1 Frequently Asked Questions:
2 ===========================
3 subject: unified zoran driver (zr360x7, zoran, buz, dc10(+), dc30(+), lml33)
4 website: http://mjpeg.sourceforge.net/driver-zoran/
6 1. What cards are supported
7 1.1 What the TV decoder can do an what not
8 1.2 What the TV encoder can do an what not
9 2. How do I get this damn thing to work
10 3. What mainboard should I use (or why doesn't my card work)
11 4. Programming interface
13 6. Concerning buffer sizes, quality, output size etc.
14 7. It hangs/crashes/fails/whatevers! Help!
15 8. Maintainers/Contacting
18 ===========================
20 1. What cards are supported
22 Iomega Buz, Linux Media Labs LML33/LML33R10, Pinnacle/Miro
23 DC10/DC10+/DC30/DC30+ and related boards (available under various names).
26 * Zoran zr36067 PCI controller
27 * Zoran zr36060 MJPEG codec
28 * Philips saa7111 TV decoder
29 * Philips saa7185 TV encoder
30 Drivers to use: videodev, i2c-core, i2c-algo-bit,
31 videocodec, saa7111, saa7185, zr36060, zr36067
32 Inputs/outputs: Composite and S-video
33 Norms: PAL, SECAM (720x576 @ 25 fps), NTSC (720x480 @ 29.97 fps)
36 Linux Media Labs LML33:
37 * Zoran zr36067 PCI controller
38 * Zoran zr36060 MJPEG codec
39 * Brooktree bt819 TV decoder
40 * Brooktree bt856 TV encoder
41 Drivers to use: videodev, i2c-core, i2c-algo-bit,
42 videocodec, bt819, bt856, zr36060, zr36067
43 Inputs/outputs: Composite and S-video
44 Norms: PAL (720x576 @ 25 fps), NTSC (720x480 @ 29.97 fps)
47 Linux Media Labs LML33R10:
48 * Zoran zr36067 PCI controller
49 * Zoran zr36060 MJPEG codec
50 * Philips saa7114 TV decoder
51 * Analog Devices adv7170 TV encoder
52 Drivers to use: videodev, i2c-core, i2c-algo-bit,
53 videocodec, saa7114, adv7170, zr36060, zr36067
54 Inputs/outputs: Composite and S-video
55 Norms: PAL (720x576 @ 25 fps), NTSC (720x480 @ 29.97 fps)
58 Pinnacle/Miro DC10(new):
59 * Zoran zr36057 PCI controller
60 * Zoran zr36060 MJPEG codec
61 * Philips saa7110a TV decoder
62 * Analog Devices adv7176 TV encoder
63 Drivers to use: videodev, i2c-core, i2c-algo-bit,
64 videocodec, saa7110, adv7175, zr36060, zr36067
65 Inputs/outputs: Composite, S-video and Internal
66 Norms: PAL, SECAM (768x576 @ 25 fps), NTSC (640x480 @ 29.97 fps)
70 * Zoran zr36067 PCI controller
71 * Zoran zr36060 MJPEG codec
72 * Philips saa7110a TV decoder
73 * Analog Devices adv7176 TV encoder
74 Drivers to use: videodev, i2c-core, i2c-algo-bit,
75 videocodec, sa7110, adv7175, zr36060, zr36067
76 Inputs/outputs: Composite, S-video and Internal
77 Norms: PAL, SECAM (768x576 @ 25 fps), NTSC (640x480 @ 29.97 fps)
80 Pinnacle/Miro DC10(old): *
81 * Zoran zr36057 PCI controller
82 * Zoran zr36050 MJPEG codec
83 * Zoran zr36016 Video Front End or Fuji md0211 Video Front End (clone?)
