1 .. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
6 unified zoran driver (zr360x7, zoran, buz, dc10(+), dc30(+), lml33)
8 website: http://mjpeg.sourceforge.net/driver-zoran/
11 Frequently Asked Questions
12 --------------------------
14 What cards are supported
15 ------------------------
17 Iomega Buz, Linux Media Labs LML33/LML33R10, Pinnacle/Miro
18 DC10/DC10+/DC30/DC30+ and related boards (available under various names).
23 * Zoran zr36067 PCI controller
24 * Zoran zr36060 MJPEG codec
25 * Philips saa7111 TV decoder
26 * Philips saa7185 TV encoder
28 Drivers to use: videodev, i2c-core, i2c-algo-bit,
29 videocodec, saa7111, saa7185, zr36060, zr36067
31 Inputs/outputs: Composite and S-video
33 Norms: PAL, SECAM (720x576 @ 25 fps), NTSC (720x480 @ 29.97 fps)
37 AverMedia 6 Eyes AVS6EYES
38 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
40 * Zoran zr36067 PCI controller
41 * Zoran zr36060 MJPEG codec
42 * Samsung ks0127 TV decoder
43 * Conexant bt866 TV encoder
45 Drivers to use: videodev, i2c-core, i2c-algo-bit,
46 videocodec, ks0127, bt866, zr36060, zr36067
49 Six physical inputs. 1-6 are composite,
50 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 doubles as S-video,
51 1-3 triples as component.
54 Norms: PAL, SECAM (720x576 @ 25 fps), NTSC (720x480 @ 29.97 fps)
60 Not autodetected, card=8 is necessary.
62 Linux Media Labs LML33
63 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
65 * Zoran zr36067 PCI controller
66 * Zoran zr36060 MJPEG codec
67 * Brooktree bt819 TV decoder
68 * Brooktree bt856 TV encoder
70 Drivers to use: videodev, i2c-core, i2c-algo-bit,
71 videocodec, bt819, bt856, zr36060, zr36067
73 Inputs/outputs: Composite and S-video
75 Norms: PAL (720x576 @ 25 fps), NTSC (720x480 @ 29.97 fps)
79 Linux Media Labs LML33R10
80 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
82 * Zoran zr36067 PCI controller
83 * Zoran zr36060 MJPEG codec
84 * Philips saa7114 TV decoder
85 * Analog Devices adv7170 TV encoder
87 Drivers to use: videodev, i2c-core, i2c-algo-bit,
88 videocodec, saa7114, adv7170, zr36060, zr36067
90 Inputs/outputs: Composite and S-video
92 Norms: PAL (720x576 @ 25 fps), NTSC (720x480 @ 29.97 fps)
96 Pinnacle/Miro DC10(new)
97 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
99 * Zoran zr36057 PCI controller
100 * Zoran zr36060 MJPEG codec
101 * Philips saa7110a TV decoder
102 * Analog Devices adv7176 TV encoder
104 Drivers to use: videodev, i2c-core, i2c-algo-bit,
105 videocodec, saa7110, adv7175, zr36060, zr36067
107 Inputs/outputs: Composite, S-video and Internal
109 Norms: PAL, SECAM (768x576 @ 25 fps), NTSC (640x480 @ 29.97 fps)
116 * Zoran zr36067 PCI controller
117 * Zoran zr36060 MJPEG codec
118 * Philips saa7110a TV decoder
119 * Analog Devices adv7176 TV encoder
121 Drivers to use: videodev, i2c-core, i2c-algo-bit,
122 videocodec, saa7110, adv7175, zr36060, zr36067
124 Inputs/outputs: Composite, S-video and Internal
126 Norms: PAL, SECAM (768x576 @ 25 fps), NTSC (640x480 @ 29.97 fps)
130 Pinnacle/Miro DC10(old)
131 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
133 * Zoran zr36057 PCI controller
134 * Zoran zr36050 MJPEG codec
135 * Zoran zr36016 Video Front End or Fuji md0211 Video Front End (clone?)
