[Bug 659490] [NEW] BTTV driver doesn't work anymore

Tue Oct 12 20:22:57 UTC 2010

Public bug reported:

Hi there,

I am currently using Ubuntu 9.04, my old analog TV tuner card has always
worked just fine since Ubuntu's inception, however 9.04 is now
unsupported, so I am trying to switch to 10.10 (installed it on a spare
hard drive partition to evaluate it first.. glad I did !)  but TV
doesn't work any more, which is a show stopper as I don't have an actual
TV set, I do rely on my computer for watching TV...

What happens ? Well, I watch TV using xdtv, and it just shows either
"snow" or garbage. Tried several other Tv apps, sme result: all are
unable to find the TV stations. So I guess the problem lies lower down
the stack... kernel or bttv driver ?

I am in France, hence using SECAM and French Frequencies, so maybe the
failure is specific to French TV, and it might still work for US or UK
people... no idea I am afraid.

I do seem to remember that I noticed this problem as far back as Ubuntu 9.10, which is why I think I decided to stay with 9.04 at the time.
But now 9.04 being unsupported, I rather need to find a solution as I do need to switch to 10.10, whether I like it or not !

I compared kernel boot messages from 9.04 and 10.10, and noticed that the BTTV driver version is different (0.9.18 and 17).
I would love to try 0.9.17 (which works) on Ubuntu 10.10, to see if that fixes it, but sadly I am not sure if I am skilled enough.. don't even know where to get the old source code for the BTTV driver, to start with !

While proceeding to file this bug report via ubuntu-bug, I was suggested
to try ou the vanilla kernel, just in case. Not sure I am talented
enough to venture into this, but I will read the instructions and report
here, if if get anywhere with that...

I attached a text file which compared the kernel messages of 9.04 and
10.10, with regars to the BTTV driver. I edited out all the irrelevant
bits. I isolated the part which defers from 9.04, mainly stuff to do
with remote control and some JVC and Sony protocols:

[    7.220326] IR JVC protocol handler initialized
[    7.227146] IR Sony protocol handler initialized
[    7.237543] lirc_dev: IR Remote Control driver registered, major 250 
[    7.238448] IR LIRC bridge handler initialized
[    7.240972] bttv0: audio absent, no audio device found!             <--==========  ?????

No idea aobut this "audio absent" thing. But I don't think it's the
problem since my major problem is getting a picture.. sound is not
really my main concern for now...

Apart from the lines above, the two logs appear to be similar, the Tv
card appears to be detected properly and equally in both logs, nothing
that would give a clue I am afraid :-(

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.10
Package: linux-image-2.6.35-22-generic-pae 2.6.35-22.34
Regression: Yes
Reproducible: Yes
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.35-22.34-generic-pae 2.6.35.4
Uname: Linux 2.6.35-22-generic-pae i686
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.23.
Architecture: i386
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER        PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0:  vincent    1494 F.... pulseaudio
                      vincent    1700 F.... gnome-volume-co
 /dev/snd/pcmC0D0p:   vincent    1494 F...m pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/controlC1:  vincent    1494 F.... pulseaudio
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xfbff8000 irq 45'
   Mixer name	: 'Realtek ALC888'
   Components	: 'HDA:10ec0888,14627345,00100001'
   Controls      : 35
   Simple ctrls  : 20
Card1.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:1 'Bt878'/'Brooktree Bt878 at 0xfaffe000, irq 17'
   Mixer name	: 'Bt87x'
   Components	: ''
   Controls      : 3
   Simple ctrls  : 5
Date: Tue Oct 12 22:14:32 2010
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=a0cdcf4e-8e99-4ff4-959f-e0e8da1ea780
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release i386 (20101007)
IwConfig:
 lo        no wireless extensions.

 eth0      no wireless extensions.
MachineType: MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO.,LTD MS-7395
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-22-generic-pae root=UUID=fbd6016b-c83a-4ec2-bbbf-21614f79a16a ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_US.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
RelatedPackageVersions: linux-firmware 1.38
RfKill:

SourcePackage: linux
dmi.bios.date: 11/07/2007
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: V1.1
dmi.board.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.board.name: MS-7395
dmi.board.vendor: MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO.,LTD
dmi.board.version: 1.0
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO.,LTD
dmi.chassis.version: 1.0
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvrV1.1:bd11/07/2007:svnMICRO-STARINTERNATIONALCO.,LTD:pnMS-7395:pvr1.0:rvnMICRO-STARINTERNATIONALCO.,LTD:rnMS-7395:rvr1.0:cvnMICRO-STARINTERNATIONALCO.,LTD:ct3:cvr1.0:
dmi.product.name: MS-7395
dmi.product.version: 1.0
dmi.sys.vendor: MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO.,LTD

** Affects: linux (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

-- 
BTTV driver doesn't work anymore
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/659490
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