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1 | Documentation for dvb-usb-framework module and its devices | ||
2 | |||
3 | Idea behind the dvb-usb-framework | ||
4 | ================================= | ||
5 | |||
6 | In March 2005 I got the new Twinhan USB2.0 DVB-T device. They provided specs and a firmware. | ||
7 | |||
8 | Quite keen I wanted to put the driver (with some quirks of course) into dibusb. | ||
9 | After reading some specs and doing some USB snooping, it realized, that the | ||
10 | dibusb-driver would be a complete mess afterwards. So I decided to do it in a | ||
11 | different way: With the help of a dvb-usb-framework. | ||
12 | |||
13 | The framework provides generic functions (mostly kernel API calls), such as: | ||
14 | |||
15 | - Transport Stream URB handling in conjunction with dvb-demux-feed-control | ||
16 | (bulk and isoc are supported) | ||
17 | - registering the device for the DVB-API | ||
18 | - registering an I2C-adapter if applicable | ||
19 | - remote-control/input-device handling | ||
20 | - firmware requesting and loading (currently just for the Cypress USB | ||
21 | controllers) | ||
22 | - other functions/methods which can be shared by several drivers (such as | ||
23 | functions for bulk-control-commands) | ||
24 | - TODO: a I2C-chunker. It creates device-specific chunks of register-accesses | ||
25 | depending on length of a register and the number of values that can be | ||
26 | multi-written and multi-read. | ||
27 | |||
28 | The source code of the particular DVB USB devices does just the communication | ||
29 | with the device via the bus. The connection between the DVB-API-functionality | ||
30 | is done via callbacks, assigned in a static device-description (struct | ||
31 | dvb_usb_device) each device-driver has to have. | ||
32 | |||
33 | For an example have a look in drivers/media/dvb/dvb-usb/vp7045*. | ||
34 | |||
35 | Objective is to migrate all the usb-devices (dibusb, cinergyT2, maybe the | ||
36 | ttusb; flexcop-usb already benefits from the generic flexcop-device) to use | ||
37 | the dvb-usb-lib. | ||
38 | |||
39 | TODO: dynamic enabling and disabling of the pid-filter in regard to number of | ||
40 | feeds requested. | ||
41 | |||
42 | Supported devices | ||
43 | ======================== | ||
44 | |||
45 | See the LinuxTV DVB Wiki at www.linuxtv.org for a complete list of | ||
46 | cards/drivers/firmwares: | ||
47 | |||
48 | http://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/DVB_USB | ||
49 | |||
50 | 0. History & News: | ||
51 | 2005-06-30 - added support for WideView WT-220U (Thanks to Steve Chang) | ||
52 | 2005-05-30 - added basic isochronous support to the dvb-usb-framework | ||
53 | added support for Conexant Hybrid reference design and Nebula DigiTV USB | ||
54 | 2005-04-17 - all dibusb devices ported to make use of the dvb-usb-framework | ||
55 | 2005-04-02 - re-enabled and improved remote control code. | ||
56 | 2005-03-31 - ported the Yakumo/Hama/Typhoon DVB-T USB2.0 device to dvb-usb. | ||
57 | 2005-03-30 - first commit of the dvb-usb-module based on the dibusb-source. First device is a new driver for the | ||
58 | TwinhanDTV Alpha / MagicBox II USB2.0-only DVB-T device. | ||
59 | |||
60 | (change from dvb-dibusb to dvb-usb) | ||
61 | 2005-03-28 - added support for the AVerMedia AverTV DVB-T USB2.0 device (Thanks to Glen Harris and Jiun-Kuei Jung, AVerMedia) | ||
62 | 2005-03-14 - added support for the Typhoon/Yakumo/HAMA DVB-T mobile USB2.0 | ||
63 | 2005-02-11 - added support for the KWorld/ADSTech Instant DVB-T USB2.0. Thanks a lot to Joachim von Caron | ||
64 | 2005-02-02 - added support for the Hauppauge Win-TV Nova-T USB2 | ||
65 | 2005-01-31 - distorted streaming is gone for USB1.1 devices | ||
66 | 2005-01-13 - moved the mirrored pid_filter_table back to dvb-dibusb | ||
67 | - first almost working version for HanfTek UMT-010 | ||
68 | - found out, that Yakumo/HAMA/Typhoon are predecessors of the HanfTek UMT-010 | ||
