1 Frequently Asked Questions:
2 ===========================
3 subject: unified zoran driver (zr360x7, zoran, buz, dc10(+), dc30(+), lml33)
4 website: http://mjpeg.sourceforge.net/driver-zoran/
6 1. What cards are supported
7 1.1 What the TV decoder can do an what not
8 1.2 What the TV encoder can do an what not
9 2. How do I get this damn thing to work
10 3. What mainboard should I use (or why doesn't my card work)
11 4. Programming interface
13 6. Concerning buffer sizes, quality, output size etc.
14 7. It hangs/crashes/fails/whatevers! Help!
15 8. Maintainers/Contacting
18 ===========================
20 1. What cards are supported
22 Iomega Buz, Linux Media Labs LML33/LML33R10, Pinnacle/Miro
23 DC10/DC10+/DC30/DC30+ and related boards (available under various names).
26 * Zoran zr36067 PCI controller
27 * Zoran zr36060 MJPEG codec
28 * Philips saa7111 TV decoder
29 * Philips saa7185 TV encoder
30 Drivers to use: videodev, i2c-core, i2c-algo-bit,
31 videocodec, saa7111, saa7185, zr36060, zr36067
32 Inputs/outputs: Composite and S-video
33 Norms: PAL, SECAM (720x576 @ 25 fps), NTSC (720x480 @ 29.97 fps)
36 AverMedia 6 Eyes AVS6EYES:
37 * Zoran zr36067 PCI controller
38 * Zoran zr36060 MJPEG codec
39 * Samsung ks0127 TV decoder
40 * Conexant bt866 TV encoder
41 Drivers to use: videodev, i2c-core, i2c-algo-bit,
42 videocodec, ks0127, bt866, zr36060, zr36067
43 Inputs/outputs: Six physical inputs. 1-6 are composite,
44 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 doubles as S-video,
45 1-3 triples as component.
47 Norms: PAL, SECAM (720x576 @ 25 fps), NTSC (720x480 @ 29.97 fps)
49 Not autodetected, card=8 is necessary.
51 Linux Media Labs LML33:
52 * Zoran zr36067 PCI controller
53 * Zoran zr36060 MJPEG codec
54 * Brooktree bt819 TV decoder
55 * Brooktree bt856 TV encoder
56 Drivers to use: videodev, i2c-core, i2c-algo-bit,
57 videocodec, bt819, bt856, zr36060, zr36067
58 Inputs/outputs: Composite and S-video
59 Norms: PAL (720x576 @ 25 fps), NTSC (720x480 @ 29.97 fps)
62 Linux Media Labs LML33R10:
63 * Zoran zr36067 PCI controller
64 * Zoran zr36060 MJPEG codec
65 * Philips saa7114 TV decoder
66 * Analog Devices adv7170 TV encoder
67 Drivers to use: videodev, i2c-core, i2c-algo-bit,
68 videocodec, saa7114, adv7170, zr36060, zr36067
69 Inputs/outputs: Composite and S-video
70 Norms: PAL (720x576 @ 25 fps), NTSC (720x480 @ 29.97 fps)
73 Pinnacle/Miro DC10(new):
74 * Zoran zr36057 PCI controller
75 * Zoran zr36060 MJPEG codec
76 * Philips saa7110a TV decoder
77 * Analog Devices adv7176 TV encoder
78 Drivers to use: videodev, i2c-core, i2c-algo-bit,
79 videocodec, saa7110, adv7175, zr36060, zr36067
80 Inputs/outputs: Composite, S-video and Internal
81 Norms: PAL, SECAM (768x576 @ 25 fps), NTSC (640x480 @ 29.97 fps)
85 * Zoran zr36067 PCI controller
86 * Zoran zr36060 MJPEG codec
87 * Philips saa7110a TV decoder
88 * Analog Devices adv7176 TV encoder
89 Drivers to use: videodev, i2c-core, i2c-algo-bit,
90 videocodec, sa7110, adv7175, zr36060, zr36067
91 Inputs/outputs: Composite, S-video and Internal
92 Norms: PAL, SECAM (768x576 @ 25 fps), NTSC (640x480 @ 29.97 fps)
95 Pinnacle/Miro DC10(old): *
96 * Zoran zr36057 PCI controller
97 * Zoran zr36050 MJPEG codec
98 * Zoran zr36016 Video Front End or Fuji md0211 Video Front End (clone?)
