Recently, my old TV Tuner card died. So I brought a new Pinnacle PCTV Card 50i/110i as it is supported by Linux kernel. All you have to do is insert card into PCI slot and boot into Linux. Following instructions are tested on Ubuntu Linux (kernel version 2.6.22-14-generic), but should work on any other Linux distribution.
Step # 1: Update your PCI ID list
Use update-pciids command to fetch the current version of the pci.ids file from the primary distribution site and installs it
$ sudo update-pciids
Output:
[sudo] password for vivek:
% Total % Received % Xferd Average Speed Time Time Time Current
Dload Upload Total Spent Left Speed
100 126k 100 126k 0 0 33247 0 0:00:03 0:00:03 --:--:-- 43577
Done.
Step # 2: Make sure PCI card is detected by Linux kernel
Use lspci command to display information about all PCI buses in the system and all devices connected to them including newly installed PCI card:
$ lspci
Output:
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82975X Memory Controller Hub
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82975X PCI Express Root Port
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 01)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 01)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GR/GH/GHM (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 5 (rev 01)
00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GR/GH/GHM (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 6 (rev 01)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 01)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 01)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 01)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 01)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 01)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev e1)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GB/GR (ICH7 Family) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 01)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) IDE Controller (rev 01)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801GB/GR/GH (ICH7 Family) SATA IDE Controller (rev 01)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 01)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation GeForce 8600 GT (rev a1)
03:00.0 SATA controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88SE6145 SATA II PCI-E controller (rev a1)
04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82573E Gigabit Ethernet Controller (Copper) (rev 03)
04:00.3 Serial controller: Intel Corporation Active Management Technology - SOL (rev 03)
04:00.4 IPMI SMIC interface: Intel Corporation 82573E KCS (Active Management) (rev 03)
05:00.0 Multimedia controller: Philips Semiconductors SAA7133/SAA7135 Video Broadcast Decoder (rev d1)
05:02.0 Network controller: RaLink RT2561/RT61 rev B 802.11g
05:04.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments TSB43AB23 IEEE-1394a-2000 Controller (PHY/Link)
Step #3: saa7134 driver
This card requires saa7134 driver (a video4linux module) in the Linux kernel. This driver is by default included in most distro including Ubuntu. Just run old good dmesg command to see if a driver loaded or not.
$ dmesg | grep saa7133
Output:
Jan 14 11:15:50 vivek-desktop kernel: [ 8123.516415] saa7134 ALSA driver for DMA sound unloaded Jan 14 11:16:25 vivek-desktop kernel: [ 8157.694883] saa7130/34: v4l2 driver version 0.2.14 loaded Jan 14 11:16:25 vivek-desktop kernel: [ 8157.694939] saa7133[0]: found at 0000:05:00.0, rev: 209, irq: 21, latency: 32, mmio: 0x9300c800 Jan 14 11:16:25 vivek-desktop kernel: [ 8157.694948] saa7133[0]: subsystem: 11bd:002e, board: Pinnacle PCTV 40i/50i/110i (saa7133) [card=77,autodetected] Jan 14 11:16:25 vivek-desktop kernel: [ 8157.694960] saa7133[0]: board init: gpio is 200e000 Jan 14 11:16:25 vivek-desktop kernel: [ 8157.804325] input: Pinnacle PCTV as /class/input/input7 Jan 14 11:16:25 vivek-desktop kernel: [ 8157.804347] ir-kbd-i2c: Pinnacle PCTV detected at i2c-0/0-0047/ir0 [saa7133[0]] Jan 14 11:16:25 vivek-desktop kernel: [ 8157.888301] tuner 0-004b: chip found @ 0x96 (saa7133[0]) Jan 14 11:16:25 vivek-desktop kernel: [ 8157.940031] tuner 0-004b: setting tuner address to 61 Jan 14 11:16:25 vivek-desktop kernel: [ 8157.979968] tuner 0-004b: type set to tda8290+75a Jan 14 11:16:26 vivek-desktop kernel: [ 8159.369812] tuner 0-004b: setting tuner address to 61 Jan 14 11:16:26 vivek-desktop kernel: [ 8159.409750] tuner 0-004b: type set to tda8290+75a Jan 14 11:16:28 vivek-desktop kernel: [ 8160.799592] saa7133[0]: i2c eeprom 00: bd 11 2e 00 54 20 1c 00 43 43 a9 1c 55 d2 b2 92 Jan 14 11:16:28 vivek-desktop