84 * Micronas vpx3220a TV decoder
85 * mse3000 TV encoder or Analog Devices adv7176 TV encoder *
86 Drivers to use: videodev, i2c-core, i2c-algo-bit,
87 videocodec, vpx3220, mse3000/adv7175, zr36050, zr36016, zr36067
88 Inputs/outputs: Composite, S-video and Internal
89 Norms: PAL, SECAM (768x576 @ 25 fps), NTSC (640x480 @ 29.97 fps)
93 * Zoran zr36057 PCI controller
94 * Zoran zr36050 MJPEG codec
95 * Zoran zr36016 Video Front End
96 * Micronas vpx3225d/vpx3220a/vpx3216b TV decoder
97 * Analog Devices adv7176 TV encoder
98 Drivers to use: videodev, i2c-core, i2c-algo-bit,
99 videocodec, vpx3220/vpx3224, adv7175, zr36050, zr36016, zr36067
100 Inputs/outputs: Composite, S-video and Internal
101 Norms: PAL, SECAM (768x576 @ 25 fps), NTSC (640x480 @ 29.97 fps)
104 Pinnacle/Miro DC30+: *
105 * Zoran zr36067 PCI controller
106 * Zoran zr36050 MJPEG codec
107 * Zoran zr36016 Video Front End
108 * Micronas vpx3225d/vpx3220a/vpx3216b TV decoder
109 * Analog Devices adv7176 TV encoder
110 Drivers to use: videodev, i2c-core, i2c-algo-bit,
111 videocodec, vpx3220/vpx3224, adv7175, zr36050, zr36015, zr36067
112 Inputs/outputs: Composite, S-video and Internal
113 Norms: PAL, SECAM (768x576 @ 25 fps), NTSC (640x480 @ 29.97 fps)
116 Note: No module for the mse3000 is available yet
117 Note: No module for the vpx3224 is available yet
118 Note: use encoder=X or decoder=X for non-default i2c chips (see i2c-id.h)
120 ===========================
122 1.1 What the TV decoder can do an what not
124 The best know TV standards are NTSC/PAL/SECAM. but for decoding a frame that
125 information is not enough. There are several formats of the TV standards.
126 And not every TV decoder is able to handle every format. Also the every
127 combination is supported by the driver. There are currently 11 different
128 tv broadcast formats all aver the world.
130 The CCIR defines parameters needed for broadcasting the signal.
131 The CCIR has defined different standards: A,B,D,E,F,G,D,H,I,K,K1,L,M,N,...
132 The CCIR says not much about about the colorsystem used !!!
133 And talking about a colorsystem says not to much about how it is broadcast.
135 The CCIR standards A,E,F are not used any more.
137 When you speak about NTSC, you usually mean the standard: CCIR - M using
138 the NTSC colorsystem which is used in the USA, Japan, Mexico, Canada
141 When you talk about PAL, you usually mean: CCIR - B/G using the PAL
142 colorsystem which is used in many Countries.
144 When you talk about SECAM, you mean: CCIR - L using the SECAM Colorsystem
145 which is used in France, and a few others.
147 There the other version of SECAM, CCIR - D/K is used in Bulgaria, China,
148 Slovakai, Hungary, Korea (Rep.), Poland, Rumania and a others.
150 The CCIR - H uses the PAL colorsystem (sometimes SECAM) and is used in
151 Egypt, Libya, Sri Lanka, Syrain Arab. Rep.
153 The CCIR - I uses the PAL colorsystem, and is used in Great Britain, Hong Kong,
154 Ireland, Nigeria, South Africa.
156 The CCIR - N uses the PAL colorsystem and PAL frame size but the NTSC framerate,
157 and is used in Argentinia, Uruguay, an a few others
159 We do not talk about how the audio is broadcast !
161 A rather good sites about the TV standards are:
162 http://www.sony.jp/ServiceArea/Voltage_map/
163 http://info.electronicwerkstatt.de/bereiche/fernsehtechnik/frequenzen_und_normen/Fernsehnormen/
164 and http://www.cabl.com/restaurant/channel.html
166 Other weird things around: NTSC 4.43 is a modificated NTSC, which is mainly
167 used in PAL VCR's that are able to play back NTSC. PAL 60 seems to be the same
168 as NTSC 4.43 . The Datasheets also talk about NTSC 44, It seems as if it would
169 be the same as NTSC 4.43.