99 * Micronas vpx3220a TV decoder
100 * mse3000 TV encoder or Analog Devices adv7176 TV encoder *
101 Drivers to use: videodev, i2c-core, i2c-algo-bit,
102 videocodec, vpx3220, mse3000/adv7175, zr36050, zr36016, zr36067
103 Inputs/outputs: Composite, S-video and Internal
104 Norms: PAL, SECAM (768x576 @ 25 fps), NTSC (640x480 @ 29.97 fps)
107 Pinnacle/Miro DC30: *
108 * Zoran zr36057 PCI controller
109 * Zoran zr36050 MJPEG codec
110 * Zoran zr36016 Video Front End
111 * Micronas vpx3225d/vpx3220a/vpx3216b TV decoder
112 * Analog Devices adv7176 TV encoder
113 Drivers to use: videodev, i2c-core, i2c-algo-bit,
114 videocodec, vpx3220/vpx3224, adv7175, zr36050, zr36016, zr36067
115 Inputs/outputs: Composite, S-video and Internal
116 Norms: PAL, SECAM (768x576 @ 25 fps), NTSC (640x480 @ 29.97 fps)
119 Pinnacle/Miro DC30+: *
120 * Zoran zr36067 PCI controller
121 * Zoran zr36050 MJPEG codec
122 * Zoran zr36016 Video Front End
123 * Micronas vpx3225d/vpx3220a/vpx3216b TV decoder
124 * Analog Devices adv7176 TV encoder
125 Drivers to use: videodev, i2c-core, i2c-algo-bit,
126 videocodec, vpx3220/vpx3224, adv7175, zr36050, zr36015, zr36067
127 Inputs/outputs: Composite, S-video and Internal
128 Norms: PAL, SECAM (768x576 @ 25 fps), NTSC (640x480 @ 29.97 fps)
131 Note: No module for the mse3000 is available yet
132 Note: No module for the vpx3224 is available yet
134 ===========================
136 1.1 What the TV decoder can do an what not
138 The best know TV standards are NTSC/PAL/SECAM. but for decoding a frame that
139 information is not enough. There are several formats of the TV standards.
140 And not every TV decoder is able to handle every format. Also the every
141 combination is supported by the driver. There are currently 11 different
142 tv broadcast formats all aver the world.
144 The CCIR defines parameters needed for broadcasting the signal.
145 The CCIR has defined different standards: A,B,D,E,F,G,D,H,I,K,K1,L,M,N,...
146 The CCIR says not much about the colorsystem used !!!
147 And talking about a colorsystem says not to much about how it is broadcast.
149 The CCIR standards A,E,F are not used any more.
151 When you speak about NTSC, you usually mean the standard: CCIR - M using
152 the NTSC colorsystem which is used in the USA, Japan, Mexico, Canada
155 When you talk about PAL, you usually mean: CCIR - B/G using the PAL
156 colorsystem which is used in many Countries.
158 When you talk about SECAM, you mean: CCIR - L using the SECAM Colorsystem
159 which is used in France, and a few others.
161 There the other version of SECAM, CCIR - D/K is used in Bulgaria, China,
162 Slovakai, Hungary, Korea (Rep.), Poland, Rumania and a others.
164 The CCIR - H uses the PAL colorsystem (sometimes SECAM) and is used in
165 Egypt, Libya, Sri Lanka, Syrain Arab. Rep.
167 The CCIR - I uses the PAL colorsystem, and is used in Great Britain, Hong Kong,
168 Ireland, Nigeria, South Africa.
170 The CCIR - N uses the PAL colorsystem and PAL frame size but the NTSC framerate,
171 and is used in Argentinia, Uruguay, an a few others
173 We do not talk about how the audio is broadcast !
175 A rather good sites about the TV standards are:
176 http://www.sony.jp/support/
177 http://info.electronicwerkstatt.de/bereiche/fernsehtechnik/frequenzen_und_normen/Fernsehnormen/
178 and http://www.cabl.com/restaurant/channel.html
180 Other weird things around: NTSC 4.43 is a modificated NTSC, which is mainly
181 used in PAL VCR's that are able to play back NTSC. PAL 60 seems to be the same
182 as NTSC 4.43 . The Datasheets also talk about NTSC 44, It seems as if it would
183 be the same as NTSC 4.43.
184 NTSC Combs seems to be a decoder mode where the decoder uses a comb filter
185 to split coma and luma instead of a Delay line.
