Afatech AF9015

From LinuxTVWiki
Revision as of 14:44, 4 January 2011 by Wirbel (talk | contribs)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

A combination DVB-T demodulator and USB bridge chip from Afatech. This is the company's second generation COFDM demodulator, and is the successor to the AF900x family of chips. Given the chip's dual nature, the AF9015 is fairly complex. It is also very flexible, supporting a wide variety of device configurations (single USB, dual USB, Platform mode, PCI/PCIe based devices, and even SPI is supported by it with some tuners (such as for a Consumer Electronics product that runs Windows CE)). Documentation for the AF901x family can be obtained from AFA (under NDA), but it is apparently confusing, as well as incomplete -- as there are a lot of areas that are undocumented.

The AF901x family consists of the following chips:

  • (list chips here ...or perhaps start a new article for the AF901x family, and leave this one dedicated to the AF9015)


Vendor Device/Model Supported Pictures / URL E
Afatech AF9015 DVB-T USB2.0 stick ✔ Yes, in kernel since 2.6.28 Jump to the place where you can edit this entry
AVerMedia A309 Mini Card ✔ Yes, in kernel since 2.6.28 Jump to the place where you can edit this entry
Alcor DTV DUO ✔ Yes, in kernel since 2.6.37 Jump to the place where you can edit this entry
AVerMedia AVerTV Digi Volar X (A815) ✔ Yes, in kernel since 2.6.28 Volar x.png[1] Jump to the place where you can edit this entry
AVerMedia AVerTV Volar Black HD (A850) ✔ Yes, in kernel since 2.6.30-rc1 AVerMedia AVerTV Volar Black HD (A850).png[2] Jump to the place where you can edit this entry
AVerMedia AVerTV Volar GPS 805 (A805) ✔ Yes, in kernel since 2.6.31 Jump to the place where you can edit this entry
Conceptronic USB2.0 DVB-T CTVDIGRCU V3.0 ✔ Yes, in kernel since 2.6.31 Jump to the place where you can edit this entry
Dikom USB-DVB-T Ultimate ✔ Yes, in kernel since 2.6.30 [3] Jump to the place where you can edit this entry
DigitalNow TinyTwin DVB-T Receiver ✔ Yes, in kernel since 2.6.28 Jump to the place where you can edit this entry
DigitalNow TinyTwin DVB-T Receiver V2 ✔ Yes, in kernel since 2.6.34 Jump to the place where you can edit this entry
DigitalNow TinyTwin DVB-T Receiver V3 ✔ Yes, in kernel since 2.6.37 Jump to the place where you can edit this entry
DIGITTRADE DVB-T Stick ✔ Yes, in kernel since 2.6.?? [4] Jump to the place where you can edit this entry
Fujitsu-Siemens Slim Mobile USB DVB-T ✔ Yes, in kernel since 2.6.28 Fujitsu.JPG Jump to the place where you can edit this entry
Geniatech T328B ✔ Yes, in kernel since 2.6.28 Geniatech t328b.png[5] Jump to the place where you can edit this entry
Genius TVGo DVB-T03 (af9015 version) ✔ Yes, in kernel since 2.6.31 Jump to the place where you can edit this entry
Hama DVB-T USB2 Stick ✔ Yes, in hg since 2008-09 HamaDVB T-USB2-Stick.jpg Jump to the place where you can edit this entry
KWorld USB DVB-T TV Stick II (VS-DVB-T 395U) ✔ Yes, in kernel since 2.6.29 Jump to the place where you can edit this entry
KWorld USB Dual DVB-T TV Stick (DVB-T 399U) ✔ Yes, in kernel since 2.6.28 KWorld USB Dual DVB-T TV Stick (DVB-T 399U).png[6] Jump to the place where you can edit this entry
KWorld PlusTV Dual DVB-T PCI (DVB-T PC160-2T) ✔ Yes, in kernel since 2.6.28 Kworld pc160.jpg Jump to the place where you can edit this entry
KWorld Digial MC-810 ✔ Yes, in kernel since 2.6.31 Jump to the place where you can edit this entry
Leadtek WinFast DTV Dongle Gold ✔ Yes, in kernel since 2.6.28 Leadtek gold.jpg[7] Jump to the place where you can edit this entry
LifeView LV5T ✔ Yes, in hg since 2008-09 [8] Jump to the place where you can edit this entry
MSI DIGIVOX Duo ✔ Yes, in kernel since 2.6.28 [9] Jump to the place where you can edit this entry
MSI DIGIVOX mini II V3.0 (AF9015/MT2060 version) aka. K-Vox ✔ Yes, in kernel since 2.6.28 Dvb-t-usb-msi-digivox-ii-rev3-001.jpg[10] Jump to the place where you can edit this entry
MSI DIGIVOX mini III ✔ Yes, in kernel since 2.6.28 MSI DIGIVOX mini III.jpg Jump to the place where you can edit this entry
Peak 203244AGPK DVB-T Digital TV USB Stick ✔ Yes, in kernel since 2.6.30 Peak-203244agpk.jpg[11] Jump to the place where you can edit this entry
Pinnacle PCTV 71e ✔ Yes, in kernel since 2.6.28 Jump to the place where you can edit this entry
Sveon Sveon STV22 ✔ Yes, in kernel since 3.1 Sveonstv22.png[12] Jump to the place where you can edit this entry
Shenzhen Forward Video EzTV859 ✔ Yes, in kernel since 2.6.28 [13] [14] Jump to the place where you can edit this entry
Telstar Starstick 2 ✔ Yes, in kernel since 2.6.28 Jump to the place where you can edit this entry
TerraTec Cinergy T USB RC (mk II) ✔ Yes, in kernel since 2.6.37 Dvb-t-usb-terratec-cinergy-T-RC-mk2-001.jpg[15] Jump to the place where you can edit this entry
TerraTec Cinergy T USB XE (rev2) ✔ Yes, in kernel since 2.6.28 Dvb-t-usb-terratec-cinergy-t-usb-xe-001.jpg Jump to the place where you can edit this entry
Tevion DK-5203 ✔ Yes, in hg since 2008-09 Jump to the place where you can edit this entry
TrekStor DVB-T USB Stick ✔ Yes, in kernel since 2.6.30 Jump to the place where you can edit this entry
TVISTO TVT-DVBTUSB2 ✔ Yes, in kernel since 2.6.28 Tvisto USB DVB-T 15a4-9016.png Jump to the place where you can edit this entry
TVISTO TVT-DVBTUSB3 ✔ Yes, in kernel since 2.6.28 TVISTO new black DVB-T USB.png Jump to the place where you can edit this entry
TwinHan AzureWave AD-TU700(704J) ✔ Yes, in kernel since 2.6.28 Jump to the place where you can edit this entry
Xtensions XD-380 ✔ Yes, in kernel since 2.6.28 Jump to the place where you can edit this entry

