LinuxTVWiki - User contributions [en]

S2API

2011-01-23T18:38:06Z

Bpringle: /* Code review and merge */ fix url.

S2API is a tag/value-based API which was proposed (and accepted) as version 5.0 of the LinuxDVB API, adding
support for new digital media transmission standards including [[DVB-S2]], and creating a way to allow
easier support of future transmission standards. It was developed and tested in autumn 2008 and was
merged into the Linux kernel version 2.6.28 which was released on 24 Dec 2008.

An [http://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-media/msg08494.html RFC on a proposal for adding support for ISDB-T/ISDB-Tsb to DVB-API v5] was issued on 3 Aug 2009, with the intention of reaching
consensus before the merge window for kernel version 2.6.32 was opened (9 Sep 2009).
Anyone with an interest is encouraged to take part in the discussion at linux-media@vger.kernel.org.
A pull request was issued on 14 Aug 2009: http://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-media/msg08896.html.

===Introduction===

Following long-standing frustration amongst developers and users about the lack of progress in getting [[multiproto]] into the Linux kernel, a group of four senior developers including the maintainer
proposed an alternative (Aug 29 2008) and announced that they no longer supported multiproto. See http://linuxtv.org/pipermail/linux-dvb/2008-August/028313.html. The idea had been proposed earlier http://linuxtv.org/pipermail/linux-dvb/2007-November/021618.html. See also http://article.gmane.org/gmane.linux.drivers.dvb/36643.

Technically it is quite different from multiproto. Control of the frontend is implemented using a command sequence of (tag,value) pairs to set all the required parameters and then initiate tuning. Thus it no longer depends on fixed structs to hold parameter data.

A notable advantage of the tag/value technique is that it should make it much easier to keep up with future digital
media transmission standards because this will at most require the definition of additional tags (i.e. parameters) rather than a revision of the API. Transmission standards continue to multiply: some developers (and many consumers)
already have hardware using standards unsupported by multiproto, such as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISDB-T#ISDB-T ISDB-T] and DMB-T/H. Other standards
are due to go live fairly soon, e.g. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVB-T#DVB-T2 DVB-T2] (Nov 2009 in UK).

A typical example of a (tag,value) pair which sets a parameter is (DTV_FREQUENCY, 11954 MHz). A tuning command
sequence would typically include a full set of tuning parameters, LNB voltage and tone, and a "do tune" command.
Sequences of commands may be made [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomicity_(database_systems) atomic] by passing the whole command sequence in a single ioctl (for example a set of parameters followed by the tune command). Alternatively a sequence may be sent one command at a time. S2API thus offers an
extra degree of flexibility over a multiproto-style approach, and the better application-to-driver communication could potentially be exploited for more advanced application functionality in in the future.

[[DiSEqC]] equipment control is unchanged in both S2API and multiproto APIs. Additional S2API tags to allow
DiSEqC commands be sent with the tag/value method (as an alternative to the legacy method) could be implemented.

The development repositories are at http://linuxtv.org/hg/~stoth/s2 and http://linuxtv.org/hg/~stoth/s2-mfe. Tuning applications are here http://www.steventoth.net/linux/s2/ and here http://mercurial.intuxication.org/hg/szap-s2/.
A channel scanning application is here http://mercurial.intuxication.org/hg/scan-s2.
Work is progressing well on the finalization of the API design and
porting of existing DVB-S2 drivers to work with it. Older drivers not requiring the new features can remain
unchanged. Device support now includes:

*cx24116 demodulator driver
*[[Hauppauge_WinTV-HVR-4000]] DVB-S/S2 PCI
*[[Hauppauge_WinTV-HVR-4000Lite]] DVB-S/S2 PCI (also known as the S2 Lite)
*[[TeVii S460]] DVB-S/S2 PCI
*[[TeVii S650]] DVB-S/S2 USB
*[[DVBWorld HD 2104 CA+CI USB Box]] DVB-S/S2
*[[SDMC DM1105]] PCI chip (used in DVBWorld 2002 DVB-S & 2004 DVB-S2)
*[[DVBWorld]] [[DVBWorld DVB-S2 PCI2004C|DVB-S2 PCI2004C]] DVB-S/S2 PCI
* Silicon Labs si2109/2110 demodulator support
* [[DVBWorld]] 2102 and TeVii s600 DVB-S USB (si2109/2110 demod, Serit tuner) [http://linuxtv.org/pipermail/linux-dvb/2008-September/028963.html]
* Omicom SS4 DVB-S/S2 support (cx24116 demod)
* TBS 8920 DVB-S/S2 support (cx24116 demod)
* Prof 7300 support (cx24116 demod)
* ST stv0288 demodulator support, stb6000 tuner, [[DVBWorld]] DW2002 PCI with Earda tuner, [[TeVii]] S420 PCI
* [[DVBWorld]] USB cards support (STV0288 demod, Earda EDS-1547 tuner)
* Multiple frontend support (for example HVR4000 DVB-S/S2 + DVB-T) (repository at http://linuxtv.org/hg/~stoth/s2-mfe)
Preliminary support
* stb0899 demodulator (TT S2-3200, S2-3600, S2-3650CI) from Igor Liplianin, tree at http://mercurial.intuxication.org/hg/s2-liplianin [http://www.linuxtv.org/pipermail/linux-dvb/2008-October/029585.html]
* stb0899 demodulator (TT S2-3200) from Manu Abraham, tree at http://jusst.de/hg/v4l-dvb-test [http://linuxtv.org/pipermail/linux-dvb/2008-October/029735.html]
* Mantis PCI bridge (e.g. [[Azurewave AD SP400 CI (VP-1041)|Azurewave AD-SP400 CI (Twinhan VP-1041)]]) see [http://linuxtv.org/pipermail/linux-dvb/2008-October/029672.html]

The HVR4000 and the S460 have both been tested successfully using the new API, see this
thread http://linuxtv.org/pipermail/linux-dvb/2008-September/028544.html.

A [[Kaffeine]] patch adding S2API and DVB-S2 support, written by one of that application's authors, has
been included in the Kaffeine SVN repository. It is available here: http://linuxtv.org/pipermail/linux-dvb/2008-October/029839.html, old version here [http://linuxtv.org/pipermail/linux-dvb/2008-September/029079.html]. This has been confirmed working with
the s2 and s2-mfe (multiple frontend) trees.

A [[VDR]] patch adding S2API support for DVB-S, DVB-S2, DVB-T and DVB-C is available here:
http://linuxtv.org/pipermail/linux-dvb/2008-October/029575.html. [[VDR]] supports officially S2API since 1.7.0, but you should use the newest 1.7.x version.

Driver code is largely independent of the API used, and hooking up an existing driver to work with a different
API is quite simple (much easier than writing the driver in the first place), so this can be expected to
progress rapidly. Similarly, for application code (e.g. [[Kaffeine]], [[MythTV]] or [[VDR]]) the number of lines of code required to tune to a channel is small, and can easily be changed for a different API. For these reasons the
selection of the best API may be considered independently from the available ported drivers and applications.
In particular, the existing multiproto drivers will not be lost -- with simple modifications they will become S2API drivers. Since the information transmitted across the API to the driver simply reflects the parameters
defined by the digital media standards (not the receiver hardware), moving a driver to a different API simply
involves packing and unpacking the same information to and from a different format.

===Code review and merge===

Code review round 1 is summarized here http://linuxtv.org/pipermail/linux-dvb/2008-September/028658.html. The quality and quantity of technical feedback from developers are encouraging. Some developers have contributed patches
for new features, device support and bug fixes. A number of the suggested changes have been incorporated and published for code review round 2. Status report here http://linuxtv.org/pipermail/linux-dvb/2008-September/028731.html.

S2API and multiproto were reviewed at the Linux Plumbers' Conference in Portland, Oregon, Wed 17th - Fri 19th September 2008: http://linuxplumbersconf.org/program/microconfs/getmc.php?mc=chehab08. See [http://www.linuxtv.org/downloads/presentations/plumbers2008/stoth_dvb_round_table_new_api.pdf DVB round table -- New API].

An announcement regarding the conclusions of the review was made by the maintainer : http://linuxtv.org/pipermail/linux-dvb/2008-September/029155.html. S2API was selected for inclusion
in kernel 2.6.28. It was intended to add support for products with the STB0899 demodulator (TT-3200 and others)
before then, in addition to the device support listed above. Multiproto will therefore not be included in the Linux
kernel. This decision is final.

Kernel 2.6.27 was released on 9 Oct 2008 and the merge window for kernel 2.6.28 has opened and closed.
See http://lkml.org and
http://www.linuxfoundation.org/en/Linux_Weather_Forecast. The pull request to merge the S2API tree, including API and drivers, was issued (http://linuxtv.org/pipermail/linux-dvb/2008-September/029313.html) and S2API was merged into v4l-dvb. A review of the multiple frontend tree (s2-mfe) was conducted and it was merged into v4l-dvb. A review of the STB0899 support has also been started -- users and developers are invited to comment in the mailing list linux-dvb@linuxtv.org.
Kernel 2.6.28 was released on 24 Dec 2008, including S2API and the drivers which were ready at that
time.

===Documentation===

S2API is not (hopefully not yet) documented in [http://www.linuxtv.org/docs/dvbapi/dvbapi.html DVB API documentation], the current document version describes still the old DVB API 3.2.

[[Category:Development]]

LinuxTV dvb-apps

2010-10-20T12:24:02Z

Bpringle: /* Obtaining the dvb-apps package */

The LinuxTV dvb-apps package contains some Linux DVB API applications and a set of utilities that both the developer and end user alike will find quite useful. Specifically, the utilities are geared towards the initial setup, testing, and operation of a DVB device, whether it be of the [[budget|software decoding (a.k.a. 'budget')]] or [[Full-featured Card|hardware decoding (a.k.a. 'premium' or 'full-featured')]] class.

==Obtaining the dvb-apps package==
The dvb-apps package source code is available from the [[LinuxTV]] website and can be retrieved via [http://www.linuxtv.org/repo/#mercurial Mercurial (Hg)].

The download and build procedure is very simple:

hg clone http://linuxtv.org/hg/dvb-apps # download the tarball link below and extract if you don't have mercurial.
cd dvb-apps
make
sudo make install

There are some very old tarballs, compressed in [http://www.linuxtv.org/download/dvb/linuxtv-dvb-apps-1.1.1.tar.bz2 tar.bz2] and [http://www.linuxtv.org/download/dvb/linuxtv-dvb-apps-1.1.1.tar.gz tar.gz] formats. The latest [http://linuxtv.org/hg/dvb-apps/archive/tip.tar.gz tarball] of dvb-apps is provided by Mercurial (Hg).

