Hiro Protagonist wrote:
> Edward Kelly wrote:
>
> >
The websites aren't 'un-named' although I had no reason to record them at the time and it would take considerable time that I cannot spare right now to find them.
>
> If you're not prepared to name the websites or the specific problem you had, why on earth even bring them up - what do you expect me to do about it?
>
It is not that I am not prepared to name the websites. I visited them days ago, a LOT of water has gone under the bridge since then and and I had no reason to record the URLs at the time. Do you faithfully record the URL of every website you visit ? That said, I believe they were 'official tvheadend' sites (ie tvheadend.org' URLs) Furthermore I don not expect you to do anything about sites I have no way now to identify, my comment was merely included by way of explanation as to why I was forced to resort to a non-official download._
>
> > > If you don't have a module that you need, then the onus is on you to install it.
> >
> >
Ahhhhh, but how pray tell can I tell whether or not I NEED a certain module ? I 'guessed' I needed v4l (no explicit information available one way or the other). Everything I've read says that reasonably current linuxes have v4l included, but modprobe v4l says otherwise. Is v4l needed and if so, why isn't this stated clearly ? On the other hand, wscan finds the PlayTV tuner immediately and tvheadend finds a dual DibCom 700 tuner (ie the PlayTV). Dmesg doesn't throw up any errors. Given all this, it seems reasonable to assume v4l isn't required and I don't have any driver problems.
>
> You probably don't need it then, I don't know what it is or why you thought you might need it.
I did a fair bit of research myself and some of the sources suggested that v4l might be necessary. That got me on the track of modules and the suggestion that all recent kernel versions had v4l by default. When 'modprobe v4l' failed, I went looking futher (wscan) etc however I'm still in the dark regarding exactly what is essential for Sony PlayTV. Various posts provide conflicting information, some saying PlayTV works out of the box, others talking about different firmware (which as far as I'm aware does not exist), and that confusion is exacerbated by lack of details in documentation and the 'apparent correct' discovery of the device by tvheadend (twin DiBcom 700 tuners). Even though tvheadend seems to have correctly discovered the PlayTV tuner, and there are no dmesg errors (implying driver / firmware are OK, ther eis most definitely no 'scan' button. With these issues in mind, it shouldn't be difficult to see why I am in trouble.._
>
> > > Under Configuration/Networks/ if you select the network you have configured, there is a 'Force Scan' button.
> >
> >
> > By 'network' I assume you mean DVB-T and IPTV ? Both of them are present but I can assure you there is no sign of 'Force Scan'. This is one of the assumptions in documentation that isn't reflected in the stuff I have in front of me. Are you certain the 'Force Scan' button is meant to be out in the open or is it hidden away somewhere illogical ? I've torn hair out searching high and low for anything that could possibly be construed as any kind of 'scan' function but there isn't anything like that. Is there a command line version that might work where tvheadend forgets to provide a button ?
>
> >> However, you say that tvheadend knows about the tuner. I assume you have assigned a network in Configuration/TV Adapters for the tuner in question?
>
> >
I have both DVB-T and IPTV selected. Nothing else is relevant in my location
>
> So you *haven't* assigned a network.
>
> The assumption here is all yours: " By 'network' I assume you mean DVB-T and IPTV" - this is not correct.
> Under Configuration/TV adapters if you select a specific adapter device you'll see one of the basic settings is "Networks" - you need to put something in here to name the network(s) you'll be working with. Here we have just one DVB-T network [Freeview], so I've used that name in my setup, but I could have called it "Fubar" and it would still work. If you have assigned a network and checked "Enabled" on the adapter, you should then see your assigned network(s) when you select Configuration/Networks/ if you then click on a network you will be able to click the 'Force Scan' button, which is not hidden or somewhere illogical or forgotten. If you don't see this, and you still want help, you'll need to tell us what you *do* see.
As I understand it, the matter of networks is merely a matter of semantics. I did select DVB-T and called it exactly that (which judging from your 'fubar' comment has no bearing on the issue at hand), and same with IPTV which I now understand needs a lot more fiddling with. I'll put that aside for the present as Kodi has ann infinitely more intuitive way of e=dealing with IPTV. I'm away from home on advocacy business for a few days but I'm positive that there is no 'Force Scan' button anywhere. Maybe I need to post a screenshot to demonstrate the total absence of anything approximating a 'Force Scan' button. I figure there is more going on however as I'm far from confident that there are no driver issues, notwithstanding the lack of dmesg errors. I would like to be totally certain of the basics before haring off on tangents which cannot go anywhere if the driver is borked somehow. What additional tests can be run to verify that tvheadend can indeed communicate properly with the Sony=TV / DiBcom 700 ?.
>_
> From your other posts:
>
> > The term 'mux' is martian .... if it simply means a URL
>
> A 'mux' is standard digital TV terminology for 'multiplexer', it is not a URL. The poster was asking you for info [the URL you were trying to configure], added the specific steps needed to perform the configuration, and instead of supply the requested info, you start ranting about not understanding a term. I'm sure you can do better than this if you try.
I know less than two fifths of stuff-all about digital tv terminology and need to start from the absolute basics. I think it reasonable to expect documentation should cover key terms, especially if it is as critically important as 'mux' seems to be. I can hardly supply information if I haven't a clue what the terms mean. Where do you suggest I locate a dictionary or whatever which explains in detail the key points not covered in documentation ?
>
> > Given that I don't want any more bugs than is absolutely necessary, a compile from source is not indicated. No doubt I'd be asked a squillion questions that I wouldn't have a clue about answering.
>
> Another invalid assumption. If your box is set up for compiling it's as simple as unpacking the archive and:
> [...]
>
I've compiled a s***load of applications in the past, but in every case I had at least a working knowledge of what lay behind the questions / options presented. I am extremely wary of compiling something when I know full well that I am completely clueless about the software, as is clearly the case with tvheadend. Just maybe if the documentation is extremely pedantic I would have a go, but in this situation it seems to me to be looking for trouble. I'll go as far as trying a FreeBSD port as I'm more at home with FreeBSD than with ubuntu however I am still somewhat hesitant regarding the combination of FreeBSD and multimedia, issues that have not always been completely compatible.
> > That said, I can honestly say that I have never once encountered that key nonsense.
>
> Installing a key is normal whenever you use a non-standard [i.e. outside the distribution] repository.
Fair enough, although I've certainly never encountered a key in the past. It may be relatively common in linux land but none of the unix geeks I know admit to having heard about a key for any unix application. I've long lost count of the number of non-standard applications I've installed and none has ever involved a key.
>
> So, my suggestion is to configure your adapter, as it seems you've yet to do that, and take it from there. And if you need more help, ranting about stuff you don't understand and/or we can't fix for you is not likely to make someone give up their time to help out.
That brings me back to where I started. It appears there needs to be more certainty (possibly via additional testing) to verify that the Sony PlayTV is really working with ubuntu / tvheadend as it is supposed to be. Seems to me that the conflicting information from modprobe, wscan, tvheadend and posts regarding firmware / unofficial tvheadend need to be rationalized. I believe its necessary to start from the very beginning and exclude issues one at a time in a systematic manner before messing around with higher level events that mean nothing if there are elementary problems preventing the thing from working. 'Configure the adaptor' hasn't been accomplished as far as I can tell, at least if the missing 'Force Scan' is any indication. What kind of fault finding is available to check exhaustively whether or not the adaptor is really working with tvheadend, all previous test results notwithstanding ? Surely there has to be a logical reason for the lack of the 'Force Scan' button ?_