How can I get the pvr-350 to output PAL instead of NTSC for the framebuffer device?
The X screen has a large black area at the bottom of the screen and changing my XFree86-4
config to output PAL does not fix the problem.

ivtv0-osd: Framebuffer module loaded (attached to ivtv card id 0)
ivtv0-osd: screen coords: [0 0] -> [720 480]
ivtv0-osd: original global alpha = 208
ivtv0-osd: current OSD state = 39
ivtv0-osd: new global alpha = 208 (1 255 0)
ivtv0-osd: framebuffer at 0xed510000, mapped to 0xe2090000, size 1665k
ivtv0-osd: mode is 720x480x32, linelength=2880
ivtv0-osd: fb1: cx23415 TV out frame buffer device

= martin

Maybe because PAL is 720x576?

_________________
HP VL400 (PIII 866), Skystar2 2.6D, PVR350, Nvidia FX5200, 384MB, 200GB, KnoppMyth R5.5

thanks for telling what res pal is.., now is there a way to get what ivtv-osd reports?

Let me rephrase my question.

My pvr350 framebuffer appears to be set for NTSC (720x480)
I would like it be set for for PAL (720x576)

Is there a way to change it?

Aah! I see.

I would start with your XFree86 config. I'm no expert but there are several references there to resolutions, modelines etc which differ for NTSC and PAL. You can post it here if you think its OK? I can then compare it to my own PAL config later today, or someone else can point out any issues? As far as I know the 350 has only PAL or NTSC hw so its probably already outputting PAL (which is why you can see it on your tv) but the mode parameters are wrong.

_________________
HP VL400 (PIII 866), Skystar2 2.6D, PVR350, Nvidia FX5200, 384MB, 200GB, KnoppMyth R5.5

Here is the section from my XF86Config-4

Regardless of if I set it up for NTSC or PAL - X only uses the top 5/8'ths of my TV screen
area. The bottom section is black. The video playback through the hardware decoder looks
great and uses the whole screen.

If my XF86Config-4 is set for NTSC the Mythtv X background is all there.
If my XF86Config-4 is set for PAL, the background covers the same area on the screen
except the bottom part of the backgound is missing.

thanks :)

============================
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "TV"
HorizSync 30-68
VertRefresh 50-120
Mode "720x576"
# D: 41.475 MHz, H: 44.693 kHz, V: 74.488 Hz
DotClock 41.476
HTimings 720 752 840 928
VTimings 576 580 584 600
Flags "-HSync" "-VSync"
EndMode
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Hauppauge PVR 350 iTVC15 Framebuffer"
# Identifier "PAL TV"
Driver "ivtvdev"
Option "fbdev" "/dev/fb1"
Option "ivtvdev" "/dev/fb1"
BusID "PCI:0:13:0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "TV Screen"
Device "Hauppauge PVR 350 iTVC15 Framebuffer"
Monitor "TV"
DefaultDepth 24
DefaultFbbpp 32
Subsection "Display"
Depth 24
FbBpp 32
Modes "720x576"
EndSubsection
EndSection

Here is more information from dmesg -- also, I get these warnings.

ivtv0-osd warning: ivtvfb_check_var
ivtv0-osd warning: ivtvfb_check_var
ivtv0-osd warning: ivtvfb_set_par

I bought my pvr350 in the US, but live in Malaysia. So the card has a NTSC tuner.
This is not a big deal, because I can't use the tuner anyway. Mythtv allowed me
to set the pvr350 to use PAL input and PAL output (SAT decoder is only PAL and
my TV is NTSC or PAL)

My box is a dual processor PIII 500 with 512 megs of ram. I had to recompile the
kernel to non-SMP because I was getting frequent lockups during video playback
and recording with SMP kernel and it as been stable with the non-SMP kernel.

