How to properly set my Pinnacle PC TV Stereo PCI card under Linux.

The card I bought is based on the Phillips SAA7134 chipset which is fully supported by the Linux kernel:

lspci -v
…
02:0c.0 Multimedia controller: Philips Semiconductors SAA7134 (rev 01)
Subsystem: Pinnacle Systems Inc.: Unknown device 002b
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 20
Memory at e7004000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 1

I had to recompile my kernel to make sure the following options are enabled in “.config”:

CONFIG_VIDEO_DEV=m
CONFIG_VIDEO_SAA7134=m

After rebooting with the new kernel, make sure “/dev/video0” does exist, and that “/dev/video” is a symbolic link to “/dev/video0”.

Also, the following line has to be added to “/etc/X11/xorg.conf” in order to fully support video overlay coming from the tuner card:

Section "Module"
…
Load "v4l"
EndSection

Additionally, I added the following line to “/etc/modprobe.conf”, which is required in order to make “/dev/dsp1” get created when the module gets loaded:

options saa7134 oss=1

Note that the Pinnacle PC TV Stereo tuner card also creates a new sound device, usually called “/dev/dsp1” used by applications like MythTV to capture TV sound. Just make sure to tell MythTV and friends to capture sound from “/dev/dsp1” instead of “/dev/dsp”.

It is also possible to make LIRC work with the remote IR that comes bundled with the Pinnacle PC TV Stereo simply by creating “/etc/lircd.conf” with the following lines in it:

#
# contributed by Bart Alewijnse 
#
# brand: Pinnacle Systems
# model: PCTV Remote (Perhaps other ones as well)
# supported devices: there's only one I know of. (serial)
#
# Mail me if your remote is only partly supported, or if it has different
# buttons than listed below.
#

begin remote

name PinnacleSysPCTVRemote
bits 8
eps 30
aeps 100

one 0 0
zero 0 0
gap 180000

begin codes
Mute 0x000000000000003C
Power 0x000000000000002F
Chan+Play 0x000000000000003F
Chan-Stop 0x000000000000003E
Vol+FF 0x000000000000003B
Vol-Rew 0x000000000000003D
1 0x0000000000000031
2 0x0000000000000032
3 0x0000000000000033
4 0x0000000000000034
5 0x0000000000000035
6 0x0000000000000036
7 0x0000000000000037
8 0x0000000000000038
9 0x0000000000000039
Fullscreen 0x000000000000002D
0 0x000000000000003A
Info 0x000000000000002B
Preview 0x000000000000002E
Record 0x0000000000000027
Chan_Last 0x0000000000000025
F_TV 0x0000000000000026
F_TELETEXT 0x0000000000000029
F_RADIO 0x000000000000002A

#
# here are some extra buttons a new version of the remote seems to have
#
# contributed by Robbert Monna 
#
# brand: Pinnacle Systems
# model: PCTV Remote (newest version?)
# supported devices: dongle on serial port (from TV-Card)
#
L 0x000000000000001F
Zoom 0x000000000000001E
vol+ 0x000000000000001B
vol- 0x000000000000000F
channel+ 0x0000000000000017
channel- 0x000000000000001C
middle 0x000000000000001A
Menu 0x000000000000001D
next 0x0000000000000019
undo 0x0000000000000016
pause 0x0000000000000015
redo 0x0000000000000013
Rewind 0x000000000000000E
Play 0x000000000000000D
Stop 0x000000000000000B
FForward 0x0000000000000007
EPG 0x0000000000000018

# here are some more buttons that seem to be mapped differently from
# the ones above

# contributed by InterCeptor ceptor_7@freemail.hu
#
# brand: Pinnacle Systems PCTV Pro Remote
# model no. of remote control: (I can't find any numbers on it)
# supported devices: serial
#

9 0x0000000000000082
Zoom 0x00000000000000B2
middle 0x0000000000000014


end codes
end remote

Then, make sure lircd is started at boot:

# chkconfig --level 345 lirc on
# service lircd start

And also, MythTV, when compiled with support for LIRC, can be configured to natively connect to the UNIX socket /dev/lircd that is managed by the lircd daemon by creating a file called "~/.mythtv/lircrc" with the following contents:

# lircrc.example.HauppaugeGrey-nativelirc
# 2003-09-17, Robert Kulagowski
# mailto:rkulagow@rocketmail.com
# Save this file in ~/.mythtv/lircrc

begin
prog = mythtv
button = Power
config = Esc
end

begin
prog = mythtv
button = Go
# Swap the PiP windows
config = N
end

begin
prog = mythtv
button = 1
config = 1
end

begin
prog = mythtv
button = 2
config = 2
end

begin
prog = mythtv
button = 3
config = 3
end

begin
prog = mythtv
button = 4
config = 4
end

begin
prog = mythtv
button = 5
config = 5
end

begin
prog = mythtv
button = 6
config = 6
end

begin
prog = mythtv
button = 7
config = 7
end

begin
prog = mythtv
button = 8
config = 8
end

begin
prog = mythtv
button = 9
config = 9
end

begin
prog = mythtv
button = 0
config = 0
end

begin
prog = mythtv
button = Menu
config = M
end
begin
prog = mythtv
button = undo
config = Esc
end


# Below are keys used with the Hauppauge Grey remote

#begin
# prog = mythtv
# This is the Red key
# We'll use it for "Delete"
# button = Record
# config = D
#end

#begin
# prog = mythtv
# This is the Green key
# We'll use it for "Information"
# button = Green
# config = I
#end

# Note the "repeat =" strings in the volume and channel.
# This means that if you hold down the key, every nth instance will be
# passed. This depends on your system, so you may want to increase or
# decrease this and see what happens. repeat = 1 is probably too
# fast.

begin
prog = mythtv
# Use it as a volume key
button = vol-
repeat = 3
config = F10
end

begin
prog = mythtv
button = vol+
repeat = 3
config = F11
end

begin
prog = mythtv
button = Chan+Play
repeat = 3
config = Up
end

begin
prog = mythtv
button = channel+
repeat = 3
config = Up
end

begin
prog = mythtv
button = Chan-Stop
repeat = 3
config = Down
end

begin
prog = mythtv
button = channel-
repeat = 3
config = Down
end

begin
prog = mythtv
button = Vol-Rew
# This is the "left" on the central diamond
repeat = 3
config = Left
end

begin
prog = mythtv
button = Vol+FF
# This is the "right" on the central diamond
repeat = 3
config = Right
end

begin
prog = mythtv
# Middle button on the diamond
button = middle
config = Return
end

begin
prog = mythtv
button = Mute
config = F9
end

#begin
# prog = mythtv
# Change focus for PiP (to change channel in the other window)
# button = Blank
# config = B
#end

begin
prog = mythtv
# Toggle PiP on/off
button = Fullscreen
config = V
end

#begin
# prog = mythtv
# button = Rew
# config = Left
#end

begin
prog = mythtv
button = Play
config = P
end

begin
prog = mythtv
button = FForward
config = Right
end

begin
prog = mythtv
button = Record
config = R
end

begin
prog = mythtv
# Teletext
button = Stop
config = T
end

begin
prog = mythtv
button = pause
config = P
end

#begin
# prog = mythtv
# button = Replay
# Use for backwards commercial skip
# config = Q
#end

begin
prog = mythtv
button = next
# Use for forward commercial skip
config = Z
end