Tuning, adjusting antenna

ABC (vhf 7) and NBC (uhf 12) not tuning well. In attic, took netbook and used dtvsignal app to tune antenna position (ssh into fatso mythbe server, dtvsignal running on fatso).

Ch, Network, RF ch, compass heading, strength_before, strength_after
11.1, NBC, 12, 291, 55, 66
7.1, ABC, 7, 295, 38, 66
5.1, CBS, 29, 295, 73, 74
2.1, FOX, 44, 295, 70, 74
9.1, PBS, 30, 295, 66, 72
54.1, PBS, 50, 321, 76, 64

So, uhf50 went down but gained 12 and 7.
All of above stations now lock in successfully with no glitching :)

Note, I have uhf antenna and ABC is now rf=7 VHF.
Still have radio shack vhf antenna patched in, but did not adjust it.

Ubuntu Video Server

* Intel D945GCLF2 "Little Falls" Mini-ITX mobo w/ dual-core Atom 330 proc (1.6GHz, 533MHz FSB, 1MB L2 cache, 45nm, hyper-threading, step C0, 8W TDP), one 240-pin DDR2 DIMM slot (up to 2GB), 8x USB 2.0, 1x IDE, 2x 3.0Gbps SATA , VGA, s-video out, 10/100/1000 LAN (HWaddr 00:1c:c0:cd:99:15), bios version LF94510J.86A.0140.2008.1231.0012, $82 newegg 5/22/2009.
* Western Digital WD10EADS 1TB HD, $90 newegg 5/22/2009.
* Apex MI-008 mini-itx case w/ stock Allied 250W PSU, $48 newegg 5/22/2009.
* 1GB PC2-4200 (DDR2-533) DIMM, free from imageshack.

Software:
* Ubuntu 8.04.2 LTS Desktop

HTPC Info

Mythtv Backend -- OTA ATSC/HDTV:
* pcHDTV HD-3000 (PCI, Two of 'em)
* Radeon LE (OEM version of Radeon 7200) (32MB DDR, AGP 4x)
* Pentium D 945 LGA775 (aka Socket T) 3.4GHz ("Presler" dual core, 65nm), 2x2048 KiB L2 cache, 800MT/s front side bus, 95W TDP.
* RAM Stick1: 512MB DDR 400MHz CL3 ECC (PC3200) DIMM (HP OEM).
* RAM Stick2: 512MB DDR 400MHz CL3 ECC (PC3200) DIMM (HP OEM). Yes, a twin.
> was: RAM Stick2: 512 MB DDR 400MHz (PC3200) DIMM, OCZ brand [purch. 5/11/05, $30].
Nexus PHT-7750 SkiveTek full-copper heatsink for Socket 775 CPU, quiet, with Artic Silver thermal compound on CPU's heat spreader [3/07]
> was: Intel OEM heatsink & fan (came with Pentium D 945)
ASUS P5P800-SE, Intel 865PE chipset, Socket 775, AGP 8x (AGP 3.0), Dual channel DDR400, GE LAN (HWaddr 00:15:f2:29:4e:92), Serial ATA, 6-channel SoundMax digital audio, USB 2.0, 4PCI, 1066/800/533MHz FSB.
Syba SD-SATA150R-B SATA pci card (2 int sata ports), Silicon Image 3512 chip [Fry's $30, 9/1/08].
400GB SATA Seagate, 7200rpm, 16MB cache, ST3400633AS-RK (ubuntu says "ST3400620AS") [retail box], SN 5QH029FD. installed 7/17/08, boot+swap drive.
500GB SATA Western Digital WDC WD5000AAKS-6 Rev: 12.0 [$90 frys.com purch 1/3/08].
640GB SATA WDC WD6400AAKS-6 Rev: 01.0 [$80 slickdeal, newegg, 8/26/08]
>> Decomm'd 9/1/08: 300GB Maxtor 7200rpm 6L300R0, PATA133, "Ultra16" [$90 Fry's special 11/28/05].
>> Died 7/16/08: 200GB Western Digital WD2000JB-00GVA0 [from rma 4/29/05].
>> Removed from service 1/10/08: 80GB WDC WD800JB-00JJA0.
Hitachi CDR-8335 CDROM, 24x read, IDE PATA.
Cheap Antec case, SLK1600 (Fry's special, beige, Front/Rear 80mm fan mounts).
Seasonic "Super Tornado" SS-300FB Active PFC power supply: ATX 12V rev 1.3 compliant, 300W, Active power factor correction, 120mm fan (70 CFM).
Panaflo FBA08A12L1A (aka PABA08A12L1J) 80mm case fan, mounted on rear panel.