ivtv: ==================== START INIT IVTV ====================
ivtv: version 0.4.3 (tagged release) loading
ivtv: Linux version: 2.6.11.9-chw-2 preempt 586 gcc-3.3
ivtv: In case of problems please include the debug info between
ivtv: the START INIT IVTV and END INIT IVTV lines, along with
ivtv: any module options, when mailing the ivtv-users mailinglist.
ivtv0: Autodetected WinTV PVR 350 card (cx23415 based)
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKA] enabled at IRQ 10
PCI: setting IRQ 10 as level-triggered
ACPI: PCI interrupt 0000:00:0d.0[A] -> GSI 10 (level, low) -> IRQ 10
tveeprom: ivtv version
tveeprom: Hauppauge: model = 48132, rev = K268, serial# = 8208257
tveeprom: tuner = LG TAPE H001F MK3 (idx = 68, type = 47)
tveeprom: tuner fmt = NTSC(M) (eeprom = 0x08, v4l2 = 0x00001000)
tveeprom: audio processor = MSP4448 (type = 1b)
tveeprom: decoder processor = SAA7115 (type = 13)
ivtv0: i2c attach to card #0 ok [client=tveeprom, addr=50]
tuner: chip found at addr 0xc2 i2c-bus ivtv i2c driver #0
ivtv0: i2c attach to card #0 ok [client=(tuner unset), addr=61]
msp3400 0-0040: ivtv driver
msp3400 0-0040: chip=MSP4448G-A2 +nicam +simple +simpler +radio mode=simpler
msp3400 0-0040: msp34xxg daemon started
ivtv0: i2c attach to card #0 ok [client=MSP4448G-A2, addr=40]
saa7115 0-0021: ivtv driver
saa7115 0-0021: saa7115 found @ 0x42 (ivtv i2c driver #0)
ivtv0: i2c attach to card #0 ok [client=saa7115, addr=21]
saa7127 0-0044: ivtv driver
saa7127 0-0044: saa7129 found @ 0x88 (ivtv i2c driver #0)
ivtv0: i2c attach to card #0 ok [client=saa7127, addr=44]
tda9887 0-0043: (ivtv) chip found @ 0x86 (ivtv i2c driver #0)
ivtv0: i2c attach to card #0 ok [client=tda9887, addr=43]
ivtv0: loaded v4l-cx2341x-enc.fw firmware (262144 bytes)
ivtv0: loaded v4l-cx2341x-dec.fw firmware (262144 bytes)
ivtv0: Encoder revision: 0x02050032
ivtv0: Decoder revision: 0x02020023
ivtv0: Allocate DMA encoder MPEG stream: 128 x 32768 buffers (4096KB total)
ivtv0: Allocate DMA encoder YUV stream: 194 x 10800 buffers (2048KB total)
ivtv0: Allocate DMA encoder VBI stream: 120 x 17472 buffers (2048KB total)
ivtv0: Allocate DMA encoder PCM audio stream: 455 x 4608 buffers (2048KB total)
ivtv0: Create encoder radio stream
ivtv0: Allocate DMA decoder MPEG stream: 16 x 65536 buffers (1024KB total)
ivtv0: Allocate DMA decoder VBI stream: 512 x 2048 buffers (1024KB total)
ivtv0: Create decoder VOUT stream
ivtv0: Allocate DMA decoder YUV stream: 24 x 43200 buffers (1024KB total)
ivtv0: loaded v4l-cx2341x-init.mpg firmware (155648 bytes)
tuner: type set to 47 (LG NTSC (TAPE series)) by ivtv i2c driver #0
ivtv0: Initialized WinTV PVR 350, card #0
ivtv: ==================== END INIT IVTV ====================
ivtv0-osd: Framebuffer module loaded (attached to ivtv card id 0)
ivtv0-osd: screen coords: [0 0] -> [720 480]
ivtv0-osd: original global alpha = 208
ivtv0-osd: current OSD state = 39
ivtv0-osd: new global alpha = 208 (1 255 0)
ivtv0-osd: framebuffer at 0xed510000, mapped to 0xe2090000, size 1665k
ivtv0-osd: mode is 720x480x32, linelength=2880
ivtv0-osd: fb1: cx23415 TV out frame buffer device
ivtv0: Allocate DMA decoder OSD stream: 16 x 65536 buffers (1024KB total)
cx2388x v4l2 driver version 0.0.4 loaded

Another aah! Trying to do PAL out on a NTSC card is useful info to have up front

Assuming its possible (and it appears so if the TV playback is OK) then I guess you need to pass an option to the ivtv or ivtvdev modules at startup. They autodetect by default so will be picking up the fact that its NTSC. Try googling for ivtvdev and PAL. Or www.ivtvdriver.org (looks like ivtvfbctl is worth playing with).

