Me TV

crashes, have had dual tuner support

Asked by nigel hinton

1) My TV is excellent. I use a Twinhan 701 usb stick and switched to Ubuntu from XP a year ago. I installed MythTV but couldn't get it to work and it seemed very complicated. Got My TV up and running in minutes. (and Mytth TV then picked up config files and worked in a basic way).

The integration of My TV with epg is very useful (better than the proprietary software for XP) but lack of support for dual tuner feature a real disadvantage.

2) Appox 6 months ago somehow it started to support dual tuner! This meant I could record two programmes and watch another, I realise from support pages that My TV does not support this but I can assure you it happened and very, very useful too

3) Then I got an automatic update which produced two problems which nearly led me to throw out Ubuntu (It has been a nightmare to get it to the level of funcationality and stability of XP for each of my quite basic needs):

- Once My-TV has finished recording it hangs. If I use my desktop quit icon, it still won't reload (My TV is actually still running). I have to use System Monitor to kill the process and then reload My TV.

- I've lost the dual tuner function!!! This is really frustrating as once I got back to the dual tuner functionality that I got with XP, it is galling for this to have been removed by this update.

(It may be possible that the convoluted reconfiguration work trying to get MythTV to work well may have changed something that impacted MY TV and enabled dual tuner features)

I de-installed My TV and then re-installed it but this had no effect whatsoever.

MythTV will not allow me to even view and says 'all video inputs are in use' and won't allow any further progress if this casts any light on the problem (if I can get My TV to work dual tuner then I won't be looking at MythTV again).

Any suggestions gratefully received as I would not like to revert to XP but taking a hard look at what I need and what Ubuntu/Linux can deliver, it could be the only sensible option as I'm worried that an automatic update knocked out this application such that any work I do on an app could be wiped out by a future update!

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Revision history for this message
Michael Lamothe (lamothe-deactivatedaccount-deactivatedaccount) said : 		#1

Let's be clear here so that I know that we are talking about the same application, "Me TV" right, not "My TV".

Dual tuner support is available in different forms in 1.3.X and as far as I know, it works. Yes, the upgrade to Maverick has been a complete disaster for me and I spend most of spare time working out why my DVB tuners and video drivers aren't working properly, with this I assure you that you are not alone.

First, check that linux has recognised and setup your DVB devices. Use something like `find /dev/dvb`, you should see 2 "frontend" lines.

Second, check that the devices are not being used already by another application. Use something like `fuser -u /dev/dvb/adapter0/frontend0` for all frontends. Each DVB device can only have one application using it at any time.

Third, start Me TV in verbose mode on the command line `me-tv -v > me-tv.log`. Close Me TV fully (File->Quit) and check the resulting me-tv.log file to ensure that both your devices have been recognised. Me TV will display them in the first 10 lines.

Let's start with that.

Revision history for this message
nigel hinton (nigelbhinton) said : 		#2

Michael,

Thanks for your prompt response.

I confirm that I meant Me TV rather than My TV, apologies

I used find to display devices and found that the second device was misnamed.

I corrected it, stopped MythTV backend (I will be de-installing at some stage) to ensure that it would not interfere.

I now have dual tuner functionality so Whoopeee!

I also noticed that after recording had stopped, Me TV was not hanging as before and please assume that this is fixed unless I let you know later.

So many thanks for your advice and good luck with your work on the Maverick stuff.

Incidentally, I use Me TV with VLC and it is a brilliant combination. As I said in my original Me TV is an elegant package as it delivers what is needed neatly and efficiently.

Regards,

Nigel Hinton

> To: <email address hidden>
> From: <email address hidden>
> Subject: Re: [Question #149410]: crashes, have had dual tuner support
> Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2011 12:17:20 +0000
>
> Your question #149410 on Me TV changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/me-tv/+question/149410
>
> Status: Open => Needs information
>
> Michael Lamothe requested for more information:
> Let's be clear here so that I know that we are talking about the same
> application, "Me TV" right, not "My TV".
>
> Dual tuner support is available in different forms in 1.3.X and as far
> as I know, it works. Yes, the upgrade to Maverick has been a complete
> disaster for me and I spend most of spare time working out why my DVB
> tuners and video drivers aren't working properly, with this I assure you
> that you are not alone.
>
> First, check that linux has recognised and setup your DVB devices. Use
> something like `find /dev/dvb`, you should see 2 "frontend" lines.
>
> Second, check that the devices are not being used already by another
> application. Use something like `fuser -u /dev/dvb/adapter0/frontend0`
> for all frontends. Each DVB device can only have one application using
> it at any time.
>
> Third, start Me TV in verbose mode on the command line `me-tv -v > me-
> tv.log`. Close Me TV fully (File->Quit) and check the resulting me-
> tv.log file to ensure that both your devices have been recognised. Me
> TV will display them in the first 10 lines.
>
> Let's start with that.
>
> --
> To answer this request for more information, you can either reply to
> this email or enter your reply at the following page:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/me-tv/+question/149410
>
> You received this question notification because you are a direct
> subscriber of the question.

Revision history for this message
Michael Lamothe (lamothe-deactivatedaccount-deactivatedaccount) said : 		#3

Also try gnome-media-player. Some days libVLC doesn't play nice (usually a video driver issue) and you can switch to a xine based engine easily.

