[SOLVED] Pinnacle PCTV 300i

Hi, just deciding wether to compltley switch to Zorin 8 from XP. Very impressed so far and just working through a few issues.

I am using the above card with TV Time viewer and although I can get a picture I am unable to get sound.

Rebooting into XP all works OK so presumably it is not a hardware issue.

I have googled away and read where it says: Card = 50, Tuner = 33, but I don't know how to use this information to get the sound to work.

Any help would be apprecieted, but please keep it simple.

Hi,

make sure you have the package "linux-firmware-nonfree" installed then restart with your TV stick thingy plugged in and see if you have sound!.

In a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + t):

Code:

sudo apt-get install linux-firmware-nonfree

See also:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1661

Hi, thanks for that, I have installed the package as advised but I still don't have sound.

If I look under sound settings for input for the PCTV card the blue bars flicker up to about 7 bars, so clearly sound is being produced, I just can't hear it!

All sounds from other sources can be heard.

By the way, I am using a pci card, not a USB stick

Best regards, Figureman52.

Hi FM52,

go to System Settings > Hardware > Sound > Output and make sure you have your TV card also showing, click on it and then go to profile and select the TV soundcard:

As you can see from the above pic, it only shows one of my soundcards, I also have an Nvidia HDMI out!.

If you cannot see your TV card, paste this command into a terminal:

Code:

sudo apt-get install libsox-fmt-all paman

Then open Pulse Audio Volume Control and play around with the settings there, it is slighty better than the norrmal volume controls!. Basically you need to set the TV card as "Fallback" and disable the normal sound whilst using the TV soundcard. Don't forget to switch it back when finished!.

Thanks for your suggestions Wolfman, but even under pulse I still can't get the tv card to show as an output device.

It appears as an input device but that is all.

Best regards FM52

Hi,

might be a silly question but is your speaker plug plugged into the light green sound socket?, do you have more than one socket?, do you have headphones plugged in?. are your speakers connected at the back of your PC?.

Hi,

The tv card works perfectly if I reboot back into XP

It just doesn't show as an output device in pulse so I can't make the changes that you have suggested.

Best regards FM52

Hi,

double check "Playback" in Pulse Audio manager":

The button on the right is "Built-in Audio Analogue Stereo" with a drop-down-menu!.

See also:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2023&p=7875#p7875

I have done what you said and all the playback in audio manager shows is the system sounds.

Nothing that has been done up to now shows the tv card anywhere but in the input devices where it says Port: Video.

Okay, plan "B".

Paste the following command in a terminal:

Code:

sudo rmmod tuner

and then:

Code:

sudo modprobe -v tuner qss=0

and now check if the sound is there!.

If it isn't, paste the following command in a terminal which will show all your hardware:

Code:

sudo lshw

If it states (after typing lshw which is a long list btw) that the device is in a "cold state"; then you may well have to look for other firmware elsewhere because your device is not loaded correctly or not being recognized!!.
That somewhere is in the drivers folder of the Windows driver disk of your TV card and you are looking for "Firmware" and in particular; a file ending "inf".

Now you need to copy the file you found (if you can find it) as root in the /lib/firmware folder.

To make yourself root, paste the following command in a terminal:

Code:

gksudo nautilus

Your home folder wiil open as "Root" (password required) and you need to navigate thusly: Computer > lib > firmware and paste the "inf" file anywhere in that folder and restart your PC and see if it works!.

Another question if I may, what TV app(s) are you using, I would go for "me-tv" or "kaffeine" myself!.

http://www.ubuntugeek.com/me-tv-digital ... gnome.html

http://www.kde.org/applications/multimedia/kaffeine

Good luck.

Hi,

I've tried this command and can't see anything about a "Cold State"

I think this is the part that refers to the TV card, does it look right to you?

*-multimedia
description: Multimedia controller
product: SAA7134/SAA7135HL Video Broadcast Decoder
vendor: Philips Semiconductors
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
version: 01
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=saa7134 latency=64 maxlatency=248 mingnt=248
resources: irq:19 memory:febffc00-febfffff

Best regards FM52

Hi FM52,

that looks okay, did you try the top 2 commands in my last post and was there any sound?.

Code:

sudo rmmod tuner

and then:

Code:

sudo modprobe -v tuner qss=0

Another thing you can try is to open a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + t) and paste this command:

Code:

sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/options.conf

the editor will open and you must paste and save (click on "File > Save as" and give it a name) the newly created page and then restart:

Code:

options saa7134 card=26

I hope it works, I got that info here, it is for Ubutnu 12.04 but should work too!:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2146946

Regarding the first two commands, I must apologise, somehow I failed to notice them.

However when I tried them all I got for the first was

Error: Module tuner is in use

I then tried the second and it just went back to the prompt without apparently doing anything.

