Using LIRC, Remote Control from Dvico FusionHDTV5 RT Gold is not discovered

samstar · 09-08-2007, 04:19 PM

Hello everyone,

I just bought a Dvico FusionHDTV5 RT Gold capture card for my Home Theatre PC setup. All documentation I could find on the Internet claimed that this board was supported, but I can't for the life of me get the Remote control to operate the system.

The IR receiver plugs directly into the capture card via a dongle, so it's not a USB issue. I know it is hooked up correctly and working, because when the computer is off, I can use the remote control's 'on button' to power up the computer.

With the linux 2.6.22 kernel, I compiled the latest LIRC software with 'dvico' support, but it doesn't seem to matter. There is no /dev entry for the remote at all. I even compiled it with 'dvico' and 'hauppauge' support just so it would build the 'lirc_i2c' module, but the module didn't help either.

The only useful thing I could find to post here is a line from 'dmesg'

dmesg

Code:

lirc_dev: IR Remote Control driver registered, at major 61

I don't know what it means, but it doesn't seem to help. If anyone could offer some advice, I'd really appreciate it, Thanks!

Sam

maroonbaboon · 09-09-2007, 07:55 PM

You probably already know more about this than me but I have a couple of comments.

The dmesg lines seems to imply that some device is getting created. On my system the device with major number 61 is indeed /dev/lirc, but you seem to be saying you have no such device file.

I bought a (rebranded) DVICO about the time 'dvico' support was added to LIRC, but this had a USB dongle. and worked with the linux 'hiddev' driver. So maybe lirc's dvico support still refers to this model.

Some people on this forum have been finding their IR receivers are picked up by the 'input' driver. In this case the device file is somewhere in /dev/input, possibly in one of the 'event' files. So you could try 'cat /dev/input/event0' or similar and try hitting remote buttons to see if there is any activity.

samstar · 09-10-2007, 01:03 AM

Hi maroonbaboon

I know exactly what you mean. I've rechecked the /dev/input contents, but there are no new entries. For a new entry to be created, there must be a kernel module loaded that supports the IR on my card. I've tried the bttv, cx88, saa7134, and ir-kbd-i2c modules, each without success.

My card is based on the cx88 series module, but, after checking the module source, I've discovered that it only supports the dvico gold brand - the card that ships with a USB IR dongle, like yours. So, it won't search the card itself for an IR receiver.

maroonbaboon · 09-10-2007, 06:24 PM

As well as the DVICO card I also have an analog tuner with a non-usb card dongle (which I've never bothered to get working). Running 'cat /proc/bus/input/devices' shows

I: Bus=0001 Vendor=5168 Product=0138 Version=0001
N: Name="saa7134 IR (LifeView FlyVIDEO30"
P: Phys=pci-0000:01:0b.0/ir0
S: Sysfs=/class/input/input2
H: Handlers=kbd
B: EV=100003
B: KEY=c0304 310000 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1e0000 0 0 10000ffc

which I assume is telling me the remote is acting as a second keyboard. So maybe worth checking this if you haven't already?

samstar · 09-11-2007, 10:05 AM

Well, before I posted here, I completely scoured my system for any mention of an IR input, but no luck.

The reason why your Lifeview IR input is showing up is that there is an entry for your card to have IR in the source code for the 'saa7134' driver.

The driver my card uses, the 'cx88' modules, does not have an entry for my card in its 'cx88-input.c' file. This file determines if there should be an entry for the IR receiver in the system's list of inputs.

This file is located at '/usr/src/linux/drivers/media/video/cx88/cx88-input.c'
I manually added this to the file, under "/* detect & configure */"

Code:

        case CX88_BOARD_DVICO_FUSIONHDTV_5_GOLD:
                ir_codes = ir_codes_fusionhdtv_mce;
                ir->mask_keycode = 0;
                break;

After recompiling the modules and restarting, it adds this entry to my '/proc/bus/input/devices'

Code:

I: Bus=0001 Vendor=18ac Product=d500 Version=0001
N: Name="cx88 IR (DViCO FusionHDTV 5 Gol"
P: Phys=pci-0000:04:0a.2/ir0
S: Sysfs=/class/input/input3
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=kbd event3
B: EV=100003
B: KEY=c00a4 230305100000000 0 110000 1b844002841 1e168000000000 10000ffc

But the resulting entry in '/dev/input' is unusable.

Further, enabling ir_debug in the driver modules doesn't provide any output in my dmesg.

Can anyone recommend any entries to 'cx88-input.c' that might work?

Sam

samstar · 09-14-2007, 08:38 PM

After research and communication with the very helpful people from the V4L mailing list, I've discovered that support for Dvico's FusionHDTV5 RT Gold remote control is supported by their Mercurial repositories (hg).

Get the latest source from here: http://linuxtv.org/hg/v4l-dvb
Click on bz2 or gz to get the compressed source.

Or use their instructions here: http://www.linuxtv.org/repo/
Under 'Checkout'

If you don't want to use the latest, possibly buggy source, check the list here for the 'fusionhdtv' link, and download that source code.

If you don't want to mess with source, this remote control will be supported in the upcoming 2.6.24 linux kernel.

Sam

Bhurak · 09-20-2007, 09:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by samstar

If you don't want to mess with source, this remote control will be supported in the upcoming 2.6.24 linux kernel.

Sam

I decided to 'mess with source' and have built the V4L-DVB from the latest in the repository.

Did the install, but still have no Remote Function.

Anyone having any luck?

samstar · 09-21-2007, 03:31 AM

Hi, can you explain in detail the steps you took in installing the latest v4l source and testing your remote? I did forget to mention some steps I took before the computer would detect the remote.

After the new modules are compiled and installed, shut down the computer and unplug the power to it. Wait a minute, and turn the computer back on. That way, the card's volatile memory is wiped, and it should detect the remote and report it to the new drivers.

At least, that's what it took for my system to detect the remote. It's an easy step to forget or overlook. I even forgot to mention that here until now.

Now, the remote works perfectly with the system. After you get it installed, you can use it directly as an input device in X, or you can use it with LIRC. If you decide to use LIRC, you should create your own '/etc/lirc.conf' file with the irrecord program, instead of using the provided dvico files (the file I created ended up looking slightly different from the provided file).

Good luck,
Sam

Bhurak · 09-24-2007, 06:39 AM

Good News!

I think the shutdown is the step I had not done. After giving up on the problem for the evening, I returned the next day and found to my surprise that I had limited remote functionality in X.

Right now the numbers and up, down, left, right are working but no other buttons produce X input. I guess at this point I'll investigate getting LIRC to map the other keys.

Thanks for the advice, Sam.