1 .. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
3 The Virtual Video Test Driver (vivid)
4 =====================================
6 This driver emulates video4linux hardware of various types: video capture, video
7 output, vbi capture and output, metadata capture and output, radio receivers and
8 transmitters, touch capture and a software defined radio receiver. In addition a
9 simple framebuffer device is available for testing capture and output overlays.
11 Up to 64 vivid instances can be created, each with up to 16 inputs and 16 outputs.
13 Each input can be a webcam, TV capture device, S-Video capture device or an HDMI
14 capture device. Each output can be an S-Video output device or an HDMI output
17 These inputs and outputs act exactly as a real hardware device would behave. This
18 allows you to use this driver as a test input for application development, since
19 you can test the various features without requiring special hardware.
21 This document describes the features implemented by this driver:
23 - Support for read()/write(), MMAP, USERPTR and DMABUF streaming I/O.
24 - A large list of test patterns and variations thereof
25 - Working brightness, contrast, saturation and hue controls
26 - Support for the alpha color component
27 - Full colorspace support, including limited/full RGB range
28 - All possible control types are present
29 - Support for various pixel aspect ratios and video aspect ratios
30 - Error injection to test what happens if errors occur
31 - Supports crop/compose/scale in any combination for both input and output
32 - Can emulate up to 4K resolutions
33 - All Field settings are supported for testing interlaced capturing
34 - Supports all standard YUV and RGB formats, including two multiplanar YUV formats
35 - Raw and Sliced VBI capture and output support
36 - Radio receiver and transmitter support, including RDS support
37 - Software defined radio (SDR) support
38 - Capture and output overlay support
39 - Metadata capture and output support
40 - Touch capture support
42 These features will be described in more detail below.
44 Configuring the driver
45 ----------------------
47 By default the driver will create a single instance that has a video capture
48 device with webcam, TV, S-Video and HDMI inputs, a video output device with
49 S-Video and HDMI outputs, one vbi capture device, one vbi output device, one
50 radio receiver device, one radio transmitter device and one SDR device.
52 The number of instances, devices, video inputs and outputs and their types are
53 all configurable using the following module options:
57 number of driver instances to create. By default set to 1. Up to 64
58 instances can be created.
62 which devices should each driver instance create. An array of
63 hexadecimal values, one for each instance. The default is 0x1d3d.
64 Each value is a bitmask with the following meaning:
66 - bit 0: Video Capture node
67 - bit 2-3: VBI Capture node: 0 = none, 1 = raw vbi, 2 = sliced vbi, 3 = both
68 - bit 4: Radio Receiver node
69 - bit 5: Software Defined Radio Receiver node
70 - bit 8: Video Output node
71 - bit 10-11: VBI Output node: 0 = none, 1 = raw vbi, 2 = sliced vbi, 3 = both
72 - bit 12: Radio Transmitter node
73 - bit 16: Framebuffer for testing overlays
74 - bit 17: Metadata Capture node
75 - bit 18: Metadata Output node
76 - bit 19: Touch Capture node
78 So to create four instances, the first two with just one video capture
79 device, the second two with just one video output device you would pass
80 these module options to vivid:
84 n_devs=4 node_types=0x1,0x1,0x100,0x100
88 the number of inputs, one for each instance. By default 4 inputs
89 are created for each video capture device. At most 16 inputs can be created,
90 and there must be at least one.
94 the input types for each instance, the default is 0xe4. This defines
95 what the type of each input is when the inputs are created for each driver
96 instance. This is a hexadecimal value with up to 16 pairs of bits, each
97 pair gives the type and bits 0-1 map to input 0, bits 2-3 map to input 1,
98 30-31 map to input 15. Each pair of bits has the following meaning:
100 - 00: this is a webcam input
101 - 01: this is a TV tuner input
102 - 10: this is an S-Video input
103 - 11: this is an HDMI input
105 So to create a video capture device with 8 inputs where input 0 is a TV
106 tuner, inputs 1-3 are S-Video inputs and inputs 4-7 are HDMI inputs you
107 would use the following module options:
111 num_inputs=8 input_types=0xffa9
115 the number of outputs, one for each instance. By default 2 outputs
116 are created for each video output device. At most 16 outputs can be
117 created, and there must be at least one.
121 the output types for each instance, the default is 0x02. This defines
122 what the type of each output is when the outputs are created for each
123 driver instance. This is a hexadecimal value with up to 16 bits, each bit
124 gives the type and bit 0 maps to output 0, bit 1 maps to output 1, bit
125 15 maps to output 15. The meaning of each bit is as follows:
127 - 0: this is an S-Video output
128 - 1: this is an HDMI output
130 So to create a video output device with 8 outputs where outputs 0-3 are
131 S-Video outputs and outputs 4-7 are HDMI outputs you would use the
132 following module options:
136 num_outputs=8 output_types=0xf0
140 give the desired videoX start number for each video capture device.
141 The default is -1 which will just take the first free number. This allows
142 you to map capture video nodes to specific videoX device nodes. Example:
146 n_devs=4 vid_cap_nr=2,4,6,8
148 This will attempt to assign /dev/video2 for the video capture device of
149 the first vivid instance, video4 for the next up to video8 for the last
150 instance. If it can't succeed, then it will just take the next free
155 give the desired videoX start number for each video output device.
156 The default is -1 which will just take the first free number.
160 give the desired vbiX start number for each vbi capture device.
161 The default is -1 which will just take the first free number.
165 give the desired vbiX start number for each vbi output device.
166 The default is -1 which will just take the first free number.
170 give the desired radioX start number for each radio receiver device.
171 The default is -1 which will just take the first free number.
175 give the desired radioX start number for each radio transmitter
176 device. The default is -1 which will just take the first free number.
