I've tried to install MythTV and ran into problems. Then I tried TVTime to see if I could view TV without getting too fancy.

TVTime gives me an 'Invalid Argument' message and 'Cannot open capture device /dev/video0.

Mplayer just gives no picture with static.

Can you give me any suggestions? I'm running Ubuntu Breezy on AMD64. Thanks.

This is the output from dmesg:

[ 41.072442] Linux video capture interface: v1.00
[ 41.088616] ivtv: ==================== START INIT IVTV ====================
[ 41.088620] ivtv: version 0.4.3 (tagged release) loading
[ 41.088623] ivtv: Linux version: 2.6.12-10-amd64-generic gcc-3.4
[ 41.088625] ivtv: In case of problems please include the debug info between
[ 41.088628] ivtv: the START INIT IVTV and END INIT IVTV lines, along with
[ 41.088631] ivtv: any module options, when mailing the ivtv-users mailinglist.
[ 41.089135] ivtv0: Autodetected WinTV PVR 150 card (cx23416 based)
[ 41.089459] ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [APC1] enabled at IRQ 16
[ 41.089465] ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:05:06.0[A] -> Link [APC1] -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16
[ 41.089474] ivtv0: Unreasonably low latency timer, setting to 64 (was 32)
[ 41.129193] tveeprom: ivtv version
[ 41.129196] tveeprom: Hauppauge: model = 26582, rev = F0B2, serial# = 9344611
[ 41.129199] tveeprom: tuner = <unknown> (idx = 112, type = 4)
[ 41.129203] tveeprom: tuner fmt = NTSC(M) (eeprom = 0x08, v4l2 = 0x00001000)
[ 41.129206] tveeprom: audio processor = CX25843 (type = 25)
[ 41.129208] tveeprom: decoder processor = CX25843 (type = 1e)
[ 41.129212] ivtv0: i2c attach to card #0 ok [client=tveeprom, addr=50]
[ 41.144809] tuner (ivtv): chip found at addr 0xc2 i2c-bus ivtv i2c driver #0
[ 41.144815] ivtv0: i2c attach to card #0 ok [client=(tuner unset), addr=61]
[ 41.294526] cx25840 0-0044: ivtv driver
[ 41.294530] cx25840 0-0044: cx25843-23 found @ 0x88 (ivtv i2c driver #0)
[ 43.892251] cx25840 0-0044: loaded v4l-cx25840.fw firmware (14264 bytes)
[ 43.939156] ivtv0: i2c attach to card #0 ok [client=cx25840, addr=44]
[ 43.972256] wm8775 0-001b: ivtv driver
[ 43.972259] wm8775 0-001b: chip found @ 0x36 (ivtv i2c driver #0)
[ 43.978912] ivtv0: i2c attach to card #0 ok [client=wm8775, addr=1b]
[ 44.680432] ivtv0: loaded v4l-cx2341x-enc.fw firmware (262144 bytes)
[ 44.890399] ivtv0: Encoder revision: 0x02050032
[ 44.891015] ivtv0: Allocate DMA encoder MPEG stream: 128 x 32768 buffers (4096KB total)
[ 44.891621] ivtv0: Allocate DMA encoder YUV stream: 194 x 10800 buffers (2048KB total)
[ 44.892245] ivtv0: Allocate DMA encoder VBI stream: 120 x 17472 buffers (2048KB total)
[ 44.892826] ivtv0: Allocate DMA encoder PCM audio stream: 455 x 4608 buffers (2048KB total)
[ 44.893061] tuner: type set to 4 (NoTuner) by ivtv i2c driver #0
[ 45.077839] ivtv0: Initialized WinTV PVR 150, card #0

do the video inputs work?

I have had an issue with hauppauge cards on Fedora Core 3 (only thing I've tried on) where the video inputs work, but the tuner does not

Use "ivtvctl -n" to get a list of your inputs,
then something like "ivtvctl -d /dev/video0 -p 6" for "Tuner 0" input.
Use "ivtvctl -r 980","mplayer /dev/video0" to change the channel to 3.
Also check you have a good signal input.