Alternatively, if the package is maintained in a repository available for your "distro", then you can obtain a pre-built version with your package manager. Note, however, that not all Linux distributions ('distros') refer to the package by the proper "dvb-apps" name. The Debian package name for it, for example, is "dvb-utils". In other cases, you may also sometimes see it called "dvbtools". This is an '''insane''' situation, which creates much confusion; additional to the fact that [[DVB tools]] is itself the name of another project (not associated with LinuxTV) that features its own set of DVB related utilities. In any regard, the following provides a few examples with common distros

:* To install it on a debian etch system:
::: <code># apt-get install dvb-utils</code>

:* To install it on a debian lenny or ubuntu system:
::: <code># apt-get install dvb-apps</code>

:* With gentoo:
::: <code># emerge linuxtv-dvb-apps</code>

:* Using Fedora, assume root privileges then install the dvb utilities with:
::: <code> # yum install dvb-apps</code>

:* Using Suse, assume root privileges then install the dvb utilities with:
::: <code> # zypper install dvb</code>

:* Using OpenEmbedded, assume root privileges then install the dvb utilities with:
::: <code> # bitbake dvb-apps</code>

:* With Arch Linux:
::: <code># pacman -S linuxtv-dvb-apps</code>

==List of utilities within 'dvb-apps'==
The README file in the top level of the package gives a brief description of the package's contents, but in general, some of the items of interest that you will find are:

===Libraries===
* libdvbapi - Interface library to digital TV devices.
* libdvbcfg - Library to parse/create digital TV channel configuration files.
* libdvbsec - Library for Satellite Equipment Control operations.
* libucsi - Fast MPEG2 Transport Stream SI table parsing library.
** Also includes routines for parsing ATSC EIT and ETT tables, which are the EPG (electronic program guide) structures for ATSC.
* libdvben50221- Complete implementation of a CENELEC (European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization) EN 50221 CAM stack.
* libdvbmisc - Miscellaneous utilities used by the other libraries.
* libesg - ??? Electronic Service Guide parser?

===/util directory===

*Main User Applications:
**[[Scan|scan]]: the original [[Frequency scan|frequency scanning]] tool used to generate channel lists
**[[dvbscan]]: another [[Frequency scan|frequency scanning]] tool used to generate channel lists .... some distro package managers have rebranded this as "scandvb" ... also note that "atscscan", if included, is simply a copy of dvbscan. The DVB or ATSC protocol is determined by a tuning file feed to these programs. Tuning files are kept in the scan/atsc, scan/dvb-[csth] directories. This program discovers carriers on candidate frequencies and also determines ''sub-channels''. ''sub-channels'' may be the main program at a lower data rate or completely new content. With the output produced, a short name can be used to identify the frequency and the streams needed to get a ''channel''.
**[[Zap|czap, szap, tzap]]: tuning utilities for DVB-C, DVB-S, DVB-T. These change the channel/sub-channel as identified by the file output by ''scan'' above.
**[[Zap|azap]]: tuning utility for ATSC.
**util/gnutv - Tune, watch and stream your TV. I.e. a DVB UI.

*General Utilities:
**util/dvbdate - Read date time information from the currently tuned multiplex.
**util/dvbnet - Control digital data network interfaces. DVB network interface manager (IP over DVB).
**util/dvbtraffic - Monitor traffic on a digital device. PID analysis of currently tuned multiplex.
**util/femon - Frontend (fe) monitor. Monitor the tuning status on a digital TV device.
**util/zap - *Just* tunes a digital device - really intended for developers. Note that this is a seperate app then those ''*zap'' utilities listed above.
**util/atsc_epg - Recent versions of dvb-apps include a program to print out the next three hours worth of programs on a given frequency (for ATSC only).

*Hardware Specific Utilities:
**util/av7110_loadkeys - A utiltity to load IR remote keymaps into an av7110 based card using the /proc/av7110_ir interface
**util/dib3000-watch - Monitor DIB3000 demodulators
**util/dst-utils/dst-test - Utilities for DST based cards.
**util/ttusb_dec_reset - Reset a TechnoTrends TTUSB DEC device.

===/test directory===
*diseqc: Sends various diseqc sequences on a SAT frontend.
*set22k: Legacy tone switching for SAT frontends.
*setvoltage: Legacy voltage switching for SAT frontends.
*setpid: Set video and audio PIDs in the demux (only for hardware MPEG decoder)
*video: tiny video watching application
*test_sections: Hex dump of section data from stream.
*test_sec_ne: Like test_sections, but also test Not-Equal filter mode.
*test_pes: Hex dump of PES data from stream.
*test_tt: Demonstrate teletext decoding from PES data.
*test_av: Test audio and video MPEG decoder API.
*test_vevent: Test VIDEO_GET_EVENT and poll() for video events
*test_stc: Test DMX_GET_STC.
*test_stillimage: Display single iframes as stillimages
*test_dvr: Record a partial transport stream of selected PIDs to a file or a full stream if supported by the hardware

==TODO==

* Start numbering the versions. Yes, with a repo every commit is a kind of version, but in the real world of distros and end users you need to define version numbers as easy reference points.
* Tag versioned releases and make src tarballs for the distros.
* Add ChangeLog and TODO files (and keep them up to date of course).
* Review the names of the apps and change where necessary. Perhaps ''scan'' is too ambiguous a name in a general-purpose system where all sorts of things can be scanned (with scanners, fax machines, barcode readers, etc.).
* Implement API version 5 scanning and zapping for DVB-S2 channels. See [[S2API]], [[scan-s2]] and [[szap-s2]]. There's a work undergoing to implement support to DVB API v5 for ISDB-T that also adds DVB API v5 to other transports at [http://linuxtv.org/hg/~mchehab/dvb-apps-isdbt2/].
* Improve the channels.conf file format so that one file can represent all the channels. Need to
**(a) identify the source (S13.0E, S19.2E, Terrestrial, etc)
**(b) identify the delivery system (DVB-S, DVB-S2, DVB-T etc)
**(c) be able to represent all the parameters required for all the delivery systems in a unified way. For example DVB-S2 has some new paramters (e.g. rolloff). The "VDR" format was expanded for this, but in a messy way.
* Make sure there is one true format -- no "zap" versus "VDR" format confusion.
* Merge all the *zap programs. You unified the channels.conf file so this is next.

==Links==
* See "[[Testing your DVB device]]" for usage examples of some of these tools.

[[Category:Software]]

LinuxTV dvb-apps

2010-10-19T23:14:59Z

Bpringle: /* Obtaining the dvb-apps package */

The LinuxTV dvb-apps package contains some Linux DVB API applications and a set of utilities that both the developer and end user alike will find quite useful. Specifically, the utilities are geared towards the initial setup, testing, and operation of a DVB device, whether it be of the [[budget|software decoding (a.k.a. 'budget')]] or [[Full-featured Card|hardware decoding (a.k.a. 'premium' or 'full-featured')]] class.

==Obtaining the dvb-apps package==
The dvb-apps package source code is available from the [[LinuxTV]] website and can be retrieved via [http://www.linuxtv.org/repo/#mercurial Mercurial (Hg)].

The download and build procedure is very simple:

hg clone http://linuxtv.org/hg/dvb-apps
cd dvb-apps
make
sudo make install

There are some very old tarballs, compressed in [http://www.linuxtv.org/download/dvb/linuxtv-dvb-apps-1.1.1.tar.bz2 tar.bz2] and [http://www.linuxtv.org/download/dvb/linuxtv-dvb-apps-1.1.1.tar.gz tar.gz] formats. The latest [http://linuxtv.org/hg/dvb-apps/archive/tip.tar.gz tarball] of dvb-apps is provided by Mercurial (Hg).

Alternatively, if the package is maintained in a repository available for your "distro", then you can obtain a pre-built version with your package manager. Note, however, that not all Linux distributions ('distros') refer to the package by the proper "dvb-apps" name. The Debian package name for it, for example, is "dvb-utils". In other cases, you may also sometimes see it called "dvbtools". This is an '''insane''' situation, which creates much confusion; additional to the fact that [[DVB tools]] is itself the name of another project (not associated with LinuxTV) that features its own set of DVB related utilities. In any regard, the following provides a few examples with common distros

:* To install it on a debian etch system:
::: <code># apt-get install dvb-utils</code>

:* To install it on a debian lenny or ubuntu system:
::: <code># apt-get install dvb-apps</code>

:* With gentoo:
::: <code># emerge linuxtv-dvb-apps</code>

:* Using Fedora, assume root privileges then install the dvb utilities with:
::: <code> # yum install dvb-apps</code>

:* Using Suse, assume root privileges then install the dvb utilities with:
::: <code> # zypper install dvb</code>

:* Using OpenEmbedded, assume root privileges then install the dvb utilities with:
::: <code> # bitbake dvb-apps</code>

:* With Arch Linux:
::: <code># pacman -S linuxtv-dvb-apps</code>

==List of utilities within 'dvb-apps'==
The README file in the top level of the package gives a brief description of the package's contents, but in general, some of the items of interest that you will find are:

===Libraries===
* libdvbapi - Interface library to digital TV devices.
* libdvbcfg - Library to parse/create digital TV channel configuration files.
* libdvbsec - Library for Satellite Equipment Control operations.
* libucsi - Fast MPEG2 Transport Stream SI table parsing library.
** Also includes routines for parsing ATSC EIT and ETT tables, which are the EPG (electronic program guide) structures for ATSC.
* libdvben50221- Complete implementation of a CENELEC (European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization) EN 50221 CAM stack.
* libdvbmisc - Miscellaneous utilities used by the other libraries.
* libesg - ??? Electronic Service Guide parser?

===/util directory===

*Main User Applications:
**[[Scan|scan]]: the original [[Frequency scan|frequency scanning]] tool used to generate channel lists
**[[dvbscan]]: another [[Frequency scan|frequency scanning]] tool used to generate channel lists .... some distro package managers have rebranded this as "scandvb" ... also note that "atscscan", if included, is simply a copy of dvbscan. The DVB or ATSC protocol is determined by a tuning file feed to these programs. Tuning files are kept in the scan/atsc, scan/dvb-[csth] directories. This program discovers carriers on candidate frequencies and also determines ''sub-channels''. ''sub-channels'' may be the main program at a lower data rate or completely new content. With the output produced, a short name can be used to identify the frequency and the streams needed to get a ''channel''.
**[[Zap|czap, szap, tzap]]: tuning utilities for DVB-C, DVB-S, DVB-T. These change the channel/sub-channel as identified by the file output by ''scan'' above.
**[[Zap|azap]]: tuning utility for ATSC.
**util/gnutv - Tune, watch and stream your TV. I.e. a DVB UI.

*General Utilities:
**util/dvbdate - Read date time information from the currently tuned multiplex.
**util/dvbnet - Control digital data network interfaces. DVB network interface manager (IP over DVB).
**util/dvbtraffic - Monitor traffic on a digital device. PID analysis of currently tuned multiplex.
**util/femon - Frontend (fe) monitor. Monitor the tuning status on a digital TV device.
**util/zap - *Just* tunes a digital device - really intended for developers. Note that this is a seperate app then those ''*zap'' utilities listed above.
**util/atsc_epg - Recent versions of dvb-apps include a program to print out the next three hours worth of programs on a given frequency (for ATSC only).

*Hardware Specific Utilities:
**util/av7110_loadkeys - A utiltity to load IR remote keymaps into an av7110 based card using the /proc/av7110_ir interface
**util/dib3000-watch - Monitor DIB3000 demodulators
**util/dst-utils/dst-test - Utilities for DST based cards.
**util/ttusb_dec_reset - Reset a TechnoTrends TTUSB DEC device.