180 give the desired swradioX start number for each SDR capture device.
181 The default is -1 which will just take the first free number.
185 give the desired videoX start number for each metadata capture device.
186 The default is -1 which will just take the first free number.
190 give the desired videoX start number for each metadata output device.
191 The default is -1 which will just take the first free number.
195 give the desired v4l-touchX start number for each touch capture device.
196 The default is -1 which will just take the first free number.
200 specify the allowed video capture crop/compose/scaling combination
201 for each driver instance. Video capture devices can have any combination
202 of cropping, composing and scaling capabilities and this will tell the
203 vivid driver which of those is should emulate. By default the user can
204 select this through controls.
206 The value is either -1 (controlled by the user) or a set of three bits,
207 each enabling (1) or disabling (0) one of the features:
211 Enable crop support. Cropping will take only part of the
215 Enable compose support. Composing will copy the incoming
216 picture into a larger buffer.
220 Enable scaling support. Scaling can scale the incoming
221 picture. The scaler of the vivid driver can enlarge up
222 or down to four times the original size. The scaler is
223 very simple and low-quality. Simplicity and speed were
226 Note that this value is ignored by webcam inputs: those enumerate
227 discrete framesizes and that is incompatible with cropping, composing
232 specify the allowed video output crop/compose/scaling combination
233 for each driver instance. Video output devices can have any combination
234 of cropping, composing and scaling capabilities and this will tell the
235 vivid driver which of those is should emulate. By default the user can
236 select this through controls.
238 The value is either -1 (controlled by the user) or a set of three bits,
239 each enabling (1) or disabling (0) one of the features:
243 Enable crop support. Cropping will take only part of the
248 Enable compose support. Composing will copy the incoming
249 buffer into a larger picture frame.
253 Enable scaling support. Scaling can scale the incoming
254 buffer. The scaler of the vivid driver can enlarge up
255 or down to four times the original size. The scaler is
256 very simple and low-quality. Simplicity and speed were
261 select whether each device instance supports multi-planar formats,
262 and thus the V4L2 multi-planar API. By default device instances are
265 This module option can override that for each instance. Values are:
267 - 1: this is a single-planar instance.
268 - 2: this is a multi-planar instance.
272 enable driver debugging info
276 if set disable the error injecting controls. This option is
277 needed in order to run a tool like v4l2-compliance. Tools like that
278 exercise all controls including a control like 'Disconnect' which
279 emulates a USB disconnect, making the device inaccessible and so
280 all tests that v4l2-compliance is doing will fail afterwards.
282 There may be other situations as well where you want to disable the
283 error injection support of vivid. When this option is set, then the
284 controls that select crop, compose and scale behavior are also
285 removed. Unless overridden by ccs_cap_mode and/or ccs_out_mode the
286 will default to enabling crop, compose and scaling.
290 memory allocator selection, default is 0. It specifies the way buffers
296 Taken together, all these module options allow you to precisely customize
297 the driver behavior and test your application with all sorts of permutations.
298 It is also very suitable to emulate hardware that is not yet available, e.g.
299 when developing software for a new upcoming device.
305 This is probably the most frequently used feature. The video capture device
306 can be configured by using the module options num_inputs, input_types and
307 ccs_cap_mode (see section 1 for more detailed information), but by default
308 four inputs are configured: a webcam, a TV tuner, an S-Video and an HDMI
309 input, one input for each input type. Those are described in more detail
312 Special attention has been given to the rate at which new frames become
313 available. The jitter will be around 1 jiffie (that depends on the HZ
314 configuration of your kernel, so usually 1/100, 1/250 or 1/1000 of a second),
315 but the long-term behavior is exactly following the framerate. So a
316 framerate of 59.94 Hz is really different from 60 Hz. If the framerate
317 exceeds your kernel's HZ value, then you will get dropped frames, but the
318 frame/field sequence counting will keep track of that so the sequence
319 count will skip whenever frames are dropped.
325 The webcam input supports three framesizes: 320x180, 640x360 and 1280x720. It
326 supports frames per second settings of 10, 15, 25, 30, 50 and 60 fps. Which ones
327 are available depends on the chosen framesize: the larger the framesize, the
328 lower the maximum frames per second.
330 The initially selected colorspace when you switch to the webcam input will be
334 TV and S-Video Inputs
335 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
337 The only difference between the TV and S-Video input is that the TV has a
338 tuner. Otherwise they behave identically.
340 These inputs support audio inputs as well: one TV and one Line-In. They
341 both support all TV standards. If the standard is queried, then the Vivid
342 controls 'Standard Signal Mode' and 'Standard' determine what
345 These inputs support all combinations of the field setting. Special care has
346 been taken to faithfully reproduce how fields are handled for the different
347 TV standards. This is particularly noticeable when generating a horizontally
348 moving image so the temporal effect of using interlaced formats becomes clearly
349 visible. For 50 Hz standards the top field is the oldest and the bottom field
350 is the newest in time. For 60 Hz standards that is reversed: the bottom field
351 is the oldest and the top field is the newest in time.
353 When you start capturing in V4L2_FIELD_ALTERNATE mode the first buffer will
354 contain the top field for 50 Hz standards and the bottom field for 60 Hz
355 standards. This is what capture hardware does as well.
357 Finally, for PAL/SECAM standards the first half of the top line contains noise.
358 This simulates the Wide Screen Signal that is commonly placed there.
360 The initially selected colorspace when you switch to the TV or S-Video input
363 The pixel aspect ratio will depend on the TV standard. The video aspect ratio
364 can be selected through the 'Standard Aspect Ratio' Vivid control.
365 Choices are '4x3', '16x9' which will give letterboxed widescreen video and
366 '16x9 Anamorphic' which will give full screen squashed anamorphic widescreen
367 video that will need to be scaled accordingly.