Hey RanDrake10,

The ivtvctl -d ... -p command didn't work - it complained about invalid options. Maybe I should mention that I'm using ivtv-0.4.3? But then you can see that from the above output.

But the ivtvctl -r 980 did set the channel to 3 and I got video & sound!!! Thanks a lot. Now I need to figure out what the frequencies are of the other channels to see if I can tune to them, or figure out a better way to do this. At least I know that the card works and the signal is good. The only thing that I notice is that the video is slightly ahead of the sound. dmesg still reports that the tuner is unknown.

TVTime still doesn't work. It complains about an invalid argument and can't open /dev/video0. There was a command that showed all of the channel frequencies but I don't remember what it was.

Any other tips would be great. I still want to get MythTV working. I wan't to upgrade the OS and build it from scratch.

OK, ivtv-tune -c changes the channels. But I know that I tried this yesterday and it didn't work. I wonder why it's working now?

Was there something that I did in the commands that "didn't" work? Or was it simply shutting down for a day and rebooting? I know that I did cold boot after a couple of minutes yesterday without any change.

Anyway, I'm not complaining. I'd just like to understand. It would help me configure in the future. I know that if it ain't broke don't fix it, but I do need to redo this system.

I just bought a pvr 150 and well to replace my WinTV Go which worked well. I find that SuSE has some ivtv code my retail DVD but still doesn't support ivtv. I heard that 10.1 will properly support ivtv. I've tried to get mine working as well. Interesting is that in addition to the driver, firmware is required. I assume that downloads into the card. I've made quite a bit of progress including the apparent download of the firmware. At last it will scan for channels but never finds any. YaST autodetected this card but wouldn't let me configure a tuner like with bttv. I don't know if that represents a problem or is just the nature of ivtv. I'd love if someone can help me. I've attached all I've done in hope that someone more experienced with ivtv can see my problem. It may also be helpful to others monitoring this thread.

---These URLs were my primary source of directions
http://ivtvdriver.org/index.php/Howto:Suse
http://ivtvdriver.org/index.php/Firmware

---Installed the following rpms downloaded from ---http://folk.uio.no/oeysteio/apt/suse/10.0-olsen/RPMS.Olsen/
---with kpackage
ivtv-firmware-1.8.22037-10.noarch.rpm
ivtv-0.4.0-16.i586.rpm

---In a console window
linux:/home/fragos # mkdir -p /usr/lib/hotplug/firmware
linux:/home/fragos # ls /lib/modules/*.bin
/lib/modules/ivtv-fw-dec.bin /lib/modules/ivtv-fw-enc.bin
linux:/home/fragos # cp /lib/modules/*.bin /usr/lib/hotplug/firmware
linux:/home/fragos # ls /usr/lib/hotplug/firmware
. .. ivtv-fw-dec.bin ivtv-fw-enc.bin
linux:/home/fragos # modprobe ivtv
linux:/home/fragos # dmesg |grep ivtv
ivtv: module not supported by Novell, setting U taint flag.
ivtv: ==================== START INIT IVTV ====================
ivtv: version 0.3.7 (c) loading
ivtv: Linux version: 2.6.13-15.8-default gcc-4.0
ivtv: In case of problems please include the debug info
ivtv: between the START INIT IVTV and END INIT IVTV lines when
ivtv: mailing the ivtv-devel mailinglist.
ivtv: Autodetected WinTV PVR 150 card
ivtv: Found an iTVC16 based chip
ivtv: Unreasonably low latency timer, setting to 64 (was 32)
i2c-algo-bit.o: ivtv i2c driver #0 passed test.
ivtv: i2c attach [client=tveeprom,ok]
ivtv: Tuner Type 47, Tuner formats 0x00001000, Radio: yes, Model 0x00892598, Revision 0x1f44e930
ivtv: NTSC tuner detected
ivtv: Radio detected
: chip found @ 0xc2 (ivtv i2c driver #0)
ivtv: i2c attach [client=(tuner unset),ok]
cx25840: starting probe on adapter ivtv i2c driver #0 (0x10005)
ivtv: i2c attach [client=cx25840[50],ok]
ivtv: i2c attach [client=wm8775[50],ok]
ivtv: requesting ivtv-fw-enc.bin from hotplug
ivtv: firmware load failed
ivtv: failed loading encoder firmware
ivtv: Error loading firmware -3!
ivtv: Error -3 initializing firmware.
ivtv: Error -12 on initialization
ivtv-iTVC15_16_mpg2_encoder_card: probe of 0000:00:0b.0 failed with error -12
ivtv: ==================== END INIT IVTV ====================
linux:/home/fragos #

