Linux - HardwareThis forum is for Hardware issues.
Having trouble installing a piece of hardware? Want to know if that peripheral is compatible with Linux?
Notices
Welcome to LinuxQuestions.org, a friendly and active Linux Community.
You are currently viewing LQ as a guest. By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics, receive our newsletter, use the advanced search, subscribe to threads and access many other special features. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today!
Note that registered members see fewer ads, and ContentLink is completely disabled once you log in.
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you need to reset your password, click here.
Having a problem logging in? Please visit this page to clear all LQ-related cookies.
Get a virtual cloud desktop with the Linux distro that you want in less than five minutes with Shells! With over 10 pre-installed distros to choose from, the worry-free installation life is here! Whether you are a digital nomad or just looking for flexibility, Shells can put your Linux machine on the device that you want to use.
Exclusive for LQ members, get up to 45% off per month. Click here for more info.
did you tried to run tvtime as root ?
that works if you did not set the permissions and got perfectly compiled kernel (not the one on debian, you ve got to make it yourself unfortunately)
I run gentoo 2004.3 (2.6.9 kernel) on a P4 machine. I have this saa7134 based TV tuner card (Pinnacle PCTV Stereo).
I did a modprobe saa7134 and got the card working using tvtime. While I am getting the video of all the channels, there is no sound - just an ugly hissing noise.
dmesg gave me this output:
Code:
Linux video capture interface: v1.00
saa7130/34: v4l2 driver version 0.2.12 loaded
ACPI: PCI interrupt 0000:00:09.0[A] -> GSI 5 (level, low) -> IRQ 5
saa7134[0]: found at 0000:00:09.0, rev: 1, irq: 5, latency: 32, mmio: 0xef001000
saa7134[0]: subsystem: 11bd:002b, board: Pinnacle PCTV Stereo (saa7134) [card=26,autodetected]
saa7134[0]: board init: gpio is 0
saa7134[0]: i2c eeprom 00: bd 11 2b 00 f8 f8 1c 00 43 43 a9 1c 55 d2 b2 92
saa7134[0]: i2c eeprom 10: 00 00 19 0e ff 20 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
saa7134[0]: i2c eeprom 20: 01 40 01 03 03 ff 03 01 08 ff 00 53 ff ff ff ff
saa7134[0]: i2c eeprom 30: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
tuner: Ignoring new-style parameters in presence of obsolete ones
tuner: chip found at addr 0xc0 i2c-bus saa7134[0]
tuner: type set to 33 (MT20xx universal) by saa7134[0]
tuner: microtune: companycode=3cbf part=42 rev=2f
tuner: microtune MT2050 found, OK
tda9887: Ignoring new-style parameters in presence of obsolete ones
tda9885/6/7: chip found @ 0x86
saa7134[0]: registered device video0 [v4l2]
saa7134[0]: registered device vbi0
saa7134[0]/audio: audio carrier scan failed, using 5.500 MHz [default]
saa7134[0]/audio: audio carrier scan failed, using 5.500 MHz [default]
saa7134[0]/audio: audio carrier scan failed, using 5.500 MHz [default]
saa7134[0]/audio: audio carrier scan failed, using 5.500 MHz [default]
saa7134[0]/audio: audio carrier scan failed, using 5.500 MHz [default]
saa7134[0]/audio: audio carrier scan failed, using 5.500 MHz [default]
saa7134[0]/audio: audio carrier scan failed, using 5.500 MHz [default]
saa7134[0]/audio: audio carrier scan failed, using 5.500 MHz [default]
saa7134[0]/audio: audio carrier scan failed, using 5.500 MHz [default]
saa7134[0]/audio: audio carrier scan failed, using 5.500 MHz [default]
saa7134[0]/audio: audio carrier scan failed, using 5.500 MHz [default]
saa7134[0]/audio: audio carrier scan failed, using 5.500 MHz [default]
saa7134[0]/audio: audio carrier scan failed, using 5.500 MHz [default]
Please help me guys... I do not know what to do... Googling did not help me any.
