Menu
Introduction This document was written to assist the reader in setting up and configuring TV tuner cards based on the Bt848 or Bt878 chipsets in the Linux operating system. It outlines how to enable the necessary kernel and/or software support and various television applications and software methods of capture usable with your device. While there is some attempt to catalog individual cards and features in, the ultimate best source of information about your card and its capabilities will be found in the printed manual that came with your device or the manufacturer's website. Disclaimer No liability for the contents of this document can be accepted.
Use the concepts, examples and other content entirely at your own risk. There may be technical or other inaccuracies that may result in the loss of irreplaceable data.
Here you can download free download driver life view lr138 rev h for Windows. It's 100% safe, uploaded from safe source and passed AVG virus scan! It's 100% safe, uploaded from safe source and passed AVG virus scan!
In any case, proceed with caution, and realize that although errors are unlikely, the author can accept no responsibility for them. All copyrights are held by their respective owners, unless specifically noted otherwise. Use of a term in this document should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark. Naming of particular products or brands should not be seen as endorsements.
Conventions Used in this Document The following conventions are used in this document and are outlined here for those who may not yet have a complete understanding of how to access and control the underlying operating system in Linux, which is usually via the Bash shell. First, filenames are referenced in a paragraph like so: /path/file Commands in Linux are executed (or 'called') at the command prompt, otherwise known as the 'command line.' If you are in the non-graphical (text-based) environment, you will usually be presented with the Bash shell prompt which is a dollar sign: $.or the hash mark: #.if you have logged in as root or have otherwise acquired root, or 'superuser' privileges.
You can also access the Bash shell in the X window system, otherwise known as X or X11, with an or similar X-terminal-emulator. Commands to be performed at the Bash prompt, but referenced in a paragraph of this document, usually look like this: do this now Commands and/or the resulting output of commands may also be outlined with screen output in their own paragraph or heading: $ date Sun Jul 27 22:37:11 CDT 2003 When a command is written in front of the Bash prompt (e.g., $ date above), it is assumed the Return or Enter key has been pressed after the command, possibly followed by the output on a new line as shown in the preceding example. Bttv Basics If you haven't figured it out by now, this document deals with the Linux-specific configuration of frame grabber cards that include the Bt848 and related family of video decoder chips, collectively referred to as the 'Bt8x8' chipset. You can probably see the Bt8x8 chip (it's usually labelled as such) embedded on your TV card upon inspection, in addition to other chips which you should probably make note of before installation in case there are problems later. The 'Bt' stands for Brooktree, after the original manufacturer of the chipset, now a part of Conexant.
The Bt8x8 family has enjoyed remarkable longevity in a world where is the rule, the first ISA boards manufactured in the mid-1990s. There are several chips in this family, including the Bt848, Bt848A, Bt849, Bt878 and Bt879, and as a rule are all supported by the for which this document is named. In addition to the Bt8x8 decoder chip, these cards vary by accompanying components such as the tuner and sound decoder, and may include an optional videotext decoder, radio tuner, and/or hardware mpeg encoder. Note that the next generation of bt8x8, the, is now supported by a driver in the Linux 2.6 kernel. The configuration of hardware with that chipset is beyond the scope of this document (but similar).
In general, any PCI card with a Bt8x8 chipset should work with the Linux Bttv driver. TV cards known NOT to work include the following:. Cards with a Zoran 7 PCI controller chipset, which are instead supported by, and includes the following models:. Iomega Buz. Pinnacle DC10+. Linux Media Labs LML33. Cards with a Philips SAA7130/7134 controller.
Multimedia eXtension Board cards, manufactured by Siemens-Nixdorf. Hexium HV-PCI6, Orion or Gemini framegrabber cards. Any ISA-based TV card If you are uncertain which chipset your TV card has, use the lspci command.
An example of such output for a Bt8x8 card might look similar to the following: 0000:02:0a.0 Multimedia video controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Video Capture (rev 02) 0000:02:0a.1 Multimedia controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Audio Capture (rev 02) A list of hardware (mostly PCI cards) compatible with the Bttv driver is found in. The Sound Output Your card may have come with a short external audio connector with two male ends. This is for connecting your Bttv audio out to your sound card's input jack so you won't require an extra set of speakers. Some cards may also have a 4-pin socket for output of your Bt8x8 audio signals directly to your sound card within your computer case.