170 NTSC Combs seems to be a decoder mode where the decoder uses a comb filter
171 to split coma and luma instead of a Delay line.
173 But I did not defiantly find out what NTSC Comb is.
175 Philips saa7111 TV decoder
176 was introduced in 1997, is used in the BUZ and
177 can handle: PAL B/G/H/I, PAL N, PAL M, NTSC M, NTSC N, NTSC 4.43 and SECAM
179 Philips saa7110a TV decoder
180 was introduced in 1995, is used in the Pinnacle/Miro DC10(new), DC10+ and
181 can handle: PAL B/G, NTSC M and SECAM
183 Philips saa7114 TV decoder
184 was introduced in 2000, is used in the LML33R10 and
185 can handle: PAL B/G/D/H/I/N, PAL N, PAL M, NTSC M, NTSC 4.43 and SECAM
187 Brooktree bt819 TV decoder
188 was introduced in 1996, and is used in the LML33 and
189 can handle: PAL B/D/G/H/I, NTSC M
191 Micronas vpx3220a TV decoder
192 was introduced in 1996, is used in the DC30 and DC30+ and
193 can handle: PAL B/G/H/I, PAL N, PAL M, NTSC M, NTSC 44, PAL 60, SECAM,NTSC Comb
195 ===========================
197 1.2 What the TV encoder can do an what not
199 The TV encoder are doing the "same" as the decoder, but in the oder direction.
200 You feed them digital data and the generate a Composite or SVHS signal.
201 For information about the colorsystems and TV norm take a look in the
204 Philips saa7185 TV Encoder
205 was introduced in 1996, is used in the BUZ
206 can generate: PAL B/G, NTSC M
208 Brooktree bt856 TV Encoder
209 was introduced in 1994, is used in the LML33
210 can generate: PAL B/D/G/H/I/N, PAL M, NTSC M, PAL-N (Argentina)
212 Analog Devices adv7170 TV Encoder
213 was introduced in 2000, is used in the LML300R10
214 can generate: PAL B/D/G/H/I/N, PAL M, NTSC M, PAL 60
216 Analog Devices adv7175 TV Encoder
217 was introduced in 1996, is used in the DC10, DC10+, DC10 old, DC30, DC30+
218 can generate: PAL B/D/G/H/I/N, PAL M, NTSC M
220 ITT mse3000 TV encoder
221 was introduced in 1991, is used in the DC10 old
222 can generate: PAL , NTSC , SECAM
224 The adv717x, should be able to produce PAL N. But you find nothing PAL N
225 specific in the the registers. Seem that you have to reuse a other standard
226 to generate PAL N, maybe it would work if you use the PAL M settings.
228 ==========================
230 2. How do I get this damn thing to work
232 Load zr36067.o. If it can't autodetect your card, use the card=X insmod
233 option with X being the card number as given in the previous section.
234 To have more than one card, use card=X1[,X2[,X3,[X4[..]]]]
236 To automate this, add the following to your /etc/modprobe.conf:
238 options zr36067 card=X1[,X2[,X3[,X4[..]]]]
239 alias char-major-81-0 zr36067
241 One thing to keep in mind is that this doesn't load zr36067.o itself yet. It
242 just automates loading. If you start using xawtv, the device won't load on
243 some systems, since you're trying to load modules as a user, which is not
244 allowed ("permission denied"). A quick workaround is to add 'Load "v4l"' to
245 XF86Config-4 when you use X by default, or to run 'v4l-conf -c <device>' in
246 one of your startup scripts (normally rc.local) if you don't use X. Both
247 make sure that the modules are loaded on startup, under the root account.
249 ===========================
251 3. What mainboard should I use (or why doesn't my card work)
253 <insert lousy disclaimer here>. In short: good=SiS/Intel, bad=VIA.