---Round two from a tarball

make -C driver all
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver'
created ivtv-svnversion.h
make CONFIG_VIDEO_IVTV=m -C /lib/modules/2.6.13-15.8-default/build M=/home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver modules
make[2]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.13-15.8-obj/x86_64/default'
make -C ../../../linux-2.6.13-15.8 O=../linux-2.6.13-15.8-obj/x86_64/default modules
CC [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/msp3400.o
CC [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/saa7115.o
CC [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/cx25840-driver.o
CC [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/cx25840-registers.o
CC [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/cx25840-audio.o
CC [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/cx25840-firmware.o
CC [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/ivtv-osd.o
CC [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/ivtv-queue.o
CC [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/ivtv-dma.o
CC [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/ivtv-driver.o
CC [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/ivtv-fileops.o
CC [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/ivtv-i2c.o
CC [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/ivtv-streams.o
CC [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/ivtv-firmware.o
CC [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/ivtv-reset.o
CC [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/ivtv-gpio.o
CC [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/ivtv-irq.o
CC [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/ivtv-mailbox.o
CC [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/ivtv-vbi.o
CC [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/ivtv-kthreads.o
CC [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/ivtv-audio.o
CC [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/ivtv-ioctl.o
CC [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/ivtv-controls.o
CC [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/ivtv-video.o
CC [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/ivtv-cards.o
CC [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/v4l1-compat.o
CC [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/ivtv-yuv.o
LD [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/cx25840.o
CC [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/wm8775.o
LD [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/ivtv.o
CC [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/saa7127.o
CC [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/cs53l32a.o
CC [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/tuner.o
CC [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/tveeprom.o
CC [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/tda9887.o
LD [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/ivtv-fb.o
Building modules, stage 2.
MODPOST
CC /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/cs53l32a.mod.o
LD [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/cs53l32a.ko
CC /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/cx25840.mod.o
LD [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/cx25840.ko
CC /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/ivtv-fb.mod.o
LD [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/ivtv-fb.ko
CC /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/ivtv.mod.o
LD [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/ivtv.ko
CC /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/msp3400.mod.o
LD [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/msp3400.ko
CC /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/saa7115.mod.o
LD [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/saa7115.ko
CC /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/saa7127.mod.o
LD [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/saa7127.ko
CC /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/tda9887.mod.o
LD [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/tda9887.ko
CC /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/tuner.mod.o
LD [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/tuner.ko
CC /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/tveeprom.mod.o
LD [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/tveeprom.ko
CC /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/wm8775.mod.o
LD [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/wm8775.ko
make[2]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.13-15.8-obj/x86_64/default'

Any 'has no CRC' warnings are harmless and can be ignored.