Examples of DVB-T USB devices in which the AF9015 chip can be found include:


Drivers

At present there are three different Linux drivers available for the AF901x. That may strike one as being strange or showing signs of a state of dis-coordination, but in actuality, each driver has its own reason for coming into existence. In addition, taken collectively, the development of three different drivers highlights the relative complexity of the chip, as well as the flexibility in device design that its employment permits.

Opensource Mercurial Repositories

The open source driver is now included in the linux kernel trunk since version 2.6.28. It should work out of the box !

  • http://jusst.de/hg/af901x ... This is a second driver attempt for the AF901x by Manu Abrahams. In his personal assessment, he got many things right, but some things are still wrong. In addition, his driver works with just one particular device.

Vendor Released Driver (Last Up to date)

No external firmware needed !

Install linux headers, merge it with the last v4l-dvb source, then make, make install and enjoy.

(just make, make install and enjoy)

Full tutorial (french wiki) here : http://doc.ubuntu-fr.org/af9015

Vendor Released Driver

http://www.linuxtv.org/pipermail/linux-dvb/2007-November/022050.html

In any regard, users have reported that this vendor driver is indeed working, including for x64_64 (for some further information see the threads here and here.

For devices based on the MT2060 tuner (such as the Geniatech T328B) you may need to patch the file MT2060M.h in the following way:

replace 

typedef unsigned long   UData_t;

with 

typedef unsigned int   UData_t;

Then compile, install, modprobe dvb_usb_af9015 and you are finished.

Original Vendor-released driver

The above device driver probably originated from the code found at [18].

This original code has since been modified by somebody else (at afatech?) to use the MXL5005 tuner and the Digitalnow TinyTwin is partly functional.

A Comprehensive OSS Driver

For its part, Afatech does not want any of the above driver attempts to make their way into the kernel, as none of them are very robust in terms of chip support.

Instead, AFA has embarked upon the development of yet another OSS driver, which will be generic in that it will be capable of supporting the entire AF901x family as well as all possible device configurations permitted. In addition to the expectation that it will be this driver that is eventually adopted into the kernel, AFA have also signaled that they intend provide continuous support (i.e. they will stay on as the driver's maintainer).

Currently, this newest driver has reached a second round of testing in AFA labs, but that has only been in conjunction (with some peripheral manufacturers) with a few devices, and, as it stands, the code is still not particularly generic (due to both the complexities of the chip itself as well as those involved in getting the various device configurations to work). So, as of yet, there currently isn't anything for the end user to test. However, as soon things progress past this stage, there will be something released for users to test. There is no specific release timeframe set for this, but hopefully it will be soon, as the chip manufacturer (as well as everybody else involved) is under pressure, due to the large adoption of the chip by different peripheral manufacturers (Avermedia, Terratec, Azurewave, DigitalNow, Pinnacle, as well as some number of unbranded Chinese manufacturers too). In short, a lot more devices based on this chipset are expected to materialize.

Missing drivers

There are a number of devices based on the TDA18218HK tuner chip currently not working in Linux but work is being done by subscribers of the gmane.linux.drivers.video-input-infrastructure group: [19]

External Links

Retrieved from "https://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php?title=Afatech_AF9015&oldid=28432"