Who remembers Betamax ?

Linux Support
1

Hi Guys

I never seem to be off this forum seeking help, but here I am seeking help again

recently I’ve been trying to digitize some old video footage from old video tapes, after a lot of hair pulling and and online help I managed to digitize some old VHS footage using a USB Easycap device, but my next problem is I have some stuff I want digitized from old Betamax tapes (You remember that) the trouble is I cant use the Easycap device this time because the Betamax machine only has RF Out but I have an old Hauppauge PSI video capture card (BT848KPF) which I’ve installed in my PC and I’ve connected the Betamax Video player to it via an Ariel lead, however as you probably guessed it aint working, Ive tried it in VLC and Cheese and another program I downloaded from synaptic called Zapping TV Viewer but none of them are picking up anything.
my immediate problem is I’m not sure if the driver is installed, Cheese appears to recognise the device but it’ lists it as “BT848A video ( *** UNKNOWN/GENE (/dev/video0)” which is a bit innocuous,

I found a site that suggested that Linux does supposrt this card but I can’t find it again

Anyway what I’m trying to do may well not be possible and I’m just wasting my time but if anyone knows anything about this and can offer any suggestions It would be greatly appreciated

Many thanks

Graeme

2

can you send the output from:

lsmod

and then run:

dmesg > ~/dmesg.txt

you’ll then find a file called dmesg.txt in your home folder … attach that to your next post.
also run:

lspci -vnn > ~/lspci.txt

you’ll then find a file called lspci.txt in your home folder … attach that to your next post.

3

Thank you Mark

graeme@Linux1 ~ $ lsmod
Module Size Used by
des_generic 21191 0
md4 12523 0
snd_hrtimer 12648 1
gpio_ich 13159 0
arc4 12473 2
snd_hda_codec_realtek 63356 1
coretemp 13168 0
bttv 112147 0
videobuf_dma_sg 18714 1 bttv
videobuf_core 25097 2 bttv,videobuf_dma_sg
btcx_risc 13400 1 bttv
rc_core 21266 1 bttv
tveeprom 17009 1 bttv
v4l2_common 15767 1 bttv
videodev 95841 2 bttv,v4l2_common
microcode 18209 0
ath9k 116549 0
mac80211 461161 1 ath9k
ath9k_common 13783 1 ath9k
ath9k_hw 376155 2 ath9k,ath9k_common
ath 19187 3 ath9k,ath9k_common,ath9k_hw
cfg80211 175375 3 ath9k,mac80211,ath
serio_raw 13031 0
bnep 17707 2
rfcomm 37276 12
parport_pc 31968 0
lpc_ich 16925 0
ppdev 12817 0
btusb 17950 0
bluetooth 183228 22 bnep,rfcomm,btusb
joydev 17161 0
nls_utf8 12493 6
cifs 279812 8
fscache 50234 1 cifs
snd_hda_intel 32515 3
snd_hda_codec 111547 2 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep 13272 1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm 80163 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
snd_seq_midi 13132 0
snd_rawmidi 25382 1 snd_seq_midi
i915 457161 3
snd_seq_midi_event 14475 1 snd_seq_midi
mac_hid 13037 0
snd_seq 51255 3 snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
drm_kms_helper 45271 1 i915
drm 230463 4 i915,drm_kms_helper
i2c_algo_bit 13197 2 bttv,i915
snd_timer 24411 3 snd_hrtimer,snd_pcm,snd_seq
video 18847 1 i915
snd_seq_device 14137 3 snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
snd 61991 16 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
soundcore 14599 1 snd
snd_page_alloc 14036 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
lp 13299 0
parport 40753 3 parport_pc,ppdev,lp
hid_generic 12445 0
usbhid 41702 0
hid 82142 2 hid_generic,usbhid
uas 17556 0
usb_storage 39350 0
r8169 55976 0
graeme@Linux1 ~ $

4

Hope this works

5

Here’s the other one

6

From your lspci.txt:

02:02.0 Multimedia video controller [0400]: Brooktree Corporation Bt848 Video Capture [109e:0350] (rev 12) Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 19 Memory at fdfff000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=4K] Kernel driver in use: bttv Kernel modules: bttv