Backend sw:
2010-01-17 15:23:04.863 mythbackend version: 0.21.20080304-1 www.mythtv.org
mythbackend version: 0.21.20080304-1 [4/28/09 upgrade to ubuntu 8.04.2 via gnome Update Manager]
>> was: mythbackend version: 0.20 [1/9/08 upgrade to Mythbuntu 7.10]
>> was: mythbackend version: 0.18.1.20050523-1 (from subversion upgrade 9/24/05).
donn@fatso:~$ cat /proc/version
Linux version 2.6.22-14-generic (buildd@terranova) (gcc version 4.1.3 20070929 (prerelease) (Ubuntu 4.1.2-16ubuntu2)) #1 SMP Tue Feb 12 07:42:25 UTC 2008
>> was: Linux version 2.6.22-14-generic (buildd@palmer) (gcc version 4.1.3 20070929 (prerelease) (Ubuntu 4.1.2-16ubuntu2)) #1 SMP Sun Oct 14 23:05:12 GMT 2007 [upgrade to Mythbuntu 7.10 on 1/9/08]
>> was: Linux kernel 2.6.12-1.1378_FC3 (yum install kernel & reboot, 10/1/05).
DVB driver included with Mythbuntu 7.10 kernel (1/9/08)
>> was: DVB driver included with 2.6.12.x (10/1/05)
>> was: pcHDTV DVB driver 2.0 from tarball, before 10/1/05.
>> was: pcHDTV driver 1.5 (2.6.9 kernel only)
>> was: FC2-3-Kernel-2.6-pcHDTV-driver-1.5.tar.gz
No dvb-apps installed yet (1/9/08)
>> was: dvb-apps from http://www.linuxtv.org/cvs.php
>> was: tools-2.6-a.tar.gz

Mythtv Frontend:
EVGA nVidia GeForce 9500GT 1GB DDR2, PCI-E 2.0, SLI, dual DVI. p/n: 01G-P3-N959-TR [purch. 11/30/2009, TigerDirect]
>> was: nVidia GeForce FX5200 (MSI FX5200-TD128; 128M DDR,DVI-I, 4pin tv-out (s-video out), AGP 8x keyed for both 3.3V and 1.5V compatibility) [was thought to be bad on 4/29/09 but turns out P5P800 mobo was bad]
Pentium Dual-Core E5300 (Wolfdale-3M), Intel 64, LGA775 pkg, 2.6GHz, 2MB L2-cache, 800MHz FSB, 45nm, 65W TDP, S-spec: SLB9U (stepping R0), PCG: 06, part # BX80571E5300. [specs: http://processorfinder.intel.com/Details.aspx?sSpec=SLB9U ] [purch. 11/30/09].
>> was: Pentium 4 Processor 550, LGA775 pkg, 3.4GHz, 1MB L2-cache, 800MHz FSB, 90nm, Hyper-threading, 115W Max TDP. [specs: http://bit.ly/4ALR8V] [purch. 4/22/2005]
Nexus PHT-7750 SkiveTek full-copper heatsink for Socket 775, quiet [1/06]
Four Patriot 1GB DDR2 PC2-6400 (800MHz) CL5 DIMM ramsticks [from jack]
>> was: Mushkin 512MB DDR 400MHz (PC3200) DIMM [purch. 4/19/2005]
Intel DP43TF, Socket 775, P43 Express chipset, four 240-pin DDR2 1.8V SDRAM DIMM sockets (800/667 MHz single or dual channel DDR2; 8GB max.), PCI Express 2.0 x16 video slot, three PCI Express 1.1 x1 slots, 3 x PCI slots, 6 x SATA (3.0 Gb/s), 1 x IDE ATA-66/100 (2 devices on one ribbon), 12 x USB 2.0, 2 x IEEE 1394a firewire, onboard 3-pin S/PDIF out, 10/100/1000 LAN, PS/2 mouse & keyboard, 1 x serial port via onboard header [purch 11/30/2009]
>> was: ASUS P5P800 (P5P800-UAYZ), Socket 775, Intel 865PE & Intel ICH5, Dual-channel DDR400, AGP 8x 1.5V (3.3V not supported), 800/533 MHz FSB, 5 x PCI slots, 2 x SATA, 2 x UltraDMA, SPDIF out (coax), 8 x USB 2.0, 10/100/1000 LAN [purch. 4/22/2005; determined bad on 4/29/09]
Turtle Beach Riviera 5.1 soundcard (installed 6/22/05)
>> was: Crappy Sound Blaster Live! rev.5 (EMU10K1) that wouldn't work with ALSA.
HP DVD Writer 200i (dvd200i)
>> was: Toshiba SD-M1402 DVD-ROM drive (DVD+R/+RW compat.)
IRman on COM2
Microspeed Liberator wireless keyboard/mouse (Sejin SWK-8698WT)
WDC 120GB drive
Maxtor 80GB drive
Maxtor 40GB drive 54098U8
Fixed HD: Hitachi Deskstar 7K80: 80GB 7200RPM, HDS728080PLAT20, sn S2TK6GUE [purch. 4/19/2005]
>> decomm'd: Lian-Li RH-17 removeable hard drive racks
>> moved to upstairs Windows pc: Seagate Scorpion STD224000N DDS-3 DAT drive
Antec P180 HTPC case w/ fanless SilverStone SST-ST30NF (st30nf) power supply
>> was: Black hydraulic case w/ Enermax quiet power supply (Digital Connection)
Emerson EVS-4000 (evs4000) basic video switch (R/L audio + composite video)

