DigitalNow Quad DVB-T Tuner Card and Linux, it is working Options

[bigO]

A follow-up for those following.

In the end I got it working by following the instructions here: https://github.com/ambrosa/DVB-Realtek-RTL2...el-3.0.0#readme

which seems to handle 3.0, 3.1 and 3.2 kernels.

Now just to sort out the remote...

The ambrosa build has been rock solid from a tuner perspective for the last few weeks now. canarygsr has confirmed working too on 64-bit Mythbuntu 11.10 - kernel 3.0.0-16. I've done a couple of kernel updates and a simple recompile is all that's been required.

The only issue seems to be that when the remote interface is enabled in the module, it interferes with the tuning controls. I can tune one tuner fine, but when trying to get multiple simultaneous channel locks only the first works. Net result is that in MythTV I have lots of recordings that come up "The file for this recording could not be found" and the tuners are stuck in a "tuning" state.

I have been using a Philips (Microsoft-branded) MCE remote which has its own receiver and that's all fine. For that small inconvenience though I'm happy, because I've had a couple of weeks now of otherwise faultless performance - no dropped recordings, no glitches, no crashes.

[myrantz]

Using this card with kernel 3.2.11... Tried using each tuner individually and so far so good.. Installation is a breeze.

Wonder if it'd work with 4 tuners fully running (I'm using a Gigabyte m/b)...

Time will tell...

Edit: Did a quick 1hr recording with all tuners.. So far so good, no problems... Hope it'd stay that way.. Great product!

[DrP]

Linux often ignores the motherboard's ACPI routines, especially considering that at one stage Gigabyte's amazingly poorly written ACPI scripts caused Linux to tank.

[kjn260]

Hi Magicpudding,

Thanks for all your effort in getting this to work. I followed your script, I was able to sort out the first few dependencies and get it to run, however its terminating with this:

CODE

fw
make[2]: Leaving directory `/home/xbmc/quad/media_build/v4l/firmware'
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/xbmc/quad/media_build/v4l'
*** Loading the dvb_usb_rtl2832u module...
FATAL: Module dvb_usb_rtl2832u not found.

Hopefully a list of adapters follows:
ls: cannot access /dev/dvb: No such file or directory
*** All done ***

The system is XBMCbuntu EDEN (3.0.0-16-generic) 32-bit (there is no 64-bit build for XBMCbuntu).

Any Ideas?

[kjn260]

Hi Magicpudding,

Any Ideas?

So after some more playing I've managed to get it compiling, but inserting dvb_usb_rtl2832u module into the kernel.

CODE

make[2]: Leaving directory `/home/xbmc/current/media_build/v4l/firmware'
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/xbmc/current/media_build/v4l'
* loading the dvb_usb_rtl2832u module...
FATAL: Error inserting dvb_usb_rtl2832u (/lib/modules/3.0.0-16-generic/kernel/drivers/media/dvb/dvb-usb/dvb-usb-rtl2832u.ko): Invalid argument

Hopefully a list of adapters follows:
ls: cannot access /dev/dvb: No such file or directory
--- All done ---

It seems that other people have solved this issue here, but for the life of me, I cannot get it to run.

lsusb reports the card as present....I think:

CODE

Bus 004 Device 002: ID 0413:6680 Leadtek Research, Inc.
Bus 004 Device 003: ID 0413:6680 Leadtek Research, Inc.
Bus 004 Device 004: ID 0413:6680 Leadtek Research, Inc.
Bus 004 Device 005: ID 0413:6680 Leadtek Research, Inc.

Anyone? Help?

[canarygsr]

Guys

Just an update
I was able to use with the new 64bit mythbuntu 12.04 with the following steps


sudo apt-get install build-essential linux-headers-$(uname -r) git gedit

git clone https://github.com/ambrosa/DVB-Realtek-RTL2...ernel-3.0.0.git

cd DVB-Realtek-RTL2832U-2.2.2-10tuner-mod_kernel-3.0.0

cd RTL2832-2.2.2_kernel-3.0.0


gedit Makefile
comment out the "INCLUDE_EXTRA_DVB := include-300" with a # and un comment the INCLUDE_EXTRA_DVB := include-320"" line by removing the #


### as root
sudo su

make clean
make
make install
modprobe dvb_usb_rtl2832u

[tailend]

My tuner card is working well on 12.04 except for one minor problem. The dvb tuners seem to crash after a while. I have 2 of the 4 tuners doing EPG guide data and they seem to crash more frequently, about one every 2-3 days. The crashed tuners need a full power off and on again to restore, even a reboot is not enough. Until I power off and on all recordings on that tuner fail. Is anyone else experiencing this problem?