255 Experience tells us that people with a Buz, on average, have more problems
256 than users with a DC10+/LML33. Also, it tells us that people owning a VIA-
257 based mainboard (ktXXX, MVP3) have more problems than users with a mainboard
258 based on a different chipset. Here's some notes from Andrew Stevens:
260 Here's my experience of using LML33 and Buz on various motherboards:
263 Forget it. Pointless. Doesn't work.
264 Intel 430FX (Pentium 200)
265 LML33 perfect, Buz tolerable (3 or 4 frames dropped per movie)
266 Intel 440BX (early stepping)
267 LML33 tolerable. Buz starting to get annoying (6-10 frames/hour)
268 Intel 440BX (late stepping)
269 Buz tolerable, LML3 almost perfect (occasional single frame drops)
271 LML33 perfect, Buz tolerable.
273 LML33 starting to get annoying, Buz poor enough that I have up.
275 Both 440BX boards were dual CPU versions.
277 Bernhard Praschinger later added:
280 Buz perfect-tolerable
282 Buz perfect-tolerable
284 In general, people on the user mailinglist won't give you much of a chance
285 if you have a VIA-based motherboard. They may be cheap, but sometimes, you'd
286 rather want to spend some more money on better boards. In general, VIA
287 mainboard's IDE/PCI performance will also suck badly compared to others.
288 You'll noticed the DC10+/DC30+ aren't mentioned anywhere in the overview.
289 Basically, you can assume that if the Buz works, the LML33 will work too. If
290 the LML33 works, the DC10+/DC30+ will work too. They're most tolerant to
291 different mainboard chipsets from all of the supported cards.
293 If you experience timeouts during capture, buy a better mainboard or lower
294 the quality/buffersize during capture (see 'Concerning buffer sizes, quality,
295 output size etc.'). If it hangs, there's little we can do as of now. Check
296 your IRQs and make sure the card has its own interrupts.
298 ===========================
300 4. Programming interface
302 This driver conforms to video4linux and video4linux2, both can be used to
303 use the driver. Since video4linux didn't provide adequate calls to fully
304 use the cards' features, we've introduced several programming extensions,
305 which are currently officially accepted in the 2.4.x branch of the kernel.
306 These extensions are known as the v4l/mjpeg extensions. See zoran.h for
307 details (structs/ioctls).
309 Information - video4linux:
310 http://roadrunner.swansea.linux.org.uk/v4lapi.shtml
311 Documentation/video4linux/API.html
312 /usr/include/linux/videodev.h
314 Information - video4linux/mjpeg extensions:
318 Information - video4linux2:
319 http://www.thedirks.org/v4l2/
320 /usr/include/linux/videodev2.h
321 http://www.bytesex.org/v4l/
323 More information on the video4linux/mjpeg extensions, by Serguei
324 Miridonovi and Rainer Johanni:
326 The ioctls for that interface are as follows:
331 Get and set the parameters of the buz. The user should always do a
332 BUZIOC_G_PARAMS (with a struct buz_params) to obtain the default
333 settings, change what he likes and then make a BUZIOC_S_PARAMS call.
337 Before being able to capture/playback, the user has to request
338 the buffers he is wanting to use. Fill the structure
339 zoran_requestbuffers with the size (recommended: 256*1024) and
340 the number (recommended 32 up to 256). There are no such restrictions
341 as for the Video for Linux buffers, you should LEAVE SUFFICIENT
342 MEMORY for your system however, else strange things will happen ....
343 On return, the zoran_requestbuffers structure contains number and
344 size of the actually allocated buffers.
345 You should use these numbers for doing a mmap of the buffers
347 The BUZIOC_REQBUFS ioctl also makes it happen, that the next mmap
348 maps the MJPEG buffer instead of the V4L buffers.
353 Queue a buffer for capture or playback. The first call also starts
354 streaming capture. When streaming capture is going on, you may
355 only queue further buffers or issue syncs until streaming
356 capture is switched off again with a argument of -1 to
357 a BUZIOC_QBUF_CAPT/BUZIOC_QBUF_PLAY ioctl.