Frontend sw:
Linux version 2.6.22-14-generic (buildd@palmer) (gcc version 4.1.3 20070929 (prerelease) (Ubuntu 4.1.2-16ubuntu2)) #1 SMP Sun Oct 14 23:05:12 GMT 2007 [upgrade to Mythbuntu 7.10 on 1/9/08]
>> was: Fedora Core 3 stock kernel (from cdroms) 2.6.9-1.667
xorg XvMC disabled. XV enabled.
MythTV: Kernel deinterlacing.
Linux nVidia driver 1.0.9639 [1/9/08]
>> was: 1.0-7174 (NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7174-pkg1.run)
ALSA sound

Panasonic TH-42PWD3 42" Plasma monitor
Harmony Remote
> was: Pronto TSU2000 remote
> was: Pronto DS1000 base
Belkin Omnicube RGBHV 4-port switch
X-10 IR543 remote commander
PCS lighting controls (X10 compat.)
Channel Master 3021 UHF antenna
Channel Master 7777 preamp
RG-6 quad-shielded coax cabling
Two-way coax splitter/combiner:
>> Radio Shack #15-2587 (gold series), #15-1234 (regular)
3-foot coax cables, Radio Shack #15-1541
Dedicated 15A power circuit/feed
45 miles from Sutro tower (SF), Clear line of sight.

I have never had a cable or satellite bill in my whole life :)

===

Old FC3 mythtv FE sound info:
Linux sound config (from stock FC3 cdroms):
alsa-lib-1.0.6-3
alsa-tools-1.0.6-1
alsa-utils-1.0.6-3
alsa-lib-devel-1.0.6-3

Old MythTV (FC3):
Frontend: From cvs sync on 4/22/2005

QT for compiling Mythtv:
qt-devel-3.3.3-8
qt-3.3.3-8

KDE version (rpm -qa), KDE on myth backend:
kdelibs-3.3.0-5
kdebase-3.3.0-8
kdesdk-3.3.0-1
kdeartwork-3.3.0-1
kdegraphics-devel-3.3.0-3
kdeutils-devel-3.3.0-2
kdepim-3.3.0-2
kdemultimedia-3.3.0-2
kdegraphics-3.3.0-3
kdewebdev-3.3.0-1
kdeadmin-3.3.0-1
kdenetwork-3.3.0-5
kdeutils-3.3.0-2
kdelibs-devel-3.3.0-5
kdebase-devel-3.3.0-8
kdenetwork-devel-3.3.0-5
kdesdk-devel-3.3.0-1
kdevelop-3.1.0-2
kdeaddons-3.3.0-2
kdepim-devel-3.3.0-2

Xorg modeline for 42" panasonic plasma:
See config notes in earlier blog entry.

