I had the e-mail below typed and ready to send when I re-read it one last time and realized that while I had tested some of my video cables when I first experienced the problem, I had not tested all of them. I did so and, sure enough, I found a cable that had gone bad. I replaced it with a new one today and - poof! - the system works just fine again.

To: mythtv-users@mythtv.org
Subject: dark picture on recordings from PVR-350
Date: Sat, 27 May 2006 18:55:53 -0600

Hi all,

When I am watching live TV or viewing recordings, the picture quality is very dark and somewhat blurry. This behaviour began sometime between May 13 and May 15, because when I bring up a list of recorded programs in MythWeb, the difference in brightness is quite obvious. When I play recordings recorded May 13 or earlier (or any videos, DVDs, etc.) the picture is bright and the quality is superb. If I watch live TV or a program recorded after May 14, the picture is dark and the resolution seems somewhat poor. I have tried plugging my input (a Bell ExpressVu standard def. satellite receiver) directly into the TV rather than through Myth and the picture quality is great.

I am using Fedora Core 4 with a PVR-350 for my input. I did not make any changes to the system; this behaviour seems to have happened on its own. I was previously running version 0.18.2.20051227-1 from atrpms which I installed in early January and made very little modification to the system after that, other than updating the kernel and IVTV drivers to 0.4.3.

The only thing I could find my logs from between May 13 and 15 that was anything other than regular log messages from my system was this:

DB Error (KickDatabase):
Query was:
SELECT NULL;
Driver error was [2/2002]:
QMYSQL3: Unable to execute query
Database error was:
Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock' (2)

DB Error (KickDatabase):
Query was:
SELECT NULL;
Driver error was [2/2002]:
QMYSQL3: Unable to execute query
Database error was:
Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock' (2)

DB Error (Error in JobQueue::GetJobCmd()):
Query was:
SELECT cmds FROM jobqueue WHERE id = 586;
Driver error was [2/2002]:
QMYSQL3: Unable to execute query
Database error was:
Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock' (2)

DB Error (KickDatabase):
Query was:
SELECT NULL;
Driver error was [2/2002]:
QMYSQL3: Unable to execute query
Database error was:
Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock' (2)

DB Error (KickDatabase):
Query was:
SELECT NULL;
Driver error was [2/2002]:
QMYSQL3: Unable to execute query
Database error was:
Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock' (2)

DB Error (Error in JobQueue::ChangeJobComment()):
Query was:
UPDATE jobqueue SET comment = '3% Completed @ 37.382 fps.' WHERE id = 586;
Driver error was [2/2002]:
QMYSQL3: Unable to execute query
Database error was:
Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock' (2)

It's my guess that there are settings somewhere related to the channel settings or to recording properties that create the poor quality picture, since I can still playback good quality recordings without any difficulty.

I recently upgraded to the latest *everything* about a week ago but while the system is running solid (including 0.19.20060121-2 from atrpms and the latest IVTV drivers), the picture quality is still terrible. I deleted and recreated the capture card, video sources, and input, but no luck. I have also played with the picture controls with MythTV and the IVTV drivers themselves with no luck. I am beginning to think the only way to solve this problem would be to re-create the entire box from scratch.

Can anyone point me in the right direction as to where I might start looking for a resolution to this problem? I've tried searching the lists and Googling but haven't found anyone describing these symptoms yet and I just don't know what to try next.

Thanks,

Derek

--

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Gordon, Kessler Latest to Join Exclusive Company as Arbos Award Recipients

Bert Gordon and Al Kessler live in opposite ends of the province. Otherwise, the two most recent recipients of the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation’s prestigious Arbos Award would be synonymous within their profession and their communities for the level of yeoman service they have contributed over the years.

Count me as one of the thousands of people that have benefited tremendously from Al's tutelage and extra-curricular work. I'm also happy to call him a friend.