361 Issue this ioctl when all buffers are queued. This ioctl will
362 block until the first buffer becomes free for saving its
363 data to disk (after BUZIOC_QBUF_CAPT) or for reuse (after BUZIOC_QBUF_PLAY).
367 Get the status of the input lines (video source connected/norm).
369 For programming example, please, look at lavrec.c and lavplay.c code in
370 lavtools-1.2p2 package (URL: http://www.cicese.mx/~mirsev/DC10plus/)
371 and the 'examples' directory in the original Buz driver distribution.
373 Additional notes for software developers:
375 The driver returns maxwidth and maxheight parameters according to
376 the current TV standard (norm). Therefore, the software which
377 communicates with the driver and "asks" for these parameters should
378 first set the correct norm. Well, it seems logically correct: TV
379 standard is "more constant" for current country than geometry
380 settings of a variety of TV capture cards which may work in ITU or
381 square pixel format. Remember that users now can lock the norm to
384 Please note that lavplay/lavrec are also included in the MJPEG-tools
385 (http://mjpeg.sf.net/).
387 ===========================
391 Applications known to work with this driver:
396 * probably any TV application that supports video4linux or video4linux2.
398 MJPEG capture/playback:
399 * mjpegtools/lavtools (or Linux Video Studio)
406 * probably any application that supports video4linux or video4linux2
411 * mjpegtools (or Linux Video Studio)
413 ===========================
415 6. Concerning buffer sizes, quality, output size etc.
417 The zr36060 can do 1:2 JPEG compression. This is really the theoretical
418 maximum that the chipset can reach. The driver can, however, limit compression
419 to a maximum (size) of 1:4. The reason for this is that some cards (e.g. Buz)
420 can't handle 1:2 compression without stopping capture after only a few minutes.
421 With 1:4, it'll mostly work. If you have a Buz, use 'low_bitrate=1' to go into
422 1:4 max. compression mode.
424 100% JPEG quality is thus 1:2 compression in practice. So for a full PAL frame
425 (size 720x576). The JPEG fields are stored in YUY2 format, so the size of the
426 fields are 720x288x16/2 bits/field (2 fields/frame) = 207360 bytes/field x 2 =
427 414720 bytes/frame (add some more bytes for headers and DHT (huffman)/DQT
428 (quantization) tables, and you'll get to something like 512kB per frame for
429 1:2 compression. For 1:4 compression, you'd have frames of half this size.
431 Some additional explanation by Martin Samuelsson, which also explains the
432 importance of buffer sizes:
434 > Hmm, I do not think it is really that way. With the current (downloaded
435 > at 18:00 Monday) driver I get that output sizes for 10 sec:
436 > -q 50 -b 128 : 24.283.332 Bytes
437 > -q 50 -b 256 : 48.442.368
438 > -q 25 -b 128 : 24.655.992
439 > -q 25 -b 256 : 25.859.820
441 I woke up, and can't go to sleep again. I'll kill some time explaining why
442 this doesn't look strange to me.
444 Let's do some math using a width of 704 pixels. I'm not sure whether the Buz
445 actually use that number or not, but that's not too important right now.
447 704x288 pixels, one field, is 202752 pixels. Divided by 64 pixels per block;
448 3168 blocks per field. Each pixel consist of two bytes; 128 bytes per block;
449 1024 bits per block. 100% in the new driver mean 1:2 compression; the maximum
450 output becomes 512 bits per block. Actually 510, but 512 is simpler to use
453 Let's say that we specify d1q50. We thus want 256 bits per block; times 3168
454 becomes 811008 bits; 101376 bytes per field. We're talking raw bits and bytes
455 here, so we don't need to do any fancy corrections for bits-per-pixel or such
456 things. 101376 bytes per field.
458 d1 video contains two fields per frame. Those sum up to 202752 bytes per
459 frame, and one of those frames goes into each buffer.
461 But wait a second! -b128 gives 128kB buffers! It's not possible to cram
462 202752 bytes of JPEG data into 128kB!
