1 Idea behind the dvb-usb-framework
2 =================================
6 #) This documentation is outdated. Please check at the DVB wiki
7 at https://linuxtv.org/wiki for more updated info.
9 #) **deprecated:** Newer DVB USB drivers should use the dvb-usb-v2 framework.
11 In March 2005 I got the new Twinhan USB2.0 DVB-T device. They provided specs
14 Quite keen I wanted to put the driver (with some quirks of course) into dibusb.
15 After reading some specs and doing some USB snooping, it realized, that the
16 dibusb-driver would be a complete mess afterwards. So I decided to do it in a
17 different way: With the help of a dvb-usb-framework.
19 The framework provides generic functions (mostly kernel API calls), such as:
21 - Transport Stream URB handling in conjunction with dvb-demux-feed-control
22 (bulk and isoc are supported)
23 - registering the device for the DVB-API
24 - registering an I2C-adapter if applicable
25 - remote-control/input-device handling
26 - firmware requesting and loading (currently just for the Cypress USB
28 - other functions/methods which can be shared by several drivers (such as
29 functions for bulk-control-commands)
30 - TODO: a I2C-chunker. It creates device-specific chunks of register-accesses
31 depending on length of a register and the number of values that can be
32 multi-written and multi-read.
34 The source code of the particular DVB USB devices does just the communication
35 with the device via the bus. The connection between the DVB-API-functionality
36 is done via callbacks, assigned in a static device-description (struct
37 dvb_usb_device) each device-driver has to have.
39 For an example have a look in drivers/media/usb/dvb-usb/vp7045*.
41 Objective is to migrate all the usb-devices (dibusb, cinergyT2, maybe the
42 ttusb; flexcop-usb already benefits from the generic flexcop-device) to use
45 TODO: dynamic enabling and disabling of the pid-filter in regard to number of
51 See the LinuxTV DVB Wiki at https://linuxtv.org for a complete list of
52 cards/drivers/firmwares:
53 https://linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/DVB_USB
59 - added support for WideView WT-220U (Thanks to Steve Chang)
63 - added basic isochronous support to the dvb-usb-framework
64 - added support for Conexant Hybrid reference design and Nebula
69 - all dibusb devices ported to make use of the dvb-usb-framework
73 - re-enabled and improved remote control code.
77 - ported the Yakumo/Hama/Typhoon DVB-T USB2.0 device to dvb-usb.
81 - first commit of the dvb-usb-module based on the dibusb-source.
82 First device is a new driver for the
83 TwinhanDTV Alpha / MagicBox II USB2.0-only DVB-T device.
84 - (change from dvb-dibusb to dvb-usb)
88 - added support for the AVerMedia AverTV DVB-T USB2.0 device
89 (Thanks to Glen Harris and Jiun-Kuei Jung, AVerMedia)
93 - added support for the Typhoon/Yakumo/HAMA DVB-T mobile USB2.0
97 - added support for the KWorld/ADSTech Instant DVB-T USB2.0.
98 Thanks a lot to Joachim von Caron
101 - added support for the Hauppauge Win-TV Nova-T USB2
104 - distorted streaming is gone for USB1.1 devices
108 - moved the mirrored pid_filter_table back to dvb-dibusb
109 first almost working version for HanfTek UMT-010
110 found out, that Yakumo/HAMA/Typhoon are predecessors of the HanfTek UMT-010
114 - refactoring completed, now everything is very delightful
116 - tuner quirks for some weird devices (Artec T1 AN2235 device has sometimes a
117 Panasonic Tuner assembled). Tunerprobing implemented.
118 Thanks a lot to Gunnar Wittich.
122 - after several days of struggling around bug of no returning URBs fixed.
126 - refactored the dibusb-driver, splitted into separate files
127 - i2c-probing enabled
131 - possibility for demod i2c-address probing
132 - new usb IDs (Compro, Artec)
136 - merged changes from DiB3000MC_ver2.1
137 - revised the debugging
138 - possibility to deliver the complete TS for USB2.0
142 - first working version of the dib3000mc/p frontend driver.
146 - added additional remote control keys. Thanks to Uwe Hanke.
150 - added remote control support. Thanks to David Matthews.