369 The TV 'tuner' supports a frequency range of 44-958 MHz. Channels are available
370 every 6 MHz, starting from 49.25 MHz. For each channel the generated image
371 will be in color for the +/- 0.25 MHz around it, and in grayscale for
372 +/- 1 MHz around the channel. Beyond that it is just noise. The VIDIOC_G_TUNER
373 ioctl will return 100% signal strength for +/- 0.25 MHz and 50% for +/- 1 MHz.
374 It will also return correct afc values to show whether the frequency is too
377 The audio subchannels that are returned are MONO for the +/- 1 MHz range around
378 a valid channel frequency. When the frequency is within +/- 0.25 MHz of the
379 channel it will return either MONO, STEREO, either MONO | SAP (for NTSC) or
380 LANG1 | LANG2 (for others), or STEREO | SAP.
382 Which one is returned depends on the chosen channel, each next valid channel
383 will cycle through the possible audio subchannel combinations. This allows
384 you to test the various combinations by just switching channels..
386 Finally, for these inputs the v4l2_timecode struct is filled in in the
387 dequeued v4l2_buffer struct.
393 The HDMI inputs supports all CEA-861 and DMT timings, both progressive and
394 interlaced, for pixelclock frequencies between 25 and 600 MHz. The field
395 mode for interlaced formats is always V4L2_FIELD_ALTERNATE. For HDMI the
396 field order is always top field first, and when you start capturing an
397 interlaced format you will receive the top field first.
399 The initially selected colorspace when you switch to the HDMI input or
400 select an HDMI timing is based on the format resolution: for resolutions
401 less than or equal to 720x576 the colorspace is set to SMPTE-170M, for
402 others it is set to REC-709 (CEA-861 timings) or sRGB (VESA DMT timings).
404 The pixel aspect ratio will depend on the HDMI timing: for 720x480 is it
405 set as for the NTSC TV standard, for 720x576 it is set as for the PAL TV
406 standard, and for all others a 1:1 pixel aspect ratio is returned.
408 The video aspect ratio can be selected through the 'DV Timings Aspect Ratio'
409 Vivid control. Choices are 'Source Width x Height' (just use the
410 same ratio as the chosen format), '4x3' or '16x9', either of which can
411 result in pillarboxed or letterboxed video.
413 For HDMI inputs it is possible to set the EDID. By default a simple EDID
414 is provided. You can only set the EDID for HDMI inputs. Internally, however,
415 the EDID is shared between all HDMI inputs.
417 No interpretation is done of the EDID data with the exception of the
418 physical address. See the CEC section for more details.
420 There is a maximum of 15 HDMI inputs (if there are more, then they will be
421 reduced to 15) since that's the limitation of the EDID physical address.
427 The video output device can be configured by using the module options
428 num_outputs, output_types and ccs_out_mode (see section 1 for more detailed
429 information), but by default two outputs are configured: an S-Video and an
430 HDMI input, one output for each output type. Those are described in more detail
433 Like with video capture the framerate is also exact in the long term.
439 This output supports audio outputs as well: "Line-Out 1" and "Line-Out 2".
440 The S-Video output supports all TV standards.
442 This output supports all combinations of the field setting.
444 The initially selected colorspace when you switch to the TV or S-Video input
451 The HDMI output supports all CEA-861 and DMT timings, both progressive and
452 interlaced, for pixelclock frequencies between 25 and 600 MHz. The field
453 mode for interlaced formats is always V4L2_FIELD_ALTERNATE.
455 The initially selected colorspace when you switch to the HDMI output or
456 select an HDMI timing is based on the format resolution: for resolutions
457 less than or equal to 720x576 the colorspace is set to SMPTE-170M, for
458 others it is set to REC-709 (CEA-861 timings) or sRGB (VESA DMT timings).
460 The pixel aspect ratio will depend on the HDMI timing: for 720x480 is it
461 set as for the NTSC TV standard, for 720x576 it is set as for the PAL TV
462 standard, and for all others a 1:1 pixel aspect ratio is returned.
464 An HDMI output has a valid EDID which can be obtained through VIDIOC_G_EDID.
466 There is a maximum of 15 HDMI outputs (if there are more, then they will be
467 reduced to 15) since that's the limitation of the EDID physical address. See
468 also the CEC section for more details.
473 There are three types of VBI capture devices: those that only support raw
474 (undecoded) VBI, those that only support sliced (decoded) VBI and those that
475 support both. This is determined by the node_types module option. In all
476 cases the driver will generate valid VBI data: for 60 Hz standards it will
477 generate Closed Caption and XDS data. The closed caption stream will
478 alternate between "Hello world!" and "Closed captions test" every second.
479 The XDS stream will give the current time once a minute. For 50 Hz standards
480 it will generate the Wide Screen Signal which is based on the actual Video
481 Aspect Ratio control setting and teletext pages 100-159, one page per frame.
483 The VBI device will only work for the S-Video and TV inputs, it will give
484 back an error if the current input is a webcam or HDMI.
490 There are three types of VBI output devices: those that only support raw
491 (undecoded) VBI, those that only support sliced (decoded) VBI and those that
492 support both. This is determined by the node_types module option.
494 The sliced VBI output supports the Wide Screen Signal and the teletext signal
495 for 50 Hz standards and Closed Captioning + XDS for 60 Hz standards.
497 The VBI device will only work for the S-Video output, it will give
498 back an error if the current output is HDMI.