Thanking you all in advance
Regards
Anoop
Hello Anoop
I am facing same problem with my saa7134 card. with help from this thread i was able to get tv working but without sound. if you have solved your problem, please show me the way.i am using fedora core2 and my /var/log/messages says same audio carrier scan failed, using 5,500MHz
Hello Anoop
I am facing same problem with my saa7134 card. with help from this thread i was able to get tv working but without sound. if you have solved your problem, please show me the way.i am using fedora core2 and my /var/log/messages says same audio carrier scan failed, using 5,500MHz
Please could you try this kernel ?
solution 1:
The kernel 2.6.20.1-1-686 from kmuto jp (author of books ab. linux) sarge-custom-0304.iso
this one sure will work
solution 2:
the kernel from the vanilla 2.6.20.1, compile it yourself, but not sure if it works.
solution 3:
get some developpers to solve the bug that has been implemented in all kernels since 2.6.20.1
solution 4:
other help from users here
solution 5:
googling gives no reply
solution 6:
get deep in kernels compiling.
I tried all tricks and config while compiling and it failed
what's giving for your hardware:
# lspci -vv
for the pinnacle ?
Gosh, people here are really trying to make things more difficult then they have to be. I have been using my saa7134 board for years without problems, both in Gentoo and now lately in Ubuntu (7.04).
ONLY use/refer to the full Gentoo wiki guide if you fail along the way with my quick guide. Your head will be spinning from the overload of (usually not needed) info otherwise. http://gentoo-wiki.com/HARDWARE_saa7134
And keep it simple, use Mplayer in command line to get things working and not some fancy specialized TV software that hides half the important feedback you might actually need to figure out any problems.
Also, remember that if you are trying to use DMA sound (instead of a cable to soundcard) from a saa7134 you will have to use 32KHz sampling sound. I guess that is where things go wrong for some of you.
I have setup Lifeview FlyVideo 3000 with some problems with out any wiki. The problems that users always have a hard time are figuring out the model and tuner number. If their card does not have an audio output connection, they have to use the card as a regular sound card to record audio. The saa71340-alsa module needs a lot of work and I have posted a bug report to the ALSA team to provide better support. I try recommend cards with an line out jack, but people do not take my tip.
In the past mplayer crashes or does not work well with saa7134 based video capture cards. I recommend using tvtime because it works even with 2.6.10 kernels. tvtime does require XVideo, so the user may have trouble with this as well. I only recommend using mplayer as the last resort because it is not as reliable. The program xawtv is only for BT878 based video capture cards, but users tend to use it during setting up their saa7134 card.
The sampling rate for the tuner is 32000 Hz. For either composite (RCA) or S-Video it can either be 32000, 44100, or 48000 Hz. Unfortunately, the module is not that flexible, so you have to always use 32000. Normally, TV broadcast sound is not any better than 22050 Hz.
The following steps that I recommend following for known and unknown saa7134 based cards.
1) unload (modprobe -r saa7134) and load saa7134 module (modprobe -v saa7134)
2) Connect either Composite or S-Video to the card
3) Use tvtime to test video output. Select either Composite or S-Video. May show two Composite inputs.
4) If source is shown move on to the next step, else go back to step 1 and include the model of the card. (Example: modprobe -r saa7134 && modprobe saa7134 model=X)
10 close tvtime and unload saa7134 by doing modprobe -r saa7134
11) load saa7134 module with include of the model and tuner.
12) run tvtime and switch to Television
13) If no picture from the television input, then go to step 10. If picture, go on to the next step.
14) Change through the channels or stations. If you can not, run tvtime's scanner.
15) If you can change stations and use either Composite or S-Video, you have setup correctly. If not go through the steps to make sure you did not skip a step. After checking, place the final options in /etc/modules.conf as follows.
options saa7134 model=X tuner=Y
Use /sbin/modinfo saa7134 to find additional options to include.
The utility v4lclt is optional and it is not necessary to use during setting it up although it is nice is there for some programs that support v4l very poorly.
NOTE: Sometimes the video capture card may not boot up properly because of wrong register write. A warm boot may need to be done to re-activate the card.
Gosh, people here are really trying to make things more difficult then they have to be. I have been using my saa7134 board for years without problems, both in Gentoo and now lately in Ubuntu (7.04).
