.
When i execute dmesg | grep tv in the console the resulat is :

bttv: driver version 0.7.100 loaded
bttv: using 4 buffers with 2080k (8320k total) for capture
bttv: Host bridge is VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8377 [KT400 AGP] Host Bridge
bttv: Bt8xx card found (0).
bttv0: Bt878 (rev 17) at 00:06.0, irq: 17, latency: 32, mmio: 0xdddfe000
bttv0: detected: Pinnacle PCTV [card=39], PCI subsystem ID is 11bd:0012
bttv0: using: BT878(Pinnacle PCTV Studio/Ra) [card=39,autodetected]
bttv0: i2c: checking for MSP34xx @ 0x80... not found
bttv0: pinnacle/mt: id=4 info="PAL+SECAM / mono" radio=no
bttv0: i2c attach [client=tda9887,ok]
bttv0: using tuner=33
bttv0: i2c: checking for MSP34xx @ 0x80... not found
bttv0: i2c: checking for TDA9875 @ 0xb0... not found
bttv0: i2c: checking for TDA7432 @ 0x8a... not found
tvaudio: TV audio decoder + audio/video mux driver
tvaudio: known chips: tda9840,tda9873h,tda9874h/a,tda9850,tda9855,tea6300,tea6420,tda8425,pic16c54 (PV951)
bttv0: i2c attach [client=MT2032 universal,ok]
bttv0: PLL: 28636363 => 35468950 ... ok
bttv0: registered device video0
bttv0: registered device vbi0

please help me
thank you

My solution was to get the latest bttv drivers from bytesex.org and install them manually. 2.4.20 is still the latest stable (not sure what Mandrake's doing there with 2.4.21, but still, 0.7.100 is actually older than the latest bttv version. I currently have bttv 0.7.106 installed, and those are able to work fine. Like I mentioned above, I've not ever gotten this to work with a precompiled kernel image, so in order to install the modules seperately, you're going to have to first build and install (and run), a kernel you build from source yourself.

Check the tuner output in dmesg. Make sure you have a line like the following:
This means the tuner module found a tuner chip, and is able to load it properly. This is what was causing me to see a channel, but not change them.

OK
 

thank you for you help.
I have the line about the tunner

mesg | grep tuner
bttv0: using tuner=33
tuner: probing bt848 #0 i2c adapter [id=0x10005]
tuner: chip found @ 0xc0
tuner: type set to 33 (MT2032 universal)

The problem is that I don't know how to compile the kernel and so I don't know how to install a module before compling the kernel.
if you can help me I will be gracefull for u

Try googling for a basic kernel installation howto. Gentoo's got a good description on installing a kernel (although a lot of their instruction is distro specific stuff). The gist of it is:
Then set up the bootloader (either grub or lilo) to boot the new image, and you're good to go.
Its not exactly easy, but once you get the hang of it, its not too hard either.

Okay, been a while, and I'm now trying to get the bttv drivers to work under Fedora Core 1. I don't have any more tuner issues, like I had in the past. Now, I can't for the life of me get audio output. No sound. I've checked my cables in Windows, and sound works, so its something with my Linux set-up. I have an Audigy2, using ALSA drivers, but there doesn't seem to be any hidden channels muted or anything. I might have my module configuration set up wrong though.
Has this problem ever been encountered before?

Just wondering if you are still having the no audio problem? My card seems to work perfectly under 2.6.2 slackware with the latest bttv drivers. I fiddled around a bit, and my dmesg shows it finding an audio chip, which it then loads a module for, but to no avail:

lsmod:

Any help much appreciated

try "xawtv -noxv"
 

I had similar problems. Everything seemed fine, modules were loaded, card detected, i could watch tv using tvtime, but xawtv only displayed a blue screen. With option "-noxv" it worked.
Good luck

Maybe you should try some of the frontends made for MPlayer. MPlayer is the very best multimedia stuff, and with some nice frontend (there's a lot on http://www.mplayerhq.hu) you can easily capture to almost all formats and you can watch TV during it (even other channels). Give it a try.

Solution:

One of the modules needs a "pal=i" option. I believe it's tuner, but play around

I hope somebody can help me. I use Pinnacle PCTV Stereo tuner. In my country (Russia) all tv-channels show in SECAM-D/K, but i can't do the right tune of my card. All configurations with different values of "tuner" and "type" of bttv didn't solve the problem... Of course, i can see tv in PAL mode, but it's not compatible with SECAM-D/K and i see only black and white picture with noise... I hope there are people here who have right configuration files to show me. SECAM-D/K is in use in almost all post-soviet countries.

P.S. Tuner has no defects, in windows is see right picture (but it's after installation of special Russian patch from original software box)

P.P.S. Here is my config:
###################################################
alias char-major-81 bttv
options bttv card=39 pll=1
options tuner type=3 debug=1
post-install bttv modprobe tuner; modprobe videodev
###################################################

i know i'm noob but ..

Why bttv doesn't work? :(

The kernel includes bttv software, so all you need to do is recompile it. The 0.9.15 bttv software is for 2.4.x kernels and it is older than what is in 2.6.x kernels.