SAA7130 analog card doesnt work with MP (1 Viewer)

[polyfusion]

I'm very interested in this thread, as I've only recently begun using MP, and am trying to get an old similar (SAA713x, Mercury brand) analog TV/FM PCI card working with MP (purely for the FM function, as I have a USB DVB-T dongle working great already for the TV).

I have gotten the card recognised by MP in the TV server config, but when I try to scan (both TV and FM), I get a message saying that it can't build the graph/card unsupported. I'm using RC5 - would moving to RC6 likely improve things?

I too would be interested in what to look for in the logs to determine whether the card is software or hardware encoding.

The card is working for both TV and FM in it's supplied application, and I've even managed to get FM stations to run through the plugins of MP via Winamp (thanks to the document "My FM Radio" by Markus). But it would be great to have everything working seamlessly in MP.

 

[Spragleknas]

I'm quite sure RC5->RC6 would do any good, as there was only very few changes (that still req. a RC release, though), and none relevant to your problem (if mem. serves me right Check Mantis yourself):

 

[misterd]

Sorry for knowing so little about MediaPortal, but more specifically where can I find the settings you refer to? In TV server configuration somewhere or in MediaPortal configuration?

Those settings are in the TvServer configuration, where you scan for channels. Just have a look at the wiki: TV-Server/Configuration/TVServers/ScanAnalog - MediaPortal Manual Documentation

According to the log your card has a hardware encoder

From memory, I was quite certain that the 7130 was a software encoding card. After searching a bit, I am even more convinced that this is the fact, but I could not find a very decisive proof - best I found: ZOGIS

I thought that as well, but TvServer finds an MPEG stream directly on the capture filter. Only reason could be that the filter from the tv card reports something wrong.

I'm very interested in this thread, as I've only recently begun using MP, and am trying to get an old similar (SAA713x, Mercury brand) analog TV/FM PCI card working with MP (purely for the FM function, as I have a USB DVB-T dongle working great already for the TV).

I have gotten the card recognised by MP in the TV server config, but when I try to scan (both TV and FM), I get a message saying that it can't build the graph/card unsupported. I'm using RC5 - would moving to RC6 likely improve things?

I too would be interested in what to look for in the logs to determine whether the card is software or hardware encoding.

The card is working for both TV and FM in it's supplied application, and I've even managed to get FM stations to run through the plugins of MP via Winamp (thanks to the document "My FM Radio" by Markus). But it would be great to have everything working seamlessly in MP.

There is no difference in the card building algorithm between RC5 and RC6, so moving to RC6 will not make any difference.

You can determin in the tv.log if TvServer uses a software encoder or not. There are significant (at least for devs) log messages that show up in that case. But adding the encoder is the last part of the graph building algorithm. As you have a graph building error, I assume that the problem is happening earlier.

MisterD

 

[bendtsen]

I just wanted to give everyone following this thread a short status update:

So far, I'm unable to view any of the channels found during the analog channel scan (that started working when upgrading from 1.0.2 to 1.1.0 RC6).

The error message is no audio/video found. As I have understood it, this means that there is a stream of data, but MediaPortal is unable to detect audio and video frames in this stream.

I am surprised to read in previous posts that this might be a card that supports MPEG2-encoding in hardware. I am pretty sure this is not the case. I've read the datasheet on the chipset Philips 7130 and it clearly states that the chip itself is not capable of this, but that it is possible to extend the system (i.e. the card it sits on) with MPEG2-encoding components:

"provides a versatile peripheral interface to support system extensions, e.g. MPEG encoding for time shift viewing, or DSP applications for audio enhancements"

The documentation and online specs for the card is to weak to tell if its capable of hardware encoding, but likely that would be stated if it was the case. Note: All links are from the Swedish re-seller, not the manufacturer Konig Computer. The re-seller sells two variants, one from Konig Computer which I am using and one from ST Lab.