136 * Micronas vpx3220a TV decoder
137 * mse3000 TV encoder or Analog Devices adv7176 TV encoder
139 Drivers to use: videodev, i2c-core, i2c-algo-bit,
140 videocodec, vpx3220, mse3000/adv7175, zr36050, zr36016, zr36067
142 Inputs/outputs: Composite, S-video and Internal
144 Norms: PAL, SECAM (768x576 @ 25 fps), NTSC (640x480 @ 29.97 fps)
151 * Zoran zr36057 PCI controller
152 * Zoran zr36050 MJPEG codec
153 * Zoran zr36016 Video Front End
154 * Micronas vpx3225d/vpx3220a/vpx3216b TV decoder
155 * Analog Devices adv7176 TV encoder
157 Drivers to use: videodev, i2c-core, i2c-algo-bit,
158 videocodec, vpx3220/vpx3224, adv7175, zr36050, zr36016, zr36067
160 Inputs/outputs: Composite, S-video and Internal
162 Norms: PAL, SECAM (768x576 @ 25 fps), NTSC (640x480 @ 29.97 fps)
169 * Zoran zr36067 PCI controller
170 * Zoran zr36050 MJPEG codec
171 * Zoran zr36016 Video Front End
172 * Micronas vpx3225d/vpx3220a/vpx3216b TV decoder
173 * Analog Devices adv7176 TV encoder
175 Drivers to use: videodev, i2c-core, i2c-algo-bit,
176 videocodec, vpx3220/vpx3224, adv7175, zr36050, zr36015, zr36067
178 Inputs/outputs: Composite, S-video and Internal
180 Norms: PAL, SECAM (768x576 @ 25 fps), NTSC (640x480 @ 29.97 fps)
186 #) No module for the mse3000 is available yet
187 #) No module for the vpx3224 is available yet
189 1.1 What the TV decoder can do an what not
190 ------------------------------------------
192 The best know TV standards are NTSC/PAL/SECAM. but for decoding a frame that
193 information is not enough. There are several formats of the TV standards.
194 And not every TV decoder is able to handle every format. Also the every
195 combination is supported by the driver. There are currently 11 different
196 tv broadcast formats all aver the world.
198 The CCIR defines parameters needed for broadcasting the signal.
199 The CCIR has defined different standards: A,B,D,E,F,G,D,H,I,K,K1,L,M,N,...
200 The CCIR says not much about the colorsystem used !!!
201 And talking about a colorsystem says not to much about how it is broadcast.
203 The CCIR standards A,E,F are not used any more.
205 When you speak about NTSC, you usually mean the standard: CCIR - M using
206 the NTSC colorsystem which is used in the USA, Japan, Mexico, Canada
209 When you talk about PAL, you usually mean: CCIR - B/G using the PAL
210 colorsystem which is used in many Countries.
212 When you talk about SECAM, you mean: CCIR - L using the SECAM Colorsystem
213 which is used in France, and a few others.
215 There the other version of SECAM, CCIR - D/K is used in Bulgaria, China,
216 Slovakai, Hungary, Korea (Rep.), Poland, Rumania and a others.
218 The CCIR - H uses the PAL colorsystem (sometimes SECAM) and is used in
219 Egypt, Libya, Sri Lanka, Syrain Arab. Rep.
221 The CCIR - I uses the PAL colorsystem, and is used in Great Britain, Hong Kong,
222 Ireland, Nigeria, South Africa.
224 The CCIR - N uses the PAL colorsystem and PAL frame size but the NTSC framerate,
225 and is used in Argentinia, Uruguay, an a few others
227 We do not talk about how the audio is broadcast !
229 A rather good sites about the TV standards are:
230 http://www.sony.jp/support/
231 http://info.electronicwerkstatt.de/bereiche/fernsehtechnik/frequenzen_und_normen/Fernsehnormen/
232 and http://www.cabl.com/restaurant/channel.html
234 Other weird things around: NTSC 4.43 is a modificated NTSC, which is mainly
235 used in PAL VCR's that are able to play back NTSC. PAL 60 seems to be the same
236 as NTSC 4.43 . The Datasheets also talk about NTSC 44, It seems as if it would
237 be the same as NTSC 4.43.
238 NTSC Combs seems to be a decoder mode where the decoder uses a comb filter
239 to split coma and luma instead of a Delay line.
