Before I could try the remote volume control, I ran alsaconf ......no remote control now. I was able to set the volume thru alsa (0f course...doh!) to a set level, but I would like to restore remote control, would it be easier to restore aumix control, or remap the remote for using alsa? So far I've been trying to restore aumix with no success. It returns a "no device found" message, won't load settings, and I haven't been able to find the aumixrc file yet.

tried removing alsa...no help
tried reloading aumix....no help
next stop...reload R5C7

It is not clear what you are trying to accomplish from your posts. Can you try to reword more clearly?

I think you are trying to set a preset volume level with your remote control. Have you found the volume setting in the MythTV frontend.(I think under playback settings) No matter what you do with alsaconf -restore MythTV will use the playback volume.

well...after I completed the original install. I had no volume control from the hauppage remote. At the time I didn't know about AUMIX so I opened up alsa config and started raising sliders to see if the volume was just set too low. I was able to raise the volume thru one of the front center sliders, I believe. So at that point I had the volume set to a fixed volume loud enough to hear, but no volume control through the remote. I wanted to have mythtv control the volume, and had the setup configured to do so, but the more I looked at it and read the forums the more it seems AUMIX is the mixer that myth uses, and when I try to bring uo aumix in term all I got was "no device found". So, my current setup is:

AMD 3000 socket 754
Asus K8N
MSI FX5600
(2) Haupp PVR-250
(1) SB LIve 24-bit (which I believe is the problem)

I have another sound card on the way so I will have sound for both 250's. So as soon as it shows up I'm going to reload and try again.
I appologize for the confusion, I may have made some incorrect assumptions, concerning my attempted fixes. I'm a certified mythtv noob.

1) Make sure that your /home/mythtv/.mythtv/lircrc file includes a mapping for volume control in MythTV and that the button names match between that and /etc/lirc/lircd.conf

2) Make sure that in the setup screens you've got internal volume control enabled.

thanks I will do just that, I can see that my terminal skills are going to be improving...

am I correct in assuming that Aumix is the mixer that the internal volume control uses?

They both use the same underlying device driver calls. A mixer is just a small application that exposes that stuff so you can fiddle with more directly.

so if I understand correctly, If i'm using MythTV (what I'm calling internal) to control the volume via remote. I shouldn't need to fiddle with aumix or alsa, only setup settings and lirc items from your previous post?

Thanks for your patience.

Mostly yes. MythTV should be able to control the volume. People occasionally need to use a mixer to tweek other settings (muting or unmuting certain inputs/outputs). More rarely still people have troubles with the internal volume controls, possibly in conjunction with the SPDIF output.

I'm also confused as to why you think you need another sound card... One of the advantages of the PVR cards is that they capture everything themselves and encode it into the MPEG2 stream they produce. You only need your sound card for playback....

well...then I missread the docs, or misunderstood the capabilities of the 250. I got it stuck in my head that I needed a sound card for each tuner, but your right the audio data is there in the signal being recorded, the audio card is only for playback. Although having two sound cards, does allow me to playback off either card, with one sound card I'm forced to playback from 1 tuner and record off the other.

You don't playback "off the card" you playback a recording, all of which are more or less created equal. You can do this with one sound card.

"playback" wasn't the word I should have used, sorry. I was thinking of live tv, I have a cord from one tuner to the mic jack on the sound card, If I "switch" to the other tuner, won't I be unable to hear the audio. If I bring up PIP a view a channel with a different program, if I choose to watch that program, does MythTV know to use the tuner w/soundcard, so I always have audio being decoded?

again thanks for your patience.

Sorry I meant to emphasize that you're _always_ playing back a recording. This is how "live tv" works, and how you're able to pause, rewind, fast forward until you almost catch up with real time, etc., etc., ... For some reason people always seem to think that there is far more magic going on than there is.

The BE application gets stuff from the capture card(s) via the drivers, records it to disk, and feeds recordings to the front end when requested.

The FE handles playback of the streams from the BE among other things.

The remote controls the FE application (just like your keyboard does) which in turn controls the BE, which ...

These days the only differences between live tv and anything else are the recording profile used (which unless you customize it identical to the default and all the rest), and the agressive expiration rules associated with "live" recordings.

You only need the one audio card, and with the PVR's there's no need to jumper to the audio card. If you do you're connecting an input to an input. The 1/8" stereo plug on the PVR is for audio input to be used with capture from the svideo or composite video input jacks, say from a cable box or a camcorder...

I see what your saying, live tv isn't really live its whatever is in the ringbuffer at that moment right? Ok...so I will try again, and this time with no audio cord and see how that goes.

Thanks for the insight, and clarification

Not even a ring buffer. It's a real honest to Murphy, genuine first class recording. Stored in the /myth/tv directory, listed in the "recorded" table in the DB, ... You can change your mind halfway into watching a program or even later before it expires and recategorize it as a permanent recording.

Let's say you're watching a travel show and suddenly they're panning the camera across the front of your parents house, and you'd really like to be able to save the recording and burn it to a DVD for them. Well, you can, with minimal hassle.

Oh, and don't worry about the fact that it's there. The cleanup heuristics around live recording are very, very slick. Channel surfing? The rules are set up so It'll "notice" that there are several short things and get rid of them.