ONLY use/refer to the full Gentoo wiki guide if you fail along the way with my quick guide. Your head will be spinning from the overload of (usually not needed) info otherwise. http://gentoo-wiki.com/HARDWARE_saa7134
And keep it simple, use Mplayer in command line to get things working and not some fancy specialized TV software that hides half the important feedback you might actually need to figure out any problems.
Also, remember that if you are trying to use DMA sound (instead of a cable to soundcard) from a saa7134 you will have to use 32KHz sampling sound. I guess that is where things go wrong for some of you.
Still no sound ... but still fighting to get it ...
I tried this
Code:
#!/bin/sh
# http://www.transcoding.org/cgi-bin/transcode?Video4linux_Examples
# make sure to eg sudo modprobe saa7134-oss -v to get audio
# set channel with mplayer, quit, start recording, start mplayer for further change of channel during recording
TODAY=$( date +%Y%m%d )
NOW=$( date +%H:%M )
transcode \
-x v4l2=resync_margin=1:resync_interval=250,v4l2 \
-g 720x288 \
-i /dev/video1 \
-p /dev/dsp \
-e 32000,16,2 \
-N 0x1 \
-J resample,levels,smartyuv,pv \
-w 4000 \
-y ffmpeg \
-F mjpeg \
-o /home/frenchn00b/${TODAY}-${NOW}-recording.avi \
--avi_limit 3072
I get the video like always, but still no sound. I am stuck with the resampling.. I hope something will work
(uname -r 2.6.22.5-kernel04 with debian etch)
Computers with a sound card, /dev/dsp will be the (primary) sound card. For the saa7134 card that has saa7134-alsa module loaded, it will be /dev/dsp1. So you are recording from the sound card, but you should be recording from the saa7134 card.
Assuming /dev/dsp0 or /dev/dsp is your sound card and /dev/dsp1 is your saa7134-alsa device, so the following bash script should have been.
Code:
#!/bin/sh
# http://www.transcoding.org/cgi-bin/transcode?Video4linux_Examples
# make sure to eg sudo modprobe saa7134-oss -v to get audio
# set channel with mplayer, quit, start recording, start mplayer for further change of channel during recording
TODAY=$( date +%Y%m%d )
NOW=$( date +%H:%M )
transcode \
-x v4l2=resync_margin=1:resync_interval=250,v4l2 \
-g 720x288 \
-i /dev/video0 \
-p /dev/dsp1 \
-e 32000,16,2 \
-N 0x1 \
-J resample,levels,smartyuv,pv \
-w 4000 \
-y ffmpeg \
-F mjpeg \
-o /home/youruser/tv/${TODAY}-${NOW}-recording.avi \
--avi_limit 3072
I suggest changing resolution of the video in the above script to 720x576 for PAL to gather all the lines. For NTSC setups set the resolution to 720x480. However, the saa7134 can only gather 704 instead of 720, so you are not actually getting all the horizontal viewing that you are expecting. In dscaler under Windows, by shifting the video to the left 16 pixels, will provide the same viewing that TV shows. My PVR-250 (Model 980) shifts the video about 16 pixels. Use the TomsMoComp deinterlacer to create a progressive capture.
Computers with a sound card, /dev/dsp will be the (primary) sound card. For the saa7134 card that has saa7134-alsa module loaded, it will be /dev/dsp1. So you are recording from the sound card, but you should be recording from the saa7134 card.
Assuming /dev/dsp0 or /dev/dsp is your sound card and /dev/dsp1 is your saa7134-alsa device, so the following bash script should have been.
Code:
#!/bin/sh
# http://www.transcoding.org/cgi-bin/transcode?Video4linux_Examples
# make sure to eg sudo modprobe saa7134-oss -v to get audio
# set channel with mplayer, quit, start recording, start mplayer for further change of channel during recording
TODAY=$( date +%Y%m%d )
NOW=$( date +%H:%M )
transcode \
-x v4l2=resync_margin=1:resync_interval=250,v4l2 \
-g 720x288 \
-i /dev/video0 \
-p /dev/dsp1 \
-e 32000,16,2 \
-N 0x1 \
-J resample,levels,smartyuv,pv \
-w 4000 \
-y ffmpeg \
-F mjpeg \
-o /home/youruser/tv/${TODAY}-${NOW}-recording.avi \
--avi_limit 3072
I suggest changing resolution of the video in the above script to 720x576 for PAL to gather all the lines. For NTSC setups set the resolution to 720x480. However, the saa7134 can only gather 704 instead of 720, so you are not actually getting all the horizontal viewing that you are expecting. In dscaler under Windows, by shifting the video to the left 16 pixels, will provide the same viewing that TV shows. My PVR-250 (Model 980) shifts the video about 16 pixels. Use the TomsMoComp deinterlacer to create a progressive capture.
