Pinnacle PCTV USB2

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An USB based analogue (PAL) TV tuner device from Pinnacle.

It is supported under Linux.

Overview/Features

Components Used

  • LG TAPE-S701D (tuner)
  • ? (audio decoder)
  • EmpiaTech EM2820 (video decoder & USB bridge)

Identification

output of lsusb -v

Vendor ID: 0x2304 Product ID: 0x0208

The version with vendor 13d3 and product 3211 does not seem to work.

Making it Work

Firmware

n/a

Drivers

Gentoo

The drivers built into the gentoo kernel linux-2.6.22-gentoo-r9 did not work, so a more recent set was required. You can download the latest v4l-dvb drivers from LinuxTV's V4L-DVB repo. Unpack, compile and install the drivers; more detailed instructions are listed on the website, but essentially the entail:

$ tar xzf v4l-dvb-816f256c2973.tar.gz
$ cd v4l-dvb-816f256c2973.tar.gz
$ make
# make install

After that, set the parameters for module loading: For example, on a gentoo system, you might want to add a file em28xx in /etc/modules.d and do an update-modules -f.

content of file em28xx:

alias char-major-81 videodev
alias char-major-81-0 tveeprom
alias char-major-81-1 em28xx
options em28xx card=3 tuner=38
options tuner pal=b secam=b

Note: if tuner type 38 doesn't work for you, try 56 instead.

Debian

In Debian etch, the drivers work ok, but you still need to configure the kernel module. Add a file em28xx in /etc/modprobe.d and do an update-modules.

content of file em28xx:

alias char-major-81 videodev
alias char-major-81-0 tveeprom
alias char-major-81-1 em28xx
options em28xx card=3 tuner=38
options tuner pal=b secam=b

Note: if tuner type 38 doesn't work for you, try 56 instead.

Note 2: In case the kernel module isn't configured, some channels are tuned... and others aren't. To properly tune all the channels, you need to setup the em28xx file.

Note 3: if the module configuration doesn't work with update-modules, try restarting the system.

Note 4: On Ubuntu (at least) the file MUST be called em28xx.conf to be processed


Sample kernel output

If you have problems, have a look at the kernel messages (dmesg) when you plug in the device and see if the drivers are loaded without any errors. Maybe you have another tuner built-in your PCTV USB2 device. So experiment with other settings for tuner or let the driver decide, what tuner to use by not specifying the tuner type in modprobe.conf. Good luck!

User examples

Mplayer

Here's a small handy script that allows one to watch tv with the device, using Mplayer:

#!/bin/sh -x
gnome-screensaver-command --exit
sox -t ossdsp -r 48000 -q -b -c 2 /dev/dsp2 -t ossdsp /dev/dsp &
pid_sox=$!
mplayer tv://
kill $pid_sox

Of course, you will need to setup the channels in your .mplayer/config file; e.g.:

:
vo=xv
tv=input=0:driver=v4l2:device=/dev/video0:channels=32-SF1,SE11-SF2...
:

Tvtime

You can also use Tvtime, which is easier to setup than Mplayer. Automatically tune the tv channels using tvtime-scanner. To watch, use the script described above, but with Tvtime

#!/bin/sh -x
gnome-screensaver-command --exit
sox -t ossdsp -r 48000 -q -b -c 2 /dev/dsp2 -t ossdsp /dev/dsp &
pid_sox=$!
tvtime
kill $pid_sox

Recording with Mencoder

To record your favorite TV show, use mencoder

mencoder -v tv:// -tv driver=v4l2:device=/dev/video0:forceaudio:adevice=/dev/dsp2:norm=pal 
-ovc lavc -oac mp3lame -vf lavcdeint -o my_favorite_show.avi

You have to previously tune the TV channel with tvtime, or specify the frequency with "freq" option (e.g. ...adevice=/dev/dsp2:norm=pal:freq=188.500 for a station at 188.5 Mhz) . There are many options that you can use with mencoder, see man page for details.

Remote Control Support

See the talk page ?

External Links

  • [ Pinnacle product page]