504 The radio receiver emulates an FM/AM/SW receiver. The FM band also supports RDS.
505 The frequency ranges are:
507 - FM: 64 MHz - 108 MHz
508 - AM: 520 kHz - 1710 kHz
509 - SW: 2300 kHz - 26.1 MHz
511 Valid channels are emulated every 1 MHz for FM and every 100 kHz for AM and SW.
512 The signal strength decreases the further the frequency is from the valid
513 frequency until it becomes 0% at +/- 50 kHz (FM) or 5 kHz (AM/SW) from the
514 ideal frequency. The initial frequency when the driver is loaded is set to
517 The FM receiver supports RDS as well, both using 'Block I/O' and 'Controls'
518 modes. In the 'Controls' mode the RDS information is stored in read-only
519 controls. These controls are updated every time the frequency is changed,
520 or when the tuner status is requested. The Block I/O method uses the read()
521 interface to pass the RDS blocks on to the application for decoding.
523 The RDS signal is 'detected' for +/- 12.5 kHz around the channel frequency,
524 and the further the frequency is away from the valid frequency the more RDS
525 errors are randomly introduced into the block I/O stream, up to 50% of all
526 blocks if you are +/- 12.5 kHz from the channel frequency. All four errors
527 can occur in equal proportions: blocks marked 'CORRECTED', blocks marked
528 'ERROR', blocks marked 'INVALID' and dropped blocks.
530 The generated RDS stream contains all the standard fields contained in a
531 0B group, and also radio text and the current time.
533 The receiver supports HW frequency seek, either in Bounded mode, Wrap Around
534 mode or both, which is configurable with the "Radio HW Seek Mode" control.
540 The radio transmitter emulates an FM/AM/SW transmitter. The FM band also supports RDS.
541 The frequency ranges are:
543 - FM: 64 MHz - 108 MHz
544 - AM: 520 kHz - 1710 kHz
545 - SW: 2300 kHz - 26.1 MHz
547 The initial frequency when the driver is loaded is 95.5 MHz.
549 The FM transmitter supports RDS as well, both using 'Block I/O' and 'Controls'
550 modes. In the 'Controls' mode the transmitted RDS information is configured
551 using controls, and in 'Block I/O' mode the blocks are passed to the driver
555 Software Defined Radio Receiver
556 -------------------------------
558 The SDR receiver has three frequency bands for the ADC tuner:
564 The RF tuner supports 50 MHz - 2000 MHz.
566 The generated data contains the In-phase and Quadrature components of a
567 1 kHz tone that has an amplitude of sqrt(2).
573 The Metadata capture generates UVC format metadata. The PTS and SCR are
574 transmitted based on the values set in vivid contols.
576 The Metadata device will only work for the Webcam input, it will give
577 back an error for all other inputs.
583 The Metadata output can be used to set brightness, contrast, saturation and hue.
585 The Metadata device will only work for the Webcam output, it will give
586 back an error for all other outputs.
592 The Touch capture generates touch patterns simulating single tap, double tap,
593 triple tap, move from left to right, zoom in, zoom out, palm press (simulating
594 a large area being pressed on a touchpad), and simulating 16 simultaneous
600 Different devices support different controls. The sections below will describe
601 each control and which devices support them.
604 User Controls - Test Controls
605 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
607 The Button, Boolean, Integer 32 Bits, Integer 64 Bits, Menu, String, Bitmask and
608 Integer Menu are controls that represent all possible control types. The Menu
609 control and the Integer Menu control both have 'holes' in their menu list,
610 meaning that one or more menu items return EINVAL when VIDIOC_QUERYMENU is called.
611 Both menu controls also have a non-zero minimum control value. These features
612 allow you to check if your application can handle such things correctly.
613 These controls are supported for every device type.
616 User Controls - Video Capture
617 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
619 The following controls are specific to video capture.
621 The Brightness, Contrast, Saturation and Hue controls actually work and are
622 standard. There is one special feature with the Brightness control: each
623 video input has its own brightness value, so changing input will restore
624 the brightness for that input. In addition, each video input uses a different
625 brightness range (minimum and maximum control values). Switching inputs will
626 cause a control event to be sent with the V4L2_EVENT_CTRL_CH_RANGE flag set.
627 This allows you to test controls that can change their range.
629 The 'Gain, Automatic' and Gain controls can be used to test volatile controls:
630 if 'Gain, Automatic' is set, then the Gain control is volatile and changes
631 constantly. If 'Gain, Automatic' is cleared, then the Gain control is a normal
634 The 'Horizontal Flip' and 'Vertical Flip' controls can be used to flip the
635 image. These combine with the 'Sensor Flipped Horizontally/Vertically' Vivid
638 The 'Alpha Component' control can be used to set the alpha component for
639 formats containing an alpha channel.
642 User Controls - Audio
643 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
645 The following controls are specific to video capture and output and radio
646 receivers and transmitters.
648 The 'Volume' and 'Mute' audio controls are typical for such devices to
649 control the volume and mute the audio. They don't actually do anything in
656 These vivid custom controls control the image generation, error injection, etc.
659 Test Pattern Controls
660 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
662 The Test Pattern Controls are all specific to video capture.
666 selects which test pattern to use. Use the CSC Colorbar for
667 testing colorspace conversions: the colors used in that test pattern
668 map to valid colors in all colorspaces. The colorspace conversion
669 is disabled for the other test patterns.
673 selects whether the text superimposed on the
674 test pattern should be shown, and if so, whether only counters should
675 be displayed or the full text.
677 - Horizontal Movement:
679 selects whether the test pattern should
680 move to the left or right and at what speed.
684 does the same for the vertical direction.
688 show a two-pixel wide border at the edge of the actual image,
689 excluding letter or pillarboxing.
693 show a square in the middle of the image. If the image is
694 displayed with the correct pixel and image aspect ratio corrections,
695 then the width and height of the square on the monitor should be
698 - Insert SAV Code in Image:
700 adds a SAV (Start of Active Video) code to the image.
701 This can be used to check if such codes in the image are inadvertently
702 interpreted instead of being ignored.