===/test directory===
*diseqc: Sends various diseqc sequences on a SAT frontend.
*set22k: Legacy tone switching for SAT frontends.
*setvoltage: Legacy voltage switching for SAT frontends.
*setpid: Set video and audio PIDs in the demux (only for hardware MPEG decoder)
*video: tiny video watching application
*test_sections: Hex dump of section data from stream.
*test_sec_ne: Like test_sections, but also test Not-Equal filter mode.
*test_pes: Hex dump of PES data from stream.
*test_tt: Demonstrate teletext decoding from PES data.
*test_av: Test audio and video MPEG decoder API.
*test_vevent: Test VIDEO_GET_EVENT and poll() for video events
*test_stc: Test DMX_GET_STC.
*test_stillimage: Display single iframes as stillimages
*test_dvr: Record a partial transport stream of selected PIDs to a file or a full stream if supported by the hardware

==TODO==

* Start numbering the versions. Yes, with a repo every commit is a kind of version, but in the real world of distros and end users you need to define version numbers as easy reference points.
* Tag versioned releases and make src tarballs for the distros.
* Add ChangeLog and TODO files (and keep them up to date of course).
* Review the names of the apps and change where necessary. Perhaps ''scan'' is too ambiguous a name in a general-purpose system where all sorts of things can be scanned (with scanners, fax machines, barcode readers, etc.).
* Implement API version 5 scanning and zapping for DVB-S2 channels. See [[S2API]], [[scan-s2]] and [[szap-s2]]. There's a work undergoing to implement support to DVB API v5 for ISDB-T that also adds DVB API v5 to other transports at [http://linuxtv.org/hg/~mchehab/dvb-apps-isdbt2/].
* Improve the channels.conf file format so that one file can represent all the channels. Need to
**(a) identify the source (S13.0E, S19.2E, Terrestrial, etc)
**(b) identify the delivery system (DVB-S, DVB-S2, DVB-T etc)
**(c) be able to represent all the parameters required for all the delivery systems in a unified way. For example DVB-S2 has some new paramters (e.g. rolloff). The "VDR" format was expanded for this, but in a messy way.
* Make sure there is one true format -- no "zap" versus "VDR" format confusion.
* Merge all the *zap programs. You unified the channels.conf file so this is next.

==Links==
* See "[[Testing your DVB device]]" for usage examples of some of these tools.

[[Category:Software]]

LinuxTV dvb-apps

2010-10-18T05:13:17Z

Bpringle: /* /util directory */

The LinuxTV dvb-apps package contains some Linux DVB API applications and a set of utilities that both the developer and end user alike will find quite useful. Specifically, the utilities are geared towards the initial setup, testing, and operation of a DVB device, whether it be of the [[budget|software decoding (a.k.a. 'budget')]] or [[Full-featured Card|hardware decoding (a.k.a. 'premium' or 'full-featured')]] class.

==Obtaining the dvb-apps package==
The dvb-apps package source code is available from the [[LinuxTV]] website and can be retrieved via [http://www.linuxtv.org/repo/#mercurial Mercurial (Hg)].

The download and build procedure is very simple:

hg clone http://linuxtv.org/hg/dvb-apps
cd dvb-apps
make
sudo make install

There are some very old tarballs, compressed in [http://www.linuxtv.org/download/dvb/linuxtv-dvb-apps-1.1.1.tar.bz2 tar.bz2] and [http://www.linuxtv.org/download/dvb/linuxtv-dvb-apps-1.1.1.tar.gz tar.gz] formats.

Alternatively, if the package is maintained in a repository available for your "distro", then you can obtain a pre-built version with your package manager. Note, however, that not all Linux distributions ('distros') refer to the package by the proper "dvb-apps" name. The Debian package name for it, for example, is "dvb-utils". In other cases, you may also sometimes see it called "dvbtools". This is an '''insane''' situation, which creates much confusion; additional to the fact that [[DVB tools]] is itself the name of another project (not associated with LinuxTV) that features its own set of DVB related utilities. In any regard, the following provides a few examples with common distros

:* To install it on a debian etch system:
::: <code># apt-get install dvb-utils</code>

:* To install it on a debian lenny or ubuntu system:
::: <code># apt-get install dvb-apps</code>

:* With gentoo:
::: <code># emerge linuxtv-dvb-apps</code>

:* Using Fedora, assume root privileges then install the dvb utilities with:
::: <code> # yum install dvb-apps</code>

:* Using Suse, assume root privileges then install the dvb utilities with:
::: <code> # zypper install dvb</code>

:* Using OpenEmbedded, assume root privileges then install the dvb utilities with:
::: <code> # bitbake dvb-apps</code>

:* With Arch Linux:
::: <code># pacman -S linuxtv-dvb-apps</code>

==List of utilities within 'dvb-apps'==
The README file in the top level of the package gives a brief description of the package's contents, but in general, some of the items of interest that you will find are:

===Libraries===
* libdvbapi - Interface library to digital TV devices.
* libdvbcfg - Library to parse/create digital TV channel configuration files.
* libdvbsec - Library for Satellite Equipment Control operations.
* libucsi - Fast MPEG2 Transport Stream SI table parsing library.
** Also includes routines for parsing ATSC EIT and ETT tables, which are the EPG (electronic program guide) structures for ATSC.
* libdvben50221- Complete implementation of a CENELEC (European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization) EN 50221 CAM stack.
* libdvbmisc - Miscellaneous utilities used by the other libraries.
* libesg - ??? Electronic Service Guide parser?

===/util directory===

*Main User Applications:
**[[Scan|scan]]: the original [[Frequency scan|frequency scanning]] tool used to generate channel lists
**[[dvbscan]]: another [[Frequency scan|frequency scanning]] tool used to generate channel lists .... some distro package managers have rebranded this as "scandvb" ... also note that "atscscan", if included, is simply a copy of dvbscan. The DVB or ATSC protocol is determined by a tuning file feed to these programs. Tuning files are kept in the scan/atsc, scan/dvb-[csth] directories. This program discovers carriers on candidate frequencies and also determines ''sub-channels''. ''sub-channels'' may be the main program at a lower data rate or completely new content. With the output produced, a short name can be used to identify the frequency and the streams needed to get a ''channel''.
**[[Zap|czap, szap, tzap]]: tuning utilities for DVB-C, DVB-S, DVB-T. These change the channel/sub-channel as identified by the file output by ''scan'' above.
**[[Zap|azap]]: tuning utility for ATSC.
**util/gnutv - Tune, watch and stream your TV. I.e. a DVB UI.

*General Utilities:
**util/dvbdate - Read date time information from the currently tuned multiplex.
**util/dvbnet - Control digital data network interfaces. DVB network interface manager (IP over DVB).
**util/dvbtraffic - Monitor traffic on a digital device. PID analysis of currently tuned multiplex.
**util/femon - Frontend (fe) monitor. Monitor the tuning status on a digital TV device.
**util/zap - *Just* tunes a digital device - really intended for developers. Note that this is a seperate app then those ''*zap'' utilities listed above.
**util/atsc_epg - Recent versions of dvb-apps include a program to print out the next three hours worth of programs on a given frequency (for ATSC only).

*Hardware Specific Utilities:
**util/av7110_loadkeys - A utiltity to load IR remote keymaps into an av7110 based card using the /proc/av7110_ir interface
**util/dib3000-watch - Monitor DIB3000 demodulators
**util/dst-utils/dst-test - Utilities for DST based cards.
**util/ttusb_dec_reset - Reset a TechnoTrends TTUSB DEC device.

===/test directory===
*diseqc: Sends various diseqc sequences on a SAT frontend.
*set22k: Legacy tone switching for SAT frontends.
*setvoltage: Legacy voltage switching for SAT frontends.
*setpid: Set video and audio PIDs in the demux (only for hardware MPEG decoder)
*video: tiny video watching application
*test_sections: Hex dump of section data from stream.
*test_sec_ne: Like test_sections, but also test Not-Equal filter mode.
*test_pes: Hex dump of PES data from stream.
*test_tt: Demonstrate teletext decoding from PES data.
*test_av: Test audio and video MPEG decoder API.
*test_vevent: Test VIDEO_GET_EVENT and poll() for video events
*test_stc: Test DMX_GET_STC.
*test_stillimage: Display single iframes as stillimages
*test_dvr: Record a partial transport stream of selected PIDs to a file or a full stream if supported by the hardware

==TODO==

* Start numbering the versions. Yes, with a repo every commit is a kind of version, but in the real world of distros and end users you need to define version numbers as easy reference points.
* Tag versioned releases and make src tarballs for the distros.
* Add ChangeLog and TODO files (and keep them up to date of course).
* Review the names of the apps and change where necessary. Perhaps ''scan'' is too ambiguous a name in a general-purpose system where all sorts of things can be scanned (with scanners, fax machines, barcode readers, etc.).
* Implement API version 5 scanning and zapping for DVB-S2 channels. See [[S2API]], [[scan-s2]] and [[szap-s2]]. There's a work undergoing to implement support to DVB API v5 for ISDB-T that also adds DVB API v5 to other transports at [http://linuxtv.org/hg/~mchehab/dvb-apps-isdbt2/].
* Improve the channels.conf file format so that one file can represent all the channels. Need to
**(a) identify the source (S13.0E, S19.2E, Terrestrial, etc)
**(b) identify the delivery system (DVB-S, DVB-S2, DVB-T etc)
**(c) be able to represent all the parameters required for all the delivery systems in a unified way. For example DVB-S2 has some new paramters (e.g. rolloff). The "VDR" format was expanded for this, but in a messy way.
* Make sure there is one true format -- no "zap" versus "VDR" format confusion.
* Merge all the *zap programs. You unified the channels.conf file so this is next.

==Links==
* See "[[Testing your DVB device]]" for usage examples of some of these tools.

[[Category:Software]]

LinuxTV dvb-apps

2010-10-18T05:05:53Z

Bpringle: /* /util directory */

The LinuxTV dvb-apps package contains some Linux DVB API applications and a set of utilities that both the developer and end user alike will find quite useful. Specifically, the utilities are geared towards the initial setup, testing, and operation of a DVB device, whether it be of the [[budget|software decoding (a.k.a. 'budget')]] or [[Full-featured Card|hardware decoding (a.k.a. 'premium' or 'full-featured')]] class.

==Obtaining the dvb-apps package==
The dvb-apps package source code is available from the [[LinuxTV]] website and can be retrieved via [http://www.linuxtv.org/repo/#mercurial Mercurial (Hg)].

The download and build procedure is very simple:

hg clone http://linuxtv.org/hg/dvb-apps
cd dvb-apps
make
sudo make install

There are some very old tarballs, compressed in [http://www.linuxtv.org/download/dvb/linuxtv-dvb-apps-1.1.1.tar.bz2 tar.bz2] and [http://www.linuxtv.org/download/dvb/linuxtv-dvb-apps-1.1.1.tar.gz tar.gz] formats.

