[pvrusb2] Jumpy Video in Mythtv

[Mike Isely]

On Sun, 24 Jun 2007, Mark Goldberg wrote:

> On Mon, 25 Jun 2007, Mike Isely wrote:
> 
> >Mark:
> 
> >There were some driver fixes that addressed video stability back around
> >December 2006.  The standalone drivers since then have of course
> >included that fix and the in-kernel driver from 2.6.21 onwards has the
> >fix.  That particular fix IIRC was also backported into a point-release
> >of 2.6.20 but I don't remember off the top of my head at what point it
> >was introduced.
> >
> >Can you please verify which pvrusb2 driver version you are running?
> >Did you pull down a standalone snapshot or is it whatever came with your
> >kernel (what kernel version?) or did you install a v4l-dvb snapshot?
> >
> >  -Mike
> >
> >

   [...]

> Thanks for the reply.
> 
> I'm using whatever is in 2.6.20-1.2952.fc6 fedora kernel (AMD64). I don't know
> how that matches up with the normal kernel releases. I tried an
> earlier kernel and
> compiled the kernel module from pvrusb2-mci-20070428, but that does not change
> any of the other modules. It worked about the same and I decided to
> try the latest FC6 kernel. Let me know how I can tell what the source
> version is.
> I can download the fedora source and look at it, if I know where to look.
> 
> modinfo gives me the following:
> 
> filename:
> /lib/modules/2.6.20-1.2952.fc6/kernel/drivers/media/video/pvrusb2/pvrusb2.ko
> license:        GPL
> description:    Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-USB2 MPEG2 Encoder/Tuner
> author:         Mike Isely <isely at pobox.com>
> srcversion:     154E3479B16DDDCC397F722
> alias:          usb:v2040p2400d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*
> alias:          usb:v2040p2900d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*
> depends:        tveeprom,videodev,i2c-core,v4l2-common,cx2341x,v4l1-compat
> vermagic:       2.6.20-1.2952.fc6 SMP mod_unload
> parm:           video_nr:Offset for device's minor (array of int)
> parm:           ctlchg:0=optimize ctl change 1=always accept new ctl value (int)
> parm:           init_pause_msec:hardware initialization settling delay (int)
> parm:           initusbreset:Do USB reset device on probe (int)
> parm:           procreload:Attempt init failure recovery with firmware
> reload (int)
> parm:           tuner:specify installed tuner type (array of int)
> parm:           video_std:specify initial video standard (array of int)
> parm:           tolerance:specify stream error tolerance (array of int)
> parm:           debug:Debug trace mask (int)
> parm:           i2c_scan:scan i2c bus at insmod time (int)
> 

The in-kernel driver from 2.6.20 had a video corruption issue.  I don't 
know how Fedora updates those kernels; if they pull changes from later 
point releases then it might be OK, but let's assume not.

I recommend you try again building the standalone driver - just build it 
against the kernel you're already running.  The output of the build will 
be just one modules: pvrusb2.ko.  Make sure you replace / rename out of 
the way the existing pvrusb2.ko in your module tree AND make sure you've 
reloaded the module.  Otherwise you'll still be running the old driver.  
There's discussion in the pvrusb2 web page about these sorts of details.  
It's important that we make sure you are running the newer driver.  
Also, when the driver first loads into the kernel it will print a one 
line sign-in that will tell you where it came from.  For an in-kernel 
driver that sign-on is generic, but for a standalone snapshot, the 
snapshot's ID will be in the sign-on message.  Look for that as an 
assurance that you are running the right driver.

If you can show that you are running the right driver and the video is 
still jumping, then the next step might be to capture a click of the 
jumping so that I can see it and perhaps better identify what is going 
on.  But it is very important that we ensure you are running the latest 
driver - because what you've described so far sounds a lot like that bug 
that was fixed back in December.

  -Mike


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