704 - Insert EAV Code in Image:
706 does the same for the EAV (End of Active Video) code.
709 Capture Feature Selection Controls
710 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
712 These controls are all specific to video capture.
714 - Sensor Flipped Horizontally:
716 the image is flipped horizontally and the
717 V4L2_IN_ST_HFLIP input status flag is set. This emulates the case where
718 a sensor is for example mounted upside down.
720 - Sensor Flipped Vertically:
722 the image is flipped vertically and the
723 V4L2_IN_ST_VFLIP input status flag is set. This emulates the case where
724 a sensor is for example mounted upside down.
726 - Standard Aspect Ratio:
728 selects if the image aspect ratio as used for the TV or
729 S-Video input should be 4x3, 16x9 or anamorphic widescreen. This may
730 introduce letterboxing.
732 - DV Timings Aspect Ratio:
734 selects if the image aspect ratio as used for the HDMI
735 input should be the same as the source width and height ratio, or if
736 it should be 4x3 or 16x9. This may introduce letter or pillarboxing.
740 selects when the timestamp for each buffer is taken.
744 selects which colorspace should be used when generating the image.
745 This only applies if the CSC Colorbar test pattern is selected,
746 otherwise the test pattern will go through unconverted.
747 This behavior is also what you want, since a 75% Colorbar
748 should really have 75% signal intensity and should not be affected
749 by colorspace conversions.
751 Changing the colorspace will result in the V4L2_EVENT_SOURCE_CHANGE
752 to be sent since it emulates a detected colorspace change.
756 selects which colorspace transfer function should be used when
757 generating an image. This only applies if the CSC Colorbar test pattern is
758 selected, otherwise the test pattern will go through unconverted.
759 This behavior is also what you want, since a 75% Colorbar
760 should really have 75% signal intensity and should not be affected
761 by colorspace conversions.
763 Changing the transfer function will result in the V4L2_EVENT_SOURCE_CHANGE
764 to be sent since it emulates a detected colorspace change.
768 selects which Y'CbCr encoding should be used when generating
769 a Y'CbCr image. This only applies if the format is set to a Y'CbCr format
770 as opposed to an RGB format.
772 Changing the Y'CbCr encoding will result in the V4L2_EVENT_SOURCE_CHANGE
773 to be sent since it emulates a detected colorspace change.
777 selects which quantization should be used for the RGB or Y'CbCr
778 encoding when generating the test pattern.
780 Changing the quantization will result in the V4L2_EVENT_SOURCE_CHANGE
781 to be sent since it emulates a detected colorspace change.
783 - Limited RGB Range (16-235):
785 selects if the RGB range of the HDMI source should
786 be limited or full range. This combines with the Digital Video 'Rx RGB
787 Quantization Range' control and can be used to test what happens if
788 a source provides you with the wrong quantization range information.
789 See the description of that control for more details.
791 - Apply Alpha To Red Only:
793 apply the alpha channel as set by the 'Alpha Component'
794 user control to the red color of the test pattern only.
796 - Enable Capture Cropping:
798 enables crop support. This control is only present if
799 the ccs_cap_mode module option is set to the default value of -1 and if
800 the no_error_inj module option is set to 0 (the default).
802 - Enable Capture Composing:
804 enables composing support. This control is only
805 present if the ccs_cap_mode module option is set to the default value of
806 -1 and if the no_error_inj module option is set to 0 (the default).
808 - Enable Capture Scaler:
810 enables support for a scaler (maximum 4 times upscaling
811 and downscaling). This control is only present if the ccs_cap_mode
812 module option is set to the default value of -1 and if the no_error_inj
813 module option is set to 0 (the default).
815 - Maximum EDID Blocks:
817 determines how many EDID blocks the driver supports.
818 Note that the vivid driver does not actually interpret new EDID
819 data, it just stores it. It allows for up to 256 EDID blocks
820 which is the maximum supported by the standard.
822 - Fill Percentage of Frame:
824 can be used to draw only the top X percent
825 of the image. Since each frame has to be drawn by the driver, this
826 demands a lot of the CPU. For large resolutions this becomes
827 problematic. By drawing only part of the image this CPU load can
831 Output Feature Selection Controls
832 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
834 These controls are all specific to video output.
836 - Enable Output Cropping:
838 enables crop support. This control is only present if
839 the ccs_out_mode module option is set to the default value of -1 and if
840 the no_error_inj module option is set to 0 (the default).
842 - Enable Output Composing:
844 enables composing support. This control is only
845 present if the ccs_out_mode module option is set to the default value of
846 -1 and if the no_error_inj module option is set to 0 (the default).
848 - Enable Output Scaler:
850 enables support for a scaler (maximum 4 times upscaling
851 and downscaling). This control is only present if the ccs_out_mode
852 module option is set to the default value of -1 and if the no_error_inj
853 module option is set to 0 (the default).
856 Error Injection Controls
857 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
859 The following two controls are only valid for video and vbi capture.
861 - Standard Signal Mode:
863 selects the behavior of VIDIOC_QUERYSTD: what should it return?
865 Changing this control will result in the V4L2_EVENT_SOURCE_CHANGE
866 to be sent since it emulates a changed input condition (e.g. a cable
867 was plugged in or out).
871 selects the standard that VIDIOC_QUERYSTD should return if the
872 previous control is set to "Selected Standard".
874 Changing this control will result in the V4L2_EVENT_SOURCE_CHANGE
875 to be sent since it emulates a changed input standard.
878 The following two controls are only valid for video capture.
880 - DV Timings Signal Mode:
882 selects the behavior of VIDIOC_QUERY_DV_TIMINGS: what
885 Changing this control will result in the V4L2_EVENT_SOURCE_CHANGE
886 to be sent since it emulates a changed input condition (e.g. a cable
887 was plugged in or out).