154 - added support for a new devices (Grandtec/Avermedia/Artec)
155 - merged my changes (for dib3000mb/dibusb) to the FE_REFACTORING, because it became HEAD
156 - moved transfer control (pid filter, fifo control) from usb driver to frontend, it seems
157 better settled there (added xfer_ops-struct)
158 - created a common files for frontends (mc/p/mb)
162 - added support for a new device (Unknown, vendor ID is Hyper-Paltek)
166 - added support for a new device (Compro DVB-U2000), thanks
167 to Amaury Demol for reporting
168 - changed usb TS transfer method (several urbs, stopping transfer
169 before setting a new pid)
173 - added support for a new device (Artec T1 USB TVBOX), thanks
174 to Christian Motschke for reporting
178 - released the dibusb device and dib3000mb-frontend driver
179 (old news for vp7041.c)
183 - found out, by accident, that the device has a TUA6010XS for PLL
187 - figured out, that the driver should also work with the
188 CTS Portable (Chinese Television System)
192 - firmware-extraction-2.422-problem solved, driver is now working
193 properly with firmware extracted from 2.422
194 - #if for 2.6.4 (dvb), compile issue
195 - changed firmware handling, see vp7041.txt sec 1.1
199 - some tuner modifications, v0.1, cleanups, first public
203 - now using the dvb_dmx_swfilter_packets, everything runs fine now
207 - able to watch and switching channels (pre-alpha)
208 - no section filtering yet
212 - first TS received, but kernel oops :/
216 - firmware loader is working
220 - start writing the driver
228 Most of the USB drivers need to download a firmware to the device before start
231 Have a look at the Wikipage for the DVB-USB-drivers to find out, which firmware
232 you need for your device:
234 https://linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/DVB_USB
239 Since the driver is in the linux kernel, activating the driver in
240 your favorite config-environment should sufficient. I recommend
241 to compile the driver as module. Hotplug does the rest.
243 If you use dvb-kernel enter the build-2.6 directory run 'make' and 'insmod.sh
249 Hotplug is able to load the driver, when it is needed (because you plugged
252 If you want to enable debug output, you have to load the driver manually and
253 from within the dvb-kernel cvs repository.
255 first have a look, which debug level are available:
260 # modinfo dvb-usb-vp7045
266 modprobe dvb-usb debug=<level>
267 modprobe dvb-usb-vp7045 debug=<level>
272 When the driver is loaded successfully, the firmware file was in
273 the right place and the device is connected, the "Power"-LED should be
276 At this point you should be able to start a dvb-capable application. I'm use
277 (t|s)zap, mplayer and dvbscan to test the basics. VDR-xine provides the
278 long-term test scenario.
280 Known problems and bugs
281 -----------------------
283 - Don't remove the USB device while running an DVB application, your system
284 will go crazy or die most likely.
286 Adding support for devices
287 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
291 USB1.1 Bandwidth limitation
292 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
294 A lot of the currently supported devices are USB1.1 and thus they have a
295 maximum bandwidth of about 5-6 MBit/s when connected to a USB2.0 hub.
296 This is not enough for receiving the complete transport stream of a
297 DVB-T channel (which is about 16 MBit/s). Normally this is not a
298 problem, if you only want to watch TV (this does not apply for HDTV),
299 but watching a channel while recording another channel on the same
300 frequency simply does not work very well. This applies to all USB1.1
301 DVB-T devices, not just the dvb-usb-devices)
303 The bug, where the TS is distorted by a heavy usage of the device is gone
304 definitely. All dvb-usb-devices I was using (Twinhan, Kworld, DiBcom) are
305 working like charm now with VDR. Sometimes I even was able to record a channel
306 and watch another one.
311 Patches, comments and suggestions are very very welcome.
316 Amaury Demol (Amaury.Demol@parrot.com) and Francois Kanounnikoff from DiBcom for
317 providing specs, code and help, on which the dvb-dibusb, dib3000mb and
320 David Matthews for identifying a new device type (Artec T1 with AN2235)
321 and for extending dibusb with remote control event handling. Thank you.
323 Alex Woods for frequently answering question about usb and dvb
324 stuff, a big thank you.
326 Bernd Wagner for helping with huge bug reports and discussions.
328 Gunnar Wittich and Joachim von Caron for their trust for providing
329 root-shells on their machines to implement support for new devices.
331 Allan Third and Michael Hutchinson for their help to write the Nebula
334 Glen Harris for bringing up, that there is a new dibusb-device and Jiun-Kuei
335 Jung from AVerMedia who kindly provided a special firmware to get the device
336 up and running in Linux.
338 Jennifer Chen, Jeff and Jack from Twinhan for kindly supporting by
339 writing the vp7045-driver.
341 Steve Chang from WideView for providing information for new devices and
344 Michael Paxton for submitting remote control keymaps.
346 Some guys on the linux-dvb mailing list for encouraging me.
348 Peter Schildmann >peter.schildmann-nospam-at-web.de< for his
349 user-level firmware loader, which saves a lot of time
350 (when writing the vp7041 driver)
352 Ulf Hermenau for helping me out with traditional chinese.
354 André Smoktun and Christian Frömmel for supporting me with
355 hardware and listening to my problems very patiently.