Just to narrow down the logs could you run in Terminal:

dmesg | grep bttv
lsmod | grep bttv
7

graeme@Linux1 ~ $ dmesg | grep bttv
[ 14.907310] bttv: driver version 0.9.19 loaded
[ 14.907316] bttv: using 8 buffers with 2080k (520 pages) each for capture
[ 16.282532] bttv: Bt8xx card found (0)
[ 16.282557] bttv: 0: Bt848 (rev 18) at 0000:02:02.0, irq: 19, latency: 64, mmio: 0xfdfff000
[ 16.283483] bttv: 0: using: *** UNKNOWN/GENERIC *** [card=0,autodetected]
[ 16.283926] bttv: 0: tuner type unset
[ 16.284201] bttv: 0: registered device video0
[ 16.284360] bttv: 0: registered device vbi0
graeme@Linux1 ~ $ lsmod | grep bttv
bttv 112147 0
videobuf_dma_sg 18714 1 bttv
videobuf_core 25097 2 bttv,videobuf_dma_sg
btcx_risc 13400 1 bttv
rc_core 21266 1 bttv
tveeprom 17009 1 bttv
v4l2_common 15767 1 bttv
videodev 95841 2 bttv,v4l2_common
i2c_algo_bit 13197 2 bttv,i915
graeme@Linux1 ~ $

8

Is this a capture only card or a TV/Capture card ?

What happens if you unload the bttv driver:

sudo modprobe -r bttv

then reload it with the card=2 option:

sudo modprobe bttv card=2

as described for the Hauppauge (bt848) card here:
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Bttv

Other links for my future reference:
http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/html_single/BTTV/
and
http://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/Bttv_devices_(bt848,_bt878)#Driver

When you say “Hauppauge PSI video capture card (BT848KPF)” … should PSI read PCI ? … or is it some kind of model number ?

9
s this a capture only card or a TV/Capture card ?

I think it’s a tv capture but I’m not 100% sure

There was something with the code you posted , here’s the output

graeme@Linux1 ~ $ sudo modprobe -r bttv
[sudo] password for graeme:
WARNING: All config files need .conf: /etc/modprobe.d/bttv, it will be ignored in a future release.
graeme@Linux1 ~ $ then sudo modprobe -r bttv card=2
bash: syntax error near unexpected token `then’
graeme@Linux1 ~ $

10

I think that should have been:

sudo modprobe bttv card=2
11

I’m not sure if this signifies a problem


graeme@Linux1 ~ $ sudo modprobe -r bttv
[sudo] password for graeme: 
WARNING: All config files need .conf: /etc/modprobe.d/bttv, it will be ignored in a future release.
graeme@Linux1 ~ $ sudo modprobe bttv card=2
WARNING: All config files need .conf: /etc/modprobe.d/bttv, it will be ignored in a future release.
graeme@Linux1 ~ $

I tried it in tvtime and before I was getting a line of interference at the top of the screen now I i just get a blue screen with “NO Signal” I’m not sure if that tells you anything

12
I tried it in tvtime and before I was getting a line of interference at the top of the screen now I i just get a blue screen with "NO Signal" I'm not sure if that tells you anything

Once you get a blue screen, you know the driver is working. Just need confguring.
Please post the output from dmesg again:

dmesg | grep bttv

If you already not have xawtv then please install it then run in Terminal:

xawtv

Then:

xawtv -hwscan
13

nah, that warning doesn’t mean anything.

If it’s capture only which you didn’t answer BTW … were you feeding it a signal ?