891 selects the timings the VIDIOC_QUERY_DV_TIMINGS should return
892 if the previous control is set to "Selected DV Timings".
894 Changing this control will result in the V4L2_EVENT_SOURCE_CHANGE
895 to be sent since it emulates changed input timings.
898 The following controls are only present if the no_error_inj module option
899 is set to 0 (the default). These controls are valid for video and vbi
900 capture and output streams and for the SDR capture device except for the
901 Disconnect control which is valid for all devices.
903 - Wrap Sequence Number:
905 test what happens when you wrap the sequence number in
906 struct v4l2_buffer around.
910 test what happens when you wrap the timestamp in struct
913 - Percentage of Dropped Buffers:
915 sets the percentage of buffers that
916 are never returned by the driver (i.e., they are dropped).
920 emulates a USB disconnect. The device will act as if it has
921 been disconnected. Only after all open filehandles to the device
922 node have been closed will the device become 'connected' again.
924 - Inject V4L2_BUF_FLAG_ERROR:
926 when pressed, the next frame returned by
927 the driver will have the error flag set (i.e. the frame is marked
930 - Inject VIDIOC_REQBUFS Error:
932 when pressed, the next REQBUFS or CREATE_BUFS
933 ioctl call will fail with an error. To be precise: the videobuf2
934 queue_setup() op will return -EINVAL.
936 - Inject VIDIOC_QBUF Error:
938 when pressed, the next VIDIOC_QBUF or
939 VIDIOC_PREPARE_BUFFER ioctl call will fail with an error. To be
940 precise: the videobuf2 buf_prepare() op will return -EINVAL.
942 - Inject VIDIOC_STREAMON Error:
944 when pressed, the next VIDIOC_STREAMON ioctl
945 call will fail with an error. To be precise: the videobuf2
946 start_streaming() op will return -EINVAL.
948 - Inject Fatal Streaming Error:
950 when pressed, the streaming core will be
951 marked as having suffered a fatal error, the only way to recover
952 from that is to stop streaming. To be precise: the videobuf2
953 vb2_queue_error() function is called.
956 VBI Raw Capture Controls
957 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
959 - Interlaced VBI Format:
961 if set, then the raw VBI data will be interlaced instead
962 of providing it grouped by field.
965 Digital Video Controls
966 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
968 - Rx RGB Quantization Range:
970 sets the RGB quantization detection of the HDMI
971 input. This combines with the Vivid 'Limited RGB Range (16-235)'
972 control and can be used to test what happens if a source provides
973 you with the wrong quantization range information. This can be tested
974 by selecting an HDMI input, setting this control to Full or Limited
975 range and selecting the opposite in the 'Limited RGB Range (16-235)'
976 control. The effect is easy to see if the 'Gray Ramp' test pattern
979 - Tx RGB Quantization Range:
981 sets the RGB quantization detection of the HDMI
982 output. It is currently not used for anything in vivid, but most HDMI
983 transmitters would typically have this control.
987 sets the transmit mode of the HDMI output to HDMI or DVI-D. This
988 affects the reported colorspace since DVI_D outputs will always use
993 sets the presence of a "display" on the HDMI output. This affects
994 the tx_edid_present, tx_hotplug and tx_rxsense controls.
997 FM Radio Receiver Controls
998 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1002 set if the RDS receiver should be enabled.
1013 - RDS Traffic Announcement:
1016 - RDS Traffic Program:
1021 these are all read-only controls. If RDS Rx I/O Mode is set to
1022 "Block I/O", then they are inactive as well. If RDS Rx I/O Mode is set
1023 to "Controls", then these controls report the received RDS data.
1026 The vivid implementation of this is pretty basic: they are only
1027 updated when you set a new frequency or when you get the tuner status
1030 - Radio HW Seek Mode:
1032 can be one of "Bounded", "Wrap Around" or "Both". This
1033 determines if VIDIOC_S_HW_FREQ_SEEK will be bounded by the frequency
1034 range or wrap-around or if it is selectable by the user.
1036 - Radio Programmable HW Seek:
1038 if set, then the user can provide the lower and
1039 upper bound of the HW Seek. Otherwise the frequency range boundaries
1042 - Generate RBDS Instead of RDS:
1044 if set, then generate RBDS (the US variant of
1045 RDS) data instead of RDS (European-style RDS). This affects only the
1046 PICODE and PTY codes.
1050 this can be "Block I/O" where the RDS blocks have to be read()
1051 by the application, or "Controls" where the RDS data is provided by
1052 the RDS controls mentioned above.
1055 FM Radio Modulator Controls
1056 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1073 - RDS Artificial Head:
1082 - RDS Traffic Announcement:
1085 - RDS Traffic Program:
1090 these are all controls that set the RDS data that is transmitted by
1095 this can be "Block I/O" where the application has to use write()
1096 to pass the RDS blocks to the driver, or "Controls" where the RDS data
1097 is Provided by the RDS controls mentioned above.
1099 Metadata Capture Controls
1100 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1104 if set, then the generated metadata stream contains Presentation timestamp.
1108 if set, then the generated metadata stream contains Source Clock information.
1110 Video, VBI and RDS Looping
1111 --------------------------
1113 The vivid driver supports looping of video output to video input, VBI output
1114 to VBI input and RDS output to RDS input. For video/VBI looping this emulates
1115 as if a cable was hooked up between the output and input connector. So video
1116 and VBI looping is only supported between S-Video and HDMI inputs and outputs.
1117 VBI is only valid for S-Video as it makes no sense for HDMI.
1119 Since radio is wireless this looping always happens if the radio receiver
1120 frequency is close to the radio transmitter frequency. In that case the radio
1121 transmitter will 'override' the emulated radio stations.
