V4L support can't be enabled on 2.6.38+

This is starting to look like this is a result of a v4l1 header file being removed from 2.6.38.

http://www.mythtv.org/pipermail/mythtv-users/2011-February/309114.html

After finding #716275, I copied videodev.h from an older system, re-ran configure on mythtv, and it defined CONFIG_V4L. Unfortunately it doesn't build.

Sorry, though launchpad understood # syntax... The other ticket is http://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/716275

I've rebuilt Myth with linux-libc-dev 2.6.37-7.19 and the capture card works again.

Andrew:
Thanks for the sleuth work.

Until an updated build is added to natty, you should enable the 0.24 PPA, and you'll be able to get the fix there too then.

This bug was fixed in the package mythtv - 2:0.24.0+fixes.20110214.ad3c81f-0ubuntu1

---------------
mythtv (2:0.24.0+fixes.20110214.ad3c81f-0ubuntu1) natty; urgency=low

  * Drop proper shutdown behavior for ubuntu patch. Applied upstream.
  * New upstream checkout (ad3c81f)
  * >>Upstream changes since last upload (6318d52):
  * [ad3c81f] When shutting down or rebooting keep trying alternate
    methods if the first ones fail.
  * [20929be] Add MythNetVision to the DVR menu theme. Fixes #9440.
    (cherry picked from commit a0fc086f5ac8add273cb1306190472495fdb7d1c)
  * [52f7df5] Remove some no longer needed code now we only support
    Qt4.5 or later. (cherry picked from commit
    548434c2944dcca14abfce4734fb8d09bc3957ae)
  * [809ec68] Ensure teletext images are properly cleared when using
    XVideo (cherry picked from commit
    9980fcf452101d8e3a18cf5640427d9946071854)
  * [18a8200] Fix lockup when keys are pressed while playback is
    starting. (cherry picked from commit
    5ec80d83b3f37f600374ee44c4708047e2e08ea2)
  * [3d55e51] Only need a video track for duration/position info so
    remove MHEG check.
  * [4a8c889] Fix BBC frame detection.
  * [8e3fd5a] Fix windows compiling
  * [a7c8820] Don't check whether there are pending events in the TV
    playback loop.
  * [0ddc3f2] Fix duration/position information for MHEG and audio only
    playback.
  * [dcc9b96] Re-enable setting MythPlayer::noVideoTracks
  * [25ffbc3] Fix clipping issues with the OpenGL painter.
  * [b259732] fixes/0.24: Workaround windows OpenGL current context
    issues.
  * [48d554e] Non LiveTV: Construct the TV object immediately.
  * [dd981aa] Remove the key list queue in the TV class.
  * [54fcb92] Improved handling of 'Show the Program Guide when Start
    Live TV'.
  * [54a300f] LiveTV: Construct the TV object immediately.
  * [d0976da] Disable Picture-In-Picture and Picture-By-Picture
  * Re-enable V4L support by rebuilding against newer libc-dev (LP: #717717)
 -- Mario Limonciello <email address hidden> Mon, 14 Feb 2011 10:41:07 -0600

I just installed that version from Natty and it still reports V4L support is not built in. Same with the version on ppa:mythbuntu/0.24:
2:0.24.0+fixes.20110217.90f48c8-0ubuntu0myth

Did you mean another PPA?

Looking at the build log for 0.24 for natty, Video4Linux support was not included, although linux-libc-dev 2.6.38-3.30 was, so that doesn't appear to be what was causing the issue. Looking at the same build for maverick shows Video4Linux support is on.

It's the older linux-libc-dev (pre 2.6.38) that has the header and triggers the v4l support in Myth, not the newer one.

OK so this is an upstream issue that the lack of support for V4L1 shouldn't trigger V4L support off all together (and/or the code needs to be reworked). I've punted this upstream.

The attached patch should fix the problem.

Oops. The patch I posted is reversed. Here's a more correct patch.

Thanks for the patch. I see that you listed it upstream as well. Once we get some feedback from upstream that it's the proper way to go, it will be pulled into our builds too.

