Hello all, this is my first time posting here on the forums!

 

I have been looking through the forums about support for this cable card and anybody being able to pass it through to a vm but I haven't found a post where someone has successfully been able to pass it through. I am wondering if anybody has had any success getting this piece of hardware to work?

 

Details on my issue:

I have confirmed that the card works as I have it installed on a (separate) windows 7 machine right now.

I have been able to successfully pass through the card to a windows 7 vm and it recognizes it in device manager as a network device (this is how it should show up).

Here is where the issue arises: The vm is able to see the device but I am not able to access its management page (web page accessed through browser) nor is the Ceton diagnostic software able to recognize the card in the system (although device manager does).

I have tried some suggestions from other posts such as bridging the Ceton card and the Ethernet connection in network settings but that freezes up and never completes and I am starting to think it is a compatibility issue between the network drivers on the vm and the ceton card, but i am not sure on how to go about confirming that.

 

I am sorry if this post is short on details but I can provide any that would help get this sorted.

 

If anyone has gotten it to work please let me know!!I really want to get this card working in my machine, its the only PCIe based cable card tuner on the market!

Don't know why the card isn't recognized, but I know that this is not the only pcie cable card on the market.

You need to supply more info about your setup if you want some help.

The diagnostic.zip and the XML of the VM is a minimum. Specs of the system also.

Sorry for the late response.

Yes there are other Pci tv tuner cards, but there are none that utilize cable cards other than cetons,

 

In looking at some ceton posts, it seems that this can occur with network interfaces that are not compatible with the ceton card, (for example boards with nividia chipsets are not compatible) this leads me to believe it is something about the ceton drivers trying to interact with virtualized hardware and freaking out, but I am not positive on that.

 

Specs:

Mobo - Gigabyte z79X gaming 3

CPU - Intel i7-4790k

RAM - 16GB DDR3

GPU - Geforce 9800 GTX

          Radeon HD 6450

Storage - Parity - 2tb WD Blue

              Data - 2x 1tb WD Blue

              Cache - 3x 250gb Samsung 850evo

Other- iocrest 4 port sata III Pcie controller

 

XML:

<domain type='kvm'>

  <name>Windows 7</name>

  <uuid>30e415ca-6fe8-0e40-91f0-747ea152da97</uuid>

  <metadata>

    <vmtemplate name="Custom" icon="windows7.png" os="windows7"/>

  </metadata>

  <memory unit='KiB'>4718592</memory>

  <currentMemory unit='KiB'>4718592</currentMemory>

  <memoryBacking>

    <nosharepages/>

    <locked/>

  </memoryBacking>

  <vcpu placement='static'>7</vcpu>

  <cputune>

    <vcpupin vcpu='0' cpuset='0'/>

    <vcpupin vcpu='1' cpuset='1'/>

    <vcpupin vcpu='2' cpuset='2'/>

    <vcpupin vcpu='3' cpuset='3'/>

    <vcpupin vcpu='4' cpuset='4'/>

    <vcpupin vcpu='5' cpuset='5'/>

    <vcpupin vcpu='6' cpuset='6'/>

  </cputune>

  <os>

    <type arch='x86_64' machine='pc-i440fx-2.3'>hvm</type>

  </os>

  <features>

    <acpi/>

    <apic/>

    <hyperv>

      <relaxed state='on'/>

      <vapic state='on'/>

      <spinlocks state='on' retries='8191'/>

    </hyperv>

  </features>

  <cpu mode='host-passthrough'>

    <topology sockets='1' cores='7' threads='1'/>

  </cpu>

  <clock offset='localtime'>

    <timer name='hypervclock' present='yes'/>

    <timer name='hpet' present='no'/>

  </clock>

  <on_poweroff>destroy</on_poweroff>

  <on_reboot>restart</on_reboot>

  <on_crash>restart</on_crash>

  <devices>

    <emulator>/usr/bin/qemu-system-x86_64</emulator>

    <disk type='file' device='disk'>

      <driver name='qemu' type='raw' cache='writeback'/>

      <source file='/mnt/cache/VirtualMachines/Windows 7/vdisk1.img'/>

      <target dev='hdc' bus='virtio'/>

      <boot order='1'/>

      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x05' function='0x0'/>

    </disk>

    <disk type='file' device='cdrom'>

      <driver name='qemu' type='raw'/>

      <source file='/mnt/user/isos/Win7_Pro_SP1_x64.iso'/>

      <target dev='hda' bus='ide'/>

      <readonly/>

      <boot order='2'/>

      <address type='drive' controller='0' bus='0' target='0' unit='0'/>

    </disk>

    <disk type='file' device='cdrom'>

      <driver name='qemu' type='raw'/>

      <source file='/mnt/user/isos/virtio-win-0.1.102 - stable.iso'/>

      <target dev='hdb' bus='ide'/>

      <readonly/>

      <address type='drive' controller='0' bus='0' target='0' unit='1'/>

    </disk>

    <controller type='usb' index='0'>

      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x01' function='0x2'/>

    </controller>

    <controller type='pci' index='0' model='pci-root'/>

    <controller type='ide' index='0'>

      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x01' function='0x1'/>

    </controller>

    <controller type='virtio-serial' index='0'>

      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x04' function='0x0'/>

    </controller>

    <interface type='bridge'>

      <mac address='52:54:00:d8:e5:96'/>

      <source bridge='br0'/>

      <model type='virtio'/>

      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x03' function='0x0'/>

    </interface>

    <serial type='pty'>

      <target port='0'/>

    </serial>

    <console type='pty'>

      <target type='serial' port='0'/>

    </console>

    <channel type='unix'>

      <source mode='bind' path='/var/lib/libvirt/qemu/channel/target/Windows 7.org.qemu.guest_agent.0'/>

      <target type='virtio' name='org.qemu.guest_agent.0'/>

      <address type='virtio-serial' controller='0' bus='0' port='1'/>

    </channel>

    <input type='tablet' bus='usb'/>

    <input type='mouse' bus='ps2'/>

    <input type='keyboard' bus='ps2'/>

    <graphics type='vnc' port='-1' autoport='yes' websocket='-1' listen='0.0.0.0' keymap='en-us'>

      <listen type='address' address='0.0.0.0'/>

    </graphics>

    <video>

      <model type='vmvga' vram='16384' heads='1'/>

      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x02' function='0x0'/>

    </video>

    <hostdev mode='subsystem' type='pci' managed='yes'>

      <driver name='vfio'/>

      <source>

        <address domain='0x0000' bus='0x07' slot='0x00' function='0x0'/>

      </source>

      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x07' function='0x0'/>

    </hostdev>

    <memballoon model='virtio'>

      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x06' function='0x0'/>

    </memballoon>

  </devices>

</domain>

 

 

Update: I have confirmed that the card works with the motherboard with a bare metal install of windows 7. The point where the physical install vs the VM install differ is after the installation of the ceton drivers.

To get the device recognized in windows 7, one has to bridge the network connection and the ceton card (drivers make it register as a network device). This works on the bare metal install but on the windows 7 vm, it never stops attempting to bridge the devices. The computer doesn't freeze, it just never completes the bridging process. Still think it ia a network adapter driver issue..., not really sure what to do next.

Try it on a Win10 VM.

 

If that works then install the Windows Media Center packages from the community to get WMC funtionality.

Same issue: I took a fresh win10 vm and installed the ceton drivers and the same issue occurred at the same point. When attempting to bridge the Red Hat VirtIO ethernet adapter and the Ceton card it never completes. I tried with a win 8.1 vm as well.

 

From the various attempts here it appears to em that it is either 1 of 2 options: 1, I am bad at passing through PCIe devices or I should attempt qemu pass-through or  2, The ceton card driver are incompatible with the Red hat VirtIo drivers and this simply wont work inside a vm. Regarding the latter option, the Ceton site does mention that it does not support usage within a vm, but I believed that the unraid software would be able to circumvent that with the pcie passthrough.

 

It seems like all attempts to create a network bridge fail, and I will attempt to try all of the previous steps with a qemu passthrough instead of <hostdev>, but I am not hopeful at this point....

I don't think it matters if it's qemu code or hostdev tag, but you could try.

Have you thought about passing through a network adapter instead of using the virtual one?

 

I still don't understand why this is the only card you can use. Won't this card work?

http://www.tbsdtv.com/products/tbs6704-atsc-or-clear-qam-quad-tuner-pcie-card.html

I don't think it matters if it's qemu code or hostdev tag, but you could try.