Alternatively, if the package is maintained in a repository available for your "distro", then you can obtain a pre-built version with your package manager. Note, however, that not all Linux distributions ('distros') refer to the package by the proper "dvb-apps" name. The Debian package name for it, for example, is "dvb-utils". In other cases, you may also sometimes see it called "dvbtools". This is an '''insane''' situation, which creates much confusion; additional to the fact that [[DVB tools]] is itself the name of another project (not associated with LinuxTV) that features its own set of DVB related utilities. In any regard, the following provides a few examples with common distros

:* To install it on a debian etch system:
::: <code># apt-get install dvb-utils</code>

:* To install it on a debian lenny or ubuntu system:
::: <code># apt-get install dvb-apps</code>

:* With gentoo:
::: <code># emerge linuxtv-dvb-apps</code>

:* Using Fedora, assume root privileges then install the dvb utilities with:
::: <code> # yum install dvb-apps</code>

:* Using Suse, assume root privileges then install the dvb utilities with:
::: <code> # zypper install dvb</code>

:* Using OpenEmbedded, assume root privileges then install the dvb utilities with:
::: <code> # bitbake dvb-apps</code>

:* With Arch Linux:
::: <code># pacman -S linuxtv-dvb-apps</code>

==List of utilities within 'dvb-apps'==
The README file in the top level of the package gives a brief description of the package's contents, but in general, some of the items of interest that you will find are:

===Libraries===
* libdvbapi - Interface library to digital TV devices.
* libdvbcfg - Library to parse/create digital TV channel configuration files.
* libdvbsec - Library for Satellite Equipment Control operations.
* libucsi - Fast MPEG2 Transport Stream SI table parsing library.
** Also includes routines for parsing ATSC EIT and ETT tables, which are the EPG (electronic program guide) structures for ATSC.
* libdvben50221- Complete implementation of a CENELEC (European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization) EN 50221 CAM stack.
* libdvbmisc - Miscellaneous utilities used by the other libraries.
* libesg - ??? Electronic Service Guide parser?

===/util directory===

*Main User Applications:
**[[Scan|scan]]: the original [[Frequency scan|frequency scanning]] tool used to generate channel lists
**[[dvbscan]]: another [[Frequency scan|frequency scanning]] tool used to generate channel lists .... some distro package managers have rebranded this as "scandvb" ... also note that "atscscan", if included, is simply a copy of dvbscan. The DVB or ATSC protocol is determined by a tuning file feed to these programs. Tuning files are kept in the scan/atsc, scan/dvb-[csth] directories.
**[[Zap|czap, szap, tzap]]: tuning utilities for DVB-C, DVB-S, DVB-T.
**[[Zap|azap]]: tuning utility for ATSC.
**util/gnutv - Tune, watch and stream your TV. I.e. a DVB UI.

*General Utilities:
**util/dvbdate - Read date time information from the currently tuned multiplex.
**util/dvbnet - Control digital data network interfaces. DVB network interface manager (IP over DVB).
**util/dvbtraffic - Monitor traffic on a digital device. PID analysis of currently tuned multiplex.
**util/femon - Frontend (fe) monitor. Monitor the tuning status on a digital TV device.
**util/zap - *Just* tunes a digital device - really intended for developers. Note that this is a seperate app then those ''*zap'' utilities listed above.
**util/atsc_epg - Recent versions of dvb-apps include a program to print out the next three hours worth of programs on a given frequency (for ATSC only).

*Hardware Specific Utilities:
**util/av7110_loadkeys - A utiltity to load IR remote keymaps into an av7110 based card using the /proc/av7110_ir interface
**util/dib3000-watch - Monitor DIB3000 demodulators
**util/dst-utils/dst-test - Utilities for DST based cards.
**util/ttusb_dec_reset - Reset a TechnoTrends TTUSB DEC device.

===/test directory===
*diseqc: Sends various diseqc sequences on a SAT frontend.
*set22k: Legacy tone switching for SAT frontends.
*setvoltage: Legacy voltage switching for SAT frontends.
*setpid: Set video and audio PIDs in the demux (only for hardware MPEG decoder)
*video: tiny video watching application
*test_sections: Hex dump of section data from stream.
*test_sec_ne: Like test_sections, but also test Not-Equal filter mode.
*test_pes: Hex dump of PES data from stream.
*test_tt: Demonstrate teletext decoding from PES data.
*test_av: Test audio and video MPEG decoder API.
*test_vevent: Test VIDEO_GET_EVENT and poll() for video events
*test_stc: Test DMX_GET_STC.
*test_stillimage: Display single iframes as stillimages
*test_dvr: Record a partial transport stream of selected PIDs to a file or a full stream if supported by the hardware

==TODO==

* Start numbering the versions. Yes, with a repo every commit is a kind of version, but in the real world of distros and end users you need to define version numbers as easy reference points.
* Tag versioned releases and make src tarballs for the distros.
* Add ChangeLog and TODO files (and keep them up to date of course).
* Review the names of the apps and change where necessary. Perhaps ''scan'' is too ambiguous a name in a general-purpose system where all sorts of things can be scanned (with scanners, fax machines, barcode readers, etc.).
* Implement API version 5 scanning and zapping for DVB-S2 channels. See [[S2API]], [[scan-s2]] and [[szap-s2]]. There's a work undergoing to implement support to DVB API v5 for ISDB-T that also adds DVB API v5 to other transports at [http://linuxtv.org/hg/~mchehab/dvb-apps-isdbt2/].
* Improve the channels.conf file format so that one file can represent all the channels. Need to
**(a) identify the source (S13.0E, S19.2E, Terrestrial, etc)
**(b) identify the delivery system (DVB-S, DVB-S2, DVB-T etc)
**(c) be able to represent all the parameters required for all the delivery systems in a unified way. For example DVB-S2 has some new paramters (e.g. rolloff). The "VDR" format was expanded for this, but in a messy way.
* Make sure there is one true format -- no "zap" versus "VDR" format confusion.
* Merge all the *zap programs. You unified the channels.conf file so this is next.

==Links==
* See "[[Testing your DVB device]]" for usage examples of some of these tools.

[[Category:Software]]

LinuxTV dvb-apps

2010-10-18T05:01:40Z

Bpringle: /* /util directory */

The LinuxTV dvb-apps package contains some Linux DVB API applications and a set of utilities that both the developer and end user alike will find quite useful. Specifically, the utilities are geared towards the initial setup, testing, and operation of a DVB device, whether it be of the [[budget|software decoding (a.k.a. 'budget')]] or [[Full-featured Card|hardware decoding (a.k.a. 'premium' or 'full-featured')]] class.

==Obtaining the dvb-apps package==
The dvb-apps package source code is available from the [[LinuxTV]] website and can be retrieved via [http://www.linuxtv.org/repo/#mercurial Mercurial (Hg)].

The download and build procedure is very simple:

hg clone http://linuxtv.org/hg/dvb-apps
cd dvb-apps
make
sudo make install

There are some very old tarballs, compressed in [http://www.linuxtv.org/download/dvb/linuxtv-dvb-apps-1.1.1.tar.bz2 tar.bz2] and [http://www.linuxtv.org/download/dvb/linuxtv-dvb-apps-1.1.1.tar.gz tar.gz] formats.

Alternatively, if the package is maintained in a repository available for your "distro", then you can obtain a pre-built version with your package manager. Note, however, that not all Linux distributions ('distros') refer to the package by the proper "dvb-apps" name. The Debian package name for it, for example, is "dvb-utils". In other cases, you may also sometimes see it called "dvbtools". This is an '''insane''' situation, which creates much confusion; additional to the fact that [[DVB tools]] is itself the name of another project (not associated with LinuxTV) that features its own set of DVB related utilities. In any regard, the following provides a few examples with common distros

:* To install it on a debian etch system:
::: <code># apt-get install dvb-utils</code>

:* To install it on a debian lenny or ubuntu system:
::: <code># apt-get install dvb-apps</code>

:* With gentoo:
::: <code># emerge linuxtv-dvb-apps</code>

:* Using Fedora, assume root privileges then install the dvb utilities with:
::: <code> # yum install dvb-apps</code>

:* Using Suse, assume root privileges then install the dvb utilities with:
::: <code> # zypper install dvb</code>

:* Using OpenEmbedded, assume root privileges then install the dvb utilities with:
::: <code> # bitbake dvb-apps</code>

:* With Arch Linux:
::: <code># pacman -S linuxtv-dvb-apps</code>

==List of utilities within 'dvb-apps'==
The README file in the top level of the package gives a brief description of the package's contents, but in general, some of the items of interest that you will find are:

===Libraries===
* libdvbapi - Interface library to digital TV devices.
* libdvbcfg - Library to parse/create digital TV channel configuration files.
* libdvbsec - Library for Satellite Equipment Control operations.
* libucsi - Fast MPEG2 Transport Stream SI table parsing library.
** Also includes routines for parsing ATSC EIT and ETT tables, which are the EPG (electronic program guide) structures for ATSC.
* libdvben50221- Complete implementation of a CENELEC (European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization) EN 50221 CAM stack.
* libdvbmisc - Miscellaneous utilities used by the other libraries.
* libesg - ??? Electronic Service Guide parser?

===/util directory===

*Main User Applications:
**[[Scan|scan]]: the original [[Frequency scan|frequency scanning]] tool used to generate channel lists
**[[dvbscan]]: another [[Frequency scan|frequency scanning]] tool used to generate channel lists .... some distro package managers have rebranded this as "scandvb" ... also note that "atscscan", if included, is simply a copy of dvbscan
**[[Zap|czap, szap, tzap]]: tuning utilities for DVB-C, DVB-S, DVB-T.
**[[Zap|azap]]: tuning utility for ATSC.
**util/gnutv - Tune, watch and stream your TV. I.e. a DVB UI.

*General Utilities:
**util/dvbdate - Read date time information from the currently tuned multiplex.
**util/dvbnet - Control digital data network interfaces. DVB network interface manager (IP over DVB).
**util/dvbtraffic - Monitor traffic on a digital device. PID analysis of currently tuned multiplex.
**util/femon - Frontend (fe) monitor. Monitor the tuning status on a digital TV device.
**util/zap - *Just* tunes a digital device - really intended for developers. Note that this is a seperate app then those ''*zap'' utilities listed above.
**util/atsc_epg - Recent versions of dvb-apps include a program to print out the next three hours worth of programs on a given frequency (for ATSC only).

*Hardware Specific Utilities:
**util/av7110_loadkeys - A utiltity to load IR remote keymaps into an av7110 based card using the /proc/av7110_ir interface
**util/dib3000-watch - Monitor DIB3000 demodulators
**util/dst-utils/dst-test - Utilities for DST based cards.
**util/ttusb_dec_reset - Reset a TechnoTrends TTUSB DEC device.