187 But I did not defiantly find out what NTSC Comb is.
189 Philips saa7111 TV decoder
190 was introduced in 1997, is used in the BUZ and
191 can handle: PAL B/G/H/I, PAL N, PAL M, NTSC M, NTSC N, NTSC 4.43 and SECAM
193 Philips saa7110a TV decoder
194 was introduced in 1995, is used in the Pinnacle/Miro DC10(new), DC10+ and
195 can handle: PAL B/G, NTSC M and SECAM
197 Philips saa7114 TV decoder
198 was introduced in 2000, is used in the LML33R10 and
199 can handle: PAL B/G/D/H/I/N, PAL N, PAL M, NTSC M, NTSC 4.43 and SECAM
201 Brooktree bt819 TV decoder
202 was introduced in 1996, and is used in the LML33 and
203 can handle: PAL B/D/G/H/I, NTSC M
205 Micronas vpx3220a TV decoder
206 was introduced in 1996, is used in the DC30 and DC30+ and
207 can handle: PAL B/G/H/I, PAL N, PAL M, NTSC M, NTSC 44, PAL 60, SECAM,NTSC Comb
209 Samsung ks0127 TV decoder
210 is used in the AVS6EYES card and
211 can handle: NTSC-M/N/44, PAL-M/N/B/G/H/I/D/K/L and SECAM
213 ===========================
215 1.2 What the TV encoder can do an what not
217 The TV encoder are doing the "same" as the decoder, but in the oder direction.
218 You feed them digital data and the generate a Composite or SVHS signal.
219 For information about the colorsystems and TV norm take a look in the
222 Philips saa7185 TV Encoder
223 was introduced in 1996, is used in the BUZ
224 can generate: PAL B/G, NTSC M
226 Brooktree bt856 TV Encoder
227 was introduced in 1994, is used in the LML33
228 can generate: PAL B/D/G/H/I/N, PAL M, NTSC M, PAL-N (Argentina)
230 Analog Devices adv7170 TV Encoder
231 was introduced in 2000, is used in the LML300R10
232 can generate: PAL B/D/G/H/I/N, PAL M, NTSC M, PAL 60
234 Analog Devices adv7175 TV Encoder
235 was introduced in 1996, is used in the DC10, DC10+, DC10 old, DC30, DC30+
236 can generate: PAL B/D/G/H/I/N, PAL M, NTSC M
238 ITT mse3000 TV encoder
239 was introduced in 1991, is used in the DC10 old
240 can generate: PAL , NTSC , SECAM
242 Conexant bt866 TV encoder
243 is used in AVS6EYES, and
244 can generate: NTSC/PAL, PALM, PALN
246 The adv717x, should be able to produce PAL N. But you find nothing PAL N
247 specific in the registers. Seem that you have to reuse a other standard
248 to generate PAL N, maybe it would work if you use the PAL M settings.
250 ==========================
252 2. How do I get this damn thing to work
254 Load zr36067.o. If it can't autodetect your card, use the card=X insmod
255 option with X being the card number as given in the previous section.
256 To have more than one card, use card=X1[,X2[,X3,[X4[..]]]]
258 To automate this, add the following to your /etc/modprobe.d/zoran.conf:
260 options zr36067 card=X1[,X2[,X3[,X4[..]]]]
261 alias char-major-81-0 zr36067
263 One thing to keep in mind is that this doesn't load zr36067.o itself yet. It
264 just automates loading. If you start using xawtv, the device won't load on
265 some systems, since you're trying to load modules as a user, which is not
266 allowed ("permission denied"). A quick workaround is to add 'Load "v4l"' to
267 XF86Config-4 when you use X by default, or to run 'v4l-conf -c <device>' in
268 one of your startup scripts (normally rc.local) if you don't use X. Both
269 make sure that the modules are loaded on startup, under the root account.
271 ===========================
273 3. What mainboard should I use (or why doesn't my card work)
275 <insert lousy disclaimer here>. In short: good=SiS/Intel, bad=VIA.