1123 Looping is currently supported only between devices created by the same
1124 vivid driver instance.
1127 Video and Sliced VBI looping
1128 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1130 The way to enable video/VBI looping is currently fairly crude. A 'Loop Video'
1131 control is available in the "Vivid" control class of the video
1132 capture and VBI capture devices. When checked the video looping will be enabled.
1133 Once enabled any video S-Video or HDMI input will show a static test pattern
1134 until the video output has started. At that time the video output will be
1135 looped to the video input provided that:
1137 - the input type matches the output type. So the HDMI input cannot receive
1138 video from the S-Video output.
1140 - the video resolution of the video input must match that of the video output.
1141 So it is not possible to loop a 50 Hz (720x576) S-Video output to a 60 Hz
1142 (720x480) S-Video input, or a 720p60 HDMI output to a 1080p30 input.
1144 - the pixel formats must be identical on both sides. Otherwise the driver would
1145 have to do pixel format conversion as well, and that's taking things too far.
1147 - the field settings must be identical on both sides. Same reason as above:
1148 requiring the driver to convert from one field format to another complicated
1149 matters too much. This also prohibits capturing with 'Field Top' or 'Field
1150 Bottom' when the output video is set to 'Field Alternate'. This combination,
1151 while legal, became too complicated to support. Both sides have to be 'Field
1152 Alternate' for this to work. Also note that for this specific case the
1153 sequence and field counting in struct v4l2_buffer on the capture side may not
1156 - field settings V4L2_FIELD_SEQ_TB/BT are not supported. While it is possible to
1157 implement this, it would mean a lot of work to get this right. Since these
1158 field values are rarely used the decision was made not to implement this for
1161 - on the input side the "Standard Signal Mode" for the S-Video input or the
1162 "DV Timings Signal Mode" for the HDMI input should be configured so that a
1163 valid signal is passed to the video input.
1165 The framerates do not have to match, although this might change in the future.
1167 By default you will see the OSD text superimposed on top of the looped video.
1168 This can be turned off by changing the "OSD Text Mode" control of the video
1171 For VBI looping to work all of the above must be valid and in addition the vbi
1172 output must be configured for sliced VBI. The VBI capture side can be configured
1173 for either raw or sliced VBI. Note that at the moment only CC/XDS (60 Hz formats)
1174 and WSS (50 Hz formats) VBI data is looped. Teletext VBI data is not looped.
1180 As mentioned in section 6 the radio receiver emulates stations are regular
1181 frequency intervals. Depending on the frequency of the radio receiver a
1182 signal strength value is calculated (this is returned by VIDIOC_G_TUNER).
1183 However, it will also look at the frequency set by the radio transmitter and
1184 if that results in a higher signal strength than the settings of the radio
1185 transmitter will be used as if it was a valid station. This also includes
1186 the RDS data (if any) that the transmitter 'transmits'. This is received
1187 faithfully on the receiver side. Note that when the driver is loaded the
1188 frequencies of the radio receiver and transmitter are not identical, so
1189 initially no looping takes place.
1192 Cropping, Composing, Scaling
1193 ----------------------------
1195 This driver supports cropping, composing and scaling in any combination. Normally
1196 which features are supported can be selected through the Vivid controls,
1197 but it is also possible to hardcode it when the module is loaded through the
1198 ccs_cap_mode and ccs_out_mode module options. See section 1 on the details of
1199 these module options.
1201 This allows you to test your application for all these variations.
1203 Note that the webcam input never supports cropping, composing or scaling. That
1204 only applies to the TV/S-Video/HDMI inputs and outputs. The reason is that
1205 webcams, including this virtual implementation, normally use
1206 VIDIOC_ENUM_FRAMESIZES to list a set of discrete framesizes that it supports.
1207 And that does not combine with cropping, composing or scaling. This is
1208 primarily a limitation of the V4L2 API which is carefully reproduced here.
1210 The minimum and maximum resolutions that the scaler can achieve are 16x16 and
1211 (4096 * 4) x (2160 x 4), but it can only scale up or down by a factor of 4 or
1212 less. So for a source resolution of 1280x720 the minimum the scaler can do is
1213 320x180 and the maximum is 5120x2880. You can play around with this using the
1214 qv4l2 test tool and you will see these dependencies.
1216 This driver also supports larger 'bytesperline' settings, something that
1217 VIDIOC_S_FMT allows but that few drivers implement.
1219 The scaler is a simple scaler that uses the Coarse Bresenham algorithm. It's
1220 designed for speed and simplicity, not quality.
1222 If the combination of crop, compose and scaling allows it, then it is possible
1223 to change crop and compose rectangles on the fly.
1229 The driver supports all the regular packed and planar 4:4:4, 4:2:2 and 4:2:0
1230 YUYV formats, 8, 16, 24 and 32 RGB packed formats and various multiplanar
1233 The alpha component can be set through the 'Alpha Component' User control
1234 for those formats that support it. If the 'Apply Alpha To Red Only' control
1235 is set, then the alpha component is only used for the color red and set to
1238 The driver has to be configured to support the multiplanar formats. By default
1239 the driver instances are single-planar. This can be changed by setting the
1240 multiplanar module option, see section 1 for more details on that option.
1242 If the driver instance is using the multiplanar formats/API, then the first
1243 single planar format (YUYV) and the multiplanar NV16M and NV61M formats the
1244 will have a plane that has a non-zero data_offset of 128 bytes. It is rare for
1245 data_offset to be non-zero, so this is a useful feature for testing applications.