241 But I did not defiantly find out what NTSC Comb is.
243 Philips saa7111 TV decoder
244 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
246 - was introduced in 1997, is used in the BUZ and
247 - can handle: PAL B/G/H/I, PAL N, PAL M, NTSC M, NTSC N, NTSC 4.43 and SECAM
249 Philips saa7110a TV decoder
250 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
252 - was introduced in 1995, is used in the Pinnacle/Miro DC10(new), DC10+ and
253 - can handle: PAL B/G, NTSC M and SECAM
255 Philips saa7114 TV decoder
256 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
258 - was introduced in 2000, is used in the LML33R10 and
259 - can handle: PAL B/G/D/H/I/N, PAL N, PAL M, NTSC M, NTSC 4.43 and SECAM
261 Brooktree bt819 TV decoder
262 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
264 - was introduced in 1996, and is used in the LML33 and
265 - can handle: PAL B/D/G/H/I, NTSC M
267 Micronas vpx3220a TV decoder
268 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
270 - was introduced in 1996, is used in the DC30 and DC30+ and
271 - can handle: PAL B/G/H/I, PAL N, PAL M, NTSC M, NTSC 44, PAL 60, SECAM,NTSC Comb
273 Samsung ks0127 TV decoder
274 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
276 - is used in the AVS6EYES card and
277 - can handle: NTSC-M/N/44, PAL-M/N/B/G/H/I/D/K/L and SECAM
280 What the TV encoder can do an what not
281 --------------------------------------
283 The TV encoder is doing the "same" as the decoder, but in the other direction.
284 You feed them digital data and the generate a Composite or SVHS signal.
285 For information about the colorsystems and TV norm take a look in the
288 Philips saa7185 TV Encoder
289 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
291 - was introduced in 1996, is used in the BUZ
292 - can generate: PAL B/G, NTSC M
294 Brooktree bt856 TV Encoder
295 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
297 - was introduced in 1994, is used in the LML33
298 - can generate: PAL B/D/G/H/I/N, PAL M, NTSC M, PAL-N (Argentina)
300 Analog Devices adv7170 TV Encoder
301 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
303 - was introduced in 2000, is used in the LML300R10
304 - can generate: PAL B/D/G/H/I/N, PAL M, NTSC M, PAL 60
306 Analog Devices adv7175 TV Encoder
307 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
309 - was introduced in 1996, is used in the DC10, DC10+, DC10 old, DC30, DC30+
310 - can generate: PAL B/D/G/H/I/N, PAL M, NTSC M
312 ITT mse3000 TV encoder
313 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
315 - was introduced in 1991, is used in the DC10 old
316 - can generate: PAL , NTSC , SECAM
318 Conexant bt866 TV encoder
319 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
321 - is used in AVS6EYES, and
322 - can generate: NTSC/PAL, PAL-M, PAL-N
324 The adv717x, should be able to produce PAL N. But you find nothing PAL N
325 specific in the registers. Seem that you have to reuse a other standard
326 to generate PAL N, maybe it would work if you use the PAL M settings.
328 How do I get this damn thing to work
329 ------------------------------------
331 Load zr36067.o. If it can't autodetect your card, use the card=X insmod
332 option with X being the card number as given in the previous section.
333 To have more than one card, use card=X1[,X2[,X3,[X4[..]]]]
335 To automate this, add the following to your /etc/modprobe.d/zoran.conf:
337 options zr36067 card=X1[,X2[,X3[,X4[..]]]]
338 alias char-major-81-0 zr36067
340 One thing to keep in mind is that this doesn't load zr36067.o itself yet. It
341 just automates loading. If you start using xawtv, the device won't load on
342 some systems, since you're trying to load modules as a user, which is not
343 allowed ("permission denied"). A quick workaround is to add 'Load "v4l"' to
344 XF86Config-4 when you use X by default, or to run 'v4l-conf -c <device>' in
345 one of your startup scripts (normally rc.local) if you don't use X. Both
346 make sure that the modules are loaded on startup, under the root account.
348 What mainboard should I use (or why doesn't my card work)
349 ---------------------------------------------------------
352 <insert lousy disclaimer here>. In short: good=SiS/Intel, bad=VIA.
354 Experience tells us that people with a Buz, on average, have more problems
355 than users with a DC10+/LML33. Also, it tells us that people owning a VIA-
356 based mainboard (ktXXX, MVP3) have more problems than users with a mainboard
357 based on a different chipset. Here's some notes from Andrew Stevens:
359 Here's my experience of using LML33 and Buz on various motherboards:
362 - Forget it. Pointless. Doesn't work.