I tried all combinations, i.e. /dev/dsp1 qnd /dev/dsp, and still no sound. I post the content of the script.
(nota: /dev/video0 is my webcam and /dev/video1 is the tv tuner)
Code:
# sh /tmp/megaes.sh /dev/video1 /dev/dsp1
transcode v1.0.2 (C) 2001-2003 Thomas Oestreich, 2003-2004 T. Bitterberg
[transcode] auto-probing source /dev/video1 (failed)
[transcode] V: import format | unknown (V=v4l2|A=v4l2)
[transcode] V: import frame | 720x288 2.50:1
[transcode] V: bits/pixel | 0.772
[transcode] V: decoding fps,frc | 25.000,0
[transcode] V: Y'CbCr | YV12/I420
[transcode] A: import format | 0x2000 AC3 [32000,16,2]
[transcode] A: export format | 0x1 PCM [32000,16,2] 1024 kbps
[transcode] V: encoding fps,frc | 25.000,3
[transcode] A: bytes per frame | 5120 (5120.000000)
[transcode] A: adjustment | 0@1000
[transcode] V: IA32/AMD64 accel | sse2 (sse2 sse mmxext mmx asm C)
tc_memcpy: using sse for memcpy
[transcode] V: video buffer | 10 @ 720x288
[import_v4l2.so] v1.3.5 (2005-03-11) (video) v4l2 | (audio) pcm
[filter_resample.so] v0.1.4 (2003-08-22) audio resampling filter plugin
[filter_resample.so] options=(null)
[filter_resample.so] Invalid settings
[transcode] warning : filter plugin 'resample' returned error - plugin skipped
[filter_levels.so]: v1.0.0 (2004-06-09) Luminosity level scaler #0
[filter_levels.so]: scaling 0-255 gamma 1.000000 to 0-255
[filter_levels.so]: post-processing filter
[filter_smartyuv.so] (MMX) 0.1.4 (2003-10-13) Motion-adaptive deinterlacing
[filter_pv.so] v0.2.3 (2004-06-01) xv only preview plugin
[filter_pv.so] preview window 720x288
Xv: NV17 Video Texture: ports 275 - 306
Xv: grabbed port 275
Using Xv for display
[export_ffmpeg.so] v0.3.13 (2004-08-03) (video) Lavc51.34.0 | (audio) MPEG/AC3/PCM
[import_v4l2.so]: v4l2 audio grabbing
[import_v4l2.so]: v4l2 video grabbing
[import_v4l2.so]: resync enabled, margin = 1 frames, interval = 250 frames,
[import_v4l2.so]: video grabbing, driver = saa7134, card = Pinnacle PCTV Stereo (saa7134)
[import_v4l2.so]: Pixel format conversion: YVU420 [planar] -> YUV420 [planar] (no conversion)
[import_v4l2.so]: driver does not support setting parameters (ioctl(VIDIOC_S_PARM) returns "Invalid argument")
[import_v4l2.so]: checking colour & framerate standards: [PAL]
[import_v4l2.so]: receiving 25 frames / sec
[import_v4l2.so]: frame size: 720x288
[import_v4l2.so]: cropcap bounds: 720x578 +0+46
[import_v4l2.so]: cropcap defrect: 720x576 +0+48
[import_v4l2.so]: cropcap pixelaspect: 54/59
[import_v4l2.so]: default cropping: 720x576 +0+48
[import_v4l2.so]: 13 buffers available
[export_ffmpeg.so]: INFO: output is mjpeg or ljp
Code:
# xawtv -hwscan
This is xawtv-3.95.dfsg.1, running on Linux/i686 (2.6.22.5-kernel04)
looking for available devices
port 275-306
type : Xvideo, image scaler
name : NV17 Video Texture
port 307-338
type : Xvideo, image scaler
name : NV05 Video Blitter
/dev/video0: OK [ -device /dev/video0 ]
type : v4l
name : Logitech QuickCam Express II
flags: capture
/dev/video1: OK [ -device /dev/video1 ]
type : v4l2
name : Pinnacle PCTV Stereo (saa7134)
flags: overlay capture tuner
The problems that users always have a hard time are figuring out the model and tuner number.
