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linuxtv-dvb
===========

Digital Video Broadcast drivers for Linux 2.6.x *only*.

Note: Unlike in previous releases, the test/utility programs have
been unbundled and are released separately as linuxtv-dvb-apps-1.1.0.

The DVB drivers are already included in Linux 2.6.x, so you usually
don't need this package. What you will need, hwoever, is firmware.
see below.

"What happened to the 2.4 tree?"
--------------------------------

See http://linuxtv.org/news/js/branch24.xml

Maintaining the DVB driver for both Linux 2.4 and 2.6 in the same CVS
tree became too problematic. E.g. it is not possible to create DVB
driver patches for the mainline kernel directly from CVS without doing
a lot of work by hand. We also need to do some structural changes which
are not easy to do when we always have to keep 2.4 backwards
compatibility.

Consequently, we've created a "linux_2_4" branch in dvb-kernel CVS for
the driver version for Linux 2.4.

Main development in CVS HEAD will be for Linux 2.6 only, and all 2.4
compatibility stuff has been removed from HEAD.

It largely depends on public interest and your help (hint, hint) for
improvements from HEAD to be backported to 2.4. If you want to checkout
the 2.4 drivers use the following command:

cvs -d :pserver:anonymous@linuxtv.org:/cvs/linuxtv co -P -rlinux_2_4
dvb-kernel

You can also select the linux_2_4 branch when viewing files in the CVS
web interface http://linuxtv.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb.cgi/dvb-kernel/ .

Quick start:
------------

1. Get firmware:

  Some DVB cards need firmware to operate. Due to licensing problems
  we won't distribute the firmware binaries with the driver source,
  you must get them seperately. See below for details about where
  to get and where to put.

  Please use the script in linux/Documentation/dvb/get_dvb_firmware to
  download the firmware for your device.

  There is also an archive of the latest firmware in linuxtv cvs, at
  http://linuxtv.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb.cgi/dvb-kernel/firmware/

  See also linux/Documentation/dvb/firmware.txt and
  linux/Documentation/firmware_class/README.

2. cd build-2.6

3. make

  Note #1: Since the dvb-bt8xx and dst drivers now depend on a
  snapshot of the v4l drivers, they are not built by default.
  To build these modules do this instead: make BTTV=1
  For detailed instructions for bttv based cards, see README.bt8xx

  Note #2: OSD support for AV7110 is compiled in by default now,
  if you do not want the OSD support built into this driver,
  you can use 'make AV7110_OSD=no' to accomplish your goal.

4. ./insmod.sh load

  Note: Some of the drivers will refuse to load and spit out
  error messages if they cannot find their hardware. You can
  ignore them, or edit insmod.sh and comment out drivers that
  you don't need.

  You will have to load at least two drivers:
  - one for the main DVB card / device
  - one for the frontend (i.e. tuner + demodulator)


Detailed instructions for building:
-----------------------------------

If you encounter any problems while executing the follwing steps please read
the TROUBLESHOOTING file.

Simply type 'make' to build the driver. The compiled modules will be located
in directory ./build-2.6/, depening on the kernel version you
are running. There you will also find scripts to load and unload the modules.

For some cards or frontends you need to download additional firmware
binaries. You need to compile your kernel with CONFIG_FW_LOADER and
have reasonably new hostplug scripts installed (see if '/sbin/hotplug --help'
includes "firmware" in the list of available agents).

Please use the script in linux/Documentation/dvb/get_dvb_firmware to
download the firmware for your device.

If something is missing, you get notified in the build process or when
loading the modules.

Just in case you are wondering: the "alps_bsrv2" driver is gone, please use
the new "ves1x93" driver instead.

In ./build-2.6/ you find the insmod script.

Use './insmod.sh load' to load the driver modules, './insmod.sh unload' to
remove them. './insmod debug' loads the drivers with debugging enabled.
These scripts load all drivers for all cards but the ones based on the bt8xx.
For bt8xx based cards please use the insmod-bt8xx.sh script instead.

Now check the klog and syslog (in doubt type 'dmesg') for error messages.

When you reached this point successfully you probably want to start some
test applications, download the linuxtv-dvb-apps-1.1.tar.gz package, unpack
it and compile it. This package contains some tools to test and debug the
driver:

linuxtv-dvb-apps-1.1/apps/szap/ contains three simple applications called
szap, czap and tzap for zapping with DVB-S, DVB-C or DVB-T cards.
Read linuxtv-dvb-apps-1.1/apps/szap/ README for usage instructions.

Note 1: tuning succeeded if you see the FE_HAS_LOCK flag and "status 1f"; a
good signal has a low bit error rate (ber) and zero uncorrectable packets (unc).

Note 2: you must keep ?zap running, or the frontend will go to sleep (unless
you load dvb-core.o with dvb_shutdown_timeout=0)

If your card has a hardware MPEG decoder you can watch TV with xawtv (together
with e.g. szap for DVB tuning); Note: xawtv cannot control the DVB tuner, you
must use ?zap

For cards without hardware MPEG decoder you need a software MPEG decoder,
e.g. mplayer or xine (you need *very* recent versions which understand MPEG2
transport streams; xine v0.9.21 and mplayer dev-CVS-030723-16:39-3.3.1 seem to
work); Note: You must run ?zap with the -r flag to enable stream output to the
dvr device, and keep it running while watching tv.

Examples:
	mplayer - < /dev/dvb/adapter0/dvr0
	xine stdin://mpeg2 < /dev/dvb/adapter0/dvr0

Note: Newest mplayer and xine versions are reported to have builtin DVB support
(see ./linux/Documentation/dvb/faq.txt for more info).

For 'real' everyday use you probably don't want to use these test applications
but install a program like VDR or MythTV.
(Read ./linux/Documentation/dvb/faq.txt for some links)

When everything is working you probably want to install the driver on your
system by typing 'make install'. If you want to load the modules automatically
when an application tries to open the device you need to add lines like these
to your modules.conf:

	probeall /dev/dvb dvb-ttpci
	alias /dev/dvb/* /dev/dvb
	below dvb-ttpci alps_bsrv2 alps_tdmb7 alps_tdlb7
	add below dvb-ttpci grundig_29504-401 grundig_29504-491
	add below dvb-ttpci stv0299 ves1820

Note: this example is for people with Technotrend-based PCI cards, they must
load the dvb-ttpci driver and a matching frontend drivers that are potentially
used on these cards. In order to find out which ones are required for your
setup check the lsmod output after loading the driver like described above.
Those DVB modules that have a usecount greater zero are required in your
setup - edit the modules.conf file appropriatly]

Debian users don't edit modules.conf manually but add the lines above to a new
file in /etc/modutils/ (e.g. /etc/modutils/dvb) and call 'update-modules' then.

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

If you want to build a not-standalone driver but want to patch your 2.6 kernel
source tree with this driver please read README-2.6.

More documentation is located in ./linux/Documentation/dvb/.