363 - Intel 430FX (Pentium 200)
364 - LML33 perfect, Buz tolerable (3 or 4 frames dropped per movie)
365 - Intel 440BX (early stepping)
366 - LML33 tolerable. Buz starting to get annoying (6-10 frames/hour)
367 - Intel 440BX (late stepping)
368 - Buz tolerable, LML3 almost perfect (occasional single frame drops)
370 - LML33 perfect, Buz tolerable.
372 - LML33 starting to get annoying, Buz poor enough that I have up.
374 - Both 440BX boards were dual CPU versions.
376 Bernhard Praschinger later added:
379 - Buz perfect-tolerable
381 - Buz perfect-tolerable
383 In general, people on the user mailinglist won't give you much of a chance
384 if you have a VIA-based motherboard. They may be cheap, but sometimes, you'd
385 rather want to spend some more money on better boards. In general, VIA
386 mainboard's IDE/PCI performance will also suck badly compared to others.
387 You'll noticed the DC10+/DC30+ aren't mentioned anywhere in the overview.
388 Basically, you can assume that if the Buz works, the LML33 will work too. If
389 the LML33 works, the DC10+/DC30+ will work too. They're most tolerant to
390 different mainboard chipsets from all of the supported cards.
392 If you experience timeouts during capture, buy a better mainboard or lower
393 the quality/buffersize during capture (see 'Concerning buffer sizes, quality,
394 output size etc.'). If it hangs, there's little we can do as of now. Check
395 your IRQs and make sure the card has its own interrupts.
397 Programming interface
398 ---------------------
400 This driver conforms to video4linux2. Support for V4L1 and for the custom
401 zoran ioctls has been removed in kernel 2.6.38.
403 For programming example, please, look at lavrec.c and lavplay.c code in
404 the MJPEG-tools (http://mjpeg.sf.net/).
406 Additional notes for software developers:
408 The driver returns maxwidth and maxheight parameters according to
409 the current TV standard (norm). Therefore, the software which
410 communicates with the driver and "asks" for these parameters should
411 first set the correct norm. Well, it seems logically correct: TV
412 standard is "more constant" for current country than geometry
413 settings of a variety of TV capture cards which may work in ITU or
419 Applications known to work with this driver:
425 * probably any TV application that supports video4linux or video4linux2.
427 MJPEG capture/playback:
429 * mjpegtools/lavtools (or Linux Video Studio)
437 * probably any application that supports video4linux or video4linux2
443 * mjpegtools (or Linux Video Studio)
446 Concerning buffer sizes, quality, output size etc.
447 --------------------------------------------------
450 The zr36060 can do 1:2 JPEG compression. This is really the theoretical
451 maximum that the chipset can reach. The driver can, however, limit compression
452 to a maximum (size) of 1:4. The reason for this is that some cards (e.g. Buz)
453 can't handle 1:2 compression without stopping capture after only a few minutes.
454 With 1:4, it'll mostly work. If you have a Buz, use 'low_bitrate=1' to go into
455 1:4 max. compression mode.
457 100% JPEG quality is thus 1:2 compression in practice. So for a full PAL frame
458 (size 720x576). The JPEG fields are stored in YUY2 format, so the size of the
459 fields are 720x288x16/2 bits/field (2 fields/frame) = 207360 bytes/field x 2 =
460 414720 bytes/frame (add some more bytes for headers and DHT (huffman)/DQT
461 (quantization) tables, and you'll get to something like 512kB per frame for
462 1:2 compression. For 1:4 compression, you'd have frames of half this size.
464 Some additional explanation by Martin Samuelsson, which also explains the
465 importance of buffer sizes:
467 > Hmm, I do not think it is really that way. With the current (downloaded
468 > at 18:00 Monday) driver I get that output sizes for 10 sec:
469 > -q 50 -b 128 : 24.283.332 Bytes
470 > -q 50 -b 256 : 48.442.368
471 > -q 25 -b 128 : 24.655.992
472 > -q 25 -b 256 : 25.859.820
474 I woke up, and can't go to sleep again. I'll kill some time explaining why
475 this doesn't look strange to me.
477 Let's do some math using a width of 704 pixels. I'm not sure whether the Buz
478 actually use that number or not, but that's not too important right now.
