Linux Configure Pinnacle PCTV Card to Watch Television with saa7134 / saa7134-alas Driver

last updated in Categories Debian Linux, Hardware, Howto, Linux, Linux desktop, Ubuntu Linux

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
(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
tvtime a high quality Linux television application in action
(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:

Posted by: Vivek Gite

The author is the creator of nixCraft and a seasoned sysadmin, DevOps engineer, and a trainer for the Linux operating system/Unix shell scripting. Get the latest tutorials on SysAdmin, Linux/Unix and open source topics via RSS/XML feed or weekly email newsletter.

32 comment

  1. 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 🙂

  2. 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

  4. 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

  5. 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 !!

  6. 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

  7. 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!

  10. 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…

  11. 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.

  13. 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 @ 0x96 (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.

  14. plz any1 knows y i cant do this?
    Visit Input Configuration > Change Video Source > Setup source as per your setup.

  18. 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’

  19. 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….

  21. I have the same problem as the two posters above. when I input dmesg | grep saa7133
    I get no output

    I also tried inputting dmesg | grep saa713 but this made no difference, nothing happens.

    I have a Pinnacle 7010x dual tuner card and I’m trying to get it working on ubuntu9.1. t does seem to be picking it up however as I got the following entry

    02:00.0 Multimedia controller: Philips Semiconductors SAA7162 (rev 01)

    any suggestions are appreciated.

    thanks from ireland

  22. This is a bit unrelated to your post but wondering if you might know.

    I am trying to use mencoder to capture the output stream the video is fine but the audio is going wonky.

    looks like the sampleing rate from the sound device /dev/dsp1 is 32000. if i use 32000 to capture audio then the audio is in sync but the pitch is low. if i use 44100 the pitch is correct but the audio is out of sync.

    the command i have so far is:
    mencoder tv:// -tv channel=0:driver=v4l2:device=/dev/video0:normid=5:input=1:chanlist=us-cable:brightness=0:contrast=0:hue=0:saturation=0:adevice=/dev/dsp1:audiorate=32000 -oac pcm -ovc lavc -quiet -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vbitrate=3000 -lameopts cbr:br=128 -af resample=44100 -srate 44100 -o ./capture.avi

    i am capturing from the composite input.

  23. wish I had known about pciids when I had bought a TV Tuner card couple of years back. Didn’t know the back and hence gave it to an uncle. Will try again, thank you for the efforts.

  24. Hello,

    On xubuntu 10.06 amd64 I installed a: Conceptronic CTVFMi2 tv-radio card.
    Created: etc/modprobe.d/options.conf: options saa7134 card=78 tuner=61
    and it seems both card and tuner are recognised: tvtime-scanner scans.
    Tvtime makes a short flash when started. Tvtime show-stats gives an error: xvoutput: No XVIDEO port found which supports YUY2 images.
    xvinfo outputs: … no adaptors present
    dmesg looks good, except:
    IRQ 20/saa7133[0]: IRQF_DISABLED is not guaranteed on shared IRQs
    tda10046: chip is not answering. Giving up.
    I know I need tv out. But where do I start solving this?

    1. hi bak, i am a proud Debian Squeeze user and i solved the problem installing non free drivers.
      First,
      apt-cache search dvb
      …
      firmware-linux-nonfree – Binary firmware for various drivers in the Linux kernel
      Then,
      sudo apt-get install firmware-linux-nonfree
      Finally,
      sudo reboot
      and that’s how it got solved in Debian, i hope you find it useful.

      1. Thanks, but it did not help …
        problem not changed …:

        xvoutput: No XVIDEO port found which supports YUY2 images.

  25. I have a SAA7130 and the drivers seems to have been installed ok. But on launch of TVTime or any other TV viewing software, it says ‘Video Source’ – Default. I a at a loss to install this card. Any idea what I should do?

      1. Also dmesg | grep saa713 throws the following

        [ 10.672286] saa7130[0]: subsystem: 1131:0000, board: UNKNOWN/GENERIC [card=0,autodetected]
        [ 10.672331] saa7130[0]: board init: gpio is 3e500
        [ 10.780218] saa7130[0]: Huh, no eeprom present (err=-5)?
        [ 10.780328] saa7130[0]: registered device video0 [v4l2]
        [ 10.780412] saa7130[0]: registered device vbi0
        [ 10.788025] saa7134 ALSA driver for DMA sound loaded
        [ 10.788032] saa7130[0]/alsa: UNKNOWN/GENERIC doesn’t support digital audio

  27. Beautiful picture but no audio and only 4 channels
    Bit disappointing, works under windows vista OK using windows media centre but was hoping to do away with windows and just use ubuntu all the time

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