===/test directory===
*diseqc: Sends various diseqc sequences on a SAT frontend.
*set22k: Legacy tone switching for SAT frontends.
*setvoltage: Legacy voltage switching for SAT frontends.
*setpid: Set video and audio PIDs in the demux (only for hardware MPEG decoder)
*video: tiny video watching application
*test_sections: Hex dump of section data from stream.
*test_sec_ne: Like test_sections, but also test Not-Equal filter mode.
*test_pes: Hex dump of PES data from stream.
*test_tt: Demonstrate teletext decoding from PES data.
*test_av: Test audio and video MPEG decoder API.
*test_vevent: Test VIDEO_GET_EVENT and poll() for video events
*test_stc: Test DMX_GET_STC.
*test_stillimage: Display single iframes as stillimages
*test_dvr: Record a partial transport stream of selected PIDs to a file or a full stream if supported by the hardware

==TODO==

* Start numbering the versions. Yes, with a repo every commit is a kind of version, but in the real world of distros and end users you need to define version numbers as easy reference points.
* Tag versioned releases and make src tarballs for the distros.
* Add ChangeLog and TODO files (and keep them up to date of course).
* Review the names of the apps and change where necessary. Perhaps ''scan'' is too ambiguous a name in a general-purpose system where all sorts of things can be scanned (with scanners, fax machines, barcode readers, etc.).
* Implement API version 5 scanning and zapping for DVB-S2 channels. See [[S2API]], [[scan-s2]] and [[szap-s2]]. There's a work undergoing to implement support to DVB API v5 for ISDB-T that also adds DVB API v5 to other transports at [http://linuxtv.org/hg/~mchehab/dvb-apps-isdbt2/].
* Improve the channels.conf file format so that one file can represent all the channels. Need to
**(a) identify the source (S13.0E, S19.2E, Terrestrial, etc)
**(b) identify the delivery system (DVB-S, DVB-S2, DVB-T etc)
**(c) be able to represent all the parameters required for all the delivery systems in a unified way. For example DVB-S2 has some new paramters (e.g. rolloff). The "VDR" format was expanded for this, but in a messy way.
* Make sure there is one true format -- no "zap" versus "VDR" format confusion.
* Merge all the *zap programs. You unified the channels.conf file so this is next.

==Links==
* See "[[Testing your DVB device]]" for usage examples of some of these tools.

[[Category:Software]]

LinuxTV dvb-apps

2010-10-18T04:58:22Z

Bpringle: /* /util directory */ grammar.

The LinuxTV dvb-apps package contains some Linux DVB API applications and a set of utilities that both the developer and end user alike will find quite useful. Specifically, the utilities are geared towards the initial setup, testing, and operation of a DVB device, whether it be of the [[budget|software decoding (a.k.a. 'budget')]] or [[Full-featured Card|hardware decoding (a.k.a. 'premium' or 'full-featured')]] class.

==Obtaining the dvb-apps package==
The dvb-apps package source code is available from the [[LinuxTV]] website and can be retrieved via [http://www.linuxtv.org/repo/#mercurial Mercurial (Hg)].

The download and build procedure is very simple:

hg clone http://linuxtv.org/hg/dvb-apps
cd dvb-apps
make
sudo make install

There are some very old tarballs, compressed in [http://www.linuxtv.org/download/dvb/linuxtv-dvb-apps-1.1.1.tar.bz2 tar.bz2] and [http://www.linuxtv.org/download/dvb/linuxtv-dvb-apps-1.1.1.tar.gz tar.gz] formats.

Alternatively, if the package is maintained in a repository available for your "distro", then you can obtain a pre-built version with your package manager. Note, however, that not all Linux distributions ('distros') refer to the package by the proper "dvb-apps" name. The Debian package name for it, for example, is "dvb-utils". In other cases, you may also sometimes see it called "dvbtools". This is an '''insane''' situation, which creates much confusion; additional to the fact that [[DVB tools]] is itself the name of another project (not associated with LinuxTV) that features its own set of DVB related utilities. In any regard, the following provides a few examples with common distros

:* To install it on a debian etch system:
::: <code># apt-get install dvb-utils</code>

:* To install it on a debian lenny or ubuntu system:
::: <code># apt-get install dvb-apps</code>

:* With gentoo:
::: <code># emerge linuxtv-dvb-apps</code>

:* Using Fedora, assume root privileges then install the dvb utilities with:
::: <code> # yum install dvb-apps</code>

:* Using Suse, assume root privileges then install the dvb utilities with:
::: <code> # zypper install dvb</code>

:* Using OpenEmbedded, assume root privileges then install the dvb utilities with:
::: <code> # bitbake dvb-apps</code>

:* With Arch Linux:
::: <code># pacman -S linuxtv-dvb-apps</code>

==List of utilities within 'dvb-apps'==
The README file in the top level of the package gives a brief description of the package's contents, but in general, some of the items of interest that you will find are:

===Libraries===
* libdvbapi - Interface library to digital TV devices.
* libdvbcfg - Library to parse/create digital TV channel configuration files.
* libdvbsec - Library for Satellite Equipment Control operations.
* libucsi - Fast MPEG2 Transport Stream SI table parsing library.
** Also includes routines for parsing ATSC EIT and ETT tables, which are the EPG (electronic program guide) structures for ATSC.
* libdvben50221- Complete implementation of a CENELEC (European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization) EN 50221 CAM stack.
* libdvbmisc - Miscellaneous utilities used by the other libraries.
* libesg - ??? Electronic Service Guide parser?

===/util directory===

*Main User Applications:
**[[Scan|scan]]: the original [[Frequency scan|frequency scanning]] tool used to generate channel lists
**[[dvbscan]]: another [[Frequency scan|frequency scanning]] tool used to generate channel lists .... some distro package managers have rebranded this as "scandvb" ... also note that "atscscan", if included, is simply a copy of dvbscan
**[[Zap|azap, czap, szap, tzap]]: tuning utilities for DVB.
**util/gnutv - Tune, watch and stream your TV. I.e. a DVB UI.

*General Utilities:
**util/dvbdate - Read date time information from the currently tuned multiplex.
**util/dvbnet - Control digital data network interfaces. DVB network interface manager (IP over DVB).
**util/dvbtraffic - Monitor traffic on a digital device. PID analysis of currently tuned multiplex.
**util/femon - Frontend (fe) monitor. Monitor the tuning status on a digital TV device.
**util/zap - *Just* tunes a digital device - really intended for developers. Note that this is a seperate app then those ''*zap'' utilities listed above.
**util/atsc_epg - Recent versions of dvb-apps include a program to print out the next three hours worth of programs on a given frequency (for ATSC only).

*Hardware Specific Utilities:
**util/av7110_loadkeys - A utiltity to load IR remote keymaps into an av7110 based card using the /proc/av7110_ir interface
**util/dib3000-watch - Monitor DIB3000 demodulators
**util/dst-utils/dst-test - Utilities for DST based cards.
**util/ttusb_dec_reset - Reset a TechnoTrends TTUSB DEC device.

===/test directory===
*diseqc: Sends various diseqc sequences on a SAT frontend.
*set22k: Legacy tone switching for SAT frontends.
*setvoltage: Legacy voltage switching for SAT frontends.
*setpid: Set video and audio PIDs in the demux (only for hardware MPEG decoder)
*video: tiny video watching application
*test_sections: Hex dump of section data from stream.
*test_sec_ne: Like test_sections, but also test Not-Equal filter mode.
*test_pes: Hex dump of PES data from stream.
*test_tt: Demonstrate teletext decoding from PES data.
*test_av: Test audio and video MPEG decoder API.
*test_vevent: Test VIDEO_GET_EVENT and poll() for video events
*test_stc: Test DMX_GET_STC.
*test_stillimage: Display single iframes as stillimages
*test_dvr: Record a partial transport stream of selected PIDs to a file or a full stream if supported by the hardware

==TODO==

* Start numbering the versions. Yes, with a repo every commit is a kind of version, but in the real world of distros and end users you need to define version numbers as easy reference points.
* Tag versioned releases and make src tarballs for the distros.
* Add ChangeLog and TODO files (and keep them up to date of course).
* Review the names of the apps and change where necessary. Perhaps ''scan'' is too ambiguous a name in a general-purpose system where all sorts of things can be scanned (with scanners, fax machines, barcode readers, etc.).
* Implement API version 5 scanning and zapping for DVB-S2 channels. See [[S2API]], [[scan-s2]] and [[szap-s2]]. There's a work undergoing to implement support to DVB API v5 for ISDB-T that also adds DVB API v5 to other transports at [http://linuxtv.org/hg/~mchehab/dvb-apps-isdbt2/].
* Improve the channels.conf file format so that one file can represent all the channels. Need to
**(a) identify the source (S13.0E, S19.2E, Terrestrial, etc)
**(b) identify the delivery system (DVB-S, DVB-S2, DVB-T etc)
**(c) be able to represent all the parameters required for all the delivery systems in a unified way. For example DVB-S2 has some new paramters (e.g. rolloff). The "VDR" format was expanded for this, but in a messy way.
* Make sure there is one true format -- no "zap" versus "VDR" format confusion.
* Merge all the *zap programs. You unified the channels.conf file so this is next.

==Links==
* See "[[Testing your DVB device]]" for usage examples of some of these tools.

[[Category:Software]]

LinuxTV dvb-apps

2010-10-18T02:39:22Z

Bpringle: /* Libraries */

The LinuxTV dvb-apps package contains some Linux DVB API applications and a set of utilities that both the developer and end user alike will find quite useful. Specifically, the utilities are geared towards the initial setup, testing, and operation of a DVB device, whether it be of the [[budget|software decoding (a.k.a. 'budget')]] or [[Full-featured Card|hardware decoding (a.k.a. 'premium' or 'full-featured')]] class.

==Obtaining the dvb-apps package==
The dvb-apps package source code is available from the [[LinuxTV]] website and can be retrieved via [http://www.linuxtv.org/repo/#mercurial Mercurial (Hg)].

The download and build procedure is very simple:

hg clone http://linuxtv.org/hg/dvb-apps
cd dvb-apps
make
sudo make install

There are some very old tarballs, compressed in [http://www.linuxtv.org/download/dvb/linuxtv-dvb-apps-1.1.1.tar.bz2 tar.bz2] and [http://www.linuxtv.org/download/dvb/linuxtv-dvb-apps-1.1.1.tar.gz tar.gz] formats.

Alternatively, if the package is maintained in a repository available for your "distro", then you can obtain a pre-built version with your package manager. Note, however, that not all Linux distributions ('distros') refer to the package by the proper "dvb-apps" name. The Debian package name for it, for example, is "dvb-utils". In other cases, you may also sometimes see it called "dvbtools". This is an '''insane''' situation, which creates much confusion; additional to the fact that [[DVB tools]] is itself the name of another project (not associated with LinuxTV) that features its own set of DVB related utilities. In any regard, the following provides a few examples with common distros

:* To install it on a debian etch system:
::: <code># apt-get install dvb-utils</code>

:* To install it on a debian lenny or ubuntu system:
::: <code># apt-get install dvb-apps</code>

:* With gentoo:
::: <code># emerge linuxtv-dvb-apps</code>

:* Using Fedora, assume root privileges then install the dvb utilities with:
::: <code> # yum install dvb-apps</code>

:* Using Suse, assume root privileges then install the dvb utilities with:
::: <code> # zypper install dvb</code>

:* Using OpenEmbedded, assume root privileges then install the dvb utilities with:
::: <code> # bitbake dvb-apps</code>

:* With Arch Linux:
::: <code># pacman -S linuxtv-dvb-apps</code>

==List of utilities within 'dvb-apps'==
The README file in the top level of the package gives a brief description of the package's contents, but in general, some of the items of interest that you will find are:

===Libraries===
* libdvbapi - Interface library to digital TV devices.
* libdvbcfg - Library to parse/create digital TV channel configuration files.
* libdvbsec - Library for Satellite Equipment Control operations.
* libucsi - Fast MPEG2 Transport Stream SI table parsing library.
** Also includes routines for parsing ATSC EIT and ETT tables, which are the EPG (electronic program guide) structures for ATSC.
* libdvben50221- Complete implementation of a CENELEC (European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization) EN 50221 CAM stack.
* libdvbmisc - Miscellaneous utilities used by the other libraries.
* libesg - ??? Electronic Service Guide parser?

