I am a linux N00B =)
I recently bought an AverMedia TV card (UltraTV PCI 350).
Mandrake 10.1 recognized it and I can watch tv and the content on my video camera.
But I can't record anything.
I tried using XAWTV.
I think its the libXv because when I launch XawTv using "XawTv -noxv" it records but it looks wierd. (not normal?). When I just run XawTv normally, I can't even record anything. I press the record button but nothing happens .
I would appreciate any help.
Thanks in advance

Xawtv won't record at all without -noxv, so don't worry about that. I had a similiar using the prepackaged xawtv version with mandrake 10 rc1. I recompiled both xawtv and libxv and everything worked fine after that. I can't be sure if that's your problem though. You could try streamer, but I think that's a xawtv tool so it probably won't make much of a difference.

You could also use mplayer. This is the command I use:

Tell me how that works out. You could also use kino to get the video to the computer if it's firewire.

Finally, tell me what you mean by "it looks weird". Hope I could be a help.

Can you tell me were to get the libXv so that I can recompile it, please.

I tried to answer your question based on my memories of how I fix my problems and it seems I was a little inaccurate. I couldn't have possibly recompiled libxv because there isn't any source packages for it (all you can do is recompile X [I think], and trust me in that you don't want to do that). I'm extremely sorry for my mistake. It's possible I just recompiled xawtv as opposed to using the packaged version. Try this. If this doesn't work we're going to try the alternatives (mplayer).

I'm extremely sorry for my mistake.

This is a bit unrelated but when I try to recompile XawTv, I successfully go through the configure and it tell me to install the ljpeg libraries. When I do this, after going through "configure" & "make", "make install" exits and tells me the following:
/usr/bin/install -c cjpeg /usr/local/bin/cjpeg
/usr/bin/install -c djpeg /usr/local/bin/djpeg
/usr/bin/install -c jpegtran /usr/local/bin/jpegtran
/usr/bin/install -c rdjpgcom /usr/local/bin/rdjpgcom
/usr/bin/install -c wrjpgcom /usr/local/bin/wrjpgcom
/usr/bin/install -c -m 644 ./cjpeg.1 /usr/local/man/man1/cjpeg.1
/usr/bin/install: cannot create regular file `/usr/local/man/man1/cjpeg.1': No such file or directory
make: *** [install] Error 1

I am really confused.
If there is an easier solution to my original problem, I would love to do that.
Please Help me.
Thank You

I also had problems recording with XawTV, first it didn't work at all, then worked, then lousy quality, now it works fine with good quality. I haven't recompiled anything, but I believe Mandrake use some Bleeding edge software, that could explain it.
Anyway, what I did was to use streamer - it is an XawTV-tool, but it has worked perfectly all the time! Only problem is it seems impossible to select a TV-channel with it, you have to first start XawTV and select a channel, then start streamer. It's a text-tool, but don't be scared! It was really easy to learn, I have recorded a lot from TV and analog videocamera with it. I'm not at home now so I can't check it, but I think this is a standard command-line I use:
#streamer -i Television -t 01:30:00 -s 720x576 -f mjpg -q 100 -o filename.avi
That is: input source, size (TV PAL is 352x288 or something like that) format mjpg and best quality.
Type only streamer and you'll get a list with options, as well as a few examples.
To get best quality oń my AMD Semperon 1,7GHz 512 RAM, I don't run X when recording from analog videocamera. That way I can get highest resolution with 100% quality without dropped frames.
As a N00B you probably don't want to try using commandline without any graphics - but that's a mistake! It is not difficult, just play around with it an hour or two and you'll get used to it. Just return if you need help with parameters.

Thank You soo much to Inexactitude and pingu! I used streamer and everything worked. This is one of those times where I wish I were rich so that I could reward people like you with millions of dollars (unfortunately that's not going to happen =)) but I am really thankful that you helped me.
I think THIS is the best feature of Linux. There are so many people willing to help; this could never be possible if I were using Windows!
Kasra

I'm happy we were able to help. Good luck with linux and stick around on lq, you'll find it really helps out.