IMPORTANT: Don't send me mails with images attached unless I ask you to do so. Mails with images attached will go to /dev/null unseen. Release notes for bttv-0.7.x ============================ This version is based on Ralphs 0.6.4 release. There are alot of changes. Bugfixes, merged patches from other people, merged fixes from the kernel version, port to the new i2c stack, removed support for 2.0.x, code cleanups, ... To compile this bttv version, you'll the new i2c stack. Kernels newer than 2.3.34 have this already included. If you have a older kernel, download it from: http://www.lm-sensors.org/wiki/Download You'll need at least these config options for bttv: CONFIG_I2C=m CONFIG_I2C_ALGOBIT=m CONFIG_VIDEO_DEV=m The latest bttv version is available from http://bytesex.org/bttv/ You'll find Ralphs original (mostly outdated) documentation in the ralphs-doc subdirectory. Compile bttv ------------ If you are compiling the kernel version, just say 'm' if you are asked for bttv. I /strongly/ recommend to compile bttv as module, because there are some insmod options for configuring the driver. Starting with 0.7.49 the most important ones are available as kernel args too. If you downloaded the separate bttv bundle: You need configured kernel sources to compile the bttv driver. The driver uses some Makefile magic to compile the modules with your kernel's configuration (wrt. module-versions, SMP, ...). If you already have compiled the kernel at least once, you probably don't have do worry about this. If not, go to /usr/src/linux and run at least "make config". Even better, compile your own kernel, you'll never become a real hacker else ;-) Note that you have to turn on video4linux support (CONFIG_VIDEO_DEV) in the kernel to get the videodev.o module which is required by bttv. Make bttv work with your card ----------------------------- Setup your /etc/modules.conf file and let kmod load the modules. See also: Modules.conf: some sample entries for /etc/modules.conf Insmod-options: list of all insmod options available for bttv and the helper modules. MAKEDEV: a script to create the special files for v4l CARDLIST: List of all supported cards Cards: more detailed descriptions of known TV cards: OEM name variants, used i2c chips, ... also includes non-bttv cards. Loading just the bttv modules isn't enouth for most cards. The drivers for the i2c tuner/sound chips must also be loaded. bttv tries to load them automagically by calling request_module() now, but this obviously works only with kmod enabled. If bttv takes very long to load (happens sometimes with the cheap cards which have no tuner), try adding this to your modules.conf: options i2c-algo-bit bit_test=1 The most important insmod option for bttv is "card=n" to select the correct card type in case the autodetection does'nt work. If you get video but no sound you've very likely specified the wrong (or no) card type. A list of supported cards is in CARDLIST. For the WinTV/PVR you need one firmware file from the driver CD: hcwamc.rbf. The file is in the pvr45xxx.exe archive (self-extracting zip file, unzip can unpack it). Put it into the /etc/pvr directory or use the firm_altera= insmod option to point the driver to the location of the file. If your card isn't listed in CARDLIST or if you have trouble making audio work, you should read the Sound-FAQ. Autodetecting cards ------------------- bttv uses the PCI Subsystem ID to autodetect the card type. lspci lists the Subsystem ID in the second line, looks like this: 00:0a.0 Multimedia video controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 (rev 02) Subsystem: Hauppauge computer works Inc. WinTV/GO Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 5 Memory at e2000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=4K] only bt878-based cards can have a subsystem ID (which does not mean that every card really has one). bt848 cards can't have a Subsystem ID and therefore can't be autodetected. There is a list with the ID's in bttv-cards.c (in case you are intrested or want to mail patches with updates). Old driver versions used to have a heuristic which could identify some bt848-based cards. It worked for Hauppauge and Miro cards in most cases (simply because these where the first cards available on the market), but misdetected other bt848 cards. That code is gone now for exactly this reason, the misdetection confused lots of people. If you have a old Hauppauge or Miro card, you'll have to load the driver with card=1 or card=2 these days. Still doesn't work? ------------------- I do NOT have a lab with 30+ different grabber boards and a PAL/NTSC/SECAM test signal generator at home, so I often can't reproduce your problems. This makes debugging very difficult for me. If you have some knowledge and spare time, please try to fix this yourself (patches very welcome of course...) You know: The linux slogan is "Do it yourself". There is a mailing list: video4linux-list@redhat.com. https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/video4linux-list If you have trouble with some specific TV card, try to ask there instead of mailing me directly. The chance that someone with the same card listens there is much higher... For problems with sound: There are alot of different systems used for TV sound all over the world. And there are also different chips which decode the audio signal. Reports about sound problems ("stereo does'nt work") are pretty useless unless you include some details about your hardware and the TV sound scheme used in your country (or at least the country you are living in). Finally: If you mail some patches for bttv around the world (to linux-kernel/Alan/Linus/...), please Cc: me. Have fun with bttv, Gerd -- Gerd Knorr