69 | 2005-01-10 - refactoring completed, now everything is very delightful | ||
70 | - tuner quirks for some weird devices (Artec T1 AN2235 device has sometimes a | ||
71 | Panasonic Tuner assembled). Tunerprobing implemented. Thanks a lot to Gunnar Wittich. | ||
72 | 2004-12-29 - after several days of struggling around bug of no returning URBs fixed. | ||
73 | 2004-12-26 - refactored the dibusb-driver, splitted into separate files | ||
74 | - i2c-probing enabled | ||
75 | 2004-12-06 - possibility for demod i2c-address probing | ||
76 | - new usb IDs (Compro, Artec) | ||
77 | 2004-11-23 - merged changes from DiB3000MC_ver2.1 | ||
78 | - revised the debugging | ||
79 | - possibility to deliver the complete TS for USB2.0 | ||
80 | 2004-11-21 - first working version of the dib3000mc/p frontend driver. | ||
81 | 2004-11-12 - added additional remote control keys. Thanks to Uwe Hanke. | ||
82 | 2004-11-07 - added remote control support. Thanks to David Matthews. | ||
83 | 2004-11-05 - added support for a new devices (Grandtec/Avermedia/Artec) | ||
84 | - merged my changes (for dib3000mb/dibusb) to the FE_REFACTORING, because it became HEAD | ||
85 | - moved transfer control (pid filter, fifo control) from usb driver to frontend, it seems | ||
86 | better settled there (added xfer_ops-struct) | ||
87 | - created a common files for frontends (mc/p/mb) | ||
88 | 2004-09-28 - added support for a new device (Unkown, vendor ID is Hyper-Paltek) | ||
89 | 2004-09-20 - added support for a new device (Compro DVB-U2000), thanks | ||
90 | to Amaury Demol for reporting | ||
91 | - changed usb TS transfer method (several urbs, stopping transfer | ||
92 | before setting a new pid) | ||
93 | 2004-09-13 - added support for a new device (Artec T1 USB TVBOX), thanks | ||
94 | to Christian Motschke for reporting | ||
95 | 2004-09-05 - released the dibusb device and dib3000mb-frontend driver | ||
96 | |||
97 | (old news for vp7041.c) | ||
98 | 2004-07-15 - found out, by accident, that the device has a TUA6010XS for | ||
99 | PLL | ||
100 | 2004-07-12 - figured out, that the driver should also work with the | ||
101 | CTS Portable (Chinese Television System) | ||
102 | 2004-07-08 - firmware-extraction-2.422-problem solved, driver is now working | ||
103 | properly with firmware extracted from 2.422 | ||
104 | - #if for 2.6.4 (dvb), compile issue | ||
105 | - changed firmware handling, see vp7041.txt sec 1.1 | ||
106 | 2004-07-02 - some tuner modifications, v0.1, cleanups, first public | ||
107 | 2004-06-28 - now using the dvb_dmx_swfilter_packets, everything | ||
108 | runs fine now | ||
109 | 2004-06-27 - able to watch and switching channels (pre-alpha) | ||
110 | - no section filtering yet | ||
111 | 2004-06-06 - first TS received, but kernel oops :/ | ||
112 | 2004-05-14 - firmware loader is working | ||
113 | 2004-05-11 - start writing the driver | ||
114 | |||
115 | 1. How to use? | ||
116 | 1.1. Firmware | ||
117 | |||
118 | Most of the USB drivers need to download a firmware to the device before start | ||
119 | working. | ||
120 | |||
121 | Have a look at the Wikipage for the DVB-USB-drivers to find out, which firmware | ||
122 | you need for your device: | ||
123 | |||
124 | http://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/DVB_USB | ||
125 | |||
126 | 1.2. Compiling | ||
127 | |||
128 | Since the driver is in the linux kernel, activating the driver in | ||
129 | your favorite config-environment should sufficient. I recommend | ||
130 | to compile the driver as module. Hotplug does the rest. | ||
131 | |||
132 | If you use dvb-kernel enter the build-2.6 directory run 'make' and 'insmod.sh | ||
133 | load' afterwards. | ||
134 | |||
135 | 1.3. Loading the drivers | ||
136 | |||
137 | Hotplug is able to load the driver, when it is needed (because you plugged | ||
138 | in the device). | ||
139 | |||
140 | If you want to enable debug output, you have to load the driver manually and | ||
141 | from withing the dvb-kernel cvs repository. | ||
142 | |||