make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver'
make -C utils all
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/utils'
make -C ../driver ivtv-svnversion.h
make[2]: Entering directory `/home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver'
created ivtv-svnversion.h
make[2]: Leaving directory `/home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver'
cc -I../driver -D_GNU_SOURCE -O2 -Wall -c -o ivtvctl.o ivtvctl.c
cc -lm -o ivtvctl ivtvctl.o
cc -I../driver -D_GNU_SOURCE -O2 -Wall ivtvfbctl.c -o ivtvfbctl
g++ -I../driver -D_GNU_SOURCE -O2 -Wall -lm -lpthread -o ivtvplay ivtvplay.cc
cc -I../driver -D_GNU_SOURCE -O2 -Wall -c -o cx25840ctl.o cx25840ctl.c
cc -I../driver -D_GNU_SOURCE -O2 -Wall -DCX25840_STRINGS -c ../driver/cx25840-registers.c
cc cx25840ctl.o cx25840-registers.o -o cx25840ctl
cc -I../driver -D_GNU_SOURCE -O2 -Wall ivtv-detect.c -o ivtv-detect
cc -I../driver -D_GNU_SOURCE -O2 -Wall ivtv-radio.c -o ivtv-radio
make -C ivtv-tune
make[2]: Entering directory `/home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/utils/ivtv-tune'
cc -I.. -D_GNU_SOURCE -O2 -Wall -c -o cmdline.o cmdline.c
cc -I.. -D_GNU_SOURCE -O2 -Wall -c -o ivtv-tune.o ivtv-tune.c
cc -I.. -D_GNU_SOURCE -O2 -Wall -c -o frequencies.o frequencies.c
cc -I.. -D_GNU_SOURCE -O2 -Wall -c -o xawtv_parseconfig.o xawtv_parseconfig.c
cc ivtv-tune.o cmdline.o frequencies.o xawtv_parseconfig.o -o ivtv-tune
make[2]: Leaving directory `/home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/utils/ivtv-tune'
cc -I../driver -D_GNU_SOURCE -O2 -Wall ivtv-mpegindex.c -o ivtv-mpegindex
cc -I../driver -D_GNU_SOURCE -O2 -Wall -c -o enc_mindex.o enc_mindex.c
cc -I../driver -D_GNU_SOURCE -O2 -Wall -c -o enc_chann.o enc_chann.c
cc -I../driver -D_GNU_SOURCE -O2 -Wall -DVIDEO_PORT=0 -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -D_LARGEFILE_SOURCE -c encoder.c
cc -lpthread -o ivtv-encoder enc_mindex.o enc_chann.o encoder.o
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/utils'
make -C test all
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/test'
cc -I../driver -I../utils -D_GNU_SOURCE -O2 -Wall -lm vbi.c -o vbi
cc -I../driver -I../utils -D_GNU_SOURCE -O2 -Wall -lm fwapi.c -o fwapi
cc -I../driver -I../utils -D_GNU_SOURCE -O2 -Wall -lm wss.c -o wss
cc -I../driver -I../utils -D_GNU_SOURCE -O2 -Wall -lm vbi-passthrough.c -o vbi-passthrough
cc -I../driver -I../utils -D_GNU_SOURCE -O2 -Wall -lm vbi-detect.c -o vbi-detect
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/test'
fragos@linux:~/bin/ivtv-0.4.0> su
Password:
linux:/home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0 # make install
make -C driver install
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver'
created ivtv-svnversion.h
make CONFIG_VIDEO_IVTV=m -C /lib/modules/2.6.13-15.8-default/build M=/home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver modules
make[2]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.13-15.8-obj/x86_64/default'
make -C ../../../linux-2.6.13-15.8 O=../linux-2.6.13-15.8-obj/x86_64/default modules
CC [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/ivtv-driver.o
CC [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/ivtv-ioctl.o
LD [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/cx25840.o
LD [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/ivtv.o
LD [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/ivtv-fb.o
Building modules, stage 2.
MODPOST
LD [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/cx25840.ko
LD [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/ivtv-fb.ko
LD [M] /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/ivtv.ko
make[2]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.13-15.8-obj/x86_64/default'

Any 'has no CRC' warnings are harmless and can be ignored.

