Pinnacle PCTV HD Pro Stick in Ubuntu Gutsy

These are simple instructions I used to make Pinnacle PCTV HD Pro USB Stick work on Ubuntu Gutsy.

Software:

sudo apt-get install tvtime dvb-utils libxine1-ffmpeg libxine1-gnome kaffeine kaffeine-xine libxine-1 mercurial gcc build-essential linux-source linux-headers-`uname -r`

Firmware:

cd /lib/firmware/`uname -r`
sudo wget http://konstantin.filtschew.de/v4l-firmware/firmware_v4.tgz
sudo tar -xzvf firmware_v4.tgz


Build Linux Driver:

mkdir driver
hg clone http://mcentral.de/hg/~mrec/v4l-dvb-experimental/
cd v4l-dvb-experimental
make
sudo make install

Now Reboot your system.

Analog channels:
- start tvtime, go thru the OSD menu and scan for channels.

Problem:
- Audio does not work for analog TV channels

Digital Channels:

1. Test using Xine
Xine's TV channel configuration file (for ATSC)
~/.xine/channels.conf
must first be created. To create it by scanning ensure that the
TV channel scanning utility "scan" is installed
"scan" requires a try-and-error list of frequencies.
I entered
A 500000000 8VSB
A 501000000 8VSB
A 502000000 8VSB
...
A 900000000 8VSB
(in increments of 1000000) in a new file
scanlist.txt
(I used a program to generate that long list.)
I'm not sure about the range or the increment.
Then scan for channels using
$ scan scanlist.txt > ~/.xine/channels.conf
My channels.conf got this
KSTS-DT:683000000:8VSB:49:52:3
KNTV-DT:683000000:8VSB:0:0:4
KTEH-DT:689000000:8VSB:49:52:1
[0003]:695000000:8VSB:49:52:3
KICU-HD:701000000:8VSB:49:52:3
KICU-SD:701000000:8VSB:65:68:4
KTFK DT:761000000:8VSB:49:52:3
Launch Xine
$ xine
Click DVB on Xine's control panel.
Select a channel using Xine's navigator under the "N" button.
Xine should now be showing TV w/ audio.

You can also use predefined files that comes with dvb-utils
scan -n -o zap -p /usr/share/doc/dvb-utils/examples/scan/atsc/us-CA-SF-Bay-Area > ~/.xine/channels.conf

8. Test using Kaffeine
Kaffeine's TV channel configuration file (for ATSC)
~/.kde/share/apps/kaffeine/channels.dvb
must first be created. To create it using Kaffeine's channel
editor and the data from Xine's configuration file launch
Kaffeine
$ kaffeine
and click the "Digital TV" icon and then "DVB"->"Channels" and
"New". Using the first entry from the ~/.xine/channels.conf as
example I entered
Name: KSTS-DT
Frequency: 683000
Modulation: 8VSB
Video PID: 49
Audio PID: 52
Transport Stream ID: 3
My channels.dvb got this
TV|KICU-HD|49(2)|52(en),|0|0|3|Atsc|701000|0|v|-1|-1|108|-1|-1|-1|-1|-1|1|||
TV|KICU-SD|65(2)|68(ko),|0|0|4|Atsc|701000|0|v|-1|-1|108|-1|-1|-1|-1|-1|2|||
TV|KSTS-DT|49(2)|52(es),|0|0|3|Atsc|683000|0|v|-1|-1|108|-1|-1|-1|-1|-1|3|||
TV|KTEH-DT|49(2)|52(en),|0|0|1|Atsc|689000|0|v|-1|-1|108|-1|-1|-1|-1|-1|4|||
TV|KTFK-DT|49(2)|52(es),|0|0|3|Atsc|761000|0|v|-1|-1|108|-1|-1|-1|-1|-1|5|||
Dismiss the channel editor.
Select a channel in the left margin of Kaffeine.
Kaffeine should now be showing TV w/ audio.

The PCTV remote works (on Windows) but hardly with Xine and
limitedly with Kaffeine. Xine responds to a few buttons but
incorrectly. Kaffeine responds to the timer and channel no.
buttons and correctly. Command "xev" responds to all but a few
buttons.

The TV picture and audio is flawless. My computer is a
no-frills with a MSI mATX board, integrated NVidia GeForce6100
graphics and a Sempron 2800 CPU (single core). Cpu usage is 20%
(80% idle) with the DT channels (720x480) and 60% (40% idle)
with the HD channel (1280x720).

Reference:
Digital TV in linux with em28xx devices
http://www.2nrds.com/digital-tv-in-linux-with-em28xx-devices
Some of this text is a copy from other tutorials or blogs on the Web.

Good luck!! And apologize my poor English. :(