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Hans Verkuila542fe42007-03-10 13:56:56 -03001
2ivtv release notes
3==================
4
5This is a v4l2 device driver for the Conexant cx23415/6 MPEG encoder/decoder.
6The cx23415 can do both encoding and decoding, the cx23416 can only do MPEG
7encoding. Currently the only card featuring full decoding support is the
8Hauppauge PVR-350.
9
10NOTE: this driver requires the latest encoder firmware (version 2.06.039, size
11376836 bytes). Get the firmware from here:
12
13http://dl.ivtvdriver.org/ivtv/firmware/firmware.tar.gz
14
15NOTE: 'normal' TV applications do not work with this driver, you need
16an application that can handle MPEG input such as mplayer, xine, MythTV,
17etc.
18
19The primary goal of the IVTV project is to provide a "clean room" Linux
20Open Source driver implementation for video capture cards based on the
21iCompression iTVC15 or Conexant CX23415/CX23416 MPEG Codec.
22
23Features:
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
34Additional 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
43IMPORTANT: In case of problems first read this page:
44 http://www.ivtvdriver.org/index.php/Troubleshooting
45
46See also:
47
48Homepage + Wiki
49http://www.ivtvdriver.org
50
51IRC
52irc://irc.freenode.net/ivtv-dev
53
54----------------------------------------------------------
55
56Devices
57=======
58
59A maximum of 12 ivtv boards are allowed at the moment.
60
61Cards that don't have a video output capability (i.e. non PVR350 cards)
62lack the vbi8, vbi16, video16 and video48 devices. They also do not
63support the framebuffer device /dev/fbx for OSD.
64
65The radio0 device may or may not be present, depending on whether the
66card has a radio tuner or not.
67
68Here is a list of the base v4l devices:
69crw-rw---- 1 root video 81, 0 Jun 19 22:22 /dev/video0
70crw-rw---- 1 root video 81, 16 Jun 19 22:22 /dev/video16
71crw-rw---- 1 root video 81, 24 Jun 19 22:22 /dev/video24
72crw-rw---- 1 root video 81, 32 Jun 19 22:22 /dev/video32
73crw-rw---- 1 root video 81, 48 Jun 19 22:22 /dev/video48
74crw-rw---- 1 root video 81, 64 Jun 19 22:22 /dev/radio0
75crw-rw---- 1 root video 81, 224 Jun 19 22:22 /dev/vbi0
76crw-rw---- 1 root video 81, 228 Jun 19 22:22 /dev/vbi8
77crw-rw---- 1 root video 81, 232 Jun 19 22:22 /dev/vbi16
78
79Base devices
80============
81
82For 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
89Note that if the first card doesn't have a feature (eg no decoder, so no
90video16, the second card will still use video17. The simple rule is 'add
91the card number to the base device number'. If you have other capture
92cards (e.g. WinTV PCI) that are detected first, then you have to tell
93the ivtv module about it so that it will start counting at 1 (or 2, or
94whatever). 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
99The encoding capture device(s).
100Read-only.
101
102Reading from this device gets you the MPEG1/2 program stream.
103Example:
104
105cat /dev/video0 > my.mpg (you need to hit ctrl-c to exit)
106
107
108/dev/video16
109The decoder output device(s)
110Write-only. Only present if the MPEG decoder (i.e. CX23415) exists.
111
112An mpeg2 stream sent to this device will appear on the selected video
113display, audio will appear on the line-out/audio out. It is only
114available for cards that support video out. Example:
115
116cat my.mpg >/dev/video16
117
118
119/dev/video24
120The raw audio capture device(s).
121Read-only
122
123The raw audio PCM stereo stream from the currently selected
124tuner or audio line-in. Reading from this device results in a raw
125(signed 16 bit Little Endian, 48000 Hz, stereo pcm) capture.
126This device only captures audio. This should be replaced by an ALSA
127device in the future.
128Note that there is no corresponding raw audio output device, this is
129not supported in the decoder firmware.
130
131
132/dev/video32
133The raw video capture device(s)
134Read-only
135
136The raw YUV video output from the current video input. The YUV format
137is non-standard (V4L2_PIX_FMT_HM12).
138
139Note that the YUV and PCM streams are not synchronized, so they are of
140limited use.
141
142
143/dev/video48
144The raw video display device(s)
145Write-only. Only present if the MPEG decoder (i.e. CX23415) exists.
146
147Writes a YUV stream to the decoder of the card.
148
149
150/dev/radio0
151The radio tuner device(s)
152Cannot be read or written.
153
154Used to enable the radio tuner and tune to a frequency. You cannot
155read or write audio streams with this device. Once you use this
156device to tune the radio, use /dev/video24 to read the raw pcm stream
157or /dev/video0 to get an mpeg2 stream with black video.
158
159
160/dev/vbi0
161The 'vertical blank interval' (Teletext, CC, WSS etc) capture device(s)
162Read-only
163
164Captures the raw (or sliced) video data sent during the Vertical Blank
165Interval. This data is used to encode teletext, closed captions, VPS,
166widescreen signalling, electronic program guide information, and other
167services.
168
169
170/dev/vbi8
171Processed vbi feedback device(s)
172Read-only. Only present if the MPEG decoder (i.e. CX23415) exists.
173
174The sliced VBI data embedded in an MPEG stream is reproduced on this
175device. So while playing back a recording on /dev/video16, you can
176read the embedded VBI data from /dev/vbi8.
177
178
179/dev/vbi16
180The vbi 'display' device(s)
181Write-only. Only present if the MPEG decoder (i.e. CX23415) exists.
182
183Can be used to send sliced VBI data to the video-out connector.
184
185---------------------------------
186
187Hans Verkuil <hverkuil@xs4all.nl>