Previous Windows 2000 HTPC:
HiPix DTV-200 ATSC tuner (PCI, Win2k)
Athlon XP 2100+ 1.733GHz
Radeon LE (32MB DDR, AGP 4x)
848x480 @ 60Hz (480p, Powerstrip)
M-Audio Delta DiO 24/96 optical TOSlink, S/PDIF soundcard
3 meter TOSlink cable
RAM Stick: 256 MB DDR266MHz (PC2100) DIMM
Thermalright SLK-800 copper heatsink w/ Arctic Silver thermal compound
Gigabyte GA-7VAXP, KT400, Socket A, IEEE 1394, RAID (2+2 IDE), 10/100, 266/333MHz FSB, AGP 8x/4x/2x, 3DDR DIMM, 5PCI, USB 2.0, 6-ch sound SPDIF in/out optical/coax.
Black hydraulic case w/ Enermax quiet power supply (Digital Connection)

Previous Windows 2000 HTPC Software:
Windows 2000 Pro
DirectX 8.0a
Powerstrip 3.01
Girder 3.0.23
WinDVD 2.8
Winamp 2.78
HiPix 2.3.0
Smartripper 2.41
DVD Decrypter
DVDStarter 2.0
YXY 1.6
ProntoEdit 2.0
M-Audio Delta DiO 24/96 drivers 5.10.0.26 (for Win2k)

Even older stuff:
ADS Pyro BasicDV IEEE1394 (removed, now on mobo)

Jump Ahead/Back Setting have changed

FastForwardAmount and RewindAmount settings have changed.

Added playgroups which allow default playback options (timestretch, skip and jump intervals) to be set on a per recording schedule basis.
Important: The new default playback group does not inherit the skip settings previously configured in mythfrontend. Please visit the Playback group configuration screen to reset your defaults to the expected behavior.

[ http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Release_Notes_-_0.19#New_Features ]

Thread found about this:

http://readlist.com/lists/mythtv.org/mythtv-users/0/136.html

Mythbuntu 7.10 install

Hard disk partitions: Make sure root/boot partition is the first one on the first drive. Got grub error 18 (bios can't support cylinder #). So, don't put swap partition first.

Well that didnt matter. Still got lots of grub boot errors 16, 18, others. Then "read failure". Abandoned the WD 80GB drive and kept the WD 200G and Maxtor 300GB. Made root and swap partition on WD200G and bulk storage partition on Mx300G. Both ext3 (ext3 for boot/root partition is recommended; tried XFS and it gave me warnings). Reinstalled off cdrom and now it boots off wd200g drive :)

Did not run mythtv-setup from install disc. Instead shutdown and booted off HD. Then manually set ip address and rebooted for that to take effect.

I notice there's no root password. A google hit says mythbuntu doesn't have a root account. It asks for one user account to be setup. You do all sys maintenance via sudo.

So, this was an annoying problem. If I tried to add/configure DVB tuner cards in mythtv-setup while fresh off the mythbuntu live/boot cdrom, the "Frontend id:" line would say "can't open device" or something like that. But, if I post-pone running mythtv-setup until after I boot off the hard drive, sudo chmod 777 /dev/video* (and vbi* and /dev/dvb/adapter*), then run mythtv-setup, then when I add tuner card that 'frontend' line reads "pcHDTV HD-3000 Subtype: ATSC" :)

Did full channel scan on both tuner cards.
Log looks ok, /var/log/mythtv/mythbackend.log

Installed frontend next. Plasma did not like resolution/scanrate that the install CD was using, so had to install with computer monitor hooked up to frontend PC. (will have to port old xorg.conf settings later).

Problem: When setting up FE, installer asks for ip addr and password for mysql BE. When I click the "test connection" button, it failed. Moving on with install resulted in installer crash and "Failed to connect to DB: Can't connect to MySQL server on '192.168.1.200' (111)" error near the end of the crash. From BE shell, I can login with 'mysql -u mythtv -p' just fine, but if I add "-h 192.168.1.200" it gives the same msg. So netstat confirms that BE ain't listening to 192.168.1.200:3306 (mysql tcp port):

donn@fatso:/etc/mythtv$ mysql -u mythtv -pHiddenPw -h 192.168.1.200
ERROR 2003 (HY000): Can't connect to MySQL server on '192.168.1.200' (111)
donn@fatso:/etc/mythtv$ netstat -ln grep 3306
tcp 0 0 127.0.0.1:3306 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN

(only accepting from localhost 127.0.0.1 !)