But, as I wrote already, spending that time is usually equal to wasting your time. Autodetection works very well for many people so ONLY bother with trying to figure out exactly what you have if you actually have a problem due to improper autodetection when following my quick guide.
Quote:
I try recommend cards with an line out jack, but people do not take my tip.
Indeed, the cards with an internal audio out connector is very much to be prefered. At least with my card the scound quality is clearly superior with a cable vs the DMA audio option.
Quote:
In the past mplayer crashes or does not work well with saa7134 based video capture cards. I recommend using tvtime because it works even with 2.6.10 kernels.
Um... 2.6.10 was released back in 2004...
Anybody spending a lot of time trying to get their TV-card working with a 3-year-old kernel & matching drivers should absolutely start with getting a recent kernel with updated drivers and try from there...
In fact 2.6.10, AFAICR, didnt even have a saa7134-alsa driver but needed manual messing around with the general saa7134 module to get DMA out working.
Quote:
tvtime does require XVideo, so the user may have trouble with this as well.
Indeed, I had Mplayer working flawlessly even back in the days when I used an S3 Savage 2000 graphics card that barely has 2D drivers, let alone anything XV enabled. It's another of many reasons I clearly recomend Mplayer at least until you get things up and running. If things aint working in Mplayer, it isnt likely to work with anything other either and somethimes Mplayer is the only thing that will work due to it's excellent support for different display drivers.
Quote:
I only recommend using mplayer as the last resort because it is not as reliable.
Apparently YMMV, Mplayer for me has been the only thing consistently working for years. My guess would be you where simply using some wrong settings in your Mplayer commandline.
Quote:
The sampling rate for the tuner is 32000 Hz. For either composite (RCA) or S-Video it can either be 32000, 44100, or 48000 Hz. Unfortunately, the module is not that flexible, so you have to always use 32000.
Yes, logically 32kHz should be plenty enough, but to my surprize when I tried DMA sound it sounded absolutely horrible compaired to the cable output. Exactly why I dont know, but a crappy A/D converter is one likely cause.
Quote:
However, the saa7134 can only gather 704 instead of 720, so you are not actually getting all the horizontal viewing that you are expecting.
Actually, you do get the full picture. It is just squashed to the same format used by PAL DV cameras. A resize to 768 width will get you back to the correct aspect ratio as well.
I hate when people do not give out all the information that is needed to troubleshoot.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stedevil
But, as I wrote already, spending that time is usually equal to wasting your time. Autodetection works very well for many people so ONLY bother with trying to figure out exactly what you have if you actually have a problem due to improper autodetection when following my quick guide.
Indeed, the cards with an internal audio out connector is very much to be prefered. At least with my card the scound quality is clearly superior with a cable vs the DMA audio option.
Um... 2.6.10 was released back in 2004...
Anybody spending a lot of time trying to get their TV-card working with a 3-year-old kernel & matching drivers should absolutely start with getting a recent kernel with updated drivers and try from there...
In fact 2.6.10, AFAICR, didnt even have a saa7134-alsa driver but needed manual messing around with the general saa7134 module to get DMA out working.
Indeed, I had Mplayer working flawlessly even back in the days when I used an S3 Savage 2000 graphics card that barely has 2D drivers, let alone anything XV enabled. It's another of many reasons I clearly recomend Mplayer at least until you get things up and running. If things aint working in Mplayer, it isnt likely to work with anything other either and somethimes Mplayer is the only thing that will work due to it's excellent support for different display drivers.
Apparently YMMV, Mplayer for me has been the only thing consistently working for years. My guess would be you where simply using some wrong settings in your Mplayer commandline.
Yes, logically 32kHz should be plenty enough, but to my surprize when I tried DMA sound it sounded absolutely horrible compaired to the cable output. Exactly why I dont know, but a crappy A/D converter is one likely cause.