1247 Video output will also honor any data_offset that the application set.
1253 Note: capture overlay support is implemented primarily to test the existing
1254 V4L2 capture overlay API. In practice few if any GPUs support such overlays
1255 anymore, and neither are they generally needed anymore since modern hardware
1256 is so much more capable. By setting flag 0x10000 in the node_types module
1257 option the vivid driver will create a simple framebuffer device that can be
1258 used for testing this API. Whether this API should be used for new drivers is
1261 This driver has support for a destructive capture overlay with bitmap clipping
1262 and list clipping (up to 16 rectangles) capabilities. Overlays are not
1263 supported for multiplanar formats. It also honors the struct v4l2_window field
1264 setting: if it is set to FIELD_TOP or FIELD_BOTTOM and the capture setting is
1265 FIELD_ALTERNATE, then only the top or bottom fields will be copied to the overlay.
1267 The overlay only works if you are also capturing at that same time. This is a
1268 vivid limitation since it copies from a buffer to the overlay instead of
1269 filling the overlay directly. And if you are not capturing, then no buffers
1270 are available to fill.
1272 In addition, the pixelformat of the capture format and that of the framebuffer
1273 must be the same for the overlay to work. Otherwise VIDIOC_OVERLAY will return
1276 In order to really see what it going on you will need to create two vivid
1277 instances: the first with a framebuffer enabled. You configure the capture
1278 overlay of the second instance to use the framebuffer of the first, then
1279 you start capturing in the second instance. For the first instance you setup
1280 the output overlay for the video output, turn on video looping and capture
1281 to see the blended framebuffer overlay that's being written to by the second
1282 instance. This setup would require the following commands:
1284 .. code-block:: none
1286 $ sudo modprobe vivid n_devs=2 node_types=0x10101,0x1
1287 $ v4l2-ctl -d1 --find-fb
1288 /dev/fb1 is the framebuffer associated with base address 0x12800000
1289 $ sudo v4l2-ctl -d2 --set-fbuf fb=1
1290 $ v4l2-ctl -d1 --set-fbuf fb=1
1291 $ v4l2-ctl -d0 --set-fmt-video=pixelformat='AR15'
1292 $ v4l2-ctl -d1 --set-fmt-video-out=pixelformat='AR15'
1293 $ v4l2-ctl -d2 --set-fmt-video=pixelformat='AR15'
1296 $ v4l2-ctl -d2 -c horizontal_movement=4
1297 $ v4l2-ctl -d1 --overlay=1
1298 $ v4l2-ctl -d1 -c loop_video=1
1299 $ v4l2-ctl -d2 --stream-mmap --overlay=1
1301 And from another console:
1303 .. code-block:: none
1305 $ v4l2-ctl -d1 --stream-out-mmap
1307 And yet another console:
1309 .. code-block:: none
1313 and start streaming.
1315 As you can see, this is not for the faint of heart...
1321 Note: output overlays are primarily implemented in order to test the existing
1322 V4L2 output overlay API. Whether this API should be used for new drivers is
1325 This driver has support for an output overlay and is capable of:
1328 - list clipping (up to 16 rectangles)
1333 - local inverse alpha
1335 Output overlays are not supported for multiplanar formats. In addition, the
1336 pixelformat of the capture format and that of the framebuffer must be the
1337 same for the overlay to work. Otherwise VIDIOC_OVERLAY will return an error.
1339 Output overlays only work if the driver has been configured to create a
1340 framebuffer by setting flag 0x10000 in the node_types module option. The
1341 created framebuffer has a size of 720x576 and supports ARGB 1:5:5:5 and
1344 In order to see the effects of the various clipping, chromakeying or alpha
1345 processing capabilities you need to turn on video looping and see the results
1346 on the capture side. The use of the clipping, chromakeying or alpha processing
1347 capabilities will slow down the video loop considerably as a lot of checks have
1348 to be done per pixel.
1351 CEC (Consumer Electronics Control)
1352 ----------------------------------
1354 If there are HDMI inputs then a CEC adapter will be created that has
1355 the same number of input ports. This is the equivalent of e.g. a TV that
1356 has that number of inputs. Each HDMI output will also create a
1357 CEC adapter that is hooked up to the corresponding input port, or (if there
1358 are more outputs than inputs) is not hooked up at all. In other words,
1359 this is the equivalent of hooking up each output device to an input port of
1360 the TV. Any remaining output devices remain unconnected.
1362 The EDID that each output reads reports a unique CEC physical address that is
1363 based on the physical address of the EDID of the input. So if the EDID of the
1364 receiver has physical address A.B.0.0, then each output will see an EDID
1365 containing physical address A.B.C.0 where C is 1 to the number of inputs. If
1366 there are more outputs than inputs then the remaining outputs have a CEC adapter
1367 that is disabled and reports an invalid physical address.
1370 Some Future Improvements
1371 ------------------------
1373 Just as a reminder and in no particular order:
1375 - Add a virtual alsa driver to test audio
1376 - Add virtual sub-devices and media controller support
1377 - Some support for testing compressed video
1378 - Add support to loop raw VBI output to raw VBI input
1379 - Add support to loop teletext sliced VBI output to VBI input
1380 - Fix sequence/field numbering when looping of video with alternate fields
1381 - Add support for V4L2_CID_BG_COLOR for video outputs
1382 - Add ARGB888 overlay support: better testing of the alpha channel
1383 - Improve pixel aspect support in the tpg code by passing a real v4l2_fract
1384 - Use per-queue locks and/or per-device locks to improve throughput
1385 - Add support to loop from a specific output to a specific input across
1387 - The SDR radio should use the same 'frequencies' for stations as the normal
1388 radio receiver, and give back noise if the frequency doesn't match up with
1390 - Make a thread for the RDS generation, that would help in particular for the
1391 "Controls" RDS Rx I/O Mode as the read-only RDS controls could be updated
1393 - Changing the EDID should cause hotplug detect emulation to happen.