Based on kernel version 2.6.26. Page generated on 2008-07-16 21:13 EST.
1 2 ivtv release notes 3 ================== 4 5 This is a v4l2 device driver for the Conexant cx23415/6 MPEG encoder/decoder. 6 The cx23415 can do both encoding and decoding, the cx23416 can only do MPEG 7 encoding. Currently the only card featuring full decoding support is the 8 Hauppauge PVR-350. 9 10 NOTE: this driver requires the latest encoder firmware (version 2.06.039, size 11 376836 bytes). Get the firmware from here: 12 13 http://dl.ivtvdriver.org/ivtv/firmware/firmware.tar.gz 14 15 NOTE: 'normal' TV applications do not work with this driver, you need 16 an application that can handle MPEG input such as mplayer, xine, MythTV, 17 etc. 18 19 The primary goal of the IVTV project is to provide a "clean room" Linux 20 Open Source driver implementation for video capture cards based on the 21 iCompression iTVC15 or Conexant CX23415/CX23416 MPEG Codec. 22 23 Features: 24 * Hardware mpeg2 capture of broadcast video (and sound) via the tuner or 25 S-Video/Composite and audio line-in. 26 * Hardware mpeg2 capture of FM radio where hardware support exists 27 * Supports NTSC, PAL, SECAM with stereo sound 28 * Supports SAP and bilingual transmissions. 29 * Supports raw VBI (closed captions and teletext). 30 * Supports sliced VBI (closed captions and teletext) and is able to insert 31 this into the captured MPEG stream. 32 * Supports raw YUV and PCM input. 33 34 Additional features for the PVR-350 (CX23415 based): 35 * Provides hardware mpeg2 playback 36 * Provides comprehensive OSD (On Screen Display: ie. graphics overlaying the 37 video signal) 38 * Provides a framebuffer (allowing X applications to appear on the video 39 device) (this framebuffer is not yet part of the kernel. In the meantime it 40 is available from www.ivtvdriver.org). 41 * Supports raw YUV output. 42 43 IMPORTANT: In case of problems first read this page: 44 http://www.ivtvdriver.org/index.php/Troubleshooting 45 46 See also: 47 48 Homepage + Wiki 49 http://www.ivtvdriver.org 50 51 IRC 52 irc://irc.freenode.net/ivtv-dev 53 54 ---------------------------------------------------------- 55 56 Devices 57 ======= 58 59 A maximum of 12 ivtv boards are allowed at the moment. 60 61 Cards that don't have a video output capability (i.e. non PVR350 cards) 62 lack the vbi8, vbi16, video16 and video48 devices. They also do not 63 support the framebuffer device /dev/fbx for OSD. 64 65 The radio0 device may or may not be present, depending on whether the 66 card has a radio tuner or not. 67 68 Here is a list of the base v4l devices: 69 crw-rw---- 1 root video 81, 0 Jun 19 22:22 /dev/video0 70 crw-rw---- 1 root video 81, 16 Jun 19 22:22 /dev/video16 71 crw-rw---- 1 root video 81, 24 Jun 19 22:22 /dev/video24 72 crw-rw---- 1 root video 81, 32 Jun 19 22:22 /dev/video32 73 crw-rw---- 1 root video 81, 48 Jun 19 22:22 /dev/video48 74 crw-rw---- 1 root video 81, 64 Jun 19 22:22 /dev/radio0 75 crw-rw---- 1 root video 81, 224 Jun 19 22:22 /dev/vbi0 76 crw-rw---- 1 root video 81, 228 Jun 19 22:22 /dev/vbi8 77 crw-rw---- 1 root video 81, 232 Jun 19 22:22 /dev/vbi16 78 79 Base devices 80 ============ 81 82 For every extra card you have the numbers increased by one. For example, 83 /dev/video0 is listed as the 'base' encoding capture device so we have: 84 85 /dev/video0 is the encoding capture device for the first card (card 0) 86 /dev/video1 is the encoding capture device for the second card (card 1) 87 /dev/video2 is the encoding capture device for the third card (card 2) 88 89 Note that if the first card doesn't have a feature (eg no decoder, so no 90 video16, the second card will still use video17. The simple rule is 'add 91 the card number to the base device number'. If you have other capture 92 cards (e.g. WinTV PCI) that are detected first, then you have to tell 93 the ivtv module about it so that it will start counting at 1 (or 2, or 94 whatever). Otherwise the device numbers can get confusing. The ivtv 95 'ivtv_first_minor' module option can be used for that. 96 97 98 /dev/video0 99 The encoding capture device(s). 100 Read-only. 101 102 Reading from this device gets you the MPEG1/2 program stream. 103 Example: 104 105 cat /dev/video0 > my.mpg (you need to hit ctrl-c to exit) 106 107 108 /dev/video16 109 The decoder output device(s) 110 Write-only. Only present if the MPEG decoder (i.e. CX23415) exists. 111 112 An mpeg2 stream sent to this device will appear on the selected video 113 display, audio will appear on the line-out/audio out. It is only 114 available for cards that support video out. Example: 115 116 cat my.mpg >/dev/video16 117 118 119 /dev/video24 120 The raw audio capture device(s). 121 Read-only 122 123 The raw audio PCM stereo stream from the currently selected 124 tuner or audio line-in. Reading from this device results in a raw 125 (signed 16 bit Little Endian, 48000 Hz, stereo pcm) capture. 126 This device only captures audio. This should be replaced by an ALSA 127 device in the future. 128 Note that there is no corresponding raw audio output device, this is 129 not supported in the decoder firmware. 130 131 132 /dev/video32 133 The raw video capture device(s) 134 Read-only 135 136 The raw YUV video output from the current video input. The YUV format 137 is non-standard (V4L2_PIX_FMT_HM12). 138 139 Note that the YUV and PCM streams are not synchronized, so they are of 140 limited use. 141 142 143 /dev/video48 144 The raw video display device(s) 145 Write-only. Only present if the MPEG decoder (i.e. CX23415) exists. 146 147 Writes a YUV stream to the decoder of the card. 148 149 150 /dev/radio0 151 The radio tuner device(s) 152 Cannot be read or written. 153 154 Used to enable the radio tuner and tune to a frequency. You cannot 155 read or write audio streams with this device. Once you use this 156 device to tune the radio, use /dev/video24 to read the raw pcm stream 157 or /dev/video0 to get an mpeg2 stream with black video. 158 159 160 /dev/vbi0 161 The 'vertical blank interval' (Teletext, CC, WSS etc) capture device(s) 162 Read-only 163 164 Captures the raw (or sliced) video data sent during the Vertical Blank 165 Interval. This data is used to encode teletext, closed captions, VPS, 166 widescreen signalling, electronic program guide information, and other 167 services. 168 169 170 /dev/vbi8 171 Processed vbi feedback device(s) 172 Read-only. Only present if the MPEG decoder (i.e. CX23415) exists. 173 174 The sliced VBI data embedded in an MPEG stream is reproduced on this 175 device. So while playing back a recording on /dev/video16, you can 176 read the embedded VBI data from /dev/vbi8. 177 178 179 /dev/vbi16 180 The vbi 'display' device(s) 181 Write-only. Only present if the MPEG decoder (i.e. CX23415) exists. 182 183 Can be used to send sliced VBI data to the video-out connector. 184 185 --------------------------------- 186 187 Hans Verkuil <hverkuil[AT]xs4all[DOT]nl>