Just to check - if you tell myth to playback as NTSC do you get the same problem but with TV playback as well?

_________________
HP VL400 (PIII 866), Skystar2 2.6D, PVR350, Nvidia FX5200, 384MB, 200GB, KnoppMyth R5.5

Telling mythtv to output NTSC while using PAL for input causes TV playback to be
very choppy. Whereas the PAL in PAL out setting has smooth TV playback.

The change had no effect on the appearance of X.

thanks,
Martin

Your XFree config is OK (identical to mine). I recommend posting the problem to the ivtv list because your approach is somewhat unusual (ie wanting PAL out on NTSC PVR350). I think you may need to pass a pal=1 option to the ivtv module.

http://www.ivtvdriver.org/index.php/Asking_for_help

Make sure you give all the info up front

Sorry can't be of more help

_________________
HP VL400 (PIII 866), Skystar2 2.6D, PVR350, Nvidia FX5200, 384MB, 200GB, KnoppMyth R5.5

Thanks for input, it does help. I keep digging and add the fix to this thread when I find it!

and a big thanks to everyone that has worked on knoppmyth and mythtv. It is a very useful application and for the price of a mid-range vcr, I was able to put together something far and away more flexible and fun. My wife used to get up at 5 am to pop a tape in vcr to get oprah for her after work workout. Now mythtv gets the 5am, 9am and 1pm oprah every day without fail, along with the simpsons and other fun stuff.

The death or our vcr was what started me down the mythtv road and much to the dismay of my wife, it has become focus of much my attention lately as I try to iron out the last remaining issues. But hey... when I'am standing over her shoulder while shes cooking, I always hear "don't you have something else to do?" ;)

Martin

nickread thank you. Indeed it was an option to ivtv.

I could not find the correct name of the option by consulting the great oracle (google) -
a quick glance at ivtv-driver.c provided the answer. Though, modules.txt in the doc directory of ivtv source tree would have also given me a clue ;).

options ivtv ivtv_std=2

After the change X looked great, but palyback become choppy, like it was
using the wrong framerate or something. I edited:
/etc/init.d/set_ivtv_params
and changed two lines and it fixed the problem.

==============

==============

After fixing size of pvr350 framebuffer, and getting OSD working by upgrading ivtv to 0.4.3. I still had not worked out the cause of tons of these messages in XFree86.0.log :
==
(EE) IVTVDEV(0): FBIOBLANK: Invalid argument
==
It turns out that /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/drivers/ivtvdev_drv.o being loaded by XFree86-4 was out of sync with ivtv 0.4.3. I Snagged the latest from dl.ivtvdriver.org/xdriver.

Fixing this also *seems* to have fixed intermittent lockups that also showed up after fixing OSD. ie. Mythtv would lock and I would get these in var log messages :
==
ivtv0 warning: 1000 ms time out waiting for firmware
ivtv0 warning: Failed api call 0x00000015 with result 0xfffffff0
ivtv0 warning: DEC: couldnt read clock
ivtv0 warning: No Free Mailbox for cmd 0x00000017 after 100 tries!
ivtv0 warning: Mailbox[0] 0x00000053 flags 0x00000003
ivtv0 warning: Mailbox[1] 0x00000053 flags 0x00000003
ivtv0 warning: Firmware UNRESPONSIVE when trying cmd 0x00000017!!!
ivtv0 warning: 100 ms time out waiting for firmware
ivtv0 warning: Failed api call 0x00000002 with result 0xfffffff0
ivtv0 warning: Error stopping decoding
==

I am posting this information in the hope that people googling some of these error messages will find this post and maybe an answer to some of their questions..