Annotation of kfir/FAQ, revision 1.3
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1.2 stolk 7: [FAQ for BMK kfir started by Frank Rosengart on the MPEG mailinglist.
8: I've put it in cvs, and added questions 0.1 2.1.10 3.1.3 3.1.4 and 3.3.1 - Bram Stolk]
1.1 stolk 9:
10:
1.2 stolk 11: 0. Meta info
1.1 stolk 12:
1.2 stolk 13: 0.1. Where can I get an up to date version of this FAQ list?
1.1 stolk 14:
1.2 stolk 15: It is in linuxtv.org's CVS repository at linuxtv.org:/cvs/linuxtv in the file
16: 'kfir/FAQ'.
17:
18:
19: 1. General questions
20:
21: 1.1. Supported cards
22:
23: There is only one card supported by the Kfir driver: The
24: LinuxTV-Encoder-Card manufactured by BMK-Elektronik (Germany).
25: The Hauppauge WinTV-PVR use the Kfir-1 chip but this card *is not
26: supported* !
27: The Kfir-2(a) chip mentioned on the Visiontech homepage *is not supported*.
28:
29:
30:
31: 1.2. Supported mainboards :-)
32:
33: The are some known problems on mainboards with VIA chipsets.
34:
35:
36:
37: 1.3. Buying the encoder card
38:
39: 1.3.1. Where to order
40:
41: Go to <A HREF="http://linuxtv.org/mpeg2/kfir-bestell-en.html">http://linuxtv.org/mpeg2/kfir-bestell-en.html</A> and fill out the
42: form. You will contacted by the sales office of BMK-Elektronik. They
43: will tell you how to pay and how they ship the board.
44:
45:
46:
47: 1.3.2. Why did they told me a higher price?
48:
49: Maybe you contacted BMK directly and asked for an MPEG-2 encoder? They
50: tell your their list price which is around 600$/EUR. This is the
51: Windows-user's price :-)
52: Please fill out the form <A HREF="http://linuxtv.org/mpeg2/kfir-bestell-en.html">http://linuxtv.org/mpeg2/kfir-bestell-en.html</A>
53: for 'correct' price.
54:
55:
56:
57: 1.3.3. Delivery time
58:
59: If it is very, very urgent(tm) then BMK can ship the card within
60: germany/europe(?) until the next day. But you'll be charged for extra
61: postage fees. [Can someone report how long it takes to China?]
62:
63:
64:
65: 1.4. Language
66:
67: 1.4.1 How do I pronounce KFir?
68: I think like 'kay-fir'.
69:
70: ================================================================
71:
72: 2. Installation
73:
74: 2.1. The driver software
75:
76: 2.1.1. Where can I download the driver?
77:
78: <A HREF="http://linuxtv.org/download/mpeg2/">http://linuxtv.org/download/mpeg2/</A>
79: Fetch the latest tar archive und unpack it.
80: After that you will need the microcode. Convergence can not include this
81: nessesary code due to license/copyright issues.
82:
83:
84:
85: 2.1.2. How do I use the cvs for the latest changes?
86:
87: cvs -d :pserver:anonymous@linuxtv.org:/cvs/linuxtv login
88: When prompted for a password for anonymous, simply press the Enter key.
89:
90: cvs -d :pserver:anonymous@linuxtv.org:/cvs/linuxtv co kfir
91:
92:
93:
94: 2.1.3. How do I obtain the microcode?
95:
96: Get
97: <A HREF="ftp://ftp.visiontech-dml.com/pub/Win9x/KFir/KFirAppVersion4.23/KFirApp4-23_9x.zip">ftp://ftp.visiontech-dml.com/pub/Win9x/KFir/KFirAppVersion4.23/KFirApp4-23_9x.zip</A>
98: Install it in MS-Windows 9x
99: and then copy the Makefile <A HREF="http://linuxtv.org/download/mpeg2/Makefile">http://linuxtv.org/download/mpeg2/Makefile</A> to
100: the kfir/driver/micro folder and change the value for your DOS partition
101: Or get the files from <A HREF="http://www.ecn.purdue.edu/~laird/Linux/KFir/MS_driver/">http://www.ecn.purdue.edu/~laird/Linux/KFir/MS_driver/</A>
102:
103:
104:
105: 2.1.4. Is the microcode ok?
106:
107: If everything works fine: yes. Otherwise check the included MD5-sums
108: against what you extracted.
109:
110:
111:
112: 2.1.5. My machine locks.
113:
114: Don't panic. It's normal :-)
115: Possible reasons are:
116: - the microcode is not where it has to be
117: - you have USB drivers loaded: disable modules and kernel drivers
118: - you have found a strange timing problem known to appear on VIA
119: chipsets: try another mainboard or computer
120:
121:
122:
123: 2.1.6. I get no output (filesize is zero)
124:
125: I did 'cat /dev/video0 > foobar.mpg' and foobar.mpg has zero bytes, even
126: after several seconds.