This bug was fixed in the package mythtv - 2:0.24.0+fixes.20110410.2a9d9f5-0ubuntu1

---------------
mythtv (2:0.24.0+fixes.20110410.2a9d9f5-0ubuntu1) natty; urgency=low

  * New upstream checkout (2a9d9f5)
  * >>Upstream changes since last upload (c2baf1b):
  * [2a9d9f5] Merge branch 'fixes/0.24' of github.com:MythTV/mythtv into
    fixes/0.24
  * [27c3ea5] Add a more descriptive error for failed deletes in
    Recorded due to unavailable recording. (cherry picked from commit
    d81e4ef542d6d9e9bd79dc58b70f9b90d04c06b2)
  * [362d834] Check for null frame buffers in commflag
  * [80192ec] mythplayer: Revert back to the old method used for
    duration/position in the OSD slider.
  * [83bc1fa] CrystalHD: Fix compilation with recent CrystalHD library
    versions.
  * [c375a86] TV: Fix unlocking of the player context in the main
    playback loop. (cherry picked from commit
    534945895ead72b147f3d695c8f77c9486a48f46)
  * [464fa28] Fix a bug which caused jamu to crash due to multiple
    unicode conversions.
  * Add a patch to enable V4L2 on 2.6.38. Thanks mlarsen.
    (LP: #717717)
 -- Mario Limonciello <email address hidden> Sun, 10 Apr 2011 21:20:50 -0500

This fix does not seem to fully work for analog tv. Installing this resulted in a mythtv where neither live tv nor recording worked.

I have two different cards, one sundtek and an hauppauge hvr-4000 neither worked in mythtv. Both worked outside of myth (e.g. in v4l2qt or xawtv).

After downgrading to a 2.6.37 kernel and building the package without the patch, everything works again.

To clarify, does this fix work with the 2.6.38 kernel or does it only work if you revert? It doesn't appear to be fixed for me using mythtv/natty uptodate 2:0.24.0+fixes.20110503.a0bb5e9-0ubuntu0mythbuntu3 on natty 11.04 with stock kernel (2.6.38-8-generic).

(See this forum post http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=10781568#post10781568 for additional discussion.)

It works on 2.6.38. I've been running it with a PVR-500 with no problems. I don't have any other cards to test and upstream doesn't appear to be taking the patch, so there's not much I could do to help.

sceo:

Can you elaborate exactly what's wrong for you? i'm having a hard time following your post in the forum. Was the problem because your receiver was off, or is there still something wrong?

@Mario: sorry to add confusion, that's the last thing I want to do. Here's a summation of my current status:

- natty / 11.04 upgraded from a 10.10 fresh install, through normal channels
- post-upgrade, I added mythbuntu repos, and so I have latest at the time of writing (0.24.0+fixes.20110503)
- in mythtv-setup when setting up this capture card, it shows me this: "ERROR, Compile with V4L support to query audio inputs"
- scheduled recordings actually do record audio (through stereo RCA's) and video (through component) just fine (despite seeing this ERROR in mythtv-setup)
- live tv is not reliable. If I watch live tv, it starts on directv channel 1 for me. when I change the channel through myth, it seems to fail, but changing through the directv box works fine.

Now, with that all said... if I can assume that the problem with Live TV is unrelated (channel change script or something?) I'm starting to realize that the only problem is that the UI indicates that there's an error, because of the big "ERROR, Compile with..." message, when in fact - there perhaps is no real error? (Or, perhaps this is causing my Live TV issues, I don't know... will have to dig more on that outside of this bug report). The only thing that would indicate it is this in the backend log:

Two entries after "Changing from None to WatchingLiveTV" is...
2011-05-07 17.12:05.131 format_to_mode() does not recognize V4L1

So, is this really a separate issue regarding the UI in myth-setup?

Also, thanks so much for all your work.

sceo:

Thanks for the response. I'm thinking right now at least that the unreliable live tv is unrelated - lets try to attack this one step at a time. I've checked in the code where that first error comes from, and it looks like it's just missing an extra #ifdef. I'm uploading a test build to https://launchpad.net/~mythbuntu-bugs/+archive/test2 right now. Once that builds you can try it out and see how that comes.