make INSTALL_MOD_PATH= INSTALL_MOD_DIR=ivtv \
CONFIG_VIDEO_IVTV=m -C /lib/modules/2.6.13-15.8-default/build M=/home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver modules_install
make[2]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.13-15.8-obj/x86_64/default'
make -C ../../../linux-2.6.13-15.8 O=../linux-2.6.13-15.8-obj/x86_64/default modules_install
INSTALL /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/cs53l32a.ko
INSTALL /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/cx25840.ko
INSTALL /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/ivtv-fb.ko
INSTALL /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/ivtv.ko
INSTALL /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/msp3400.ko
INSTALL /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/saa7115.ko
INSTALL /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/saa7127.ko
INSTALL /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/tda9887.ko
INSTALL /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/tuner.ko
INSTALL /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/tveeprom.ko
INSTALL /home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver/wm8775.ko
make[2]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.13-15.8-obj/x86_64/default'
Module /lib/modules/2.6.13-15.8-default/kernel/drivers/media/video/tveeprom.ko conflicts with the ivtv module of the same name -- please hide or delete it.
To hide: mv /lib/modules/2.6.13-15.8-default/kernel/drivers/media/video/tveeprom.ko /lib/modules/2.6.13-15.8-default/kernel/drivers/media/video/tveeprom.ko.HIDE
You will then need to run depmod.
Module /lib/modules/2.6.13-15.8-default/kernel/drivers/media/video/msp3400.ko conflicts with the ivtv module of the same name -- please hide or delete it.
To hide: mv /lib/modules/2.6.13-15.8-default/kernel/drivers/media/video/msp3400.ko /lib/modules/2.6.13-15.8-default/kernel/drivers/media/video/msp3400.ko.HIDE
You will then need to run depmod.
Module /lib/modules/2.6.13-15.8-default/kernel/drivers/media/video/tda9887.ko conflicts with the ivtv module of the same name -- please hide or delete it.
To hide: mv /lib/modules/2.6.13-15.8-default/kernel/drivers/media/video/tda9887.ko /lib/modules/2.6.13-15.8-default/kernel/drivers/media/video/tda9887.ko.HIDE
You will then need to run depmod.
Module /lib/modules/2.6.13-15.8-default/kernel/drivers/media/video/tuner.ko conflicts with the ivtv module of the same name -- please hide or delete it.
To hide: mv /lib/modules/2.6.13-15.8-default/kernel/drivers/media/video/tuner.ko /lib/modules/2.6.13-15.8-default/kernel/drivers/media/video/tuner.ko.HIDE
You will then need to run depmod.
install -m 0644 ../ivtv_init_mpeg.bin //lib/modules
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver'
make -C utils install
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/utils'
make -C ../driver ivtv-svnversion.h
make[2]: Entering directory `/home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver'
created ivtv-svnversion.h
make[2]: Leaving directory `/home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/driver'
cc -I../driver -D_GNU_SOURCE -O2 -Wall -c -o ivtvctl.o ivtvctl.c
cc -lm -o ivtvctl ivtvctl.o
install -d //usr/include/linux
install -m 0644 ../driver/ivtv.h //usr/include/linux
install -d //usr/local/bin
install -m 0755 ivtvctl ivtvfbctl ivtvplay cx25840ctl ivtv-detect ivtv-radio ivtv-tune/ivtv-tune ivtv-mpegindex ivtv-encoder //usr/local/bin
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/utils'
make -C test install
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/test'
make[1]: Nothing to be done for `install'.
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0/test'
linux:/home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0 # modprobe -r ivtv
linux:/home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0 # depmod
linux:/home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0 # modprobe ivtv