127:
128: Please check:
129: [ ] I am root
130: [ ] The harddisk is not even close to be full
131: [ ] I have connected the right video input with a known to be correct
132: video signal
133: [ ] I know that there is a difference between PAL and NTSC
134: [ ] /dev/video0 ist the Kfir card because I use neither a BTTV nor DVB card
135: [ ] I did only 'make insmod' and didn't pass any additional parameters
136: to the driver
137: [ ] The microcode is where it has to be; there are no errors while
138: loading the kfir.o
139:
140:
141:
142:
143: 2.1.7. What options can I pass to the driver?
144:
145: loaded=1 - Altera is already loaded with microcode, so donīt do it
146: again
147: (reloading takes time and can lock your machine!)
148:
149: vidinmode - vidimode=0 for PAL, 1 for NTSC, 2 for SECAM (default PAL)
150:
151: vidoutmode - vidoutmode=0 for NTSC, 1 for PAL (default PAL)
152:
153: vidsize - vidsize=(vertical_mode<<4)|horizontal_mode, cf. KfirCMD.h
154: e.g. vidsize=0x12 (=(KFIR_V_288<<4)|KFIR_H_352)
155: (0x12 is CIF, quarter of PAL, 0x26 for PAL, default is fullsize)
156:
157: vidrate - video bitrate (4500000 for 4.5 Mbit/s)
158:
159: vidinput - vidinput=0 for composite (default), vidinput=1 for
160: S-Video Y/C
161:
162: mpeg1mode - mpeg1mode=1 for MPEG1
163:
164: streamtype - streamtype=0..7 default is 3
165: 0: AUDIO_ES
166: 1: VIDEO_ES
167: 2: A_V_ES
168: 3: PROGRAM
169: 4: TRANSPORT
170: 5: PACKET_VES
171: 6: PACKET_AES
172: 7: KFIR_SYSTEM
173:
174: sndfreq - sndfreq=0..7 default is 7
175: (Values in kHz)
176: 0: 5_5125 = 0,
177: 1: 8_0000 = 1,
178: 2: 11_025 = 2,
179: 3: 16_000 = 3,
180: 4: 22_050 = 4,
181: 5: 32_000 = 5,
182: 6: 44_100 = 6,
183: 7: 48_000 = 7
184:
185:
186: 2.1.8 Can I encode MPEG-1
187:
188: Please follow the mailinglist thread
189: <A HREF="http://linuxtv.org/mailinglists/mpeg2/msg00148.html">http://linuxtv.org/mailinglists/mpeg2/msg00148.html</A>
190:
191: 2.1.9 Which kernel version should I use?
192:
193: Use 2.4.x
194:
195:
196: 2.1.10 Why does the build process fail for me?
197:
198: Maybe you already have i2c and v4l linux stuff in your kernel
199: and on your system, which may interfere with the building
200: of the optional modules.
201: Uncomment the $(MX_OBJS) part in line 6 of driver/Makefile like this:
202: obj-m = $(M_OBJS) # $(MX_OBJS)
203:
204:
205:
206: ================================================================
207:
208: 3. Technical details
209:
210: 3.1 Working with the encoded MPEG-2 material
211:
212: 3.1.1 What client is recommended?
213:
214: I recommend
215: vlc (www.videolan.org)
216: dvdview (see freshmeat.net)
217: hardware: the Siemens/Technotrend/Hauppauge DVB-S card with LinuxTV drivers.
218:
219:
220: 3.1.2 How do I multicast my favourite DVB channel in my LAN?
221:
222: see our multicast tools in <A HREF="http://linuxtv.org/download/mbone/">http://linuxtv.org/download/mbone/</A>
223: Usually:
224: cat /dev/video0 | anyserver 226.23.23.23 5004 128
225: receiver:
226: mkfifo stream ; receiver 226.23.23.23 5004 > stream & vlc stream
227:
228:
229: 3.1.3 What kind of streams are generated?
230:
231: For MPEG2, the default stream is composed as:
232: I BB P BB P BB P BB P BB
233:
234:
235: 3.1.4 How can I edit the mpeg streams?
236:
237: Kees Cook's GOPChop is an excellent choice.
238: See http://outflux.net/unix/software/GOPchop/
239: GOPChop works just fine with kfir generated streams.
240:
241:
242:
243:
244:
245: 3.2. Picture qualitity
246:
247:
248: 3.3. other measurements
249:
250: 3.3.1 What is the encoding latency?
251:
252: At default settings, I've meassured it to be appr one third of a second. (Bram Stolk)
253:
254:
255: 3.4. general hints for encoding
1.1 stolk 256:
257:
258:
LinuxTV legacy CVS <linuxtv.org/cvs>