1 .. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
3 Idea behind the dvb-usb-framework
4 =================================
8 #) This documentation is outdated. Please check at the DVB wiki
9 at https://linuxtv.org/wiki for more updated info.
11 #) **deprecated:** Newer DVB USB drivers should use the dvb-usb-v2 framework.
13 In March 2005 I got the new Twinhan USB2.0 DVB-T device. They provided specs
16 Quite keen I wanted to put the driver (with some quirks of course) into dibusb.
17 After reading some specs and doing some USB snooping, it realized, that the
18 dibusb-driver would be a complete mess afterwards. So I decided to do it in a
19 different way: With the help of a dvb-usb-framework.
21 The framework provides generic functions (mostly kernel API calls), such as:
23 - Transport Stream URB handling in conjunction with dvb-demux-feed-control
24 (bulk and isoc are supported)
25 - registering the device for the DVB-API
26 - registering an I2C-adapter if applicable
27 - remote-control/input-device handling
28 - firmware requesting and loading (currently just for the Cypress USB
30 - other functions/methods which can be shared by several drivers (such as
31 functions for bulk-control-commands)
32 - TODO: a I2C-chunker. It creates device-specific chunks of register-accesses
33 depending on length of a register and the number of values that can be
34 multi-written and multi-read.
36 The source code of the particular DVB USB devices does just the communication
37 with the device via the bus. The connection between the DVB-API-functionality
38 is done via callbacks, assigned in a static device-description (struct
39 dvb_usb_device) each device-driver has to have.
41 For an example have a look in drivers/media/usb/dvb-usb/vp7045*.
43 Objective is to migrate all the usb-devices (dibusb, cinergyT2, maybe the
44 ttusb; flexcop-usb already benefits from the generic flexcop-device) to use
47 TODO: dynamic enabling and disabling of the pid-filter in regard to number of
53 See the LinuxTV DVB Wiki at https://linuxtv.org for a complete list of
54 cards/drivers/firmwares:
55 https://linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/DVB_USB
61 - added support for WideView WT-220U (Thanks to Steve Chang)
65 - added basic isochronous support to the dvb-usb-framework
66 - added support for Conexant Hybrid reference design and Nebula
71 - all dibusb devices ported to make use of the dvb-usb-framework
75 - re-enabled and improved remote control code.
79 - ported the Yakumo/Hama/Typhoon DVB-T USB2.0 device to dvb-usb.
83 - first commit of the dvb-usb-module based on the dibusb-source.
84 First device is a new driver for the
85 TwinhanDTV Alpha / MagicBox II USB2.0-only DVB-T device.
86 - (change from dvb-dibusb to dvb-usb)
90 - added support for the AVerMedia AverTV DVB-T USB2.0 device
91 (Thanks to Glen Harris and Jiun-Kuei Jung, AVerMedia)
95 - added support for the Typhoon/Yakumo/HAMA DVB-T mobile USB2.0
99 - added support for the KWorld/ADSTech Instant DVB-T USB2.0.
100 Thanks a lot to Joachim von Caron
103 - added support for the Hauppauge Win-TV Nova-T USB2
106 - distorted streaming is gone for USB1.1 devices
110 - moved the mirrored pid_filter_table back to dvb-dibusb
111 first almost working version for HanfTek UMT-010
112 found out, that Yakumo/HAMA/Typhoon are predecessors of the HanfTek UMT-010
116 - refactoring completed, now everything is very delightful
118 - tuner quirks for some weird devices (Artec T1 AN2235 device has sometimes a
119 Panasonic Tuner assembled). Tunerprobing implemented.
120 Thanks a lot to Gunnar Wittich.
124 - after several days of struggling around bug of no returning URBs fixed.
128 - refactored the dibusb-driver, split into separate files
129 - i2c-probing enabled
133 - possibility for demod i2c-address probing
134 - new usb IDs (Compro, Artec)
138 - merged changes from DiB3000MC_ver2.1
139 - revised the debugging
140 - possibility to deliver the complete TS for USB2.0
144 - first working version of the dib3000mc/p frontend driver.
148 - added additional remote control keys. Thanks to Uwe Hanke.
152 - added remote control support. Thanks to David Matthews.
