can't install pvr-350

[roiz]

Everything seems to install OK, however, the PVR-350 card is not being recognised.

I assume that the PVR hardware should be part of the "simple" install ( which would seem to be simple if I had a list of known working hardware ) and should do fine following the steps in the instructions... but when doing initial setup it stops and says "no input device" ( paraphrased) and asks to install one.

Emerge ivtv has a few errors.. ( even with the gentoo unmask for AMD64's ) .. but I dont seem to get complaints when I modprobe ivtv , it just still isnt there.

The software seems ultra cool and even better than the win version.. I cant wait to integrate the networking etc .

HELP!

Another suggestion for SAGE .. it would really be wonderful to have a simple "good, bad, ugly" hardware list... nothing complete... but a simple system that is known to jump up and run with no issues... and a few warnings ( like Radion cards or whatever ) of what ommon items definately dont work.

I understand this is OEM stuff and dont expect a end user manual or to have my hand held. As well, I understand that this is a new product and has a few bugs to work out.

We seem to have an educated community, can some of the folks that have good/bad installs post thier hardware and what problems/solutions and workarounds as well as cool tweaks?

If anyone knows why my hardware is not behaving, please let me know what I can do! I suspect it is AMD64 related. The board definately works with a windows or fedora install. I am not expert at linux and not newbie .. I suppose I am "dangerous"

AMD64 3800+ , 1 gig ram, MSI Neo4 M/B , PVR-350 , Nvidia 6600 series.

Thanks
Roiz

[AboveUnrefined]

Have you tried switching the PCI slot your card is currently located in? If it used to work before in a different environment that probably wouldn't be the problem, but it may be worth a shot....

*EDIT*

The board definately works with a windows or fedora install.

I apologize, I read too quickly and in too much of a tired state... I really doubt my recommendation is of any use!

[Narflex]

The decoder firmware for the PVR-350 is missing from the ISO. It needs to be placed in /lib/firmware

You can get it from: http://download.sage.tv/v4l-cx2341x-dec.fw

[roiz]

well, I dropped in the firmware and now the card seems to be recognised, however, I get zero channels andno signal from any other input source!

in a final attempt , I went ahead and sync'd and reloaded the IVTV's , then gave up and did a complete re-install ( 4 th time) .

I think this may be a wash... 4 days is not "simple" or "easy" . Is there any chance of just getting the windows version... Ive got alot of bucks tied up in a paperwieght at the moment. Even if I DO get this working, there is no DVD playback.. there are lots of extra steps of which any one can blow out the whole server.. etc etc etc... Maybe another time, but frankly, I don't think this is even close to "release" expectations, perhaps "beta" for experts to play with?

[heffe2001]

Well, the software IS intended for OEM's, not off-the-shelf installs. I'm guessing they will be doing a new release soon (the windows version is supposed to be getting a new beta today), so maybe that'll fix your problem with the 350.

[roiz]

Originally Posted by heffe2001

Well, the software IS intended for OEM's, not off-the-shelf installs. I'm guessing they will be doing a new release soon (the windows version is supposed to be getting a new beta today), so maybe that'll fix your problem with the 350.

Thats a joke, right?

Here is what is seen when considering purchase..

"is the easiest way way to turn your PC into a reliable Linux powered PVR, Music and Photos Media Center for just $79.95."

and

"Works with almost any PC hardware. "

Then
"Easy to setup, insert the install CD and run through the simple installation steps and turn your PC into a Linux powered SageTV Media Center."


And then in hardware

"TV Tuner card: Hauppauge PVR150 (supports IR blaster), PVR250, PVR350 (encoder only) or PVR500 card (multiple cards supported) "


So , what you are saying is part of "OEM" is to purchase a product with these selling points, and then after spending ? $875 and investing 35 hours just to find that the PVR that was on the supported hardware list DOESNT work ( see gentoo bug reports on -V2 and emerge with ITVT ) without considerable work and custom rebuild AND/OR a -V3 upgrade etc etc etc... and then actually WAIT to a later release to play a DVD, watch a TV program, or .. actually do ANYTHING at all ...
Thats what you suggest is "OEM" ?

Ive been an engineer for 28 years... and have rolled out lots and lots of products... this is a rev 4, non "dot-zero" product with a pricetag and a list of specs... it does not meet specs. I CAN be patient and ask for help fixing unexpected issues.. but to buy this and be expected to wait for another revision to get this working is just not funny or helpfull in any way...

So, unless you speak for SageTV or from any level of expertise, please let the experts and the company point me in a constructive direction...

Thank you.

[gplasky]

Woah, woah hold on a minute. If you had done a little research on this you would of seen that Sage had held out quite a while from offering the Linux version to the general population. And it was just for this reason.

The Linux version was designed for an OEM. Only after many users had complained that they wanted to use the Linux version and after about a year did Sage actually release this. The major caveat was there would be NO support from Sage on the product. Unless you wanted to become an OEM and pay for the support. This was made clear in many of the forum posts including the stickies.

Quoted from the offical announcement in the forum

There will be a new forum up shortly to discuss the Linux version and support is only available through this forum. No official support will be provided other than what's provided with the documentation or through interaction in the forums. Paid technical support is available by contacting us at oem@sagetv.com.

The issues you are citing are the nature of the Linux beast. Just look at a product like Myth TV. Why do you think there are so people coming to Sage for the Windows version? 28 years as an engineer or not these are the issues you'll always run into with the Linux versions. Maybe there's something else missing for the PVR350's or maybe it's a bug. People have the PVR150 and 250 working fine. There's also issues running the PVR350 on Windows too. Read the threads. Probably not the best choice for a card if you're looking for a trouble and issue free installation.

My 2 cents. Not affiliated with Sage except as a customer. Do not consider this an official response seeing you won't get official support with this product.

Gerry

[roiz]

Again I dont understand.. it seems simple to me, there are hardware that the product says is supported, and procedures that the product says will work.. both dont. We can take it three times around the dancefloor and still get nowhere.. but thats very simple and it has nothing to do with the PVR-350 or what "OEM" means.

I ran the Sagtv 15 day eval flawlessly for the trial period, as well as the software that came with the PVR-350. I also ran the beyondTV. There are no issues with the hardware or windows drivers.

I also setup the Linux drivers on Fedora Core 4 and had a few issues but it seemed to work with a basic Mythtv . Took about 4 hours.

Obviously, I would prefer the Sagetv Interface which is why I shelled out 80 bucks and a significant amount of time. Also, the hardware supported list stated that the pvr-350 was supported. It always worked with everything else.. and I havent seen any hardware issues with this card in other regards...

As with any OS, Linux can be as stable or unstable as you choose to make it. If a product claims to have a stable, simple , robust setup, then I shouldnt have to go diving into forum histories to verify that claim... I am sure Sagetv has enough reputation to back what they say without that degree of skepticism...

So, again, pressing forward, any suggestions of how to get this stable and running?

[heffe2001]

Originally Posted by roiz

So, again, pressing forward, any suggestions of how to get this stable and running?

I gave you a suggestion, but you dismissed it out of hand, and took a rude posture.

The linux version could very well be considered for experts only, hence the OEM, and pay support. So the 350 doens't work, sounds like a bug to me. you'll most likely have to wait for a bugfix(just FYI, the 350 has been very problematic at the least with Sage, if you do a search you'll see lots of problems on decoding with it, but that's not your issue). Just about everybody on these forums at one time or another have had to wait for a bugfix on something.

Have you attempted to contact Sage's tech support with your issue? Just FYI, these forums aren't for official tech-support (although they do seem to be putting in much more time here lately).

And just a FYI, coming in here with attitude most surely endear you to the other folks on here...

[_Demo_]

After installing the firmware do you see the card listed in the input selection screen? If not, could you send the output of dmesg.

_Demo_

[roiz]

Originally Posted by _Demo_

After installing the firmware do you see the card listed in the input selection screen? If not, could you send the output of dmesg.

_Demo_

YES .
It seems the firmware was indeed missing from the distro, so simply placing it in the dir immediately fixed that issue.
However.. no signal at all..
What intrigues me is IVTV was working fine under fedora core 4 , so I assume it is a version issue?
Here is where it may be worth my while to just print the install.sh and write a two stage script. sync and upgrade the IVTV test it, and when stable, THEN install the sageTV app. I will likely build three of these in the future so a custom script isnt too bad, though I would like to limit compiles.

Which reminds me, when done.. will emerge --sync mess me up? I hear the one problem with Gentoo is it likes to screw itself up with these in some cases. If not, perhaps I can just fix the -R3 error at the end and move ahead .

I am suspicious the (-R3 ?) emerge will fix my issue, however there may be a dependancy problem with the SageTV if I just upgrade... it seems to do everything then fail right at the end!

On the other hand, it may do me well to just buy a pvr-150 and save my sanity for the IVTV to mature... I DO like the 350 though since it seems to significantly reduce the load on the CPU. ( At least in windows )

This project will be for a automated system to integrate entertainment and computer on a projection system for a client in a wheelchair with limited neck movement. So, several PVR's is no problem. I will just use the pvr-350 on my own home system.

[_Demo_]

Could you try svideo and composite input?

You should be careful if you update ivtv, most likely you would need to update Sage.properties to specify the right input.

_Demo_

[roiz]

Originally Posted by heffe2001

And just a FYI, coming in here with attitude most surely endear you to the other folks on here...

FYI ... endear means "make beloved" ...

[heffe2001]

Believe me, I know, but apparently you don't recognize sarcasm (hence the rolling eyes ).

I'm still wondering if part of the problem could be running 64b linux libraries & such, and something just not working correctly because of that...