Actually, you do get the full picture. It is just squashed to the same format used by "PAL" DVDs. A resize to 768 width will get you back to the correct aspect ratio as well.
mplayer rarely worked with the card because the saa7134 module was still in its infancy at the time. tvtime actually worked better. mplayer just stalled before I upgraded from 2.4.26 kernel to 2.6.10. Rarely the auto-detection works for me. Yes, I have used this card since about 3 years ago. Since I have been using this card this long, the card sometimes does not set its registers right upon boot up, so the card is showing its age.
Read the datasheet for saa7134. It can only capture 704 horizontal. Also look at the verbose messages that both mplayer and tvtime prints out. They post 704 instead of 720. The maximum is 704. It is not squashed, but a hardware limitation. I use NTSC, so my resolution is 720x480, but I capture at 704x480 then add a 16 pixel border to the left or right to make it artistically sound. Though capturing at 720x480 is a waste of data because TV or other sources is not any better than 640x480.
Normally digital audio recording from the card can only be done by the tuner. Getting audio from the Composite or S-Video can not be done.
When I tested the digital audio recording of the saa7134, it did not sound horrible. My sound card is a Audiotrak Prodigy 7.1 (VIA ICE1724HT) that can handle 32000 hertz. Not a lot of sound cards can handle this sampling rate. Some are fixed at 44100 Hz or 48000 Hz, so up sampling can cause the source to sound horrible.
People that live in countries that uses AM audio will have the most problems with any video capture card in Linux. If the tdaXXXX software are not set as a module during configuring and compiling the kernel, the user have to compile the module themselves.
I have done minor code changes to my saa7134 module after I have set it up. One is a working VBI (closed captions). It never worked at each kernel upgrade. I had to change the scale and other lines of code to make it work, but the code the developers have placed is too redundant that makes real-live video to stutter. Next I change the inputs and added a name for an input, so it I can go to the correct Composite instead the wrong Composite. Probably I should edit the sound module, so it actually works the best and complies to the hardware limits.
First thing, just to keep you from being confused, forget anything you read about saa7134-alsa, you wont need it for anything.
Continuing, you are using the built in sound on the MotherBoard and it's based on the Intel Azalia HDA which needs the snd-hda-intel alsa module loaded with the correct board option.
First thing to check, do you even see a CD-channel in your sound mixer? If yes, make sure it's unmuted and volume turned up. If this doesnt work or you dont even have a CD control slider, auto detection of your sound "card" failed and you need to unload and reload the snd-hda-intel module with the correct options. Possibly you might also need to get the latest 1.1.15rc2 ALSA drivers.
I happen to have the links for how to do this in Ubuntu (should be similar in Debian) since I just did the same a few days ago on my new MB with Realtek ACL883 sound (snd-hda-intel driver as well).
sudo modprobe -v snd-hda-intel model=3stack-6ch-dig
with above lates ALSA fixed my quiet CD-in, but you need to verify your soundchip and find the right board option for you.
mplayer just stalled before I upgraded from 2.4.26 kernel to 2.6.10. Rarely the auto-detection works for me.
Well, I switched to 2.6 pretty much when it came out which I believe was quite a while before I got the TV card. So I really cant comment on what works or not in 2.4 kernels.
But Intermittent working/non working auto detection? Sure sounds like you have some broken hardware with generally flaky behavior. Might as well be the MB as the TV card though.
Quote:
Yes, I have used this card since about 3 years ago.
Mine is about 4 years old, still working as clockwork.
Quote:
Read the datasheet for saa7134. It can only capture 704 horizontal.
Same applies to PAL DV camcorders. That is the standard way of doing it.
Quote:
It is not squashed, but a hardware limitation. I use NTSC, so my resolution is 720x480
Im in a PAL country so I cant comment on how things works with NTCS, but with PAL the 704/720 res should be rescaled to 768, or the picture IS squashed.
Quote:
Though capturing at 720x480 is a waste of data because TV or other sources is not any better than 640x480.
Dont confuse analogue 480 (PAL 576) lines with digital content and it's pixels. What you say only holds true if the input to the saa713x was a digital format. It's not and capturing at higher res will allow you to retain more data for later recreating the analogue picture from your digital copy.