[EDIT]

Oh, and sorry SeZo was right, somehow I made a mess of the second command in my last posting … I’ve corrected it now :-[

14

graeme@Linux1 ~ $ dmesg | grep bttv
[ 14.907310] bttv: driver version 0.9.19 loaded
[ 14.907316] bttv: using 8 buffers with 2080k (520 pages) each for capture
[ 16.282532] bttv: Bt8xx card found (0)
[ 16.282557] bttv: 0: Bt848 (rev 18) at 0000:02:02.0, irq: 19, latency: 64, mmio: 0xfdfff000
[ 16.283483] bttv: 0: using: *** UNKNOWN/GENERIC *** [card=0,autodetected]
[ 16.283926] bttv: 0: tuner type unset
[ 16.284201] bttv: 0: registered device video0
[ 16.284360] bttv: 0: registered device vbi0
[ 3885.136167] bttv: 0: unloading
[ 4609.884789] bttv: driver version 0.9.19 loaded
[ 4609.884796] bttv: using 8 buffers with 2080k (520 pages) each for capture
[ 4609.884858] bttv: Bt8xx card found (0)
[ 4609.884875] bttv: 0: Bt848 (rev 18) at 0000:02:02.0, irq: 19, latency: 64, mmio: 0xfdfff000
[ 4609.884895] bttv: 0: using: Hauppauge (bt848) [card=2,insmod option]
[ 4609.887407] bttv: 0: Hauppauge/Voodoo msp34xx: reset line init [5]
[ 4609.919640] bttv: 0: Hauppauge eeprom indicates model#60114
[ 4609.919643] bttv: 0: tuner type=0
[ 4610.008239] bttv: 0: registered device video0
[ 4610.008317] bttv: 0: registered device vbi0
[ 5439.404507] bttv: 0: SCERR @ 2eaa5000,bits: HSYNC OFLOW FBUS SCERR*
[ 5439.404527] bttv: 0: SCERR @ 2eaa5000,bits: HSYNC OFLOW FBUS SCERR*
[ 5442.448780] bttv: 0: SCERR @ 2eaa5000,bits: HSYNC OFLOW FBUS SCERR*
[ 5442.448799] bttv: 0: SCERR @ 2eaa5000,bits: HSYNC OFLOW FBUS SCERR*
[ 5476.172858] bttv: 0: SCERR @ 2eaa5000,bits: HSYNC OFLOW FBUS SCERR*
[ 5476.172877] bttv: 0: SCERR @ 2eaa5000,bits: HSYNC OFLOW FBUS SCERR*
[ 5481.357855] bttv: 0: SCERR @ 2eaa5014,bits: HSYNC OFLOW FBUS SCERR*
[ 5481.357874] bttv: 0: SCERR @ 2eaa5014,bits: VSYNC* HSYNC OFLOW FBUS SCERR*
[ 5508.032493] bttv: 0: SCERR @ 2eaa5014,bits: HSYNC OFLOW FBUS SCERR*
[ 5508.032511] bttv: 0: SCERR @ 2eaa5000,bits: HSYNC OFLOW FBUS SCERR*
[ 5564.584014] bttv: 0: timeout: drop=1411 irq=34292/40425, risc=2e858024, bits: HSYNC OFLOW FDSR
[ 5565.124012] bttv: 0: timeout: drop=1424 irq=34337/40470, risc=2e859024, bits: HSYNC OFLOW FDSR
[ 5613.712012] bttv: 0: timeout: drop=1529 irq=38618/44854, risc=2e9c5024, bits: HSYNC OFLOW FDSR
[ 5614.284016] bttv: 0: timeout: drop=1542 irq=38665/44901, risc=2e9c6024, bits: HSYNC OFLOW FDSR
[ 5615.144012] bttv: 0: timeout: drop=1559 irq=38734/44972, risc=2e858024, bits: HSYNC OFLOW FDSR
[ 5616.144014] bttv: 0: timeout: drop=1569 irq=38824/45062, risc=2e902024, bits: HSYNC OFLOW
[ 5621.388013] bttv: 0: timeout: drop=1594 irq=39276/45532, risc=2ebad024, bits: HSYNC OFLOW FDSR
[ 5628.072013] bttv: 0: timeout: drop=1625 irq=39850/46128, risc=2ebad024, bits: HSYNC OFLOW FDSR
[ 5628.908013] bttv: 0: timeout: drop=1645 irq=39920/46221, risc=2e9c5024, bits: HSYNC OFLOW FDSR
[ 5629.452011] bttv: 0: timeout: drop=1658 irq=39965/46266, risc=2e9c6024, bits: HSYNC OFLOW FDSR
[ 5630.008017] bttv: 0: timeout: drop=1671 irq=40011/46312, risc=2e9c6024, bits: HSYNC OFLOW FDSR
[ 5630.568017] bttv: 0: timeout: drop=1684 irq=40057/46358, risc=2e9c6024, bits: HSYNC OFLOW FDSR
[ 5631.128015] bttv: 0: timeout: drop=1697 irq=40103/46406, risc=2e9c6024, bits: HSYNC OFLOW FDSR
[ 5631.688015] bttv: 0: timeout: drop=1710 irq=40149/46452, risc=2e9c6024, bits: HSYNC OFLOW FDSR
[ 5632.248016] bttv: 0: timeout: drop=1723 irq=40195/46498, risc=2e9c6024, bits: HSYNC OFLOW FDSR
[ 5632.808014] bttv: 0: timeout: drop=1736 irq=40241/46544, risc=2e9c6024, bits: HSYNC OFLOW FDSR
[ 5633.364014] bttv: 0: timeout: drop=1749 irq=40287/46592, risc=2e9c6024, bits: HSYNC OFLOW FDSR
[ 5633.924015] bttv: 0: timeout: drop=1762 irq=40333/46643, risc=2e9c6024, bits: HSYNC OFLOW FDSR
[ 5634.484016] bttv: 0: timeout: drop=1775 irq=40379/46689, risc=2e9c6024, bits: HSYNC OFLOW FDSR
[ 5635.044014] bttv: 0: timeout: drop=1787 irq=40424/46736, risc=2e9c6024, bits: HSYNC OFLOW FDSR
[ 5635.724012] bttv: 0: timeout: drop=1803 irq=40481/46793, risc=2e888024, bits: HSYNC OFLOW FDSR
[ 5636.268013] bttv: 0: timeout: drop=1816 irq=40526/46838, risc=2e889024, bits: HSYNC OFLOW FDSR
graeme@Linux1 ~ $