I have also tried your new suggestion, saving the file as Pinnacle Config, but this had not given a result either.

Best regards FM52

If you haven't already installed it, install me-tv and then scan for channels in your area, then go to "View > Preferences > Audio driver > Alsa" and see if you have sound through that!. YOU CAN ALSO TRY AND SEE IF IT REACTS WITH PULSE ADUIO!.

Code:

sudo apt-get install me-tv

According to what I have read thus far, your cards drivers are in the current kernels!.

If you are using Cable or satellite, then use "kaffeine"!:

Code:

sudo apt-get install kaffeine

Kaffeine has a better scan function imo!.

Another question, are you just running a Live CD or have you done a complete install, there is a big difference in functionality of the OS if you haven't installed and this may be the reason why it isn't working correctly!.

I have done a complete install.

Kaffeine and MyTv seem to be for digital tv, I am receiving my signal from the analogue output of my cable tv box.



Best regards FM52

HI, does this mean the issue has been [SOLVED]?

Just been doing some investigations and found this:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2146946

Did a search and someone posted on one of those 'answer' pages with no proper links that the SAA1734 drivers are compatible with your card.

Hi,

"analogue", for that you will need a different player maybe, install "XawTV" which should pick up the signal better!:

Code:

sudo apt-get install xawtv

See also: (yes its a bit long I know!. )

http://www.linuxintro.org/wiki/Watch_analog_cable_TV

You can try VLC as well, I tried it for my DVB-T card but it isn't that reliable though!.

Hi,

Up to now the issue is not solved, I did find this:

http://askubuntu.com/questions/214720/w ... e-no-sound

To be honest some of your later suggestions are getting a bit beyond my understanding, having been raised on Windows!

Best regards FM52

I will get back to you!.

Hi,

did you install the packages sox libsox-fmt-all paman, working on the assumption you did, you must play around with the various settings in Pulse Audio Manager (paman) to get it to work, the card is supported by the kernel and somewhere is the trigger for the sound?.

Did you try XawTV and set the audio device? (default is /dev/dsp).

Another player option is "tvtime"!.

Code:

sudo apt-get install tvtime

It is the only other analogue player I can think of!, try it and see what it offers in the way of sound settings, try "Pulse" and "OSS" if "Alsa" fails!.

Hi, I have the Pulse Audio Volume Control but not the Pulse Audio Manager, even though the software centre says it is installed.

Are they different?

Best regards FM52

Halfway there! I have installed XAWTV and have picture and sound.

Just need to find a way to alter the aspect ratio from 4:3 to 16:9

Best regards FM52

Great FM52, can we mark this as solved?.

Very nearly. I just need to get the aspect ratio right, I believe I have to adjust the config file but I can't seem to find it.

Can you give me some advice on this please.

Best regards FM52

HI,

try simply right clicking the screen and see if it has any options for screen format etc!.

I found this, scroll down to "shortcuts"!:

http://www.wiley.com/legacy/compbooks/n ... Xawtv.html

Hi, there's nothing there regarding ratio but I did find this:

http://linux.die.net/man/5/xawtvrc

Which has an option for ratio about 2/3 of the way down.

But I can't find a way to either create or access one.

Best Regards FM52

Did you try tvtime?.

It was one of the first that I tried, and got no sound.

Hi,

are there other settings for "PAL, NTSC, DVB-C, DVB-T, DVB-S" somewhere in the settings and can you try different ones?.

I would think that only these 3 would work for you though!: "PAL, NTSC, DVB-C".

Hi, there's nothing there regarding ratio but I did find this:

http://linux.die.net/man/5/xawtvrc

Which has an option for ratio about 2/3 of the way down.

But I can't find a way to either create or access one.

Best Regards FM52

Hi, the answer was here on that page:

"You can use the command line utility

Code:

scantv

to create a initial config file. scantv will automatically scan all channels for TV stations and write the ones it has found to the config file."

Look in synaptic for 'scantv' - it may simply mean you have to create one in 'GEdit' (Accessories | Text Editor)

Hi,

I have run scantv to find my channels in XAWTV so presumably I have a config file. My problem is that I can't find it!

Best regards FM52

Hi,

open your home and press "Ctrl + h" to show hiddden files and see if you can find a file "xawtvrc".

You might have to make yourself root, open a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + t) then paste this command:

Code:

gksudo nautilus

which will make you root, if you didn't find the file you need there in your home, navigate root home > computer > etc > x11 > xawtvrc

Hi,

You can mark this as [SOLVED]

Many thanks for all your help.

Best regards FM52.

Hi, Glad you are sorted! Have marked as [SOLVED]

Hi,

You can mark this as [SOLVED]

Many thanks for all your help.

Best regards FM52.

Hi FM52,

can you tell everyone what your last step was to solve it so as to help others please!.