[steveb]

My tuner card is working well on 12.04 except for one minor problem. The dvb tuners seem to crash after a while. I have 2 of the 4 tuners doing EPG guide data and they seem to crash more frequently, about one every 2-3 days. The crashed tuners need a full power off and on again to restore, even a reboot is not enough. Until I power off and on all recordings on that tuner fail. Is anyone else experiencing this problem?

Having a similar problem. I bought a Digitalnow quad tuner card to put into my MythTV box (running ubuntu 12.04 server 64bit and MythTV 0.25 and seems a bit unstable - constantly sending crash reports to the developers) and installed it using the drivers and instructions at https://github.com/ambrosa/DVB-Realtek-RTL2...od_kernel-3.0.0

It worked for a while (about a week) including being able to record but now seems to have a problem opening the card (get a "Error_Open" message for Frontend ID in the capture card setup on MythTV backend). The kernel logs seem to show its picked up all 4 tuners (log entry for the last one shown below). Anyone know what's happening and have any idea of a fix? Obviously I want the MythTV setup bombproof – nothing worse than expecting something to be recorded and then not getting it. Any help would be much appreciated.

May 13 12:10:29 server kernel: [ 15.539007] dvb-usb: found a 'USB DVB-T Device' in warm state.
May 13 12:10:29 server kernel: [ 15.539020] dvb-usb: will pass the complete MPEG2 transport stream to the software demuxer.
May 13 12:10:29 server kernel: [ 15.540762] DVB: registering new adapter (USB DVB-T Device)
May 13 12:10:29 server kernel: [ 15.560460] RTL2832U usb_init_bulk_setting : USB2.0 HIGH SPEED (480Mb/s)
May 13 12:10:29 server kernel: [ 15.807616] RTL2832U check_tuner_type : FC0012 tuner on board...
May 13 12:10:29 server kernel: [ 16.390325] DVB: registering adapter 3 frontend 0 (Realtek DVB-T RTL2832)...
May 13 12:10:29 server kernel: [ 16.392280] input: IR-receiver inside an USB DVB receiver as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:04.0/0000:02:00.0/0000:03:00.2/usb4/4-4/input/input5
May 13 12:10:29 server kernel: [ 16.392478] dvb-usb: schedule remote query interval to 287 msecs.
May 13 12:10:29 server kernel: [ 16.392486] dvb-usb: USB DVB-T Device successfully initialized and connected.
May 13 12:10:29 server kernel: [ 16.392886] usbcore: registered new interface driver dvb_usb_rtl2832u

[steveb]

OK, have got them back and working again. Had to do a rebuild of the driver and reinstall it as per ambrosa's update instructions.
- go into local git repo
cd DVB-Realtek-RTL2832U-2.2.2-10tuner-mod_kernel-3.0.0
- update local files with new changes
git pull
- compile
cd RTL2832-2.2.2_kernel-3.0.0
make clean
make
- install module
sudo make install

I suspect that one of the many updates to ubuntu 12.04 may have altered something by updating one of the other system files and requiring the driver to be rebuilt to work properly with whatever had changed. Being a newbie I can't tell for sure.....

[tailend]

OK, have got them back and working again. Had to do a rebuild of the driver and reinstall it as per ambrosa's update instructions.
- go into local git repo
cd DVB-Realtek-RTL2832U-2.2.2-10tuner-mod_kernel-3.0.0
- update local files with new changes
git pull
- compile
cd RTL2832-2.2.2_kernel-3.0.0
make clean
make
- install module
sudo make install

I suspect that one of the many updates to ubuntu 12.04 may have altered something by updating one of the other system files and requiring the driver to be rebuilt to work properly with whatever had changed. Being a newbie I can't tell for sure.....