143 | first have a look, which debug level are available: | ||
144 | |||
145 | modinfo dvb-usb | ||
146 | modinfo dvb-usb-vp7045 | ||
147 | etc. | ||
148 | |||
149 | modprobe dvb-usb debug=<level> | ||
150 | modprobe dvb-usb-vp7045 debug=<level> | ||
151 | etc. | ||
152 | |||
153 | should do the trick. | ||
154 | |||
155 | When the driver is loaded successfully, the firmware file was in | ||
156 | the right place and the device is connected, the "Power"-LED should be | ||
157 | turned on. | ||
158 | |||
159 | At this point you should be able to start a dvb-capable application. I'm use | ||
160 | (t|s)zap, mplayer and dvbscan to test the basics. VDR-xine provides the | ||
161 | long-term test scenario. | ||
162 | |||
163 | 2. Known problems and bugs | ||
164 | |||
165 | - Don't remove the USB device while running an DVB application, your system | ||
166 | will go crazy or die most likely. | ||
167 | |||
168 | 2.1. Adding support for devices | ||
169 | |||
170 | TODO | ||
171 | |||
172 | 2.2. USB1.1 Bandwidth limitation | ||
173 | |||
174 | A lot of the currently supported devices are USB1.1 and thus they have a | ||
175 | maximum bandwidth of about 5-6 MBit/s when connected to a USB2.0 hub. | ||
176 | This is not enough for receiving the complete transport stream of a | ||
177 | DVB-T channel (which is about 16 MBit/s). Normally this is not a | ||
178 | problem, if you only want to watch TV (this does not apply for HDTV), | ||
179 | but watching a channel while recording another channel on the same | ||
180 | frequency simply does not work very well. This applies to all USB1.1 | ||
181 | DVB-T devices, not just the dvb-usb-devices) | ||
182 | |||
183 | The bug, where the TS is distorted by a heavy usage of the device is gone | ||
184 | definitely. All dvb-usb-devices I was using (Twinhan, Kworld, DiBcom) are | ||
185 | working like charm now with VDR. Sometimes I even was able to record a channel | ||
186 | and watch another one. | ||
187 | |||
188 | 2.3. Comments | ||
189 | |||
190 | Patches, comments and suggestions are very very welcome. | ||
191 | |||
192 | 3. Acknowledgements | ||
193 | Amaury Demol (ademol@dibcom.fr) and Francois Kanounnikoff from DiBcom for | ||
194 | providing specs, code and help, on which the dvb-dibusb, dib3000mb and | ||
195 | dib3000mc are based. | ||
196 | |||
197 | David Matthews for identifying a new device type (Artec T1 with AN2235) | ||
198 | and for extending dibusb with remote control event handling. Thank you. | ||
199 | |||
200 | Alex Woods for frequently answering question about usb and dvb | ||
201 | stuff, a big thank you. | ||
202 | |||
203 | Bernd Wagner for helping with huge bug reports and discussions. | ||
204 | |||
205 | Gunnar Wittich and Joachim von Caron for their trust for providing | ||
206 | root-shells on their machines to implement support for new devices. | ||
207 | |||
208 | Allan Third and Michael Hutchinson for their help to write the Nebula | ||
209 | digitv-driver. | ||
210 | |||
211 | Glen Harris for bringing up, that there is a new dibusb-device and Jiun-Kuei | ||
212 | Jung from AVerMedia who kindly provided a special firmware to get the device | ||
213 | up and running in Linux. | ||
214 | |||
215 | Jennifer Chen, Jeff and Jack from Twinhan for kindly supporting by | ||
216 | writing the vp7045-driver. | ||
217 | |||
218 | Steve Chang from WideView for providing information for new devices and | ||
219 | firmware files. | ||
220 | |||
221 | Michael Paxton for submitting remote control keymaps. | ||
222 | |||
223 | Some guys on the linux-dvb mailing list for encouraging me. | ||
224 | |||
225 | Peter Schildmann >peter.schildmann-nospam-at-web.de< for his | ||
226 | user-level firmware loader, which saves a lot of time | ||
227 | (when writing the vp7041 driver) | ||
228 | |||
229 | Ulf Hermenau for helping me out with traditional chinese. | ||
230 | |||
231 | André Smoktun and Christian Frömmel for supporting me with | ||
232 | hardware and listening to my problems very patiently. | ||