kernel: [ 8160.799607] saa7133[0]: i2c eeprom 10: ff e0 60 02 ff 20 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff Jan 14 11:16:28 vivek-desktop kernel: [ 8160.799619] saa7133[0]: i2c eeprom 20: 01 2c 01 23 23 01 04 30 98 ff 00 e2 ff 22 00 c2 Jan 14 11:16:28 vivek-desktop kernel: [ 8160.799639] saa7133[0]: i2c eeprom 30: 96 ff 03 30 15 01 ff 15 0e 6c a3 ea 03 b0 9b 70 Jan 14 11:16:28 vivek-desktop kernel: [ 8160.799655] saa7133[0]: i2c eeprom 40: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff Jan 14 11:16:28 vivek-desktop kernel: [ 8160.799674] saa7133[0]: i2c eeprom 50: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff Jan 14 11:16:28 vivek-desktop kernel: [ 8160.799693] saa7133[0]: i2c eeprom 60: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff Jan 14 11:16:28 vivek-desktop kernel: [ 8160.799714] saa7133[0]: i2c eeprom 70: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff Jan 14 11:16:30 vivek-desktop kernel: [ 8163.366190] saa7133[0]: registered device video0 [v4l2] Jan 14 11:16:30 vivek-desktop kernel: [ 8163.366212] saa7133[0]: registered device vbi0 Jan 14 11:16:30 vivek-desktop kernel: [ 8163.366228] saa7133[0]: registered device radio0 Jan 14 11:16:30 vivek-desktop kernel: [ 8163.442604] saa7134 ALSA driver for DMA sound loaded Jan 14 11:16:30 vivek-desktop kernel: [ 8163.442633] saa7133[0]/alsa: saa7133[0] at 0x9300c800 irq 21 registered as card -2
As you see everything was automatically detected and loaded by Linux kernel.
Step #4: Watch TV with tvview
tvtime is a high quality Linux television application for use with video capture cards. tvtime processes the input from a capture card and displays it on a computer monitor or projector. It is simple and easy to use. To install tvtime, enter:
$ sudo apt-get install tvtime
Step #5: Configure tvview application
Start tvtime by visiting Application > Sound and Video > Tvtime Television Viewer. Alternatively, you can type the following command at a shell prompt:
$ tvtime &
Right click to open a setup menu. You can also hit [F1] or [tab] key to show configuration menu:
![Linux Tvtime configuration hit [F1] or [tab] key to show configuration menu](http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/tvtime-configure-1.png)
(Fig. 01: Linux tvtime application configuration menu)
First, you need to setup video source, frequencies and channels etc.
Setup video source
Visit Input Configuration > Change Video Source > Setup source as per your setup.
Setup frequencies table
You need to setup the channels you are receiving with the tuner. Here we use europe frequencies table. Visit Channel management > Change Frequency table > Select new table
Scan Channel
Finally, you need to scan for channels by visiting Channel management > Change Frequency table > Scan channels for signal > Back > Exit
Step #6: Sound configuration
You need to attach internal cables to get sound out of TV tuner card. Use driver saa7134-oss or saa7134-alsa to get sound out of card. This driver get loaded automatically. Open terminal and type the following command to hear the audio through ALSA using tvtime (or other programs that don't support it directly):
$ sox -c 2 -s -w -r 32000 -t ossdsp /dev/dsp1 -t ossdsp -w -r 32000 /dev/dsp
Note: You may have to adjust /dev/dsp1.
To watch tv, enter:
$ tvtime
(Fig. 02: Tvtime a high quality Linux television application in action)
tvtime Keyboard keys
Here are the core set of key bindings you want to learn for using tvtime:
- Escape or q : Quit
- F1 or tab : Show menu
- up/down arrow keys : Change channels
- 0-9 and Enter : Change channels
- Backspace : Jump to previous channel
- m : Mute
- +/- or left/right : Volume control
- f : Fullscreen
- s : Take a screenshot
Further readings:
- Linux TV / Video4Linux wiki help pages
- man pages - tvtime, dmesg,lsmod, rmmod, modprobe
- Gentoo Linux specific saa7134 driver configuration
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- Last Updated: Jan/14/2008
{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi
Bravo very good driver worked in Pinnacle pctv 310i but has sound only if I run the command:
sox -c 2 -s -w -r 32000 -t ossdsp /dev/dsp1 -t ossdsp -w -r 32000 /dev/dsp
You can me help with somebody script with certain other regulation in order that open and the sound with his opening tvtime?
My system:
Asus P5W DH deluxe
PCTV 310i and connection the internal cables of sound in the M/B
Ubuntu 7.10 lang Greece
I greet from Greece :)
It tried all the Steps but sound is not consistent
my cable provider is not that good. Can anyone help how to improve sound quality
Is this work ok with PCTV Hybrid ExpressCard?