156 - added support for a new devices (Grandtec/Avermedia/Artec)
157 - merged my changes (for dib3000mb/dibusb) to the FE_REFACTORING, because it became HEAD
158 - moved transfer control (pid filter, fifo control) from usb driver to frontend, it seems
159 better settled there (added xfer_ops-struct)
160 - created a common files for frontends (mc/p/mb)
164 - added support for a new device (Unknown, vendor ID is Hyper-Paltek)
168 - added support for a new device (Compro DVB-U2000), thanks
169 to Amaury Demol for reporting
170 - changed usb TS transfer method (several urbs, stopping transfer
171 before setting a new pid)
175 - added support for a new device (Artec T1 USB TVBOX), thanks
176 to Christian Motschke for reporting
180 - released the dibusb device and dib3000mb-frontend driver
181 (old news for vp7041.c)
185 - found out, by accident, that the device has a TUA6010XS for PLL
189 - figured out, that the driver should also work with the
190 CTS Portable (Chinese Television System)
194 - firmware-extraction-2.422-problem solved, driver is now working
195 properly with firmware extracted from 2.422
196 - #if for 2.6.4 (dvb), compile issue
197 - changed firmware handling, see vp7041.txt sec 1.1
201 - some tuner modifications, v0.1, cleanups, first public
205 - now using the dvb_dmx_swfilter_packets, everything runs fine now
209 - able to watch and switching channels (pre-alpha)
210 - no section filtering yet
214 - first TS received, but kernel oops :/
218 - firmware loader is working
222 - start writing the driver
230 Most of the USB drivers need to download a firmware to the device before start
233 Have a look at the Wikipage for the DVB-USB-drivers to find out, which firmware
234 you need for your device:
236 https://linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/DVB_USB
241 Since the driver is in the linux kernel, activating the driver in
242 your favorite config-environment should sufficient. I recommend
243 to compile the driver as module. Hotplug does the rest.
245 If you use dvb-kernel enter the build-2.6 directory run 'make' and 'insmod.sh
251 Hotplug is able to load the driver, when it is needed (because you plugged
254 If you want to enable debug output, you have to load the driver manually and
255 from within the dvb-kernel cvs repository.
257 first have a look, which debug level are available:
262 # modinfo dvb-usb-vp7045
268 modprobe dvb-usb debug=<level>
269 modprobe dvb-usb-vp7045 debug=<level>
274 When the driver is loaded successfully, the firmware file was in
275 the right place and the device is connected, the "Power"-LED should be
278 At this point you should be able to start a dvb-capable application. I'm use
279 (t|s)zap, mplayer and dvbscan to test the basics. VDR-xine provides the
280 long-term test scenario.
282 Known problems and bugs
283 -----------------------
285 - Don't remove the USB device while running an DVB application, your system
286 will go crazy or die most likely.
288 Adding support for devices
289 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
293 USB1.1 Bandwidth limitation
294 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
296 A lot of the currently supported devices are USB1.1 and thus they have a
297 maximum bandwidth of about 5-6 MBit/s when connected to a USB2.0 hub.
298 This is not enough for receiving the complete transport stream of a
299 DVB-T channel (which is about 16 MBit/s). Normally this is not a
300 problem, if you only want to watch TV (this does not apply for HDTV),
301 but watching a channel while recording another channel on the same
302 frequency simply does not work very well. This applies to all USB1.1
303 DVB-T devices, not just the dvb-usb-devices)
305 The bug, where the TS is distorted by a heavy usage of the device is gone
306 definitely. All dvb-usb-devices I was using (Twinhan, Kworld, DiBcom) are
307 working like charm now with VDR. Sometimes I even was able to record a channel
308 and watch another one.
313 Patches, comments and suggestions are very very welcome.
318 Amaury Demol (Amaury.Demol@parrot.com) and Francois Kanounnikoff from DiBcom for
319 providing specs, code and help, on which the dvb-dibusb, dib3000mb and
322 David Matthews for identifying a new device type (Artec T1 with AN2235)
323 and for extending dibusb with remote control event handling. Thank you.
325 Alex Woods for frequently answering question about usb and dvb
326 stuff, a big thank you.
328 Bernd Wagner for helping with huge bug reports and discussions.
330 Gunnar Wittich and Joachim von Caron for their trust for providing
331 root-shells on their machines to implement support for new devices.
333 Allan Third and Michael Hutchinson for their help to write the Nebula
336 Glen Harris for bringing up, that there is a new dibusb-device and Jiun-Kuei
337 Jung from AVerMedia who kindly provided a special firmware to get the device
338 up and running in Linux.
340 Jennifer Chen, Jeff and Jack from Twinhan for kindly supporting by
341 writing the vp7045-driver.
343 Steve Chang from WideView for providing information for new devices and
346 Michael Paxton for submitting remote control keymaps.
348 Some guys on the linux-dvb mailing list for encouraging me.
350 Peter Schildmann >peter.schildmann-nospam-at-web.de< for his
351 user-level firmware loader, which saves a lot of time
352 (when writing the vp7041 driver)
354 Ulf Hermenau for helping me out with traditional chinese.
356 André Smoktun and Christian Frömmel for supporting me with
357 hardware and listening to my problems very patiently.