Have you thought about passing through a network adapter instead of using the virtual one?

 

I still don't understand why this is the only card you can use. Won't this card work?

http://www.tbsdtv.com/products/tbs6704-atsc-or-clear-qam-quad-tuner-pcie-card.html

The Ceton card uses CableCard which would let you record encrypted channels.  The one you posted would only record OTA(ATSC) or clearQAM(QAM) channels that are NOT encrypted.

 

 

I also think you should be able to get it to work if you pass through a NIC as well as the Ceton card to the VM.

I don't think it matters if it's qemu code or hostdev tag, but you could try.

Have you thought about passing through a network adapter instead of using the virtual one?

 

I still don't understand why this is the only card you can use. Won't this card work?

http://www.tbsdtv.com/products/tbs6704-atsc-or-clear-qam-quad-tuner-pcie-card.html

 

No, those others do not work with "CableCard" technology which is used extensively in the USA for dealing with encrypted channels.

 

There are only 2 options for CableCard technology, using Ceton products or SiliconDust products.

 

Ceton makes 4 and 6 tuner capable products that can use 1 CableCard. The Ceton makes PCI-Express internal cards and also external network-based products.

 

SiliconDust makes 2 and 3 tuner capable products that can use 1 CableCard. The SiliconDust products are all external network-based.

 

There are 2 options left for the OP to try.

Option 1: try different drivers and/or different NIC for the VMs.

Option 2: Sell the PCI-Express Ceton tuner card and try the External Network-Based Ceton CableCard tuner.

I don't think it matters if it's qemu code or hostdev tag, but you could try.

Have you thought about passing through a network adapter instead of using the virtual one?

 

I still don't understand why this is the only card you can use. Won't this card work?

http://www.tbsdtv.com/products/tbs6704-atsc-or-clear-qam-quad-tuner-pcie-card.html

 

No, those others do not work with "CableCard" technology which is used extensively in the USA for dealing with encrypted channels.

 

There are only 2 options for CableCard technology, using Ceton products or SiliconDust products.

 

Ceton makes 4 and 6 tuner capable products that can use 1 CableCard. The Ceton makes PCI-Express internal cards and also external network-based products.

 

SiliconDust makes 2 and 3 tuner capable products that can use 1 CableCard. The SiliconDust products are all external network-based.

 

There are 2 options left for the OP to try.

Option 1: try different drivers and/or different NIC for the VMs.

Option 2: Sell the PCI-Express Ceton tuner card and try the External Network-Based Ceton CableCard tuner.

Ah. I can see clearly now  Thanks for the explanation.

I don't think it matters if it's qemu code or hostdev tag, but you could try.

Have you thought about passing through a network adapter instead of using the virtual one?

 

I still don't understand why this is the only card you can use. Won't this card work?

http://www.tbsdtv.com/products/tbs6704-atsc-or-clear-qam-quad-tuner-pcie-card.html

 

No, those others do not work with "CableCard" technology which is used extensively in the USA for dealing with encrypted channels.

 

There are only 2 options for CableCard technology, using Ceton products or SiliconDust products.

 

Ceton makes 4 and 6 tuner capable products that can use 1 CableCard. The Ceton makes PCI-Express internal cards and also external network-based products.

 

SiliconDust makes 2 and 3 tuner capable products that can use 1 CableCard. The SiliconDust products are all external network-based.

 

There are 2 options left for the OP to try.

Option 1: try different drivers and/or different NIC for the VMs.

Option 2: Sell the PCI-Express Ceton tuner card and try the External Network-Based Ceton CableCard tuner.

 

I agree with BRiT's assessment on this.  There is really nothing we can do.

I passed through a pci network card and had the same issue, the system hangs when attempting to bridge the network devices.  :'(

Soo it seems like this card can't be passed through. Are there any alternative drivers that may be able to handle it?

I'm going to suggest using a QEMU pass through rather than a hostdev tag, in my Windows 7 VM I ran to get data off NTFS spanned drives I had to use a QEMU command to get a SATA controller passed through correctly.

 

Also, if the VM doesn't have a GPU attached it will fail Digital Cable Advisior, there is an over ride tool that did not work for me under x64 so x32 might be a requirement.