I added the test2 ppa and downloaded -- apt-show-versions tells me I'm on:
mythtv/natty uptodate 2:0.24.0+fixes.20110508.7f99d0f-0ubuntu0mythbuntu3

...I rebooted for good measure.

When coming back up I exited the frontend, went to mythtv-setup and looked, and I still saw the "ERROR," in the capture card config for the HD-PVR.

Then I started the frontend back up and tried watching live TV, the backend still gives me a "format_to_mode" error. The frontend logs also have a lot of errors once live TV has started about "sps_id out of range" and "non-existing PPS" and "non-existing SPS" being referenced (these were there before the upgrade from the test2 ppa by the way).

I've attached the latest backend and frontend logs for your review. I figure that's the best way for you to know what's relevant and what's not without me cluttering up the ticket too bad.

Again, I think in terms of me having a functional setup, overall things are working except LiveTV changing, so hopefully from the logs you can determine whether or not that is a separate issue.

Please let me know how else I can help.

sceo:

You loaded the wrong build. The one you got was from the regular mythbuntu daily PPA. Open up synaptic and search for all the myth packages. You'll want to hit ctrl-e on each and pick the ones from the test2 PPA.

Oh, and the version on the test2 ppa is "2:0.24.0+fixes.20110507.7f99d0f-0ubuntu1"

I loaded the test2 ppa (correctly this time), and see the same behavior: (1) can't select audio source in mythtv-setup, (2) format_to_mode() doesn't recognize V4L1 in logs. I'm not sure which of these you're trying to actually fix - but the larger problem is likely the inability to select audio inputs, although manually changing them in the database seems to work according to someone in my ubuntuforums thread (above).

I think the spotty LiveTV is more likely related to my channel-changing, since I see things like "we should have been able to set a start channel or tuner but were unable to do so."

2011-05-15 00:46:13.091 TV: Attempting to change from None to WatchingLiveTV
2011-05-15 00:46:13.091 MythCoreContext: Connecting to backend server: 192.168.2.238:6543 (try 1 of 1)
2011-05-15 00:46:13.093 Using protocol version 63
2011-05-15 00:46:13.212 Spawning LiveTV Recorder -- begin
2011-05-15 00:46:13.581 Spawning LiveTV Recorder -- end
2011-05-15 00:46:13.594 We have a playbackURL(/var/lib/mythtv/livetv/2037_20110515004613.nuv) & cardtype(DUMMY)
2011-05-15 00:46:13.595 We have a RingBuffer
2011-05-15 00:46:13.974 VideoOutputXv: XVideo Adaptor Name: 'Radeon Textured Video'
2011-05-15 00:46:14.062 OSD: Base theme size: 1280x720
2011-05-15 00:46:14.066 OSD: Scaling factors: 0.5625x0.8
2011-05-15 00:46:14.135 OSD: Base theme size: 1280x720
2011-05-15 00:46:14.138 OSD: Scaling factors: 0.5625x0.8
2011-05-15 00:46:14.187 Player(1): Video timing method: DRM
2011-05-15 00:46:14.202 TV: Changing from None to WatchingLiveTV
2011-05-15 00:46:14.202 TV: State is LiveTV & mctx == ctx
2011-05-15 00:46:14.205 TV: UpdateOSDInput done
2011-05-15 00:46:14.205 TV: UpdateLCD done
2011-05-15 00:46:14.205 TV: ITVRestart done
2011-05-15 00:46:14.305 MythUIHelper, Error: LoadScaleImage(/root/.mythtv/channels/discovery_ca.jpg)Unable to find image file
2011-05-15 00:46:14.313 MythUIHelper, Error: LoadScaleImage(/root/.mythtv/channels/discovery_ca.jpg)Unable to find image file
2011-05-15 00:46:14.317 MythUIHelper, Error: LoadScaleImage(/root/.mythtv/channels/discovery_ca.jpg)Unable to find image file
2011-05-15 00:46:14.321 MythUIHelper, Error: LoadScaleImage(/root/.mythtv/channels/discovery_ca.jpg)Unable to find image file
2011-05-15 00:46:24.347 RingBuf(/var/lib/mythtv/livetv/2037_20110515004614.nuv) Error: OpenFile(): File too small (0B).
2011-05-15 00:46:24.347 Player(1), Error: JumpToProgram's OpenFile failed (card type: V4L).
2011-05-15 00:46:24.348
LiveTVChain has 2 entries
   DUMMY: 2037 (00:46:13 to 00:46:14)
* V4L: 2037 (00:46:14 to 01:00:00) discontinuous