464 This is what the driver notice and automatically compensate for in your
465 examples. Let's do some math using this information:
467 128kB is 131072 bytes. In this buffer, we want to store two fields, which
468 leaves 65536 bytes for each field. Using 3168 blocks per field, we get
469 20.68686868... available bytes per block; 165 bits. We can't allow the
470 request for 256 bits per block when there's only 165 bits available! The -q50
471 option is silently overridden, and the -b128 option takes precedence, leaving
472 us with the equivalence of -q32.
474 This gives us a data rate of 165 bits per block, which, times 3168, sums up
475 to 65340 bytes per field, out of the allowed 65536. The current driver has
476 another level of rate limiting; it won't accept -q values that fill more than
477 6/8 of the specified buffers. (I'm not sure why. "Playing it safe" seem to be
478 a safe bet. Personally, I think I would have lowered requested-bits-per-block
479 by one, or something like that.) We can't use 165 bits per block, but have to
480 lower it again, to 6/8 of the available buffer space: We end up with 124 bits
481 per block, the equivalence of -q24. With 128kB buffers, you can't use greater
482 than -q24 at -d1. (And PAL, and 704 pixels width...)
484 The third example is limited to -q24 through the same process. The second
485 example, using very similar calculations, is limited to -q48. The only
486 example that actually grab at the specified -q value is the last one, which
487 is clearly visible, looking at the file size.
490 Conclusion: the quality of the resulting movie depends on buffer size, quality,
491 whether or not you use 'low_bitrate=1' as insmod option for the zr36060.c
492 module to do 1:4 instead of 1:2 compression, etc.
494 If you experience timeouts, lowering the quality/buffersize or using
495 'low_bitrate=1 as insmod option for zr36060.o might actually help, as is
498 ===========================
500 7. It hangs/crashes/fails/whatevers! Help!
502 Make sure that the card has its own interrupts (see /proc/interrupts), check
503 the output of dmesg at high verbosity (load zr36067.o with debug=2,
504 load all other modules with debug=1). Check that your mainboard is favorable
505 (see question 2) and if not, test the card in another computer. Also see the
506 notes given in question 3 and try lowering quality/buffersize/capturesize
507 if recording fails after a period of time.
509 If all this doesn't help, give a clear description of the problem including
510 detailed hardware information (memory+brand, mainboard+chipset+brand, which
511 MJPEG card, processor, other PCI cards that might be of interest), give the
512 system PnP information (/proc/interrupts, /proc/dma, /proc/devices), and give
513 the kernel version, driver version, glibc version, gcc version and any other
514 information that might possibly be of interest. Also provide the dmesg output
515 at high verbosity. See 'Contacting' on how to contact the developers.
517 ===========================
519 8. Maintainers/Contacting
521 The driver is currently maintained by Laurent Pinchart and Ronald Bultje
522 (<laurent.pinchart@skynet.be> and <rbultje@ronald.bitfreak.net>). For bug
523 reports or questions, please contact the mailinglist instead of the developers
524 individually. For user questions (i.e. bug reports or how-to questions), send
525 an email to <mjpeg-users@lists.sf.net>, for developers (i.e. if you want to
526 help programming), send an email to <mjpeg-developer@lists.sf.net>. See
527 http://www.sf.net/projects/mjpeg/ for subscription information.
529 For bug reports, be sure to include all the information as described in
530 the section 'It hangs/crashes/fails/whatevers! Help!'. Please make sure
531 you're using the latest version (http://mjpeg.sf.net/driver-zoran/).
533 Previous maintainers/developers of this driver include Serguei Miridonov
534 <mirsev@cicese.mx>, Wolfgang Scherr <scherr@net4you.net>, Dave Perks
535 <dperks@ibm.net> and Rainer Johanni <Rainer@Johanni.de>.
537 ===========================
541 This driver is distributed under the terms of the General Public License.
543 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
544 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
545 the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
546 (at your option) any later version.
548 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
549 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
550 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
551 GNU General Public License for more details.
553 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
554 along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
555 Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
557 See http://www.gnu.org/ for more information.
projects / linux-2.6 / blob