Watch TV on Ubuntu with PCI TV Card (tvtime no sound)

Question

I have bought a Pinnacle PCI TV card:

I also installed Tvtime. I am able to see the multiple channels but there is no sound. After some googling I found this is a standard issue with Tvtime.

So far I tried the following (none worked):

• running from terminal: tvtime --mixer=hw:0/Line
• sudo tvtime option --device /dev/video0 | arecord -D hw:1,0 -r 32000 -c 2 -f S16_LE | aplay -

How to make sound to work? You'll get a really cold beer for it :)

Solution 1

Try the trick mentioned in tvtime FAQ#11, that is load (and use) btaudio module and set up sox or similar to pass audio from it to your output device. Assuming /dev/dsp for output and /dev/dsp2 for DVB input:

sox -r 32000 -w -t ossdsp /dev/dsp2 -t ossdsp /dev/dsp

as per their example. Change devices to suit, or if using alsa or pulseaudio.

Solution 2

did you try to install XBMC and activate some plugins.... one my friend is solve his problem with

Solution 3

I also encountered the no-sound problem with Pinnacle PCTV (Pro) / TVtime. There is a fairly simple solution not involving tedious scripting:

• Connect the audio out of the PVTV card to the audio in of the soundcard on the motherboard. NB: Pinnacle PCTV / PCTV Pro does have a physical audio out connector. There should be a connector cable around 25 cm long 3.5 mm jacks stereo male male delivered with the card. If missing, use another regular cable with 3.5 mm jacks stereo male male.
• I am using Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin on a mobo with build-in soundcard. Default the line-in connection is disabled, it don't appear in System Settings, Sound. You can enable line-in by installing ALSA Mixer of something like that. You don't have to use it, after installing you can even remove it. Line-in should now appear in the input section of System Settings, Sound.
• You will have to adjust some volume settings, but it works.

Regards, The Netherlands, Karel de Win

Comments

[taneli]

Have you tried any other software like kaffeine, vlc, vdr, or even xawtv?

[c0dehunter]

Is it possible to configure the channels without tedious scripting with any of your suggested programs? Or at least having a well written tutorial somewhere. I ussualy spend all my day trying to figure it out and in the end of the day it's still not working. Getting somewhat tired of that.

[taneli]

Ah, too bad. Does your TV card have 3.5mm stereo out? Could you try if that works? Would that be an acceptable solution?

[c0dehunter]

I though of that too :) But there is no stereo out from my card. Audio is supposed to be transferred directly to motherboard via PCI.

[taneli]

Have you tried the trick mentioned in tvtime FAQ #11: tvtime.sourceforge.net/help.html#audioconnect ? It may be specific to bt878, so if your card has a different chipset, please tell which one (module name / lspci).

[c0dehunter]

That could be it! I can check it on monday as currently I am not at home. Taneli, please post a dummy answer so I can reward you with a bounty since you already helped out much. You can then edit that answer later on if/when the final solution will be known.

[taneli]

Did that, but please check also @profiler1982 suggestion of XBMC, which in my experience is very user friendly (but never tried it with DVB).