Revision history for this message
nigel hinton (nigelbhinton) said : 		#4

Hello Michael,

Thanks for the e-mail.

I tried Gnome MPlayer in both LXDE and Gnome (Openbox) and it appeared to offer better quality on a lower quality recording that i tried but the slide bar to move within the programme did not work.

I read some forum postings and installed the Gecko stuff, it degraded the quality so I de-installed it then I found that VLC quality had improved so I'm sticking with it.

Gnome MPlayer is slicker and would be the better option but the slide bar problem is a show stopper.

Incidentally, I still do get the hanging of Me TV when it has recorded a scheduled recording but seems not to hang if I stop the recording 'manually'.

This is not a problem whilst using LXDE as I can relaunch Me TV quickly (a bit of a fiddle to kill the process and re-launch using Gnome).

Regards,

Nigel Hinton

> To: <email address hidden>
> From: <email address hidden>
> Subject: RE: [Question #149410]: crashes, have had dual tuner support
> Date: Fri, 1 Apr 2011 11:22:46 +0000
>
> Your question #149410 on Me TV changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/me-tv/+question/149410
>
> Status: Open => Solved
>
> Michael Lamothe changed the question status:
> Also try gnome-media-player. Some days libVLC doesn't play nice
> (usually a video driver issue) and you can switch to a xine based engine
> easily.
>
> --
> You received this question notification because you are a direct
> subscriber of the question.

Revision history for this message
Michael Lamothe (lamothe-deactivatedaccount-deactivatedaccount) said : 		#5

Not "GNOME MPlayer", try "GNOME Media Player", it has next to zero options but is a very simple player with decent defaults and it can switch between xine, vlc and gstreamer in the same interface. Depending on the video driver on certain engines will crash my XServer so it's good to be able to switch.

Revision history for this message
Michael Lamothe (lamothe-deactivatedaccount-deactivatedaccount) said : 		#6

Try the latest 2.0.0 when you get the chance. It might fix your issue.

Revision history for this message
nigel hinton (nigelbhinton) said : 		#7

Michael,

Hello.

I could not for some time get some principal channels so I bought a Happauge WinTV Duet usb and once I had removed the debris of MythTV, it worked and delivered all needed channels.

However, next time I tried, 'missing' channels came up with 'read timeout' so I'm back to square one. Puzzled why it worked the first time but not now.

This is currently important because the channel delivering World Cup Rugby is one of the missing channels and I want to record the progression of England to victory in the Final!

Any assistance would be gratefully received.

Incidentally, do you accept any contributions for your program which I think is a really neat application and much appreciated.

Regards,

Nigel

> To: <email address hidden>
> From: <email address hidden>
> Subject: RE: [Question #149410]: crashes, have had dual tuner support
> Date: Sat, 2 Apr 2011 23:01:36 +0000
>
> Your question #149410 on Me TV changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/me-tv/+question/149410
>
> Michael Lamothe posted a new comment:
> Try the latest 2.0.0 when you get the chance. It might fix your issue.
>
> --
> You received this question notification because you are a direct
> subscriber of the question.

Revision history for this message
Frédéric Côté (frederic-cote) said : 		#8

Micheal is not working on me-tv anymore.

Read timeout is usually due to weak signal. A brand new tuner is really good
with weak signal but after a while, the tuner get wear and need a strong
signal (dual card above all, because the signal is split in two).

For the contribution, absolutely yes. You can branch on launchpad or send me
your code (and I will commit it). We will probably restart from the version
1.3.6 because it's more stable (and have more feature).

Cheers,
Fred

On Mon, Sep 19, 2011 at 8:40 AM, nigel hinton <
<email address hidden>> wrote:

> Question #149410 on Me TV changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/me-tv/+question/149410
>
> nigel hinton posted a new comment:
>
> Michael,
>
> Hello.
>
> I could not for some time get some principal channels so I bought a
> Happauge WinTV Duet usb and once I had removed the debris of MythTV, it
> worked and delivered all needed channels.
>
> However, next time I tried, 'missing' channels came up with 'read
> timeout' so I'm back to square one. Puzzled why it worked the first
> time but not now.
>
> This is currently important because the channel delivering World Cup
> Rugby is one of the missing channels and I want to record the
> progression of England to victory in the Final!
>
> Any assistance would be gratefully received.
>
> Incidentally, do you accept any contributions for your program which I
> think is a really neat application and much appreciated.
>
> Regards,
>
> Nigel
>
> > To: <email address hidden>
> > From: <email address hidden>
> > Subject: RE: [Question #149410]: crashes, have had dual tuner support
> > Date: Sat, 2 Apr 2011 23:01:36 +0000
> >
> > Your question #149410 on Me TV changed:
> > https://answers.launchpad.net/me-tv/+question/149410
> >
> > Michael Lamothe posted a new comment:
> > Try the latest 2.0.0 when you get the chance. It might fix your issue.
> >
> > --
> > You received this question notification because you are a direct
> > subscriber of the question.
>
> --
> You received this question notification because you are a member of Me
> TV Maintenance, which is an answer contact for Me TV.
>

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