Fo’ Shizzle

I have a Hauppauge PVR-500 with dual Samsung TCPN-2121P30A tuners. This card has given me fits ever since I bought it, but when it works it’s great.

The latest problem with it isn’t new, but I decided to write a note about it so that I don’t have to go off into the wilds of Google again the next time there’s a kernel update.

Details:

kernel 2.6.20-16-generic (ubuntu feisty)

patch:

--- drivers/media/video/tuner-types.c.old       2007-09-28 10:55:16.000000000 -0400
+++ drivers/media/video/tuner-types.c   2007-09-28 10:48:44.000000000 -0400
@@ -1027,9 +1027,9 @@

/* '+ 4' turns on the Low Noise Amplifier */
static struct tuner_range tuner_samsung_tcpn_2121p30a_ntsc_ranges[] = {
-       { 16 * 130.00 /*MHz*/, 0xce, 0x01 + 4, },
-       { 16 * 364.50 /*MHz*/, 0xce, 0x02 + 4, },
-       { 16 * 999.99        , 0xce, 0x08 + 4, },
+       { 16 * 130.00 /*MHz*/, 0xce, 0x01, },
+       { 16 * 364.50 /*MHz*/, 0xce, 0x02, },
+       { 16 * 999.99        , 0xce, 0x08, },
};

static struct tuner_params tuner_samsung_tcpn_2121p30a_params[] = {

Steps to fix:

1. cd /usr/src/linux-source-2.6.20
2. cp /boot/config-2.6.20-16-generic .config
3. make oldconfig
4. Apply patch
5. make drivers/media/video/tuner.ko
6. cp drivers/media/video/tuner.ko /lib/modules/2.6.20-16-generic/kernel/drivers/media/video/tuner.ko
7. rmmod all ivtv/video drivers and reload (important — have to get them all to ensure that things are re-initialized) … or reboot
8. Check live TV to ensure that the signal quality is good again