This is the README for the ivtv module suite.

----------------------------------------------------------

NOTE: this is the second release of the 0.10.x series. The core of the driver
has been redesigned completely because the older drivers had design flaws
that made it impossible to fix certain race conditions. I also took the
opportunity to clean up the code (an almost 25% reduction in code size!).

While this driver has been tested pretty well, I cannot guarantee that there
are absolutely no bugs remaining.

So if you are using ivtv in a production environment, then you may want to
be careful introducing this new version. I'm phasing out support for the
older drivers, so upgrading is strongly recommended.


NOTE: This driver will work with kernels 2.6.18, 2.6.19 and 2.6.20. For the
latter kernel you will need to apply the cx25840.diff patch that is in the
'misc' directory (only if your card has the cx2584x chip, it is not needed
otherwise). The 2.6.20 kernel caused a cx2584x bug to surface that prevents
loading of the cx2584x firmware.

Hopefully this will be fixed in the next 2.6.20.x dot release.


NOTE: this driver requires the latest encoder firmware (version 2.06.039, size
376836 bytes). Get the firmware from here:

http://dl.ivtvdriver.org/ivtv/firmware/firmware.tar.gz


NOTE: When you build your own kernel, make sure you have enabled all the correct
modules. For 2.6.18: make sure you have enabled all modules in Device Drivers,
Multimedia devices, Video Capture Adapters, Encoders and Decoders.
Especially the new 'Conexant CX2341x MPEG encoders' entry.

For 2.6.19/20: In Device Drivers, Multimedia devices, Video Capture Adapters disable
the 'Autoselect pertinent encoders/decoders and other helper chips' option, then go
to the 'Encoders/decoders and other helper chips' entry that appeared.
It is probably easiest to just select all modules here, unless you know exactly
which chips your card has. One exception: I recommend that you do not enable the
Philips SAA7114 video encoder, use 'Philips SAA7113/4/5 video decoders' instead.


NOTE: ivtv-fb (PVR350 specific) now requires that you enable the following kernel
config options: Go to 'Device drivers -> Graphics support'. Enable 'Support for frame
buffer devices'. Enable 'Trident support' (the Trident module itself is not required).

To get working console output, keep going to 'Console display driver support', 
and enable 'Framebuffer Console support'. Enable 'Select compiled-in fonts' & 
once that's done, you should have a list of fonts. Choose one. With the 
default OSD size, 'VGA 8x16' gives 80x30(PAL) 80x25(NTSC).


NOTE: users of MythTV who use the PVR350 for mpeg decoding need to specify
the option osd_compat=1 when loading the ivtv-fb module. This is not required
when using the default Xv output.


NOTE: users of ivtv X driver may need to specify the option
osd_compat=1 when loading the ivtv-fb module. You will only need it if the
display becomes scrambled in X.


NOTE: see README.v4l-dvb if you need to build ivtv as part of the latest v4l-dvb
repository. If you don't know what this is all about, then you don't need this :-)

----------------------------------------------------------

The primary goal of the IVTV project is to provide a "clean room" Linux 
Open Source driver implementation for video capture cards based on the 
iCompression iTVC15 or Conexant CX23415/CX23416 MPEG Codec.

The following cards are supported:

Hauppauge WinTV PVR-250
Hauppauge WinTV PVR-350
Hauppauge WinTV PVR-150
Hauppauge WinTV PVR-500
AVerMedia M179
Yuan MPG600/Kuroutoshikou iTVC16-STVLP
Yuan MPG160/Kuroutoshikou iTVC15-STVLP
Yuan PG600/DiamondMM PVR-550 (CX Falcon 2)
Adaptec AVC-2410
Adaptec AVC-2010
Nagase Transgear 5000TV
AOpen VA2000MAX-STN6
Yuan MPG600GR/Kuroutoshikou CX23416GYC-STVLP
I/O Data GV-MVP/RX
I/O Data GV-MVP/RX2E
Gotview PCI DVD (preliminary support only)
Gotview PCI DVD2 Deluxe
Yuan MPC622

A special note regarding the PVR-500: this card basically consists of two
PVR-150 cards on one board but with the following difference: Radio,
Composite video and S-video are only hooked up to the first PVR-150 instance.

The Hauppauge cable set that you can buy for their cards to add an additional
Composite/S-Video input is also supported.

Features:
 * Hardware mpeg2 capture of broadcast video (and sound) via the tuner or
   S-Video/Composite and audio line-in.
 * Hardware mpeg2 capture of FM radio where hardware support exists
 * Supports NTSC, PAL, SECAM with stereo sound
 * Supports SAP and bilingual transmissions.
 * Supports raw VBI (closed captions and teletext).
 * Supports raw YUV and PCM input.

Additional features for the PVR-350 (CX23415 based):
 * Provides hardware mpeg2 playback
 * Provides comprehensive OSD (On Screen Display: ie. graphics overlaying the
   video signal)
 * Provides a framebuffer (allowing X applications to appear on the video
   device)
 * Supports raw YUV output.

IMPORTANT: In case of problems first read this page:
	   http://www.ivtvdriver.org/index.php/Troubleshooting


doc/ - contains documentation :)
   /README.install      Installation info
   /modules.txt         Module parameters
   /README.ivtvfb       The ivtv framebuffer
   /README.devices      /dev/xxxx devices
   /README.utils        Included utilities
   /README.lirc         Infrared remote control
   /README.vbi          VBI (Teletext, widescreen, close captioning, etc.)
   /README.radio        The FM Radio
   /video-quality.txt   Some notes on video quality
driver/ - actual driver files, Makefile, etc
utils/ - some useful (and required) tools for managing the hardware
test/ - some useful test tools for testing the hardware
misc/ - some patches, configuration for third party applications

Note: the old sourceforge ivtv project is no longer active and will
redirect to ivtvdriver.org. All development now takes place in the
subversion repository on ivtvdriver.org.

Also see:

Homepage + Wiki
http://www.ivtvdriver.org

Subversion repository:
http://ivtvdriver.org/svn/ivtv

Download area:
http://dl.ivtvdriver.org

Mail Archives
http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/ivtv/devel/
http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/ivtv/users/

Forum
http://www.shspvr.com/smf/

IRC
irc://irc.freenode.net/ivtv-dev

Donations
http://www.ivtvdriver.org/index.php/IVTV:Site_support
