FreeBSD support for modern TV tuners?

Sat Jan 1 21:02:10 UTC 2011

Small update:

On Sun, Dec 26, 2010 at 01:42:25AM +0100, Juergen Lock wrote:
> Hi!
> 
> In article <4D161D9C.6030100 at gmail.com> you write:
> >Thanks for the response! :-)
> >
> >
> >See below:
> >
> >On 12/25/2010 10:39 AM, grarpamp wrote:
> >> Hope no one minds the slight change of subject line
> >> as it really comes down to drivers. Then you can plop
> >> MythTV, etc on top.
> >>
> >> If you know of more support / work on HD, please add it :)
> >>
> >> All the current Hauppauge US boards are here. No idea about
> >> PAL, other than some chips include that as a bonus.
> >> http://hauppauge.com/site/products/prods_hvr_internal.html
> >>
> >> No idea about other manufacturers.
> >>
> >> Here's the only FreeBSD CX88 drivers/projects I've found:
> >> http://corona.homeunix.net/cx88wiki
> >>
>  Yes that's in ports as:
> 
> 	http://www.freshports.org/multimedia/cx88
> 
> (and afaik at least the dvb-s(2) hw some of those cards have still
> isn't supported.)
> 
> >> I've not yet found anyone in FreeBSD land working on the
> >> HVR-2250 / SAA7164 / NXP NGene:
> >> http://www.tridentmicro.com/producttree/tv/pc-tv/saa/saa7164/
> >>
> >> There's this guy under Linux, don't know about FreeBSD for it:
> >> http://pchdtv.com/ HD-5500
> >>
> >> Here's some Linux drivers/projects to contact/port if need be:
> >> http://kernellabs.com/hg
> >> http://www.steventoth.net/blog/products/hvr-2250/
> >>
> >> Some related FreeBSD items:
> >> http://www.selasky.org/hans_petter/video4bsd/
> 
>  That's webcamd, see below.
> 
> >> http://video4bsd.sourceforge.net/ Fritz Katz, frtzkatz at yahoo
> >> http://wiki.freebsd.org/HDTV
> >> http://www.freebsd.org/releases/8.1R/hardware.html
> >>
> >> Lastly, would a HVR-2250 as bounty help?
> >>    
> >
> >If the card is supported under FreeBSD then I would be much inclined to 
> >go for it!
> >
> >
> >I mean does it have FM radio and DAB capabilities too??
> >
> >I checked the site for it:
> >
> >http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/data_hvr2250.html
> >
> >
> >It says it's got FM tuner but DAB?? Is that streamed over DVB-T?? As in 
> >for North America ATSC or UK would be FreeView?
> 
>  While you are looking for pci cards with native FreeBSD drivers
> don't forget to also look at webcamd,
> 
> 	http://www.freshports.org/multimedia/webcamd
> 
> which should let you use many of those usb dvb (and atsc?) tuners
> that are also supported on Linux since webcamd essentially runs
> Linux usb v4l/dvb drivers on FreeBSD in userland:
> 
> 	http://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/DVB-C_USB_Devices
> 	http://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/DVB-S_USB_Devices
> 	http://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/DVB-S2_USB_Devices
> 	http://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/DVB-T_USB_Devices
> 	http://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/ATSC_USB_Devices
> 
> (and there are also analog usb video devices that may work tho
> those are probably less interesting nowadays:
> 
> 	http://linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/Video_via_USB
> )
> 
>  Another advantage of webcamd is it provides essentially the same
> /dev/dvb/adapterX (resp. /dev/videoX for analog) interface as on
> Linux so software from Linux can be used with less porting effort,
> and indeed I have used at least the mplayer, kaffeine, and vlc ports
> with webcamd and usb dvb tuners (and w_scan and szap-s2), and of
> course :) also my vdr ports that I posted a Call for testing for
> not too long ago:
> 
> 	http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-multimedia/2010-November/011392.html
> 
> (and others have used mythtv too.)
> 
>  I'm in europe so I can't test atsc (and know little about it), but
> at least theoretically what is supported of that in e.g. vdr (or
> mythtv?) should work with webcamd too, here are two related threads
> I found on the vdr list:
> 
> 	http://linuxtv.org/pipermail/vdr/2010-October/023777.html
> 	http://linuxtv.org/pipermail/vdr/2010-October/023793.html
> 
>  Tuners I have personally tested:
> 
> - dvb-s2: PCTV 452e Sat HDTV Pro USB driven by:
> 
> 	/usr/ports/multimedia/webcamd/work/webcamd-0.1.18/v4l-dvb/linux/drivers/media/dvb/dvb-usb/pctv452e.c
> 
>   Seems to work alright for me now, including for (fta) dvb-s2 hdtv.
>   (The same driver appears to also support TechnoTrend TT-connect
>    S2-3600 and TechnoTrend TT-connect S2-3650 CI so those have good
>    chances of working with webcamd too; note this driver is imported
>    from the Linux s2-liplianin dvb tree because it's still(?) not
>    in mainline Linux v4l-dvb.)
> 
> - dvb-s2: TeVii S660 driven by:
> 
Btw, I was told TerraTec Cinergy S2 USB seems to be the same or
very similar hardware so probably will have similar issues.

> 	/usr/ports/multimedia/webcamd/work/webcamd-0.1.18/v4l-dvb/linux/drivers/media/dvb/dvb-usb/dw2102.c
> 
>   Seems to be very picky wrt on which usb controllers it actually
>   works, (like it made even Linux' `lspci'

 Correction: `lsusb'.

>   hang on an onboard ATI
>   SB700 until I unplugged it again, and you can find reports on the
>   web of other users having problems too) - and even after I found
>   a pci usb card that it works on with Linux it still wouldn't do
>   anything useful on FreeBSD with webcamd.
> 
> - dvb-t: MSI DIGIVOX Duo and LC-Power LC-USB-DVBT driven by:
> 
> 	/usr/ports/multimedia/webcamd/work/webcamd-0.1.18/v4l-dvb/linux/drivers/media/dvb/dvb-usb/af9015.c
> 
>   (btw variations of this chipset seem to be in a lot of at least
>   the cheaper dvb-t tuners currently being sold here.)
> 
>   The MSI DIGIVOX Duo needs a workaround (patch) I described in this
>   posting:
> 
> 	http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-multimedia/2010-December/011509.html
> 
>   and even with that applied only one of its two tuners can actually
>   be used or I get stream corruptions.  The LC-Power LC-USB-DVBT
>   is a single tuner device and works as is, but note there is/was
>   different older(?) hw sold under the same name that is not af9015(6)
>   but ec168 i.e. it would be driven by
> 
> 	/usr/ports/multimedia/webcamd/work/webcamd-0.1.18/v4l-dvb/linux/drivers/media/dvb/dvb-usb/ec168.c
> 
>   which _probably_ will also work but I haven't tested it.  (hdtv
>   also not tested as there is none broadcast via dvb-t here, but I
>   see no reason why that shouldn't work too where it's available.)
> 
>  And finally, some links are also here:
> 
> 	http://people.freebsd.org/~nox/dvb/
> 
>  HTH,
> 	Juergen