15

graeme@Linux1 ~ $ xawtv -hwscan
This is xawtv-3.102, running on Linux/i686 (3.5.0-17-generic)
looking for available devices
port 95-110
type : Xvideo, image scaler
name : Intel(R) Textured Video

port 111-111
type : Xvideo, image scaler
name : Intel(R) Video Overlay

/dev/video0: OK [ -device /dev/video0 ]
type : libv4l
name : BT848A video (Hauppauge (bt848)
flags: overlay capture tuner

graeme@Linux1 ~ $

16
If it's capture only which you didn't answer BTW .. were you feeding it a signal ?

I did answer Mark I said i wasn’t 100% sure and I wasn’t feeding it a signal at the time

Thanks

Graeme

17

[EDIT]

IGNORE THIS POSTING … I hadn’t seen your output to Sezo’s questions

[END EDIT]

dmesg seems to suggest there’s no tuner, so I’m guessing it’s a capture only card without a TV tuner.

Erm, you WILL only get a blue screen unless you’re feeding it a signal.

18

Try to run:

xawtv -device /dev/video0
19

He’s not likely to get a TV signal, as it will be an analoge TV card (analogue TV broadcasting was stopped in the UK a while ago), and I doubt if he has an ariel attached.

I’d attach the betamax, hit play, then see what cheese does.

Not that I have the first clue what xawtv does :wink:

20

graeme@Linux1 ~ $ xawtv -device /dev/video0
This is xawtv-3.102, running on Linux/i686 (3.5.0-17-generic)
xinerama 0: 1600x900+0+0
WARNING: No DGA direct video mode for this display.
WARNING: keeping fbuf pitch at: 6400, as no base addr was detected
WARNING: couldn’t find framebuffer base address, try manual
configuration (“v4l-conf -a ”)
v4l2: WARNING: framebuffer base address mismatch
v4l2: me=(nil) v4l=(nil)
Alsa devices: cap: (null) (/dev/video0), out: default

Erm, you WILL only get a blue screen unless you're feeding it a signal.

Youre right I’m sorry I was on crossed lines

Anyway I set the recorder to rest signal and I got the black and white lines I then switched over and I had video but it’s still not working in Cheese but we’re getting there :slight_smile: