HVR-2250 on linux (as QEMU guest)--so close!

[bbobbo]

i'm trying to get the hvr-2250 working on my linux server in an xp qemu guest (virtual machine). if you have a modern enough processor (i'm using a core i7 920), and an updated enough kernel (i'm using fedora 11, kernel-2.6.30.8-64) qemu supports pci passthrough.

linux beta drivers for the hvr-2250 (digital tuner support only) have been available since may, and i can confirm that they are working (i set up mythtv and can record clear qam off of comcast). but that's no guarantee that they will work with the linux oem version of sagetv. i have an existing sagetv windows license and figure i would give the vm implementation a shot instead of shelling out for a linux oem license that i couldn't test beforehand.

i have the latest version of sage (6.6.2) installed and the latest java version (don't remember the number offhand).

after attaching the hvr-2250 as a device to my qemu guest and starting it up, it does show up in xp and i am able to install the latest drivers (27223). sage also recognizes the card and i'm able to add both tuners as both analog and digital sources:


(click for larger image)

here's where i'm running into a roadblock. when i do a scan for digital channels, sage doesn't recognize any of them. i ran the hauppauge signal monitor utility during the scan, and it does show a good signal being picked up. the scan also runs really slowly, and around channel 90 or so, it gets really bogged down (stays on a channel for several minutes). at the same time, the signal monitor utility hangs. sage eventually gets through all the channels, but doesn't recognize any. plus i get the spinning circle and have to kill sage afterward.

scanning for analog channels works a little better--it scans and recognizes analog channels, but when i try to preview them nothing appears, and when i try to record a channel, i get the "halt detected in recording" error that a lot of people seem to be reporting lately. a zero-length file is created in the sage recording directory, but it never increases in size.

reading through the forum, i have seen reports of people having problems scanning qam channels with the hvr-2250. however, since i have the added complexity of being inside of a vm, i don't know if the problem is with sage, or if it's with the qemu implementation of pci passthrough.

i tried to install hauppauge's wintv 7 application on the qemu guest, but it wouldn't install or run properly. so i can't verify that the card works properly within the guest.

does anyone have any suggestions on additional steps i can take to get this to work (or to determine whether this will work at all)? i guess the first thing would be to figure out if the card is working properly inside the guest. are there any other windows-based programs/utilities i could use to test the functionality of the hvr-2250?

[gplasky]

Have you actually tried connecting a SageTV PC client, Placeshifter or a HD200 extender to the server? You may have better luck configuring it that way.

Gerry

[bbobbo]

no client or hd-200, i do have a placeshifter license. i haven't tried connecting it, though. why would that make a difference in the configuration process?

[gplasky]

I've noticed sometimes when I RDP into my Sage server it sometimes doesn't recognize a tuner properly, especially when scanning channels. But using a client it always does.

Gerry

[bbobbo]

hmmm...that's interesting. i wonder if it has something to do with how the video is being displayed (i.e. overlay, vmr9, etc.). i will definitely give that a try.

[gplasky]

Couldn't hurt.

Gerry

[bbobbo]

it didn't work. thanks for the suggestion, though.

sagetv is serving up imported videos from the within qemu, though, so that's a positive.

i'm going to try to install gbpvr to see if the hvr-2250 works with it.