Bundled documentation:
http://www.kjell.com/filarkiv/SUPPORTPDF/91-100/98/98070/98070_manual.pdf

Driver and bundled software:
http://www.kjell.com/filarkiv/TV-kort/98070/CMP-TVTUNER30_XP.ZIP

Anyone else in here with suggestions on how to proceed on this? Should I throw the card and my 349 Swedish krona away?

Being a software engineer and geek it would hurt to give up so easily.

 

[bendtsen]

Here are the latest logs.

When MediaPortal finds the stream but is unable to find audio and video, could that mean that the software needed (presumably this is a software based encoding card), hasn't processed the data yet so it is understood by MediaPortal?

Does audio and video in this context mean MPEG-2 data? If so, I believe I need to get the software encoders working (included in an old WinDVD release I have on the system).

Can I manually tell MP to use these software encoders for this specific card?

Thanks.

- Mikael

 

[misterd]

The TvServer checks for an MPEG-2 program stream pin on the capture filter and if that is the case, TvServer assumes that the card includes a hardware encoder.
This is the line that indicates when TvServer find a MPEG-2 stream

analog: FindCapturePin succeeded.

According to the information that you provided, I'm quite that your drivers are the root of all evil as it reports wrong information.

"No audio/video found" means for analog cards, that our filter doesn't got enough combined audio/video material to start the transformation into a MPEG-2 transport stream. For digital cards it really means that TvServer has found video and/or audio data.

Unfortunately there is no way to tell TvServer at the moment to use a specific software encoder or hardware encoder filter. Of course you could modify the source code in order to handle that.
You could just comment out line 282-344 in Encoder.cs. That way TvServer won't try to use Hardware encoders.

Perhaps if you provide information about the provided media types of all pin on the capture filter and a picture of the graph, we might be able to modify the code in general so that it can handle it automatically. But I must admit that currently I doubt that it will work.

MisterD

 

[bendtsen]

Thanks for the additional information.

Can you elaborate a little bit more on:

"Perhaps if you provide information about the provided media types of all pin on the capture filter and a picture of the graph"

I am not sure of what you mean by media types and pins in this context due to my limited knowledge of Media Portal.

If I make my own build with hardware encoding disabled (as per your proposal), would that force the use of software encoders despite the presumably defect device driver software?

Also, I'd like to point out that this card actually has two "devices" in Windows Device Manager:

SAA7130 TV Tuner
SAA7130 TV Capture

Could that be part of the problem? Maybe it's worth a try contacting Philips Semiconductors responsible for the device driver?

Thanks.

- Mikael

 

[misterd]

I doubt that the multiple hardware deivces in the device manager are the reason for your problems. I know other cards that have even more devices there.

If you install GraphEdit or GraphStudio on your system than you can open the stored .grf-File (located in directory above the logs) and you will see which filters TvServer connects and how. This is called the graph. Each of those filters have so called pins (=connection points) Each of those pins have some media formats which they provide. I'm interested in the media types of the output pins on the "* capture" filter in your graph. One of those pins indicates TvServer that it has MPEG-2 Stream (=hardware encoder available)

I'm not 100% sure if commenting out the mentioned line disables completly hardware encoding as I haven't tested it, but that is the part where TvServer tries to find the hardware encoders.

MisterD

 

[bendtsen]

Thanks for the helpful replies, as always. I am learning a lot about MediaPortal thanks to you.

Good clarification about the multiple devices. I guess we can rule that out.

I will look into the graph to understand more. When you say connection point/pin, is that a vertice of the graph? Graph in my world being a data structure with vertices and nodes. I guess I will understand when I look at it.

I already browsed the code and downloaded the latest sources from SVN. There seems to be a few special cases already (for Nvidia and other cards), so I will experiement with a correction for 7130-based analog cards with the presumably defect driver.

Best regards,

- Mikael

 

[bendtsen]

Attached is the graph for the analog card. I'm not completely sure how to interpret, so I would appreciate if you can take a look.

Best regards,

- Mikael