===/util directory===

*Main User Applications:
**[[Scan|scan]]: the original [[Frequency scan|frequency scanning]] tool used to generate channel lists
**[[dvbscan]]: another [[Frequency scan|frequency scanning]] tool used to generate channel lists .... some distro package managers have rebranded this as "scandvb" ... also note that "atscscan", if included, is simply a copy of dvbscan
**[[Zap|azap, czap, szap, tzap]]: tuning utilities for DVB.
**util/gnutv - Tune, watch and stream your TV. I.e. a DVB UI.

*General Utilities:
**util/dvbdate - Read date time information from the currently tuned multiplex.
**util/dvbnet - Control digital data network interfaces. DVB network interface manager (IP over DVB).
**util/dvbtraffic - Monitor traffic on a digital device. PID analysis of currently tuned multiplex.
**util/femon - Frontend (fe) monitor. Monitor the tuning status on a digital TV device.
**util/zap - *Just* tunes a digital device - really intended for developers. Note that this is a seperate app then those ''*zap'' utilities listed above.
**util/atsc_epg - Recent versions of dvb-apps include a program to print out the next three hours worth of programs on a give frequency (for ATSC only).

*Hardware Specific Utilities:
**util/av7110_loadkeys - A utiltity to load IR remote keymaps into an av7110 based card using the /proc/av7110_ir interface
**util/dib3000-watch - Monitor DIB3000 demodulators
**util/dst-utils/dst-test - Utilities for DST based cards.
**util/ttusb_dec_reset - Reset a TechnoTrends TTUSB DEC device.

===/test directory===
*diseqc: Sends various diseqc sequences on a SAT frontend.
*set22k: Legacy tone switching for SAT frontends.
*setvoltage: Legacy voltage switching for SAT frontends.
*setpid: Set video and audio PIDs in the demux (only for hardware MPEG decoder)
*video: tiny video watching application
*test_sections: Hex dump of section data from stream.
*test_sec_ne: Like test_sections, but also test Not-Equal filter mode.
*test_pes: Hex dump of PES data from stream.
*test_tt: Demonstrate teletext decoding from PES data.
*test_av: Test audio and video MPEG decoder API.
*test_vevent: Test VIDEO_GET_EVENT and poll() for video events
*test_stc: Test DMX_GET_STC.
*test_stillimage: Display single iframes as stillimages
*test_dvr: Record a partial transport stream of selected PIDs to a file or a full stream if supported by the hardware

==TODO==

* Start numbering the versions. Yes, with a repo every commit is a kind of version, but in the real world of distros and end users you need to define version numbers as easy reference points.
* Tag versioned releases and make src tarballs for the distros.
* Add ChangeLog and TODO files (and keep them up to date of course).
* Review the names of the apps and change where necessary. Perhaps ''scan'' is too ambiguous a name in a general-purpose system where all sorts of things can be scanned (with scanners, fax machines, barcode readers, etc.).
* Implement API version 5 scanning and zapping for DVB-S2 channels. See [[S2API]], [[scan-s2]] and [[szap-s2]]. There's a work undergoing to implement support to DVB API v5 for ISDB-T that also adds DVB API v5 to other transports at [http://linuxtv.org/hg/~mchehab/dvb-apps-isdbt2/].
* Improve the channels.conf file format so that one file can represent all the channels. Need to
**(a) identify the source (S13.0E, S19.2E, Terrestrial, etc)
**(b) identify the delivery system (DVB-S, DVB-S2, DVB-T etc)
**(c) be able to represent all the parameters required for all the delivery systems in a unified way. For example DVB-S2 has some new paramters (e.g. rolloff). The "VDR" format was expanded for this, but in a messy way.
* Make sure there is one true format -- no "zap" versus "VDR" format confusion.
* Merge all the *zap programs. You unified the channels.conf file so this is next.

==Links==
* See "[[Testing your DVB device]]" for usage examples of some of these tools.

[[Category:Software]]

LinuxTV dvb-apps

2010-10-18T02:34:50Z

Bpringle: /* /util directory */

The LinuxTV dvb-apps package contains some Linux DVB API applications and a set of utilities that both the developer and end user alike will find quite useful. Specifically, the utilities are geared towards the initial setup, testing, and operation of a DVB device, whether it be of the [[budget|software decoding (a.k.a. 'budget')]] or [[Full-featured Card|hardware decoding (a.k.a. 'premium' or 'full-featured')]] class.

==Obtaining the dvb-apps package==
The dvb-apps package source code is available from the [[LinuxTV]] website and can be retrieved via [http://www.linuxtv.org/repo/#mercurial Mercurial (Hg)].

The download and build procedure is very simple:

hg clone http://linuxtv.org/hg/dvb-apps
cd dvb-apps
make
sudo make install

There are some very old tarballs, compressed in [http://www.linuxtv.org/download/dvb/linuxtv-dvb-apps-1.1.1.tar.bz2 tar.bz2] and [http://www.linuxtv.org/download/dvb/linuxtv-dvb-apps-1.1.1.tar.gz tar.gz] formats.

Alternatively, if the package is maintained in a repository available for your "distro", then you can obtain a pre-built version with your package manager. Note, however, that not all Linux distributions ('distros') refer to the package by the proper "dvb-apps" name. The Debian package name for it, for example, is "dvb-utils". In other cases, you may also sometimes see it called "dvbtools". This is an '''insane''' situation, which creates much confusion; additional to the fact that [[DVB tools]] is itself the name of another project (not associated with LinuxTV) that features its own set of DVB related utilities. In any regard, the following provides a few examples with common distros

:* To install it on a debian etch system:
::: <code># apt-get install dvb-utils</code>

:* To install it on a debian lenny or ubuntu system:
::: <code># apt-get install dvb-apps</code>

:* With gentoo:
::: <code># emerge linuxtv-dvb-apps</code>

:* Using Fedora, assume root privileges then install the dvb utilities with:
::: <code> # yum install dvb-apps</code>

:* Using Suse, assume root privileges then install the dvb utilities with:
::: <code> # zypper install dvb</code>

:* Using OpenEmbedded, assume root privileges then install the dvb utilities with:
::: <code> # bitbake dvb-apps</code>

:* With Arch Linux:
::: <code># pacman -S linuxtv-dvb-apps</code>

==List of utilities within 'dvb-apps'==
The README file in the top level of the package gives a brief description of the package's contents, but in general, some of the items of interest that you will find are:

===Libraries===
* libdvbapi - Interface library to digital TV devices.
* libdvbcfg - Library to parse/create digital TV channel configuration files.
* libdvbsec - Library for Satellite Equipment Control operations.
* libucsi - Fast MPEG2 Transport Stream SI table parsing library.
* libdvben50221- Complete implementation of a CENELEC (European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization) EN 50221 CAM stack.
* libdvbmisc - Miscellaneous utilities used by the other libraries.
* libesg - ??? Electronic Service Guide parser?

===/util directory===

*Main User Applications:
**[[Scan|scan]]: the original [[Frequency scan|frequency scanning]] tool used to generate channel lists
**[[dvbscan]]: another [[Frequency scan|frequency scanning]] tool used to generate channel lists .... some distro package managers have rebranded this as "scandvb" ... also note that "atscscan", if included, is simply a copy of dvbscan
**[[Zap|azap, czap, szap, tzap]]: tuning utilities for DVB.
**util/gnutv - Tune, watch and stream your TV. I.e. a DVB UI.

*General Utilities:
**util/dvbdate - Read date time information from the currently tuned multiplex.
**util/dvbnet - Control digital data network interfaces. DVB network interface manager (IP over DVB).
**util/dvbtraffic - Monitor traffic on a digital device. PID analysis of currently tuned multiplex.
**util/femon - Frontend (fe) monitor. Monitor the tuning status on a digital TV device.
**util/zap - *Just* tunes a digital device - really intended for developers. Note that this is a seperate app then those ''*zap'' utilities listed above.
**util/atsc_epg - Recent versions of dvb-apps include a program to print out the next three hours worth of programs on a give frequency (for ATSC only).

*Hardware Specific Utilities:
**util/av7110_loadkeys - A utiltity to load IR remote keymaps into an av7110 based card using the /proc/av7110_ir interface
**util/dib3000-watch - Monitor DIB3000 demodulators
**util/dst-utils/dst-test - Utilities for DST based cards.
**util/ttusb_dec_reset - Reset a TechnoTrends TTUSB DEC device.

===/test directory===
*diseqc: Sends various diseqc sequences on a SAT frontend.
*set22k: Legacy tone switching for SAT frontends.
*setvoltage: Legacy voltage switching for SAT frontends.
*setpid: Set video and audio PIDs in the demux (only for hardware MPEG decoder)
*video: tiny video watching application
*test_sections: Hex dump of section data from stream.
*test_sec_ne: Like test_sections, but also test Not-Equal filter mode.
*test_pes: Hex dump of PES data from stream.
*test_tt: Demonstrate teletext decoding from PES data.
*test_av: Test audio and video MPEG decoder API.
*test_vevent: Test VIDEO_GET_EVENT and poll() for video events
*test_stc: Test DMX_GET_STC.
*test_stillimage: Display single iframes as stillimages
*test_dvr: Record a partial transport stream of selected PIDs to a file or a full stream if supported by the hardware

==TODO==

* Start numbering the versions. Yes, with a repo every commit is a kind of version, but in the real world of distros and end users you need to define version numbers as easy reference points.
* Tag versioned releases and make src tarballs for the distros.
* Add ChangeLog and TODO files (and keep them up to date of course).
* Review the names of the apps and change where necessary. Perhaps ''scan'' is too ambiguous a name in a general-purpose system where all sorts of things can be scanned (with scanners, fax machines, barcode readers, etc.).
* Implement API version 5 scanning and zapping for DVB-S2 channels. See [[S2API]], [[scan-s2]] and [[szap-s2]]. There's a work undergoing to implement support to DVB API v5 for ISDB-T that also adds DVB API v5 to other transports at [http://linuxtv.org/hg/~mchehab/dvb-apps-isdbt2/].
* Improve the channels.conf file format so that one file can represent all the channels. Need to
**(a) identify the source (S13.0E, S19.2E, Terrestrial, etc)
**(b) identify the delivery system (DVB-S, DVB-S2, DVB-T etc)
**(c) be able to represent all the parameters required for all the delivery systems in a unified way. For example DVB-S2 has some new paramters (e.g. rolloff). The "VDR" format was expanded for this, but in a messy way.
* Make sure there is one true format -- no "zap" versus "VDR" format confusion.
* Merge all the *zap programs. You unified the channels.conf file so this is next.

