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

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	Channel storage	Language	Comments
alevt	y	y						Program to use Teletext/Videotext on analog and digital TV
Antenna DTV	n	y	y	n	n	t channels.conf format	Python	Watch, record and monitor signal level of digital TV
dvbd		y					C++	Traditional UNIX daemon for DVB
dvbsak	n	y
dvbshout	n	y						Stream radio to Icecast/multicast
dvbsnoop	n	y					C
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				sqlite, XMLTV format	C	PSI/SI tracking and correctly streams all PIDs including PCR
gdvb
GeeXboX
getstream	n	y
GStreamer	n	y
Gv4l								A GUI frontend for Transcode's V4L functions
Kaffeine	n	y	y	y	n	own text format	C++	Desktop TV Solution
KaxTV								obsoleted
Klear		y
LinuxTV dvb-apps	n	y	y	?	?	{a,c,t,s} channels.conf formats	C	contains dvbscan, {a,c,t,s}zap ...
MEncoder	y	y	y	n	y		C	encoding suite of tools
Me TV	n	y	y	n	n	SQLite	C++	GNOME based DVB TV viewer
Mini DVB Linux		y						Distribution with live-CD
MPlayer	y	y	y	y	n	channels.conf	C	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	mysql	C++	Media Center
pluto
ProjectX
RedButton								MHEG-5 engine
scan-s2	n	y	n	n	n		C	frequency scanning utility which supports DVB APIv5 (for DVB-S2)
showtime							C	OpenGL-based media player
szap-s2		y	y				C	tuning utility which supports DVB APIv5 (for DVB-S2)
tv_grab_dvb		y				XMLTV format	C	dumps DVB EPG info in XMLTV format
HTS Tvheadend	y	y	y	y	y	XMLTV format	C	TV streaming server
VDR	y *	y	y	y	y	VDR format channels.conf	C++	analogue with plugins only DVB APIv5 since 1.7.2
VLC media player
w_scan	n	y	n	n	n	VDR channels.conf kaffeine zap/xine tuning data for scan	C	ATSC/DVB-C/S/S2/T frequency scanner
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

• V4L-DVB Device Drivers

DVB Utility Suites and Standalone Tools

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

• Show Videotext/Teletext/Interactive Content
  • alevt
  • RedButton

• Electronic Program Guide / EIT tools
  • atsc_epg - included within the LinuxTV dvb-apps
  • tv_grab_dvb
  • dvbsnoop
  • DVBStreamer
  • LoadEPG [1]
  • MediaHighWay EPG, mhwepg [2] [3]
  • tv_grab_dvb_plus ( was tvgrabeit ) [4]
  • XMLTV

• Tools for performing frequency scans
  • scan
  • dvbscan/scandvb/atscscan
  • w_scan
  • scan-s2
  • scte65scan [5] [6] [7]

• Tools for signal strength
  • femon

• Tools for tuning
  • {a,s,c,t}zap
  • dvbsnoop
  • szap-s2

• Tools for unattended/headless recording
  • dvbsched (in dvbd)
  • dvbrecord (in dvbsak)
  • atscap

• JustDvb-It [8] - 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
  • Me TV
  • mumudvb
  • TVheadend [9]
  • VLC media player

Standalone Software to Watch Digital TV

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

Media Center Software

• Elisa [10]
• Entertainer Project [11]
• Freevo
• GeeXboX
• Home Theater System
  • showtime (OpenGL-based media player)
  • tvheadend (TV streaming server)
• LinuxMCE [12] Linux media center - A forked project from pluto
• Morphine.TV [13]
• My Media System [14]
• MythTV
• Mini DVB Linux ??
• oxine [15]
• pluto
• Rage (see the Monday, 27 March 2006 entry)
• SageTV [16]
• 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.
• XBMC [17]
• Yahdr
  Yet another HardDiskRecorder - not really it's a GUI-less server application to stream or record the TS. It will scan DVB-T or DVB-C for programs, so you don't have to use ancient scanning tools. EPG (schedule, now/next, what's on at X) is usable, provided it's re-read every now and then ;-) For user interaction a HTTP interface is used, so (almost) every Browser will serve as Interface..., oh yeah :-P watch what you requested by pointing mplayer/Xine/whatever at your server ;-/ Yahdr homepage - sorry, no binaries -

...

Media Center Distributions

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

• iMedia MythTV Linux [18]
• Knoppmyth
• LinVDR [19] -- this was a Linux distro based around VDR. Now ancient history
• MiniMyth [20]
• Mythbuntu
• MythDora

...

Media Players

i.e. for offline playback of captured material:

• Kaffeine
• KMPlayer
• MPlayer
• SMPlayer [21]
• Totem
• VLC media player
• Xine

...

Tools for Editing

• Avidemux2
• dvbcut
• ProjectX
• MEncoder

....

Categorized software for use with Analogue TV cards

• V4L-DVB Device Drivers

Analogue Utility Suites or Standalone Tools

• v4l2-apps
• v4l2ucp
• xawtv

Standalone Software to Watch Analogue TV

• fftv [22]
• Gnometv [23]
• Gv4l [24]
• kdetv (also formerly known as QtVision, the rewrite of the former KWinTV)
• LinTV
• MPlayer
  • SMPlayer
• tvtime [25]
• TV-Viewer (for Hardware MPEG2 Encoder cards)
• xawtv
  • MoTV
• XdTV
• Zapping [26] - a TV viewer for the Gnome desktop.

• Streamer
• DVR [27]
• WebVCR+ [28]

Analogue Streaming Utilities

• Streaming-V4L
• GStreamer

Analogue Frame Grabbing Utilities

• http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Webcam-HOWTO/framegrabbers.html
• VideoDog [29] [30]