2011-05-15 00:46:24.348 Player(1), Error: Unknown recorder error, exiting decoder
2011-05-15 00:46:24.416 VideoOutput: Created YV12 OSD.
2011-05-15 00:46:24.440 TV: Attempting to change from WatchingLiveTV to None
2011-05-15 00:46:24.520 TV: Changing from WatchingLiveTV to None
2011-05-15 00:46:24.530 MythSystemEventHandler ERROR: SendMythSystemPlayEvent() called with empty ProgramInfo
2011-05-15 00:46:24.548 TV: Attempting to change from None to WatchingLiveTV
2011-05-15 00:46:24.548 MythCoreContext: Connecting to backend server: 192.168.2.238:6543 (try 1 of 1)
2011-05-15 00:46:24.550 Using protocol version 63
2011-05-15 00:46:24.616 Spawning LiveTV Recorder -- begin
2011-05-15 00:46:24.961 Spawning LiveTV Recorder -- end
2011-05-15 00:46:24.974 We have a playbackURL(/var/lib/mythtv/livetv/2037_20110515004624.nuv) & cardtype(DUMMY)
2011-05-15 00:46:24.975 We have a RingBuffer
2011-05-15 00:46:24.977 TV Error: LiveTV not successfully started
ls ^C
lepagee@lepagee-mediaserver:~$ ls /var/lib/mythtv/livetv/2037_20110515004614.nuv
/var/lib/mythtv/livetv/2037_20110515004614.nuv
lepagee@lepagee-mediaserver:~$ ls /var/lib/mythtv/livetv/2037_20110515004614.nuv
/var/lib/mythtv/livetv/2037_20110515004614.n...

Sorry for the long comment, the last comment was the frontend log, this is the backend log with "test2" the last patch does not work for me. Other apps work with my tuner card, but not myth

2011-05-15 00:48:16.769 MainServer::ANN Playback
2011-05-15 00:48:16.821 adding: lepagee-mediaserver as a client (events: 0)
2011-05-15 00:48:16.859 TVRec(1): Changing from None to WatchingLiveTV
2011-05-15 00:48:16.914 TVRec(1): HW Tuner: 1->1
2011-05-15 00:48:16.990 format_to_mode() does not recognize V4L1
2011-05-15 00:48:17.032 LoadFromScheduler(): Error, called from backend.
2011-05-15 00:48:17.040 AutoExpire: CalcParams(): Max required Free Space: 2.0 GB w/freq: 15 min
2011-05-15 00:48:17.345 Finished recording Deadliest Catch "Breaking Point": channel 2037
2011-05-15 00:48:17.512 LoadFromScheduler(): Error, called from backend.
2011-05-15 00:48:17.524 AutoExpire: CalcParams(): Max required Free Space: 2.0 GB w/freq: 15 min
2011-05-15 00:48:17.555 recording already exists...
2011-05-15 00:48:17.670 Finished recording Deadliest Catch "Breaking Point": channel 2037
2011-05-15 00:48:17.768 NVR(/dev/video1): Unknown video codec. Please go into the TV Settings, Recording Profiles and setup the four 'Software Encoders' profiles. Assuming RTjpeg for now.
2011-05-15 00:48:17.828 NVR(/dev/video1) Error: Unknown audio codec
2011-05-15 00:48:26.786 Expiring 0 MB for 2037 at 2011-05-15T00:44:35 => "Deadliest Catch":"Breaking Point"
2011-05-15 00:48:26.825 Expiring 0 MB for 2037 at 2011-05-15T00:44:46 => "Deadliest Catch":"Breaking Point"
2011-05-15 00:48:26.860 Expiring 0 MB for 2037 at 2011-05-15T00:45:52 => "Deadliest Catch":"Breaking Point"
2011-05-15 00:48:26.894 Expiring 0 MB for 2037 at 2011-05-15T00:45:53 => "Deadliest Catch":"Breaking Point"
2011-05-15 00:48:26.936 Expiring 0 MB for 2037 at 2011-05-15T00:46:04 => "Deadliest Catch":"Breaking Point"
2011-05-15 00:48:26.970 Expiring 0 MB for 2037 at 2011-05-15T00:46:13 => "Deadliest Catch":"Breaking Point"
2011-05-15 00:48:27.003 Expiring 0 MB for 2037 at 2011-05-15T00:46:14 => "Deadliest Catch":"Breaking Point"
2011-05-15 00:48:27.045 Expiring 0 MB for 2037 at 2011-05-15T00:46:24 => "Deadliest Catch":"Breaking Point"
2011-05-15 00:48:28.088 TVRec(1): Changing from WatchingLiveTV to None
2011-05-15 00:48:28.200 MainServer::ANN Playback
2011-05-15 00:48:28.237 adding: lepagee-mediaserver as a client (events: 0)
2011-05-15 00:48:28.283 TVRec(1): Changing from None to WatchingLiveTV
2011-05-15 00:48:28.329 TVRec(1): HW Tuner: 1->1
2011-05-15 00:48:28.420 format_to_mode() does not recognize V4L1
2011-05-15 00:48:28.473 LoadFromScheduler(): Error, called from backend.
2011-05-15 00:48:28.481 AutoExpire: CalcParams(): Max required Free Space: 2.0 GB w/freq: 15 min
2011-05-15 00:48:28.642 TVRec(1): Changing from WatchingLiveTV to None