480 704x288 pixels, one field, is 202752 pixels. Divided by 64 pixels per block;
481 3168 blocks per field. Each pixel consist of two bytes; 128 bytes per block;
482 1024 bits per block. 100% in the new driver mean 1:2 compression; the maximum
483 output becomes 512 bits per block. Actually 510, but 512 is simpler to use
486 Let's say that we specify d1q50. We thus want 256 bits per block; times 3168
487 becomes 811008 bits; 101376 bytes per field. We're talking raw bits and bytes
488 here, so we don't need to do any fancy corrections for bits-per-pixel or such
489 things. 101376 bytes per field.
491 d1 video contains two fields per frame. Those sum up to 202752 bytes per
492 frame, and one of those frames goes into each buffer.
494 But wait a second! -b128 gives 128kB buffers! It's not possible to cram
495 202752 bytes of JPEG data into 128kB!
497 This is what the driver notice and automatically compensate for in your
498 examples. Let's do some math using this information:
500 128kB is 131072 bytes. In this buffer, we want to store two fields, which
501 leaves 65536 bytes for each field. Using 3168 blocks per field, we get
502 20.68686868... available bytes per block; 165 bits. We can't allow the
503 request for 256 bits per block when there's only 165 bits available! The -q50
504 option is silently overridden, and the -b128 option takes precedence, leaving
505 us with the equivalence of -q32.
507 This gives us a data rate of 165 bits per block, which, times 3168, sums up
508 to 65340 bytes per field, out of the allowed 65536. The current driver has
509 another level of rate limiting; it won't accept -q values that fill more than
510 6/8 of the specified buffers. (I'm not sure why. "Playing it safe" seem to be
511 a safe bet. Personally, I think I would have lowered requested-bits-per-block
512 by one, or something like that.) We can't use 165 bits per block, but have to
513 lower it again, to 6/8 of the available buffer space: We end up with 124 bits
514 per block, the equivalence of -q24. With 128kB buffers, you can't use greater
515 than -q24 at -d1. (And PAL, and 704 pixels width...)
517 The third example is limited to -q24 through the same process. The second
518 example, using very similar calculations, is limited to -q48. The only
519 example that actually grab at the specified -q value is the last one, which
520 is clearly visible, looking at the file size.
523 Conclusion: the quality of the resulting movie depends on buffer size, quality,
524 whether or not you use 'low_bitrate=1' as insmod option for the zr36060.c
525 module to do 1:4 instead of 1:2 compression, etc.
527 If you experience timeouts, lowering the quality/buffersize or using
528 'low_bitrate=1 as insmod option for zr36060.o might actually help, as is
531 It hangs/crashes/fails/whatevers! Help!
532 ---------------------------------------
534 Make sure that the card has its own interrupts (see /proc/interrupts), check
535 the output of dmesg at high verbosity (load zr36067.o with debug=2,
536 load all other modules with debug=1). Check that your mainboard is favorable
537 (see question 2) and if not, test the card in another computer. Also see the
538 notes given in question 3 and try lowering quality/buffersize/capturesize
539 if recording fails after a period of time.
541 If all this doesn't help, give a clear description of the problem including
542 detailed hardware information (memory+brand, mainboard+chipset+brand, which
543 MJPEG card, processor, other PCI cards that might be of interest), give the
544 system PnP information (/proc/interrupts, /proc/dma, /proc/devices), and give
545 the kernel version, driver version, glibc version, gcc version and any other
546 information that might possibly be of interest. Also provide the dmesg output
547 at high verbosity. See 'Contacting' on how to contact the developers.
549 Maintainers/Contacting
550 ----------------------
552 Previous maintainers/developers of this driver are
553 - Laurent Pinchart <laurent.pinchart@skynet.be>
554 - Ronald Bultje rbultje@ronald.bitfreak.net
555 - Serguei Miridonov <mirsev@cicese.mx>
556 - Wolfgang Scherr <scherr@net4you.net>
557 - Dave Perks <dperks@ibm.net>
558 - Rainer Johanni <Rainer@Johanni.de>
563 This driver is distributed under the terms of the General Public License.
565 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
566 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
567 the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
568 (at your option) any later version.
570 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
571 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
572 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
573 GNU General Public License for more details.
575 See http://www.gnu.org/ for more information.