[CentOS] Very odd issue w/ a CentOS 6 system

Wed Mar 23 19:45:35 UTC 2016
m.roth at 5-cent.us <m.roth at 5-cent.us>

Phil Wyett wrote:
> On Wed, 2016-03-23 at 15:16 -0400, m.roth at 5-cent.us wrote:
>> Phil Wyett wrote:
>> > On Wed, 2016-03-23 at 10:26 -0400, m.roth at 5-cent.us wrote:
>> <snip>
>> >> >
>> >> > What is the make/model of the card?
>> >> lspci says:
>> >> Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Audio Capture (rev 11)
>> >> >
>> >> > Are you supplying options when loading the bttv module?
>> >>
>> >> On and off, I've been googling to find if there's something I can
>> tell
>> >> it,or the kernel on boot. Currently, I have, in /etc/modprobe.d/bttv:
>> >> options i2c-algo-bit bit_test=1
>> >> options bttv gbuffers=16 card=98,98,98,98,98,98,98,98
>> >> radio=0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0 tuner=4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4 chroma_agc=1 combfilter=2
>> >> full_luma_range=1 coring=1
>> >
>> > The options line 1 is used widely and only worth changing if all else
>> > fails.
>> >
>> > The second options line option of combfilter by docs indicate there is
>> > no 2 option and is enabled by default, so you can remove that option
>> to
>> > test.
>> >
>> > I would enable two possible compatibility options and see if that
>> helps.
>> >
>> > triton1=0/1 - for Triton1 (+others) compatibility.
>> >
>> > vsfx=0/1 - yet another chipset bug compatibility bit
>> >
>> > The triton1 insmod option sets the EN_TBFX bit in the control
>> register.
>> > The vsfx insmod option does the same for EN_VSFX bit. If you have
>> > stability problems you can try if one of these options makes your box
>> > work solid.
>> >
>> > Source:
>> http://xawdecode.sourceforge.net/aideUS/htmlpage/BTTV-param.htm
>> >
>>
>> Ok, I've been doing some research, partly refreshing my memory, since we
>> bought these 2-3 years ago. As you note, above, it *says* it's an iTuner
>> Spectra8; *however*, when I look at bttv-cards.c, what I see is that
>> *it*
>> thinks that such a card has *one* video and one audio. In fact, this is
>> a
>> Bt878, and it has *four* inputs for each, with four chips on the card,
>> one
>> for each channel. The nearest thing to it *appears* to be a Provideo
>> PV150, card=98 (which is why I have that card= line in the bttv.conf).
>>
>> Now that I'm thinking about it, and while googling, I looked for the
>> provideo 150, and what *should* have been the link took me to one for a
>> provideo 950, with *16* inputs. Does anyone have opinions on:
>>   1. should I change the card-, radio=, and tuner= to only have four,
>> instead of 8, values? I realize that it multiplexes for 8, but....
>>   2. What is "coring"?
>>
>>        mark
>
> Hi Mark,
>
> It did specify spectra 8 in your lspci output. Below is product page.
>
> http://www.ituner.com/spectra.htm
>
> In my research I did find this related page.
>
> http://www.linuxconsulting.ro/spectra8/
>
> This does state that with latest internal driver, it is detected and
> works as the ProVision 150. The card=98,... is correct.
>
> The matter of reducing all the settings to 4 rather than 8 may help.
>
> coring is a luma setting. See:
>
> https://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/Bttv#insmod_Options
>
> Not sure and someone else maybe can shed better light on the setting. By
> default it is disabled and I would tend to think it can be removed.
>
Any thoughts on the number of buffers?

        mark