Hi friends, I buied one called:
00:0b.0 Multimedia video controller: Conexant CX23880/1/2/3 PCI Video and Audio Decoder (rev 05)
00:0b.1 Multimedia controller: Conexant CX23880/1/2/3 PCI Video and Audio Decoder [Audio Port] (rev 05)
But i cant it working, anyone can help me ?
Thanks
Hi Vivek,
Great article.,. Wonderful !!!
One small information that made the whole thing not work for me (Ubuntu user) was that the directory ownership. By default, when tvtime is installed we are permitted to have access over the .tvtime directory ( /home/username/.tvtime ). Just enable the ownership using sudo chown username .tvtime and thats it !!
Eureka ! It works !!
Once again… Great Posting Vivek !!!
Thanx a lot !!
i tried using tvtime ..i m not able to configure it…i m not also able to see the channel managemnetfile:///root/Desktop/Screenshot-1.png
Just came here searching for this like the others did. But I was wondering what the
sox -c 2 -s -w -r 32000 -t ossdsp /dev/dsp1 -t ossdsp -w -r 32000 /dev/dsp
does.
On a blind run, I got this output,
sox soxio: Can’t open input file `/dev/dsp1′: No such file or directory
but can’t go further than this!
watch tv, NOT SOUND :((
When I type this I get no output
dmesg | grep saa7133
me too – nothing happens. A driver is not being installed, or loaded – thats for sure – and I dont know what to do next – to try to move forward…
I tried up to step 5 and got struck , there I am notable to get the screen displayed. The screen just flashes and goes off. Igot the following screen with a flash (only once) screen:
gsk@gsk-desktop:~$ tvtime &
Running tvtime 1.0.2.
Reading configuration from /etc/tvtime/tvtime.xml
Reading configuration from /home/gsk/.tvtime/tvtime.xml
[1] 4221
gsk@gsk-desktop:~$ xvoutput: No XVIDEO port found which supports YUY2 images.
*** tvtime requires hardware YUY2 overlay support from your video card
*** driver. If you are using an older NVIDIA card (TNT2), then
*** this capability is only available with their binary drivers.
*** For some ATI cards, this feature may be found in the experimental
*** GATOS drivers: http://gatos.souceforge.net/
*** If unsure, please check with your distribution to see if your
*** X driver supports hardware overlay surfaces.
Pl.help me install tvtime. I am a begginner.
“jay” and “asl4u”, try this:
dmesg | grep saa713
tricky ;)
I have a problem setting up tvtime.
1) lspci output: 09:06.0 Multimedia controller: Philips Semiconductors SAA7131/SAA7133/SAA7135 Video Broadcast Decoder (rev d0)
2) dmesg | grep saa7133 PARTIAL output:
[ 10.538210] saa7133[0]: subsystem: 11bd:002e, board: Pinnacle PCTV 40i/50i/110i (saa7133) [card=77,autodetected]
……….
[ 10.768108] tuner’ 2-004b: chip found @ 0×96 (saa7133[0])
[ 14.804077] ir-kbd-i2c: Pinnacle PCTV detected at i2c-2/2-0047/ir0 [saa7133[0]]
[ 14.804253] saa7133[0]: registered device video1 [v4l2]
[ 14.804282] saa7133[0]: registered device vbi0
[ 14.804312] saa7133[0]: registered device radio0
[ 14.872258] saa7133[0]/alsa: saa7133[0] at 0xfddff000 irq 16 registered as card -2
and yet when I start tvtime, it always shows “NO SIGNAL” I have tried changing video source and frequency tables to all possible combinations and yet nothing seems to be working. All I get is a blue screen.
I am using Pinnacle PCTV 50i and Ubuntu 9.04.
plz any1 knows y i cant do this?
Visit Input Configuration > Change Video Source > Setup source as per your setup.
i hav installed tvtime but still no siginal is on the screen
Hi,
How about bundled IR remote control?
Thank you very much!
For setting up remote control you can use lirc.
Click here for an example for setting up PCTV Pro remote in Ubuntu
Hello,
I think that i have a better solution for the sound of pinnacle pctv 110i. Instead of sox processing i used a sound cable (cd sound cable) from the card (audio out) to the ‘cd in’ or ‘aux in’ of my sound card or board sound card. Then install a control volume program like aumix to control cd/aux volume. Bye!
‘amd phenom x4 64bits, 4gb ddr3, ati radeon hd4870, ubuntu 9.10′
Hi,
I am using Pinnacle PCTV 50i and Ubuntu 8.04. When i start TVTime, it show no signal…all I get is the same old blue screen…. i even ran tvtime-scanner, also resulted “No Signal”
Please help me….
Thanks in advance….
hey…
its working… thanks for this wonderful & detailed tutorial…..
Thank you very much