277 Experience tells us that people with a Buz, on average, have more problems
278 than users with a DC10+/LML33. Also, it tells us that people owning a VIA-
279 based mainboard (ktXXX, MVP3) have more problems than users with a mainboard
280 based on a different chipset. Here's some notes from Andrew Stevens:
282 Here's my experience of using LML33 and Buz on various motherboards:
285 Forget it. Pointless. Doesn't work.
286 Intel 430FX (Pentium 200)
287 LML33 perfect, Buz tolerable (3 or 4 frames dropped per movie)
288 Intel 440BX (early stepping)
289 LML33 tolerable. Buz starting to get annoying (6-10 frames/hour)
290 Intel 440BX (late stepping)
291 Buz tolerable, LML3 almost perfect (occasional single frame drops)
293 LML33 perfect, Buz tolerable.
295 LML33 starting to get annoying, Buz poor enough that I have up.
297 Both 440BX boards were dual CPU versions.
299 Bernhard Praschinger later added:
302 Buz perfect-tolerable
304 Buz perfect-tolerable
306 In general, people on the user mailinglist won't give you much of a chance
307 if you have a VIA-based motherboard. They may be cheap, but sometimes, you'd
308 rather want to spend some more money on better boards. In general, VIA
309 mainboard's IDE/PCI performance will also suck badly compared to others.
310 You'll noticed the DC10+/DC30+ aren't mentioned anywhere in the overview.
311 Basically, you can assume that if the Buz works, the LML33 will work too. If
312 the LML33 works, the DC10+/DC30+ will work too. They're most tolerant to
313 different mainboard chipsets from all of the supported cards.
315 If you experience timeouts during capture, buy a better mainboard or lower
316 the quality/buffersize during capture (see 'Concerning buffer sizes, quality,
317 output size etc.'). If it hangs, there's little we can do as of now. Check
318 your IRQs and make sure the card has its own interrupts.
320 ===========================
322 4. Programming interface
324 This driver conforms to video4linux2. Support for V4L1 and for the custom
325 zoran ioctls has been removed in kernel 2.6.38.
327 For programming example, please, look at lavrec.c and lavplay.c code in
328 the MJPEG-tools (http://mjpeg.sf.net/).
330 Additional notes for software developers:
332 The driver returns maxwidth and maxheight parameters according to
333 the current TV standard (norm). Therefore, the software which
334 communicates with the driver and "asks" for these parameters should
335 first set the correct norm. Well, it seems logically correct: TV
336 standard is "more constant" for current country than geometry
337 settings of a variety of TV capture cards which may work in ITU or
340 ===========================
344 Applications known to work with this driver:
349 * probably any TV application that supports video4linux or video4linux2.
351 MJPEG capture/playback:
352 * mjpegtools/lavtools (or Linux Video Studio)
359 * probably any application that supports video4linux or video4linux2
364 * mjpegtools (or Linux Video Studio)
366 ===========================
368 6. Concerning buffer sizes, quality, output size etc.
370 The zr36060 can do 1:2 JPEG compression. This is really the theoretical
371 maximum that the chipset can reach. The driver can, however, limit compression
372 to a maximum (size) of 1:4. The reason for this is that some cards (e.g. Buz)
373 can't handle 1:2 compression without stopping capture after only a few minutes.
374 With 1:4, it'll mostly work. If you have a Buz, use 'low_bitrate=1' to go into
375 1:4 max. compression mode.
377 100% JPEG quality is thus 1:2 compression in practice. So for a full PAL frame
378 (size 720x576). The JPEG fields are stored in YUY2 format, so the size of the
379 fields are 720x288x16/2 bits/field (2 fields/frame) = 207360 bytes/field x 2 =
380 414720 bytes/frame (add some more bytes for headers and DHT (huffman)/DQT
381 (quantization) tables, and you'll get to something like 512kB per frame for
382 1:2 compression. For 1:4 compression, you'd have frames of half this size.
384 Some additional explanation by Martin Samuelsson, which also explains the
385 importance of buffer sizes:
387 > Hmm, I do not think it is really that way. With the current (downloaded
388 > at 18:00 Monday) driver I get that output sizes for 10 sec:
389 > -q 50 -b 128 : 24.283.332 Bytes
390 > -q 50 -b 256 : 48.442.368
391 > -q 25 -b 128 : 24.655.992
392 > -q 25 -b 256 : 25.859.820
394 I woke up, and can't go to sleep again. I'll kill some time explaining why
395 this doesn't look strange to me.
397 Let's do some math using a width of 704 pixels. I'm not sure whether the Buz
398 actually use that number or not, but that's not too important right now.
400 704x288 pixels, one field, is 202752 pixels. Divided by 64 pixels per block;
401 3168 blocks per field. Each pixel consist of two bytes; 128 bytes per block;
402 1024 bits per block. 100% in the new driver mean 1:2 compression; the maximum
403 output becomes 512 bits per block. Actually 510, but 512 is simpler to use
406 Let's say that we specify d1q50. We thus want 256 bits per block; times 3168
407 becomes 811008 bits; 101376 bytes per field. We're talking raw bits and bytes
408 here, so we don't need to do any fancy corrections for bits-per-pixel or such
409 things. 101376 bytes per field.
