I'll probably start the assembly this weekend... I will try to take some photos of the assembly and installation, etc. Depending on how things go, I will hopefully put together step-by-step directions of how I got it running. Unless it's a flop in which case I will have instructions on how to set it on fire.

Good News/Bad News here:

Good: I got it running. I'm able to use both tuners on the PVR-500, the S-Video out is working with my TV, the sound is working, etc. etc.

Bad: Either the DVD Drive was DOA or I have a funky conflict. It is a DVR-112D and it was able to boot to the KnoppMyth Splash screen, but kept getting I/O errors past that. I hooked up an oooooold (Compaq even) CD-RW drive and it booted and installed Knoppmyth no problem. Both are PATA, and I used the same adapters for both... Are there any boot CDs for testing DVD drives?

Video quality is another slight disappointment for me. I have been tweaking the settings and getting some improvements, but even at 5500-7000 bitrate at 720x480 I still can't help but see signs of compression, especially with sports.

I will probably be making a post in the Tier 1 forums with this hardware (once I figure out the story behind the DVD drive) since it essentially "just worked".

I also need to retract the statement I made earlier that the power supply was only 20-pin. It is in fact 24-pin, I must have been drunk the first time I looked at it.

Happy to hear of a Tier 1!

As for the PVR, it seems there is a bit of a 'sweet spot' as far as settings. You might try a search here and on the wiki for some sample settings. (I ended up nearly maxing out my bit rates so it would look OK on a 32" HD set, but it looks much better on my SD set. The trade-off is, with a high bit rate you end up with huge files, larger then HD files.)

Also double check your input to the card, making sure all is tight and secure. Splitters and cheap cables are also 'weak spots' that can bring frustration. (Garbage in, garbage out.) Search the wiki for tips on this as well.

Adapters?

How is the DVR-112 jumpered? I have found most of the optical drives I have recently purchased were set to either Master or Cable Select. Make sure it's jumpered the same as your old CD-RW.

slowtolearn:

Thanks for the input. I'm kicking myself for not posting the error message last night. I am at work now, so I will reboot with the CD and post it tonight. I was able to boot to the menu where you could input your cheat codes every time. It always kicked out at the same point every time (by default the message after enabling dma) with the (very) limited shell message. I tried it with master, slave, and cable select jumpers. All ended in the same place. I tried the nodma code and it skipped enabling dma but still got me to the same place. For the record, the CD-RW was set as a slave device.

I also cannot view DVDs in Knoppmyth (the DVR-112D is currently attached). I have tried some encrypted and some non-encrypted DVDs and it fails right away. Can you remind me the dmesg command to show the error messages so that I can post them as well?

Adapters was a poor choice of word. I meant to say cable. I used the same ribbon cable and power cable on both drives. My instinct tells me that there is either a problem with the dvd drive itself, or there is a conflict between the dvd drive and motherboard. I will run several tests tonight to try to narrow the problem.

1) Try to boot a live knoppix cd on the DVR-112D on my PVR.
2) Try to boot knoppmyth on the DVR-112D on a different computer.
3) Try to read a DVD from the DVR-112D on a different computer.

I took some photos of the physical installation of the system and I will try to have a post in the howto section with photos & the setup I had to do (TV tuners, resolution, bit-rate, etc.) from start to finish. I think it would be useful for other total newbies like me. First I want to sort out this DVD drive, though. More info will be posted tonight.

Try dmesg | grep hd. Can you mount the DVDs and view their contents? As far as playing encrypted DVDs search the forums for "pineapple".

dmesg | grep hd output:



Does this mean anything to you? I thought I'd check before powering things down and pulling plugs and stuff.

On bootup with the DVR-112D It goes through:


Tried using command:
knoppmyth testcd acpi=off noapic pci=bios
and received the same message.

OK, I just ruled out a DVD drive problem or a conflict with hardware. I just booted Knoppix 4.0 from that DVD drive with no sweat... What's the next step?

I would try burning another CD and test the media with testcd at the boot prompt. See tjc's Hints & Tips http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=16384 - Phase I for more testcd information.

I tried both a CD-R and CD-RW and both of them failed in the same place. Knoppix was on the same type of media as the CD-RW Knoppmyth that failed. I would say we are beyond the installation, though. The Knoppix boot just proved it wasn't a hardware issue. There has to be a software conflict going on with the DVD or something. I may just return the DVD drive if I can't figure this out, because I really don't NEED it for anything, anyway.

What did testcd at the boot prompt show you? And what errors did you see during the bootup?

I can't imagine any scenario where this would be the case unless your drive is not jumpered appropriately for the rest of the hardware within your system, or perhaps a firmware issue within the drive itself (although that should be evident in any system you place it in).

You'll want it to play DVDs won't you? For a point of reference I use the following on my M2NPV-VMs:

hdd: HL-DT-STDVD-RAM GSA-H54N (LG Electronics)
hdb: _NEC DVD_RW ND-3540A

2 steps forward, one step back.

My desktop computer had a DVR-111D in it, so I swapped the drive with the DVR-112D in the PVR. I could read the Knoppmyth Disk finally! I am even able to view DVD's. The problem now is that it disables DMA every time I open a DVD!!!

dmesg output:


At this stage we know for sure that it's not the drive or the media. I have also tried both IDE ports on the MOBO. The only things left are the cable and the software. Any further suggestions?

I'm at work, but was just looking at the manual for this motherboard. It included 2 IDE cables (which I immediately thought would be identical). One said "CD-ROM Cable", one said "HDD Cable". Is it possible that in all of my infinite wisdom, I used the wrong F:evil::evil::evil: ing cable!?!?!

PS - I used the one that said CD-ROM cable...
I will confirm tonight... Why would they include a cable that is not Ultra DMA????????

Confirmed. This whole mess could have been avoided with the right cable. DMA seems to be working fine now. Thanks for the help guys, and thanks for the help and always remember:

Use the Ultra DMA cable with your DVD drives.