==Links==
* See "[[Testing your DVB device]]" for usage examples of some of these tools.

[[Category:Software]]

FAQ & Troubleshooting

2010-07-25T22:03:25Z

Bpringle: /* How many devices are supported in a system? */

= FAQ =
==General==
===What device do I exactly have ? ===
To the casual observer this question might seem ridiculous, but in reality, the answer isn't always as clear as it might appear on the surface of things; for help identifying your device, [[Supported Hardware#Gathering Information About Your Unidentified/Unsupported Device|see here]].

===Where do I get a driver from?===
If your device is [[Supported Hardware|supported by LinuxTV]], then follow the steps [[How to Obtain, Build and Install V4L-DVB Device Drivers|outlined here]].

Note - there may also be support for your device provided by other sources then LinuxTV -- try a google search, as suggested [[Supported Hardware|here]].

===My device requires a firmware. Where do I find that ? ===
See [[Firmware|here]].

===I have the DVB drivers loaded. Now how can I test it?===
Check if you have files in /dev/dvb/adapter0/. Then, see the steps in [[Testing your DVB device]].

===How do I tune my TV-channels? Where do I get the frequencies from?===
Try the scan command as described above or on the page of its package [[LinuxTV dvb-apps]].

===How many devices are supported in a system?===
In respect to DVB devices, see [http://marc.info/?l=linux-dvb&m=120214129911811&w=2 this thread]. There is also a [http://linuxtv.org/hg/v4l-dvb/rev/496b71d9a1c0 patch] that has been submitted that will allow one to configure the max adapters defined.
In respect to analog devices, see [http://marc.info/?l=linux-video&m=119955906907915&w=2 this thread].

'''Udev''' can be used to maintain a persistent order. [http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Device_Filenames_and_udev MythTv] has extensive information on this. The simplest way is to use the '''adapter_nr''' option available for most top level DVB modules.

==Troubleshooting==

* Under Ubuntu (I assume that this also applies to other linux systems), make sure that the user is in the '''video''' group in '''/etc/group'''.

===Any software I use comes up with error messages like "can't find demux".===
This means that /dev/dvb/adapter0/demux is missing. Probably your card drivers are not installed properly. Then, you don't have anything in /dev/dvb/. If that's the case, make sure above that you have all in your kernel config (of your ''running'' kernel, of course) and that you loaded them all with '''modprobe'''.

====My device was working perfectly, but now it is not recognized anymore. What is the problem?====

It's possible that you're using a different kernel now, so you have to install the driver again and ensure that the firmware is reached by the hotplug system.

====My DVB device is recognized but I'm not able to use it. What can I do?====

You should check that the /dev/dvb exists and that you have the correct permissions to read and write that directory.

You might also try some of the steps in [[Testing your DVB device]] to see if other software can cope with it.

For further please contact developers via irc.freenode.net on #linuxtv (or #dvb) or via mailing list.
[[Category:Hardware]]

=== Hardware compatibility issues ===

Some motherboard chipsets are known for hardware incompatibilities with several PCI cards. Depending on motherboard chipset, BIOS, driver versions and connected PCI cards, it could be necessary to change the PCI latency of the DVB card or the latency value of other PCI cards. Acoustic and image interferences can appear after 10 to 30 minutes playback. Kernel error messages like "timed out waiting for end of xfer" can occure in /var/log/syslog when the PCI latency is too low. But there are also acoustic and image interferences possible when the PCI latency is too high. The current PCI latency can be shown via command "lspci -v". The PCI latency value can be set via command setpci (see manual page of setpci, example: setpci -v -s 03:06.0 latency_timer=96 ). The appropriate value depends on the specific hardware configuration. Play around with the value and restart DVB playback. Otherwise, you can try to swap PCI cards or a different motherboard with a different chipset.

=== S-Video input in black and white ===

When you are watching the signal coming through the S-Video input of your card, the picture is in black and white, that even when the source is in colour. This is basically what will append when you are connecting a composite source to a S-Video input. They are relatively expensive box to deal with this on the market, but it is an alternative solution that will work well in most cases. See [[Composite to S-Video]].

FAQ & Troubleshooting

2010-07-25T14:46:07Z

Bpringle: /* How many devices are supported in a system? */

= FAQ =
==General==
===What device do I exactly have ? ===
To the casual observer this question might seem ridiculous, but in reality, the answer isn't always as clear as it might appear on the surface of things; for help identifying your device, [[Supported Hardware#Gathering Information About Your Unidentified/Unsupported Device|see here]].

===Where do I get a driver from?===
If your device is [[Supported Hardware|supported by LinuxTV]], then follow the steps [[How to Obtain, Build and Install V4L-DVB Device Drivers|outlined here]].

Note - there may also be support for your device provided by other sources then LinuxTV -- try a google search, as suggested [[Supported Hardware|here]].

===My device requires a firmware. Where do I find that ? ===
See [[Firmware|here]].

===I have the DVB drivers loaded. Now how can I test it?===
Check if you have files in /dev/dvb/adapter0/. Then, see the steps in [[Testing your DVB device]].

===How do I tune my TV-channels? Where do I get the frequencies from?===
Try the scan command as described above or on the page of its package [[LinuxTV dvb-apps]].

===How many devices are supported in a system?===
In respect to DVB devices, see [http://marc.info/?l=linux-dvb&m=120214129911811&w=2 this thread]. There is also a [http://linuxtv.org/hg/v4l-dvb/rev/496b71d9a1c0 patch] that has been submitted that will allow one to configure the max adapters defined.
In respect to analog devices, see [http://marc.info/?l=linux-video&m=119955906907915&w=2 this thread].

'''Udev''' can be used to maintain a persistent order. The file 'linux/Documentation/dvb/udev.txt' has more information on this, but is still not completely helpful. [http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Device_Filenames_and_udev MythTv] has extensive information on this.

==Troubleshooting==

* Under Ubuntu (I assume that this also applies to other linux systems), make sure that the user is in the '''video''' group in '''/etc/group'''.

===Any software I use comes up with error messages like "can't find demux".===
This means that /dev/dvb/adapter0/demux is missing. Probably your card drivers are not installed properly. Then, you don't have anything in /dev/dvb/. If that's the case, make sure above that you have all in your kernel config (of your ''running'' kernel, of course) and that you loaded them all with '''modprobe'''.

====My device was working perfectly, but now it is not recognized anymore. What is the problem?====

It's possible that you're using a different kernel now, so you have to install the driver again and ensure that the firmware is reached by the hotplug system.

====My DVB device is recognized but I'm not able to use it. What can I do?====

You should check that the /dev/dvb exists and that you have the correct permissions to read and write that directory.

You might also try some of the steps in [[Testing your DVB device]] to see if other software can cope with it.

For further please contact developers via irc.freenode.net on #linuxtv (or #dvb) or via mailing list.
[[Category:Hardware]]

=== Hardware compatibility issues ===

Some motherboard chipsets are known for hardware incompatibilities with several PCI cards. Depending on motherboard chipset, BIOS, driver versions and connected PCI cards, it could be necessary to change the PCI latency of the DVB card or the latency value of other PCI cards. Acoustic and image interferences can appear after 10 to 30 minutes playback. Kernel error messages like "timed out waiting for end of xfer" can occure in /var/log/syslog when the PCI latency is too low. But there are also acoustic and image interferences possible when the PCI latency is too high. The current PCI latency can be shown via command "lspci -v". The PCI latency value can be set via command setpci (see manual page of setpci, example: setpci -v -s 03:06.0 latency_timer=96 ). The appropriate value depends on the specific hardware configuration. Play around with the value and restart DVB playback. Otherwise, you can try to swap PCI cards or a different motherboard with a different chipset.

=== S-Video input in black and white ===

When you are watching the signal coming through the S-Video input of your card, the picture is in black and white, that even when the source is in colour. This is basically what will append when you are connecting a composite source to a S-Video input. They are relatively expensive box to deal with this on the market, but it is an alternative solution that will work well in most cases. See [[Composite to S-Video]].

FAQ & Troubleshooting

2010-07-25T14:42:58Z

Bpringle: /* How many devices are supported in a system? */

= FAQ =
==General==
===What device do I exactly have ? ===
To the casual observer this question might seem ridiculous, but in reality, the answer isn't always as clear as it might appear on the surface of things; for help identifying your device, [[Supported Hardware#Gathering Information About Your Unidentified/Unsupported Device|see here]].

===Where do I get a driver from?===
If your device is [[Supported Hardware|supported by LinuxTV]], then follow the steps [[How to Obtain, Build and Install V4L-DVB Device Drivers|outlined here]].

Note - there may also be support for your device provided by other sources then LinuxTV -- try a google search, as suggested [[Supported Hardware|here]].

===My device requires a firmware. Where do I find that ? ===
See [[Firmware|here]].

===I have the DVB drivers loaded. Now how can I test it?===
Check if you have files in /dev/dvb/adapter0/. Then, see the steps in [[Testing your DVB device]].

===How do I tune my TV-channels? Where do I get the frequencies from?===
Try the scan command as described above or on the page of its package [[LinuxTV dvb-apps]].

===How many devices are supported in a system?===
In respect to DVB devices, see [http://marc.info/?l=linux-dvb&m=120214129911811&w=2 this thread]. There is also a [http://linuxtv.org/hg/v4l-dvb/rev/496b71d9a1c0 patch] that has been submitted that will allow one to configure the max adapters defined.
In respect to analog devices, see [http://marc.info/?l=linux-video&m=119955906907915&w=2 this thread].

'''Udev''' can be used to maintain a persistent order. The file 'linux/Documentation/dvb/udev.txt' has more information on this, but is still not completely helpful.

==Troubleshooting==

* Under Ubuntu (I assume that this also applies to other linux systems), make sure that the user is in the '''video''' group in '''/etc/group'''.

===Any software I use comes up with error messages like "can't find demux".===
This means that /dev/dvb/adapter0/demux is missing. Probably your card drivers are not installed properly. Then, you don't have anything in /dev/dvb/. If that's the case, make sure above that you have all in your kernel config (of your ''running'' kernel, of course) and that you loaded them all with '''modprobe'''.

====My device was working perfectly, but now it is not recognized anymore. What is the problem?====

It's possible that you're using a different kernel now, so you have to install the driver again and ensure that the firmware is reached by the hotplug system.

====My DVB device is recognized but I'm not able to use it. What can I do?====

You should check that the /dev/dvb exists and that you have the correct permissions to read and write that directory.

You might also try some of the steps in [[Testing your DVB device]] to see if other software can cope with it.