You can connect this to your 'CDROM' input with reasonable certainty that you will be able to control the input with your mixer from your primary sound card as well as record (see for more information on recording). Alternatively you can use external speakers connected to the line out of your Bt8x8 card. The Bttv Driver Drivers for Bt8x8-based hardware have been a part of the since version 2.2.0, and are likely to be already enabled in your running kernel if you have not recompiled or otherwise replaced your system's stock kernel with a custom version. If unavailable, Bt8x8 support can be enabled two ways:. by recompiling your kernel using the source code using downloaded kernel-source from your distribution or fetched directly from. the Bttv driver can be fetched directly from and then patching your available kernel source, which should only be necessary if you have a kernel version prior to 2.2.0 or later than 2.0.35; earlier versions are not likely to work.
Module or In-Kernel? It is likely the stock kernel that was installed on your Linux system, if unmodified, already supports Bt8x8-based hardware. The driver will exist either as a loadable module or within the already running kernel. An easy way to tell is to use the dmesg command piped into less (for easy viewing) to look for an acknowledgement that the driver in question was loaded when your system started up: $ dmesg less.which may yield something like the following, depending on your exact Bt8x8 chipset features and kernel version (in this case, 2.6): Jan 26 19:40:04 localhost kernel: bttv: driver version 0.9.15 loaded Jan 26 19:40:04 localhost kernel: bttv: using 8 buffers with 2080k (520 pages) each for capture Jan 26 19:40:04 localhost kernel: bttv: Bt8xx card found (0). No Bttv module or in-kernel support found?
If your running kernel or precompiled distribution kernel inexplicably doesn't have Bt8x8 support enabled or available, your can always acquire new kernel source code from the Linux source code repository. If you are unfamiliar with the prerequisites and procedure of compiling your own kernel, I direct you to the for more information. If you do recompile, the Bttv driver itself will obviously need to be enabled, and is found in the heading entitled 'Multimedia Devices' - 'Video for Linux' in the 2.4 and earlier kernels in menuconfig or xconfig, or alternatively in 'Device Drivers' - 'Multimedia Devices' - 'Video for Linux' - 'BT848 Video For Linux' in the 2.6+ series.
You will need i2c subsystem support enabled as well as i2c-algo-bit. Device support ( i2c-dev) is not required for Bt8x8 support. Earlier than kernel version 2.3.34 i2c is not present in the kernel source and a patch must be fetched and applied to your source, found at the.
If you are running a 2.4 series kernel, btaudio in the OSS 'Sound' category is optional if you want to use external speakers attached to the the card's audio out jack, and either (or both) OSS or ALSA sound system btaudio drivers in the 2.6+ series. Groups and Permissions It is a good idea to be sure that your user account can access the device once all modules are loaded and device nodes created.
The most security-conscious way to do that is to add access for a particular group. On my system, the members of the group 'video' are allowed to use the webcam, scanner and other photographic devices. The way to accomplish this is to first change the ownership of the devices in /dev like so (as root): # chown root.video /dev/usb/video.where root.video are the owner and group the device will now belong to. Obviously, the specific command will vary by your system and the type of device. It is important that you change the ownership of the device node itself and not the symlink; symlinks' ownerships are affected only by changing the parent devices or files they point to. To see if your user account is a member of the group in question, as root issue the following command: # grep -e video /etc/group You should see something like the following: video:x:44.where '44' is the group number.
Since no members follow the last colon in the 'video' group, we can add them, let's say user 'jhs' with the command # adduser jhs video After this, it's simply a matter of allowing read and write access for the user in question of the device like so: # chmod g+rw /dev/v4l/video0.where g+rw means add read and write access for group. See the documentation for chmod ( man chmod or info chmod) for further info.
The Bttv Module Once your card is installed, you can load the bttv module if your kernel hasn't already done it for you. Using the modprobe command as root, type # modprobe bttv The modules videodev and i2c may be required prior to this if you are running a pre-2.4 series kernel. By default, the bttv will try to autodetect your card type; you can inspect /var/log/messages to see what it finds. If it doesn't autodetect properly, you can add the card=# option to the end of the previous command to force a your particular card type, a list of which are found in or on your system in if installed in the usual place ( /usr/src/linux. If you get in trouble and need to remove the module, you can use rmmod: $ rmmod bttv You can then reload the module with the appropriate options.
