Hi,
Well, I've reached the end of my wits in dealing with this problem. I
have spent the last 3 days working on this, so I've RTFM, attempted to
"do it myself", etc. etc. etc. :)
That being said... My system configuration is as follows:
Mainboard:
Shuttle FV-25
Chipsets:
Northbridge - VIA Twister-T PN133T
Southbridge - VIA 686B
Capture Card:
Leadtek Winfast 2000 XP (bt878a)
Video Card:
SavagePro "Twister" on-board video (XFree86 4.2, latest "savage" driver
that includes updated xvideo support)
Linux Distribution: Mandrake 9.0
As for software configuration, I have tried every kernel possible. I
started with the stock 2.4.19-16mdk kernel and the built-in bttv driver.
I then proceeded to try a recompile of 2.4.19, 2.5.54, and finally back
to 2.4.20 with Gerd Knorr's patches. I have tried several versions of
Gert's 0.7 driver (including 0.7.100) and also with 2.4.20 and his
patches, the 0.9.3 driver. I think I've about worn GCC out :)
Now - on to the symptoms. Although this might be better explained with
a picture, I don't know if attachments are allowed on the list so I'll
do my best with words.
When I first start xawtv, it sees the card fine, and opens up the TV
tuner input. The first frame or two is filled with static (no antenna
set up) and then it inexplicably begins to get progressively
"compressed" up into the top 1/3 of the window. Switching the input to
Composite or S-Video creates the same effect with whatever video is
being input. Also, colors are off somewhat and the image is grainy and
somewhat wavy.
Using Gerd's fbtv program, results are identical to xawtv.
Using another program called "grabbo", results are somewhat different,
but not necessarily that much better. Although the image starts about
1/2 the vertical size, it expands when a scene goes blank and then takes
up most of the window and is no longer smashed up. It is still pretty
distorted, and the bottom 10% seems to skew to the left and right some
of the time. I see several vertical thin (maybe 3 pixels wide) bars
composed of red green and blue and the image is also pretty unclear and
a little wavy. Better than xawtv/fbtv but still not even close to
viewable. I am at a loss to explain the difference.
Now, a few thoughts that I've come up with on the matter. Firstly, I
don't believe that there is anything wrong with the card itself. I have
successfully used the card under Windows XP just prior to reformatting.
Next, I don't think that it is a problem with the savage driver
supporting xvideo. Using the fbtv program and the framebuffer driver
and still experiencing problems seems to support this.
I have also tried all the insmod options (ALL of them, including "pll=")
with the bttv driver, with no luck at all. Also, under xawtv I have
tried all the command-line options. They either produced the same
result or no video at all.
So this is what I've been able to troubleshoot with the facilities
available to me. Unfortunately I don't have another capture device to
test with. In addition, the FV-25 motherboard has only 1 PCI slot, no
AGP. With the capture card in the PCI slot, I'm unable to test with any
other video cards besides the onboard Savage Twister.
This leaves several important things to investigate. Firstly, the
difference in behavior between xawtv and grabbo is curious. Perhaps
this provides some sort of clue to the problem? Also, I have been
totally unable to find anyone that has described a similar type of image
distortion, and obviously this capture card works for others...which
makes me think that it may be something specific to my setup.
So, any ideas? I am at a loss here, and my only solutions are to either
get this card going or try another. I don't have the funds for another
at the moment, but I do have a firewire capture box I'd like to try -
which is a related question that I'll post in another thread for the
sake of clarity.
Thanks in advance for any help you guys can provide. I know this is a
long message, but if you feel like helping please read through carefully
so you get the whole picture (no pun intended). I appreciate having
your support, and hope to hear from someone soon!
-Nathan
