[linux-dvb] Freecom DVB-T USB Stick (25451-rev.3)

[Steve Brokenshire]

On Tuesday 09 January 2007 21:52, David Härdeman wrote:
> On Tue, Jan 09, 2007 at 07:32:12PM +0000, Steve Brokenshire wrote:
> >Hi,
> >
> >(Before I start... sorry if this a bit long but hopefully someone will
> > find something useful here)
> >
> >Software running (on PVR):
> >Debian 3.1
> >Linux kernel 2.6.19
>
> Do you have CONFIG_USB_BANDWIDTH enabled in your kernel?

I didn't have CONFIG_USB_BANDWIDTH enabled in my kernel. I've now enabled it, 
recompiled the kernel and the kernel modules not in the kernel source (ivtv, 
lirc) and the PVR is running that kernel.

When I start VDR with the two adapters, after about a minute or so, again the 
video freezes and the audio disappears. If I leave it alone or change 
channels and then leave it alone for around a few minutes the 'recv bulk 
message failed' messages appear again:

dvb-usb: recv bulk message failed: -110
dvb-usb: recv bulk message failed: -75
dvb-usb: recv bulk message failed: -75
dvb-usb: recv bulk message failed: -75
... (goes on for a while) ...
dvb-usb: recv bulk message failed: -110
dvb-usb: recv bulk message failed: -110
dvb-usb: recv bulk message failed: -110
... (goes on listing this until I kill/stop VDR) ... 

(Out of interest, are the -75 and -110 values recieved by dvb-usb sent by the 
firmware of the DVB-T stick?)

Sometimes the green light on the stick remains on after I've killed/stopped 
VDR (kdvb-fe-0 and kdvb-fe-1 remain running in the process list) so I have to 
pull out the DVB-T stick when I do this appears in dmesg (I guess there ain't 
much that can be done about this anyway): 

dvb-usb: recv bulk message failed: -110
dvb-usb: recv bulk message failed: -71
dvb-usb: bulk message failed: -71 (1/0)
dvb-usb: recv bulk message failed: -71
dvb-usb: bulk message failed: -71 (1/0)
dvb-usb: bulk message failed: -71 (1/0)
dvb-usb: bulk message failed: -71 (1/0)
dvb-usb: bulk message failed: -71 (1/0)
dvb-usb: bulk message failed: -71 (1/0)
usb 4-1: USB disconnect, address 11
dvb-usb: bulk message failed: -22 (1/-1047554048)
dvb-usb: bulk message failed: -22 (1/1681017)
dvb-usb: bulk message failed: -22 (1/1681106)
dvb-usb: bulk message failed: -22 (1/1681112)
dvb-usb: bulk message failed: -22 (1/1681118)
dvb-usb: bulk message failed: -22 (1/0)
dvb-usb: WideView WT-220U PenType Receiver (Typhoon/Freecom) successfully 
deinitialized and disconnected.
dvb-usb: bulk message failed: -22 (1/-164737024)
dvb-usb: WideView WT-220U PenType Receiver (Typhoon/Freecom) successfully 
deinitialized and disconnected.

When starting VDR with one adapter (the other adapter removed before VDR 
starts up), the video and audio plays fine and I can switch channels fine 
(like I used to with the old version of the DVB-T stick). Enabling 
CONFIG_USB_BANDWIDTH seems to have stopped the video freezing and the audio 
disappearing in a similar fashion like when I use two adapters together or 
when I didn't have CONFIG_USB_BANDWIDTH enabled.

Although, I have to be careful. If I leave it on the channel that I can't 
pickup on Multiplex B or Multiplex D (The new DVB-T stick seems to be less 
powerful than the old version), I can sometimes make the DVB-T stick unusable 
until I kill VDR, unplug and plug the DVB-T stick back in and start VDR again 
(giving similar messages in dmesg like the one at the top of this message).

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be making much difference when I use both 
adapters at the same time. I've done the same test using tzap and ts2ps, so 
when I do this again:

tzap -a0 -r -S "BBC ONE" > /dev/null &
ts2ps /dev/dvb/adapter0/dvr0 0 0 > /dev/video16 &

The video appears on the TV fine. But when I do:

tzap -a1 -r -S "ITV1" > /dev/null &

The video freezes and the audio disappears again. I then do this:

ts2ps /dev/dvb/adapter1/dvr0 0 0 > /pvr/test/ITV1-1.mpg

After around 30 seconds, I kill both ts2ps and tzap processes and piped 
the /pvr/test/ITV1-1.mpg file into /dev/video16.

cat /pvr/test/ITV1-1.mpg > /dev/video16

Nothing appears on the screen again, so I then passed the /pvr/test/ITV1-1.mpg 
file to my PC and when playing it back (on the PC) it gives me a garbled 
picture like last time (picture, parts of it out of place and parts of the 
video frames having MPEG artifacts on it).

I've tested both adapters on their own with CONFIG_USB_BANDWIDTH option 
enabled in the kernel with VDR by doing the following:

- Plug DVB-T stick in.
- Delete the /dev/dvb/adapter1 directory (only adapter0 will be used).
- Start VDR and it should only see /dev/dvb/adapter0 and use it.
- After a few minutes, stop VDR and unplug DVB-T stick.
- Plug DVB-T stick back in.
- Delete the /dev/dvb/adapter0 directory (only adapter1 will be used).
- Start VDR again and it should only see /dev/dvb/adapter1 and use it.

Both adapters are fine when they work on their own but when they are both used 
at the same time that's when the trouble starts.

(There's also a small annoyance which I've put up with the old version of the 
DVB-T stick and that's if I change to a channel that's on the same multiplex 
(BBC ONE to BBC TWO) on VDR it doesn't display the channel (the light on the 
DVB-T stick remains green) if I switch to a channel that's on another 
multiplex (BBC ONE to ITV1) it displays that channel (the light on the DVB-T 
stick goes orange then green again), is there any way of making VDR do the 
same thing when changing to a channel on the same multiplex like when it 
changes to a channel on a different multiplex?)

Anyway, the problem I've had with just using one adapter on it's own has been 
pretty much sorted, thanks David :). I guess the main problems now is if this 
device really is meant to have two adapters (it still sounds too good to be 
true for me) and what -110 and -75 mean (they look like they mean something 
generic).

>
> >...
> >
> >Anyone else having problems that I'm having? Any suggestions and ideas
> > (any other tests I should do?) are appreciated.

Thanks,
Steve