Quote:
When I tested the digital audio recording of the saa7134, it did not sound horrible. My sound card is a Audiotrak Prodigy 7.1 (VIA ICE1724HT) that can handle 32000 hertz.
I had (and still have) an Aureal Vortex 2 (au8830) from 1998 connected to a made from excellent components that stills runs laps around most sound cards used today that has no problems with 32kHz. It's also connected to a ~$10.000 stereo system and the sounds quality difference was substantial for me. That said, it's perfectly possible that it's my Asus TV-FM card that is substandard on DMA output compared to eg your card. The problem however for sure is not in the audio part for me.
Quote:
I have done minor code changes to my saa7134 module after I have set it up. One is a working VBI (closed captions). It never worked at each kernel upgrade. I had to change the scale and other lines of code to make it work, but the code the developers have placed is too redundant that makes real-live video to stutter. Next I change the inputs and added a name for an input, so it I can go to the correct Composite instead the wrong Composite. Probably I should edit the sound module, so it actually works the best and complies to the hardware limits.
Have you approached the current saa713x driver developers with your code changes? It would surely benefit a lot of people if your improved code was added to the official driver.
Quote:
When was that? Yesterday?
Not really since it's a card from 1999, but it did come back in service for a few months a year or two ago when xorg kept freezing up with my Nvidia card with both nv and nvidia drivers.
Have you approached the current saa713x driver developers with your code changes? It would surely benefit a lot of people if your improved code was added to the official driver.
After testing it thoroughly, kernel advanced to several minor versions, so the patch will not work. Since VBI is captured in RAW, I would like to include a module option to set the VBI scale, so the user do not have to edit the code to change the VBI scale for their hardware. The code is too redundant, so the video will just stutter when capturing VBI even after my patch.
Maybe I should save up for Jungo WinDriver, so I can reverse engineer better code for this card and others.
Quote:
Im in a PAL country so I cant comment on how things works with NTCS, but with PAL the 704/720 res should be rescaled to 768, or the picture IS squashed.
If 704 horizontal is rescaled to 720 or 768, it will be stretched. The best way is to add 16 pixels or 64 pixels of black border to the right (I think). It will still view perfectly on a TV. The hardware of the saa7134 chip is limited to 704 for horizontal.
IMHO, you are not gaining anything capturing higher than 640 for the horizontal for this card. Also capturing using yv12 (about 4096 different colors) wastes a lot of color information. A fourcc code like 422p (about 15-bit color or 32768) or even better RGB24 (about 16.7 million) will be better than yv12. Unfortunately, the module has a hard time capturing RGB24.
I suggest use your nVidia TV out to output NTSC to the card.
Quote:
I had (and still have) an Aureal Vortex 2 (au8830) from 1998 connected to a made from excellent components that stills runs laps around most sound cards used today that has no problems with 32kHz. It's also connected to a ~$10.000 stereo system and the sounds quality difference was substantial for me. That said, it's perfectly possible that it's my Asus TV-FM card that is substandard on DMA output compared to eg your card. The problem however for sure is not in the audio part for me.
My sound system is more than $400. It uses Technics SA-AX7 and a custom made speakers and subwoofer which needs to be upgraded soon. My sound card closely resembles the sound quality of Lynx Studio Technology LynxTWO which is the best PCI sound card.
Quote:
But Intermittent working/non working auto detection? Sure sounds like you have some broken hardware with generally flaky behavior. Might as well be the MB as the TV card though.
It is actually the software of the card, not my motherboard or other hardware. The software of the saa7134 module is poor and it is still poor since it has not got any changes since 2.6.10. The only thing that has been changed for each minor release is the V4Lv1 to V4Lv2 compatibility layer and V4Lv2 which then made the old code of the saa7134 a little friendlier. Programs like mplayer then follow after that. tvtime stayed at a constant reliable and stable state.
Software in Windows for the saa7134 cards is poor. VBI does not work even after a scale change in dscaler. dscaler provides a way to shift the video to the left to make the video look artistically good. One thing that works the best in Windows is recording audio from the card and that is about it.
If software for the saa7134 cards was better, the card will work with little trouble.
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing
Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute
content, let us know.
