[pvrusb2] testing pvrusb2

[Abe Shan]

Following Mike's advice, I RMA-ed the product and installed a UPS-backed
supply. Now, I can watch the live TV on mythtv with pvrusb2. However, every
five minutes or so, mythbackend barfs the following error --

2007-01-31 23:17:07.647 MPEGRec(/dev/video0) Error: error reading from:
/dev/video0
                        eno: Input/output error (5)
2007-01-31 23:17:10.611 TVRec(1): Changing from WatchingLiveTV to None
2007-01-31 23:17:12.647 MPEGRec(/dev/video0) Error: select timeout - ivtv
driver has stopped responding

I have checked the /var/log/message and the pvrusb2 does not log any errors.
If I hardware reset the device and then restart mythbackend/frontend, I can
watch TV again.

But this is occurring so frequently that it is impossible to enjoy watching.


Am I missing some configuration settings? Or are there any clear debugging
paths worth pursuing?

abe


On 11/9/06, Mike Isely <isely at isely.net> wrote:
>
> On Thu, 9 Nov 2006, Abe Shan wrote:
>
> > Here is some more relevant information. I only have one USB device (the
> > WinTV-PVR-USB2) and I have also tried simply
> > cat /dev/video0 > /tmp/rec.mpg
> > and even that dies after a few seconds.
> >
> > If there are other clues to look for, I would appreciate some hints.
>
> I'd start by looking for 3 possibilities:
>
> 1. Something else is touching the device and interfering with it.
>
> 2. There is a problem with the USB connection.
>
> 3. There is a power problem.
>
> All of those cases have happened to people in the past.
>
> If the USB connection is flakey (e.g. bad cable, bad hub (if you are using
> one), marginal USB controller), then you might get behavior like this.
> I'm not entirely convinced though because if the USB connection is really
> flakey then what you get ultimately will get is the driver completely
> giving up on operating the device - you would have to replug the device to
> recover.  But this sort of thing can be tested for by trying a different
> cable, different controller (if you can), etc.
>
> You might have a power problem with the device.  As an external device,
> the PVR USB2 relies on its own power supply not the PC's power.  And that
> tiny wall-wart is far less robust against dirty power than a PC power
> supply.  So power glitches that might not affect the PC very likely will
> affect the PVR USB2.  Put it on a surge protector or even better a UPS if
> you can.  Running the device off of a UPS might not be a desirable
> solution, but at least just trying it will allow you to either rule out
> this cause or confirm it.
>
> Going back to (1), make sure your mythtv backend is really not touching
> the device when you're trying to test it.  Also, if you have other tuner
> devices present and corresponding software operating said devices, make
> sure that software is really operating the correct device (or just hunt
> down and kill it all temporarily to see if that is a cause).  There was
> one incident a while back IIRC where the addition of the PVR USB2 device
> caused his /dev/videoX entries to get renumbered and an application that
> was operating his "other" device accidentally started trying to manipulate
> the PVR USB2 device.
>
> I can't suggest that any of these causes are definitely the problem.  The
> symptoms you are describing I don't think perfectly fit any of these.  But
> it is a starting point.
>
> Other than that, you could try the device in Windows and see if you
> observe the same bad behavior.  Then it's obviously a defect in the
> hardware and you'll have to RMA it.  I once had a problem on one device
> and spent over a month chasing ghosts in the pvrusb2 driver until another
> person suggested the obvious: try it in Windows.  I did, and saw the same
> exact symptom as what I saw using the pvrusb2 driver.  2 weeks later I had
> a repaired unit back from Hauppauge.
>
>   -Mike
>
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