linux:/home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0 # dmesg |grep ivtv
ivtv: module not supported by Novell, setting U taint flag.
ivtv: ==================== START INIT IVTV ====================
ivtv: version 0.3.7 (c) loading
ivtv: Linux version: 2.6.13-15.8-default gcc-4.0
ivtv: In case of problems please include the debug info
ivtv: between the START INIT IVTV and END INIT IVTV lines when
ivtv: mailing the ivtv-devel mailinglist.
ivtv: Autodetected WinTV PVR 150 card
ivtv: Found an iTVC16 based chip
ivtv: Unreasonably low latency timer, setting to 64 (was 32)
i2c-algo-bit.o: ivtv i2c driver #0 passed test.
ivtv: i2c attach [client=tveeprom,ok]
ivtv: Tuner Type 47, Tuner formats 0x00001000, Radio: yes, Model 0x00892598, Revision 0x1f44e930
ivtv: NTSC tuner detected
ivtv: Radio detected
: chip found @ 0xc2 (ivtv i2c driver #0)
ivtv: i2c attach [client=(tuner unset),ok]
cx25840: starting probe on adapter ivtv i2c driver #0 (0x10005)
ivtv: i2c attach [client=cx25840[50],ok]
ivtv: i2c attach [client=wm8775[50],ok]
ivtv: requesting ivtv-fw-enc.bin from hotplug
ivtv: firmware load failed
ivtv: failed loading encoder firmware
ivtv: Error loading firmware -3!
ivtv: Error -3 initializing firmware.
ivtv: Error -12 on initialization
ivtv-iTVC15_16_mpg2_encoder_card: probe of 0000:00:0b.0 failed with error -12
ivtv: ==================== END INIT IVTV ====================
ivtv: module not supported by Novell, setting U taint flag.
ivtv: ==================== START INIT IVTV ====================
ivtv: version 0.3.7 (c) loading
ivtv: Linux version: 2.6.13-15.8-default gcc-4.0
ivtv: In case of problems please include the debug info
ivtv: between the START INIT IVTV and END INIT IVTV lines when
ivtv: mailing the ivtv-devel mailinglist.
ivtv: Autodetected WinTV PVR 150 card
ivtv: Found an iTVC16 based chip
i2c-algo-bit.o: ivtv i2c driver #0 passed test.
ivtv: i2c attach [client=tveeprom,ok]
: chip found @ 0xc2 (ivtv i2c driver #0)
ivtv: i2c attach [client=(tuner unset),ok]
cx25840: starting probe on adapter ivtv i2c driver #0 (0x10005)
ivtv: i2c attach [client=cx25840[50],ok]
ivtv: i2c attach [client=wm8775[50],ok]
ivtv: Tuner Type 47, Tuner formats 0x00001000, Radio: yes, Model 0x00892598, Revision 0x1f44e930
ivtv: NTSC tuner detected
ivtv: Radio detected
ivtv: requesting ivtv-fw-enc.bin from hotplug
ivtv: firmware loaded
ivtv: Encoder revision: 0x02040011
ivtv: Configuring WinTV PVR 150 card with 5 streams
ivtv: Registered v4l2 device for encoder MPEG minor 0
ivtv: Create DMA encoder MPEG stream: 0 x 32768 buffers (0KB total)
ivtv: Registered v4l2 device for encoder YUV minor 32
ivtv: Create DMA encoder YUV stream: 0 x 10800 buffers (0KB total)
ivtv: Registered v4l2 device for encoder VBI minor 224
ivtv: Create DMA encoder VBI stream: 0 x 8736 buffers (0KB total)
ivtv: Registered v4l2 device for encoder PCM audio minor 24
ivtv: Create DMA encoder PCM audio stream: 0 x 4608 buffers (0KB total)
ivtv: Registered v4l2 device for encoder radio minor 64
ivtv: Create encoder radio stream
ivtv: Setting Tuner 47
ivtv: ivtv_enc_thread: pid = 13962, itv = 0xffffffff8822c120
ivtv: ivtv_enc_vbi_thread: pid = 13963, itv = 0xffffffff8822c120
ivtv: Switching standard to NTSC.
ivtv: Initialized WinTV PVR 150, card #0
ivtv: ==================== END INIT IVTV ====================
linux:/home/fragos/bin/ivtv-0.4.0 #

fragos@linux:~> ivtvctl -a
not an ivtv driver device
fragos@linux:~>

To find channel number, use this list http://www.jneuhaus.com/fccindex/cablech.html
Use the "standard MHz" column for NTSC-M and multiply that number by 16.
example: channel 24 is 223.25 * 16 = 3572 >> "ivtvctl -r 3572"

rmmod ivtv

modprobe ivtv tuner=50

ivtv-tune -tus-cable -c10 -d /dev/video0

substitue 10 with the channel you wish to watch.

I was having a similar problem to fragos, the WinTV pvr150 card seemed to work, nothing in my DMESG screamed "Error." BruceCadieux your little quick and dirty solution fixed it right up for me.

-Thanks