The Tuner Module If necessary, load the tuner module, with # modprobe tuner If the tuner is not correctly identified you may need to supply the magic number for tuner-type: # modprobe tuner type=# You may need to dig into your case to see which tuner you have if you can't find the maker and model in the printed specifications that came with your hardware, or if this information is otherwise unavailable. It should be marked with the brand name and may support one or more of the three major broadcast standards in use in the world, whether,. In general, chipsets manufactured for the US market are NTSC; for Europe, PAL, and Asia PAL or SECAM. Some countries support more than one standard.
Automating the Module Loading Process After you know which modules and options you need, you can automate the process by putting the information into /etc/conf.modules or /etc/modules.conf, depending on your distribution. Then, running an application which needs the driver will cause it to be loaded automatically with the appropriate options. The following is an example entry: # TV alias char-major-81 bttv pre-install bttv modprobe -k tuner; modprobe -k msp3400 options bttv radio=1 card=3 options tuner type=2. Xawtv is arguably the best-known Linux application used for viewing TV from video sources including Bt8x8 devices; most Linux distributions have packaged versions. Optional Arguments for Loading Modules videodev.o - This is the basic video4linux module, all video drivers (incl. bttv) register themselves here.
I2c.o - The generic i2c module. It does much of the i2c bus management, all other modules (except videodev.o) use this one. Modprobe args: scan=1 scan the bus for i2c devices verbose=0 shut up i2c i2cdebug=1 for debugging, it sticks the whole (software) i2c bus traffic to the syslog bttv.o - The bt848 (grabber chip) driver.
Modprobe args: remap=adr remap Bt848 memory to address less than 20 vidmem=base frame buffer address over 20 (of graphic card) triton1=0/1 for Triton1 compatibility; Triton1 is automatically recognized but this might also help with other chipsets pll=0/1/2 pll settings ( 0: don't use PLL; 1: 28 MHz crystal installed 2: 35 MHz crystal installed radio=0/1 card supports radio card= n card type: see the next section for the complete list; remap, card, radio and pll accept up to four comma-separated arguments (for multiple boards). The CARD and PLL defines from the Makefile are used as defaults. Msp3400.o - The driver for the msp34xx sound processor chips. If you have a stereo card, you probably want to modprobe this one. Modprobe args: debug=1/2 print some debug info to the syslog, 2 is more verbose.tea6300.o - The driver for the tea6300 fader chip.
If you have a stereo card and the msp3400.o doesn't work, you might want to try this one. This chip is seen on most STB TV/FM cards (usually from Gateway OEM sold surplus on auction sites).
Modprobe args: debug=1 print some debug info to the syslog.tda8425.o - The driver for the tda8425 fader chip. This driver used to be part of bttv.c, so if your sound used to work but does not anymore, try loading this module. Modprobe args: debug=1 print some debug info to the syslog.tda9855.o - The driver for the tda9855 stereo decoder / audio processor chip. Modprobe args: debug=1 print some debug info to the syslog.dpl3518.o - Driver for the dpl3518a Dolby Pro Logic Processor. Modprobe args: debug=1 print some debug info to the syslog.
Tuner.o - The tuner driver. You need this unless you want to use only with a camera or external tuner. Modprobe args: debug=1 print some debug info to the syslog type= n type of the tuner chip. n as seen in i2cchardev.o - Provides a character device for i2c bus access. Works for 2.1.x only, not compiled by default. Bt8x8 Cards by Number These are the option numbers for cards for use with modprobe.This does not boast to be a complete list by any means; it is copied nearly verbatim from the kernel source documentation for bttv. If your card is not listed it may or may not be supported depending on the chipset and accompanying components with which it is constructed.
Recording Video and Sound with Bttv In addition to the applications referenced in, recording can be managed from the command line. The issues discussed here with regard to sound capture deal only with the default kernel-2.6 and higher sound system: the. The easy part is grabbing the video, for which we will use streamer, available with the. Sound is another matter, however. You will need to access your mixer settings using amixer, the ALSA command-line mixer that should be available in the ALSA-tools package available from your Linux distributor. See man amixer to follow the command line options. Your recording can be managed either using your primary soundcard if you have your Bt8x8 audio output connected to a mixer conduit that allows for capture (e.g.
The 4-pin analog CDROM input slot), or the Bt8x8 card itself using the btaudio module. The following steps utilize the latter.