I tried a git pull as suggested. Unfortunately git returns "Already up-to-date." I am interested to know if you have a reliable system now or still see some problems. When I was not using EPG data the tuner crashes seem to be on average a few weeks apart.

[steveb]

I tried a git pull as suggested. Unfortunately git returns "Already up-to-date." I am interested to know if you have a reliable system now or still see some problems. When I was not using EPG data the tuner crashes seem to be on average a few weeks apart.

Mine was up to date also but I still think its worth doing a rebuild if you can't open the tuners in MythTV anymore as some of the other kernel files may have been updated. I'm keeping an eye out now and checking before and after each time I do a system update (12.04 still seems to be a little bit unstable so definately interested in the updates).

[steveb]

Hmm - spoke too soon. The tuners played up again and even a rebuild of the driver didn't fix. A shutdown, wait 5 minutes and restart seems to have fixed.
Not sure what is going on with this.

[kjn260]

Hmm - spoke too soon. The tuners played up again and even a rebuild of the driver didn't fix. A shutdown, wait 5 minutes and restart seems to have fixed.
Not sure what is going on with this.

Good to know I'm not the only person having this issue. I'm using 11.10 32-bit XBMCBuntu, with Ambrosia's drivers and see similar behavior. From his git there is actually a few bugs (quality is limited to 32%, so I had to turn off quality reporting).

If you read the openpli thread attached to those drivers, there is a patch to fix some issues but its a kernel patch for openpli and not anyone else using them on a different build, if i could figure out how to apply the changes I would.

[flunky]

Hi,

The linux-media folks have been busily preparing a driver for this chipset in the mainline kernel.
It went in a couple of months ago and has received a few cleanup patches since.
Has anyone here tried that recently ? The writers would be quite interested in feedback on how it does.
Particularly as they just reorganised their tree significantly.

http://git.linuxtv.org/media_build.git

The build process is straightforward, but you will want to remove other drivers for the card first.
To give feedback, write to linux-media@vger.kernel.org (including the output of lspci & dmesg).

Cheers

[steveb]

Hi,

The linux-media folks have been busily preparing a driver for this chipset in the mainline kernel.
It went in a couple of months ago and has received a few cleanup patches since.
Has anyone here tried that recently ? The writers would be quite interested in feedback on how it does.
Particularly as they just reorganised their tree significantly.

http://git.linuxtv.org/media_build.git

The build process is straightforward, but you will want to remove other drivers for the card first.
To give feedback, write to linux-media@vger.kernel.org (including the output of lspci & dmesg).

Cheers

Dumb question but how do I remove the old driver to try out the new build? (I'm a newb and by no means competent with Ubuntu at this stage)

[Benno]

Thanks for posting, it didn't know about that one. It works great ( I also shoot an email to the good folk at linux media - thanks guys! ). Only thing I notice is that it put alot of these in my syslog:

[16370.559863] usb_urb_complete: 7030 callbacks suppressed
[16375.557587] usb_urb_complete: 7029 callbacks suppressed
[16380.556186] usb_urb_complete: 7030 callbacks suppressed
[16385.554165] usb_urb_complete: 7029 callbacks suppressed


=> I'm using Debian Wheezy (SID) and kernel 3.5.4 on an Atom powered Mythtv rig. It also worked on my old rig with Ubuntu 12.10, kernel 3.4.0-3.

=> My hot tip ( to repeat what others have said ) - as it's a quad card - you have to take care to feed this card with the right signal and at the right signal levels, you cannot be sloppy on the RF side. Given a nice signal, the card will produce excellent results.

thanks Ben

Hi,

The linux-media folks have been busily preparing a driver for this chipset in the mainline kernel.
It went in a couple of months ago and has received a few cleanup patches since.
Has anyone here tried that recently ? The writers would be quite interested in feedback on how it does.
Particularly as they just reorganised their tree significantly.

http://git.linuxtv.org/media_build.git

The build process is straightforward, but you will want to remove other drivers for the card first.
To give feedback, write to linux-media@vger.kernel.org (including the output of lspci & dmesg).