Compare this to the myth port #:

donn@fatso:/etc/mythtv$ netstat -ln grep 6543
tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:6543 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN
donn@fatso:/etc/mythtv$

(0.0.0.0 = "any")

So need to sql GRANT remove access to mysql.

Update my.cnf:

root@fatso:~# cat /etc/mysql/my.cnf egrep bind
bind-address = 127.0.0.1 (bad! fix that)

$ service mysql restart

Now it looks good:
root@fatso:~# netstat -ln grep 3306
tcp 0 0 192.168.1.200:3306 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN
root@fatso:~#

GRANT permission in mysql to user 'mythtv':
mysql> GRANT ALL ON mythconverg.* TO mailto:mythtv@ IDENTIFIED BY 'HiddenPw';
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

Now rerun setup. and now when i click the mysql test button, it says "Connection results: successful" :)

FE video driver: selected 'nvidia' for my nVidia GeForce FX5200 (MSI FX5200-TD128; 128M DDR,DVI-I, 4pin tv-out (s-video out), AGP)

===
For reference, cmds for manually adding/removing tuner card kernel-modules on backend:
modprobe -v cx88-dvb
To remove modules:
modprobe -rv cx88-dvb
modprobe -rv cx8800

Saving frontend soundcard settings before Mythubuntu install

dvd player (mythDvd setup):
xine -pfhq --no-splash dvd:///dev/hdc

mythVideo:
mplayer -fs -zoom -monitoraspect 16:9 -quiet -vo x11,xv -ao alsa:device=digital2c %s

Important xine + soundcard setup info:
http://mymythtv.blogspot.com/2005/06/turtle-beach-riviera-installation.html

fe: /root/.asoundrc


[root@myth root]# cat .asoundrc
pcm.digital {
type plug
slave.pcm "digital-hw"
}
pcm.digital-hw {
type hw
card 0
device 0
}

pcm.digital2 {
type plug
slave.pcm "digital-hw2"
}
pcm.digital-hw2 {
type hw
card 1
device 0
}

pcm.digital2b {
type plug
slave.pcm "digital-hw2b"
}
pcm.digital-hw2b {
type hw
card 1
device 1
}

pcm.digital2c {
type plug
slave.pcm "digital-hw2c"
}
pcm.digital-hw2c {
type hw
card 1
device 2
}

pcm.!iec958 {
type plug
slave.pcm "hw:1,2"
}
ctl.!iec958 {
type hw
card 1
}

pcm.emu10k1 {
type hw
card 0
}

ctl.emu10k1 {
type hw
card 0
}


Old Athlon Backend Info

Before Pentium D proc, was: Athlon XP 2100+ 1.733GHz
>> Clocked via bios at 138MHz (originally 133).
>> Clocked at 143MHz w/ +5% overvoltage: Stable & Vcore = 1.888V
>> Clocked at 153MHz w/ +7.5% overvoltage: Won't boot.
>> Clocked at 148MHz w/ +7.5% overvoltage: Vcore = 1.984V, Crash during prime95.
>> Clocked at 145MHz w/ +7.5% overvoltage: Vcore = 1.984V, 1884.8MHz Core speed, 13x multiplier, 145.0MHz FSB, 289.9MHz Bus speed; Got hard lockup after a couple hours.
>> [ Reported by CPU-Z ]
>> Prev stable: 143MHz w/ +5% overvoltage.
>> CPU overheating (segfaults when recompiling mythtv). Back to basic clocking.
Thermalright SLK-800 copper heatsink w/ Arctic Silver thermal compound on Athlon proc.
Gigabyte GA-7VAXP, KT400, Socket A, IEEE 1394, RAID (2+2 IDE), 10/100, 266/333MHz FSB, AGP 8x/4x/2x, 3 DDR DIMM slots, 5PCI, USB 2.0, 6-ch sound SPDIF in/out optical/coax. No SATA.
mythbackend version: 0.18.20050504-1 (from cvs).
Linux kernel 2.6.11-1.14_FC3 before 10/1/05.

New heat sink for BE

Installed new copper heat sink on BE server tonight. Replaces crappy stock one that came with Pentium D proc. Same heatsink that the FE server has been enjoying: Nexus PHT-7750 SkiveTek full-copper heatsink for Socket 775, quiet. Artic Silver thermal compound (thermal grease) used after cleaning the cpu's heat spreader with 91% isopropyl alcohol (scrubbed with a lint-free chamois stick).