Reassigning this to upstream bug for 0.24

Please test the packages here. These are using upstreams 0.24 backported patch from master. Please post results here as well

https://launchpad.net/~mythbuntu-bugs/+archive/test4

As far as I can tell the test4 seems to work very well and fixes the problem for me.

After updating I now see the audio input options rather than the Error message stating that V4L is missing.

test4 works for me as well. My analog tuner shows up and appears to work. Had it freeze when changing channels in live tv, but I've always had problems with that, so I doubt this is something new caused by this fix.

Woohoo! It works for me too.

On Fri, 27 May 2011 06:01 +0000, "Thomas Mashos"
<email address hidden> wrote:
> Please test the packages here. These are using upstreams 0.24 backported
> patch from master. Please post results here as well
>
> https://launchpad.net/~mythbuntu-bugs/+archive/test4
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/717717
>
> Title:
> V4L support can't be enabled on 2.6.38+
>
> Status in MythTV:
> New
> Status in “mythtv” package in Ubuntu:
> Confirmed
>
> Bug description:
> Binary package hint: mythtv
>
> My capture card has been disabled since Myth isn't built with V4L. My
> previous version installed roughly two weeks ago had it.
>
> Perhaps libv4l-dev needs to be a build-dep?
>
> 2011-02-12 09:40:34.418 mythbackend: MythBackend started as master
> server
> 2011-02-12 09:40:34.626 TVRec(1) Error:
> V4L card configured on video device /dev/video0,
> but MythTV was not compiled with V4L support.
>
> Recompile MythTV with V4L support or remove the card
> from the configuration and restart MythTV.
>
> ProblemType: Bug
> DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
> Package: mythtv-backend 2:0.24.0+fixes.20110208.6318d52-0ubuntu1
> ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-1.28-generic 2.6.38-rc2
> Uname: Linux 2.6.38-1-generic x86_64
> NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
> Architecture: amd64
> Date: Sat Feb 12 09:59:08 2011
> Installed_mythtv_dbg: 2:0.24.0+fixes.20110208.6318d52-0ubuntu1
> ProcEnviron:
> SHELL=/bin/bash
> PATH=(custom, user)
> LC_MESSAGES=en_AG.utf8
> LANG=en_CA.UTF-8
> SourcePackage: mythtv
>
> To unsubscribe from this bug, go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/mythtv/+bug/717717/+subscribe
>

Setting this to fix committed. The patch has been applied upstream and this should come down in tonights builds