For further please contact developers via irc.freenode.net on #linuxtv (or #dvb) or via mailing list.
[[Category:Hardware]]

=== Hardware compatibility issues ===

Some motherboard chipsets are known for hardware incompatibilities with several PCI cards. Depending on motherboard chipset, BIOS, driver versions and connected PCI cards, it could be necessary to change the PCI latency of the DVB card or the latency value of other PCI cards. Acoustic and image interferences can appear after 10 to 30 minutes playback. Kernel error messages like "timed out waiting for end of xfer" can occure in /var/log/syslog when the PCI latency is too low. But there are also acoustic and image interferences possible when the PCI latency is too high. The current PCI latency can be shown via command "lspci -v". The PCI latency value can be set via command setpci (see manual page of setpci, example: setpci -v -s 03:06.0 latency_timer=96 ). The appropriate value depends on the specific hardware configuration. Play around with the value and restart DVB playback. Otherwise, you can try to swap PCI cards or a different motherboard with a different chipset.

=== S-Video input in black and white ===

When you are watching the signal coming through the S-Video input of your card, the picture is in black and white, that even when the source is in colour. This is basically what will append when you are connecting a composite source to a S-Video input. They are relatively expensive box to deal with this on the market, but it is an alternative solution that will work well in most cases. See [[Composite to S-Video]].

Saa713x devices

2010-07-25T03:59:27Z

Bpringle: /* KWorld */ fix link

saa713x devices are collectively those PCI cards that are based upon one of the [[Philips SAA7134|SAA713x]] chips, and which are supported under Linux by the saa7134 and associated kernel driver modules.

==saa7134 and associated kernel driver modules==
TV cards based on the saa713x chips are well supported by the saa7134 driver. The picture quality is typically high, and the sound can be taken directly from the TV card or through a patch cable to your sound card. On the [[text_capture | text capture]] front, both teletext and NTSC closed captioning are supported.

===Sound support===
Support for DMA sound, or sound taken directly off the PCI bus, has improved in the 2.6.16 kernel, thanks to the work of Ricardo Cerqueira and others. There are now two separate drivers for DMA sound, saa7134-alsa and saa7134-oss. In order to enable these in the kernel, you must first have selected support for ALSA and/or OSS under Sound. If you build both DMA devices as modules, you can use both alternately, though they cannot both be loaded at the same time.

While the saa7134-oss is listed as deprecated, there are still programs that have difficulties using ALSA's device enumeration, and the oss module remains useful.

These modules do not require parameters during insertion. For details and sound problems see [[saa7134-alsa]].

==Supported saa713x devices==
An up-to-date list of saa713x devices supported by V4L-DVB drivers is found in the [http://linuxtv.org/hg/v4l-dvb/file/tip/linux/Documentation/video4linux/CARDLIST.saa7134 CARDLIST.saa7134] file in the master development repository.

Devices supported by the kernel running on your system are listed in your local <code><path_to_your_kernel_sources>/Documentation/video4linux/CARDLIST.saa7134</code>. If you don't find your device listed here, but support for it is cited in the up-to-date sources (see above), then you will need to either upgrade to a more recent kernel that has already absorbed support for the device or, more simply, just get the latest V4L-DVB drivers. You can install the V4L-DVB modules on top of your existing kernel (see: [[How to Obtain, Build and Install V4L-DVB Device Drivers|detailed instructions]]), however, note that support for some devices may also require use of a newer kernel.

===Getting an unlisted card to work===
If your card is not listed, see the "[[Development: How to add support for a device|How to add support for a device]]" article.
----
this part needs to be edited:
* ask for assistance on the [https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/video4linux-list v4l mailing list]
* [http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=linux-video searchable archives].
* It may be a clone of a listed card ... card= entries may work for several similar cards.
* Full card names can be cross-referenced from drivers/media/video/saa7134/saa7134-cards.c.

Before buying a new TV card, it's always worth checking its support status on V4L documentation. However, be advised that, since some producers label with the same product name boards that, inside, are actually different, there is always some risk of buying an un- (or non-completely) supported card even if it appears to be. Spending some more time searching newsgroups and mailing lists for complains is recommended.

Make sure you post the findings of your investigations here and on the video4linux mailing list (video4linux-list@redhat.com) so that saa7134-cards.c can be updated with a new card= entry for your card.

==Installation notes==
See [[Saa713x devices: Generic SAA7134 Card Installation]] for how to properly setup your saa7134-based tv tuner card or use the installation instructions for your specific card:

=== [[ASUS]] ===
* [[ASUS P7131 Dual]]
* [[ASUS My Cinema-P7131 Hybrid|ASUS P7131 Hybrid]]
* [[ASUS TV-FM 7133]]
* [[ASUS TV-FM 7135]]
* [[ASUSTeK P7131 Dual]]
* [[ASUS Digimatrix TV]]
* [[Asus Europa2 OEM]]
* [[ASUS P7131 4871]]
* [[ASUSTeK P7131 Analog]]
* [[Asus Tiger 3in1]]
* [[Asus Tiger Rev:1.00]]

=== [[AVerMedia]] ===
As described in [[AVerMedia AVerTV_305/307_Linux_user_guide|AVerTV 305/307 Linux user guide (Russian language)]], the following cards are supported:
* AVerTV 305
* AVerTV Studio 305
* AVerTV 307
* AVerTV Studio 307
In addition, the following cards are known to work:
* [[AVerMedia Cardbus E500]]
* [[AVerMedia Cardbus Plus E501R |AVerMedia Cardbus Plus E501R (russian)]]
* [[AverMedia M156 / Medion 2819]]
* [[AVerMedia DVD EZMaker]]
* [[AVerMedia AVerTV GO 007]]
* [[AVerMedia AVerTV GO 007 FM]]
* [[AVerMedia AVerTVHD MCE A180]]
* [[AVerMedia AVerTV Hybrid+FM Cardbus (E506R)]]
* [[AVerMedia AVerTV Hybrid+FM PCI (A16D)]]
* [[AverMedia M103 (Hybrid) Mini PCI]]
*[[AverMedia M156]]
*[[AVerMedia DVD EZMaker]]
*[[AVerMedia AVerTVHD MCE A180]]
*[[AVerMedia A169 B]]
*[[AVerMedia A169 B1]]
*[[AVerMedia TV Hybrid A16A]]
*[[Avermedia AVerTV Studio 507]]
*[[Avermedia M102]]
*[[Avermedia Super 007]]
*[[Avermedia M115]]
*[[Avermedia DVB-S Pro A700]]
*[[Avermedia DVB-S Hybrid+FM A700]]
*[[AVerMedia MiniPCI DVB-T Hybrid M103]]
*[[Avermedia PCI pure analog (M135A)]]
*[[Avermedia AVerTV GO 007 FM Plus]]
*[[Avermedia AVerTV Studio 507UA]]

=== Bona ===
The brand is also refered to as Mentor. [http://www.bona.com.tw:8080/ Bona Website]
* [[Bona TV-PCI]]

=== Canopus ===
* [[Canopus KTVX-CB (aka ITACHU) CardBus|KTVX-CB (aka ITACHU) CardBus]]

=== Compro ===
* [[Compro Videomate T750]]
* [[Compro VideoMate T300]]
* [[Compro VideoMate DVB-T220]]
* [[Compro VideoMate T200a]]
* [[Compro VideoMate T200]]
* [[Compro VideoMate TV Gold-Plus]]
* [[Compro VideoMate TV PVR/FM]]
* [[Compro VideoMate TV Gold-Plus PAL]]
* [[Compro VideoMate S350]]
* [[Compro VideoMate TV Gold+II]]

=== Encore ===
* [[Encore USA ELNTV-FM]]
* [[Encore ENLTV]]
* [[Encore ENLTV-FM v5.3]]

=== Hercules ===
* [[Hercules Smart TV 3]]

=== KNC One (KNC1) ===
* [[KNC One TV-Station DVR]]
* [[KNC One TV-Station RDS]] / Typhoon TV Tuner RDS

=== KWorld ===
* [[KWorld ATSC 110|ATSC-110]]
* [[KWorld Studio TV Terminator|Studio TV Terminator]] (a.k.a. Global TV Terminator)
* [[KWorld NB-TV 100 CardBus|NB-TV 100 CardBus]]
* [[KWorld DVB-T 220|DVB-T 220]]
* [[Kworld/KuroutoShikou SAA7130-TVPCI]]
* [[Kworld/Tevion V-Stream Xpert TV PVR7134]]
* [[Kworld Xpert TV PVR7134]]
* [[KWorld DVB-T 210]]
* [[Kworld Plus TV Analog Lite PCI]]

=== LifeView ===
* [[LifeView FlyVIDEO2000|FlyVIDEO2000]]
* [[LifeView FlyVideo3000FM NTSC|FlyVideo3000FM and FlyVideo3000]]
* [[LifeView FlyVideo3000 PAL-N|FlyVideo3000 PAL-N]]
* [[LifeView FlyDVB-T Hybrid|FlyDVB-T Hybrid]]
* [[LifeView FlyDVB-T Hybrid CardBus|FlyDVB-T Hybrid CardBus]]
* [[LifeView FlyDVB-T Duo CardBus|FlyDVB-T Duo CardBus]]
* [[LifeView FlyTV Platinum|FlyTV Platinum]]

=== MSI ===
* [[MSI TV@nywhere A/D NB|TV@nywhere A/D NB]]
* [[MSI TV@nywhere Duo]]
* [[MSI TV@Anywhere plus]]
* [[MSI TV@nywhere A/D v1.1]]

=== Mercury ===

* [[Mercury TV Tuner card PAL/Mecury EzView tuner card (Philips chipset)]]
* [[Mercury TV PAL]]

=== Pearl ===

* [[Auvisio TV Tuner & Video Capture Card]]

=== Pinnacle ===
* [[Pinnacle PCTV 40i]]
* [[Pinnacle PCTV 50i]]
* [[Pinnacle PCTV 110i]]
* [[Pinnacle PCTV 300i]]
* [[Pinnacle PCTV (310i)]]
* [[Pinnacle PCTV Stereo]]
* [[Pinnacle PCTV Stereo XE]]

=== Sabrent ===
* [[Sabrent SBT-TVFM]]
* [[Sabrent TV-PCIRC]]
* [[Sabrent PCMCIA TV-PCB05]]

=== TerraTec ===
* [[Terratec Cinergy 200 TV]]
* [[TerraTec Cinergy 250 PCI|Cinergy 250 PCI]]
* [[TerraTec Cinergy 400|Cinergy 400]]
* [[TerraTec Cinergy 400TV mobile|Cinergy 400TV mobile]]
* [[TerraTec Cinergy 600|Cinergy 600]]
* [[TerraTec Cinergy HT PCI|Cinergy HT PCI]]
* [[Terratec Cinergy HT PCMCIA]]
* [[TerraTec Cinergy HT Express]]

=== Tevion ===
* [[Tevion MD 9717]]
* [[Tevion DVBT-220RF]]
* [[Tevion V-Stream Xpert TV PVR7134]]

=== Vivanco ===
* [[Vivanco Cardbus DVB-T]]

=== Other ===
* [[Smartv_card |SmartTV Card]]
* [http://techcomindia.com/itemdetail.asp?Cat=&CatID=&prodid=501&ProdName=SSD%2DTV%2D670 TECH-COM, Card Model: SSD-TV-670 ]
* [[Zolid Hybrid TV Tuner|Zolid Hybrid TV Tuner]]

==External Links==
* [http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Saa7134 Gentoo Wiki's saa7134 article]
[[Category:Hardware]]