411 d1 video contains two fields per frame. Those sum up to 202752 bytes per
412 frame, and one of those frames goes into each buffer.
414 But wait a second! -b128 gives 128kB buffers! It's not possible to cram
415 202752 bytes of JPEG data into 128kB!
417 This is what the driver notice and automatically compensate for in your
418 examples. Let's do some math using this information:
420 128kB is 131072 bytes. In this buffer, we want to store two fields, which
421 leaves 65536 bytes for each field. Using 3168 blocks per field, we get
422 20.68686868... available bytes per block; 165 bits. We can't allow the
423 request for 256 bits per block when there's only 165 bits available! The -q50
424 option is silently overridden, and the -b128 option takes precedence, leaving
425 us with the equivalence of -q32.
427 This gives us a data rate of 165 bits per block, which, times 3168, sums up
428 to 65340 bytes per field, out of the allowed 65536. The current driver has
429 another level of rate limiting; it won't accept -q values that fill more than
430 6/8 of the specified buffers. (I'm not sure why. "Playing it safe" seem to be
431 a safe bet. Personally, I think I would have lowered requested-bits-per-block
432 by one, or something like that.) We can't use 165 bits per block, but have to
433 lower it again, to 6/8 of the available buffer space: We end up with 124 bits
434 per block, the equivalence of -q24. With 128kB buffers, you can't use greater
435 than -q24 at -d1. (And PAL, and 704 pixels width...)
437 The third example is limited to -q24 through the same process. The second
438 example, using very similar calculations, is limited to -q48. The only
439 example that actually grab at the specified -q value is the last one, which
440 is clearly visible, looking at the file size.
443 Conclusion: the quality of the resulting movie depends on buffer size, quality,
444 whether or not you use 'low_bitrate=1' as insmod option for the zr36060.c
445 module to do 1:4 instead of 1:2 compression, etc.
447 If you experience timeouts, lowering the quality/buffersize or using
448 'low_bitrate=1 as insmod option for zr36060.o might actually help, as is
451 ===========================
453 7. It hangs/crashes/fails/whatevers! Help!
455 Make sure that the card has its own interrupts (see /proc/interrupts), check
456 the output of dmesg at high verbosity (load zr36067.o with debug=2,
457 load all other modules with debug=1). Check that your mainboard is favorable
458 (see question 2) and if not, test the card in another computer. Also see the
459 notes given in question 3 and try lowering quality/buffersize/capturesize
460 if recording fails after a period of time.
462 If all this doesn't help, give a clear description of the problem including
463 detailed hardware information (memory+brand, mainboard+chipset+brand, which
464 MJPEG card, processor, other PCI cards that might be of interest), give the
465 system PnP information (/proc/interrupts, /proc/dma, /proc/devices), and give
466 the kernel version, driver version, glibc version, gcc version and any other
467 information that might possibly be of interest. Also provide the dmesg output
468 at high verbosity. See 'Contacting' on how to contact the developers.
470 ===========================
472 8. Maintainers/Contacting
474 The driver is currently maintained by Laurent Pinchart and Ronald Bultje
475 (<laurent.pinchart@skynet.be> and <rbultje@ronald.bitfreak.net>). For bug
476 reports or questions, please contact the mailinglist instead of the developers
477 individually. For user questions (i.e. bug reports or how-to questions), send
478 an email to <mjpeg-users@lists.sf.net>, for developers (i.e. if you want to
479 help programming), send an email to <mjpeg-developer@lists.sf.net>. See
480 http://www.sf.net/projects/mjpeg/ for subscription information.
482 For bug reports, be sure to include all the information as described in
483 the section 'It hangs/crashes/fails/whatevers! Help!'. Please make sure
484 you're using the latest version (http://mjpeg.sf.net/driver-zoran/).
486 Previous maintainers/developers of this driver include Serguei Miridonov
487 <mirsev@cicese.mx>, Wolfgang Scherr <scherr@net4you.net>, Dave Perks
488 <dperks@ibm.net> and Rainer Johanni <Rainer@Johanni.de>.
490 ===========================
494 This driver is distributed under the terms of the General Public License.
496 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
497 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
498 the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
499 (at your option) any later version.
501 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
502 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
503 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
504 GNU General Public License for more details.
506 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
507 along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
508 Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
510 See http://www.gnu.org/ for more information.