First, identify the individual cards on your system (requires /proc filesystem): $ cat /proc/asound/pcm 00-00: Intel ICH: NVidia CK8S: playback 1: capture 1 00-01: Intel ICH - MIC ADC: NVidia CK8S - MIC ADC: capture 1 00-02: Intel ICH - IEC958: NVidia CK8S - IEC958: playback 1 01-00: Bt87x Digital: Bt87x Digital: capture 1 01-01: Bt87x Analog: Bt87x Analog: capture 1 The first column indicates the system numbering of your available sound devices, i.e., card 0 is the soundcard and card 01, or 1, is the Bt8x8. Next, identify the mixer controls for the Bt8x8 card. Enabling The FM Radio for Radio-Equipped Cards FM radio tuners are easily enabled when inserting modules. Simply $ modprobe bttv radio=1.or add a similar option to your /etc/modules.conf and you should be set the next time you restart or load the module. You will also need an application to access the radio. I suggest the console based radio, available with the,.
For graphical programs, try or or with the. Also, you can't listen to radio at the same time as watching TV with your Bttv card (unless you have more than one card, that is). Gnu Free Documentation License Version 1.2, November 2002 Copyright (C) 2000,2001,2002 Free Software Foundation, Inc. 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA USA Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this license document but changing it is not allowed. PREAMBLE The purpose of this License is to make a manual, textbook, or other functional and useful document 'free' in the sense of freedom: to assure everyone the effective freedom to copy and redistribute it, with or without modifying it, either commercially or noncommercially.
Secondarily, this License preserves for the author and publisher a way to get credit for their work, while not being considered responsible for modifications made by others. This License is a kind of 'copyleft', which means that derivative works of the document must themselves be free in the same sense. It complements the GNU General Public License, which is a copyleft cense designed for free software. We have designed this License in order to use it for manuals for free software, because free software needs free documentation: a free program should come with manuals providing the same freedoms that the software does. But this License is not limited to software manuals; it can be used for any textual work, regardless of subject matter or whether it is published as a printed book. We recommend this License principally for works in which its purpose is instruction or reference. APPLICABILITY AND DEFINITIONS This License applies to any manual or other work, in any medium, that contains a notice placed by the copyright holder saying it can be distributed under the terms of this License.
Such a notice grants a world-wide, royalty-free license, unlimited in duration, to use that work under the conditions stated herein. The 'Document', below, refers to any such manual or work. Any member of the public is a licensee and is addressed as 'you'. You accept the license if you copy, modify, or distribute the work in a way, thus requiring permission under copyright law. A 'Modified Version' of the Document means any work containing the Document or a portion of it, either copied verbatim, or with modifications and/or translated into another language. A 'Secondary Section' is a named appendix or a front-matter section of the Document that deals exclusively with the relationship of the publishers or authors of the Document to the Document's overall subject (or to related matters) and contains nothing that could fall directly within that overall subject. (Thus, if the Document is in part a textbook of mathematics, a Secondary Section may not explain any mathematics.) The relationship could be a matter of historical connection with the subject or with related matters, or of legal, commercial, philosophical, ethical, or political position regarding them.
The 'Invariant Sections' are certain Secondary Sections in which titles are designated, as being those of Invariant Sections, in the notice that says that the Document is released under this License. If a section does not fit the above definition of Secondary, then it is not allowed to be designated as Invariant.
The Document may contain zero Invariant Sections. If the Document does not identify any Invariant Sections, then there are none. The 'Cover Texts' are certain short passages of text that are listed, as Front-Cover Texts or Back-Cover Texts, in the notice that says that the Document is released under this License. A Front-Cover Text may be at most five words, and a Back-Cover Text may be at most 25 words. A 'Transparent' copy of the Document means a machine-readable copy, represented in a format where its specification is available to the general public, that is suitable for revising the document straightforwardly with generic text editors or (for images composed of pixels) generic paint programs or (for drawings) some widely available drawing editor, and that is suitable for input to text formatters or for automatic translation to a variety of formats suitable for input to text formatters.
A copy made in an otherwise Transparent file format in which its markup, or absence of markup, has been arranged to thwart or discourage subsequent modification by readers is not Transparent. An image format is not Transparent if used for any substantial amount of text. A copy that is not 'Transparent' is called 'Opaque'. Examples of suitable formats f.