Cheers

[myrantz]

Has anyone here tried that recently ? The writers would be quite interested in feedback on how it does.
Particularly as they just reorganised their tree significantly.

http://git.linuxtv.org/media_build.git

Just found this.. Tried this on 3.6.3 and it worked fine so far (touch wood).. Got teh same debug spam as Benno though.. But no biggies, just glad I'm now on the latest kernel...

[gga96]

Hi,

The linux-media folks have been busily preparing a driver for this chipset in the mainline kernel.
It went in a couple of months ago and has received a few cleanup patches since.
Has anyone here tried that recently ? The writers would be quite interested in feedback on how it does.
Particularly as they just reorganised their tree significantly.

http://git.linuxtv.org/media_build.git

The build process is straightforward, but you will want to remove other drivers for the card first.
To give feedback, write to linux-media@vger.kernel.org (including the output of lspci & dmesg).

Cheers

I am new to Linux and have installed MythBuntu and bought a DigitalNow TVB-T Quad tuner for my MythTV setup.
I will be greatful for any help given.

The OS is:
Linux glen-desktop 3.2.0-38-generic-pae #61-Ubuntu SMP Tue Feb 19 12:39:51 UTC 2013 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux.
Pentium 4 3.2 cpu.
1m of ram.

I unzipped Linux4Quad2.zip (recursively).
Edited the v4l/.version file to read
VERSION=3
PATCHLEVEL:=2
SUBLEVEL:=0-38
KERNELRELEASE:=3.2.0-38-generic
I then cd'd and ran make, the edited output follows.

glen@glen-desktop:~/Linux4Quad/digitalnow-quad$ make
make -C /home/glen/Linux4Quad/digitalnow-quad/v4l
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/glen/Linux4Quad/digitalnow-quad/v4l'
Updating/Creating .config
./scripts/make_kconfig.pl /lib/modules/3.2.0-38-generic/build /lib/modules/3.2.0-38-generic/build
Preparing to compile for kernel version 3.2.0
...
make[2]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-3.2.0-38-generic'
CC [M] /home/glen/Linux4Quad/digitalnow-quad/v4l/tuner-xc2028.o
/home/glen/Linux4Quad/digitalnow-quad/v4l/tuner-xc2028.c: In function 'xc2028_set_params':
/home/glen/Linux4Quad/digitalnow-quad/v4l/tuner-xc2028.c:1178:5: error: 'T_DIGITAL_TV' undeclared (first use in this function)
...

I tracked T_ANALOG_TV and T_RADIO to tuner.h as quote below:
enum tuner_mode {
T_RADIO = 1 << V4L2_TUNER_RADIO,
T_ANALOG_TV = 1 << V4L2_TUNER_ANALOG_TV,
/* Don't need to map V4L2_TUNER_DIGITAL_TV, as tuner-core won't use it */
};

The bug to me looks like a declaration oversight but my lack of experience with Linux and c leaves me to ponder the most appropriate fix.

Any help will definately HELP!

Edit: Am going to do a complete re-install of MythBuntu 12.04.2.

Thanks
Glen

[gga96]

Have been having a lot of trouble getting started with mythbentu, but eventualy bought a DigitalNow quad and...

Installed a fresh MythBuntu 12.04 and used the linuxtv git to build a driver.
The process ran without a hitch and it finished with what I think was a driver object file .ko in v4l subdirectory.
I could not work out how to load this file as a driver for the quad.

I then reinstalled a fresh MythBuntu 12.04 and used https://github.com/ambrosa/DVB-Realtek-RTL2...el-3.0.0#readme to provide a driver for DigitalNow quad tuner http://www.digitalnow.com.au/product_pages/Quad.html.

The ambrosa make file is limited to kernel 3.0.0 .. 3.2.0. mine is 3.2.0-38.
No glitches this time and finished with 4 quad adapters in \dev\dvb

I think the linuxtv media_build process (still experimental) is the way for the future, especially if one of the gurus can provide explicit terminal commands to complete the process for dumies like myself.

Thank you all.

Glen

[myrantz]

I think the linuxtv media_build process (still experimental) is the way for the future, especially if one of the gurus can provide explicit terminal commands to complete the process for dumies like myself.

The driver is now included into the kernel from 3.7 onwards now... Once your distro moves to 3.7 or this card will be automatically supported without additional downloads.