TV Related Software

Here, we aim to provide useful information about software applications that are directly related to or which are generally useful in some respect to the reception and manipulation of TV signals on Linux based computer systems.

In order to be most useful for the reader, this page is divided into three sections:

• An Alphabetical Overview Listing
• A Categorized section for software useful for DVB TV cards (for both full featured and budget cards, as this distinction doesn't make a difference for most of the software)
• A Categorized section for software useful for analog TV cards (also see the information currently contained in the video4linux wiki).

Note: If you're new to this aspect of computing, rather than trying single programs one after another, you might be more interested in how to quickly get a fully working system as described in the "Example setups" page. Or perhaps instead you may simply want to perform some quick tests on your system, such as like those outlined in the "Testing your DVB device" article.

An Alphabetical Overview Listing

A Overview of Software Applications which are useful in regards to TV on a Linux based Computer System

Software Application	Supports Analogue	Supports DVB	Recording Capabilities	Offline Playback	Editing Capabilities	Comments
dvbsak	n	y
dvbshout	n	y				Stream radio to Icecast/multicast
dvbsnoop	n	y
dvbstream	n	y	y	n	n	a streaming utilitity. Part of the DVB tools project
dvbyell	n	y	n	n	n	A DVB streaming service.
DVBStreamer	n	y				PSI/SI tracking and correctly streams all PIDs including PCR
gdvb
GeeXboX
getstream	n	y
GStreamer	n	y
Kaffeine	n	y	y	y	n	Desktop TV Solution
KaxTV						obsoleted
Klear		y
LinuxTV Drivers	y	y	n	n	n
LinuxTV dvb-apps	n	y	y	?	?	contains dvbscan, {a,c,t,s}zap ...
LinVDR
MEncoder	y	y	y	n	y	encoding suite of tools
Me TV	n	y	y	n	n	GNOME based DVB TV viewer
Mini DVB Linux		y				Distribution with live-CD
MPlayer	y	y	y	y	n	multi-functional media player
mumudvb	n	y	n	n	n	Stream multiples channels in multicast (each channel in different group)
MythTV	y	y	y	y	y	Media Center
pluto
ProjectX
xawtv	y	y *	y	y	n	* only v4 supports DVB
XdTV	y	y	y			TV viewing app. Development stopped
xine		y	y	y		multi-functional media player
ZapDvb

Categorized software for use with Digital (DVB) TV cards

• LinuxTV Drivers

DVB Utility Suites or Standalone Tools

• LinuxTV dvb-apps
• DVB tools
• dvbsak
• ZapDvb

To be Categorized

• Show Videotext/Teletext
  • alevt

• Tools for testing, tuning, ...
  • femon
  • (dvb)scan
  • {a,s,c,t}zap
  • dvbsnoop

• Tools for unattended/headless recording
  • dvbd
  • dvbrecord
  • atscap

• JustDvb-It [1] - a suite/set of tools useful for DVB stream creation and manipulation, especially for interactive digital television (i.e. DVB-MHP)

Network Tools for DVB Streams

• dvbshout
• dvbsnoop
• dvbstream
• DVBStreamer
• dvbyell
• getstream
• mumudvb
• VLC media player

Standalone Software to Watch Digital TV

• gdvb
• Kaffeine
  • KaxTV
• Klear
• Me TV
• MPlayer
• VLC media player
• xawtv ... version 4 only for DVB
• XdTV
• Xine
  • gxine

Media Center Software

• Elisa [2]
• Entertainer Project [3]
• Freevo
• GeeXboX
• Morphine.TV [4]
• My Media System [5]
• MythTV
• Mini DVB Linux ??
• oxine [6]
• pluto
• Rage (see the Monday, 27 March 2006 entry)
• SageTV [7]
• VDR - VDR is one of the most popular TV applications. It features watching TV, recording storage on disk, EPG, Dolby Digital, playback, multi

language and much more. VDR, although originally written for FF cards, works also with budget cards, if one installs the VDR Software Decoder Plugin. ...

Media Center Distributions

Complete operating systems tailored for easy installation of everything required to have a media centre.

• iMedia MythTV Linux [8]
• Knoppmyth
• LinVDR [9]
• MiniMyth [10]
• Mythbuntu
• MythDora

...

Media Players

i.e. for offline playback of captured material:

• Kaffeine
• KMPlayer
• MPlayer
• SMPlayer
• Totem
• VLC media player
• Xine

...

Tools for Editing

• Avidemux2
• dvbcut
• ProjectX

....

Categorized software for use with Analogue TV cards

• LinuxTV Drivers

Analogue Utility Suites or Standalone Tools

• v4l2-apps
• xawtv

Standalone Software to Watch Analogue TV

• fftv [11]
• Gnometv [12]
• Gv4l [13]
• Kdetv
  • aka QtVision and aka the former KWinTV [14]
• MPlayer
• tvtime [15]
• xawtv
  • MoTV
• XdTV
• Zapping [16] - a TV viewer for the Gnome desktop.

• Streamer
• DVR [17]
• WebVCR+ [18]

Analogue Streaming Utilities

• Streaming-V4L
• GStreamer

Analogue Frame Grabbing Utilities

• http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Webcam-HOWTO/framegrabbers.html
• VideoDog [19] [20]