0001 .. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
0002
0003 Idea behind the dvb-usb-framework
0004 =================================
0005
0006 .. note::
0007
0008 #) This documentation is outdated. Please check at the DVB wiki
0009 at https://linuxtv.org/wiki for more updated info.
0010
0011 #) **deprecated:** Newer DVB USB drivers should use the dvb-usb-v2 framework.
0012
0013 In March 2005 I got the new Twinhan USB2.0 DVB-T device. They provided specs
0014 and a firmware.
0015
0016 Quite keen I wanted to put the driver (with some quirks of course) into dibusb.
0017 After reading some specs and doing some USB snooping, it realized, that the
0018 dibusb-driver would be a complete mess afterwards. So I decided to do it in a
0019 different way: With the help of a dvb-usb-framework.
0020
0021 The framework provides generic functions (mostly kernel API calls), such as:
0022
0023 - Transport Stream URB handling in conjunction with dvb-demux-feed-control
0024 (bulk and isoc are supported)
0025 - registering the device for the DVB-API
0026 - registering an I2C-adapter if applicable
0027 - remote-control/input-device handling
0028 - firmware requesting and loading (currently just for the Cypress USB
0029 controllers)
0030 - other functions/methods which can be shared by several drivers (such as
0031 functions for bulk-control-commands)
0032 - TODO: a I2C-chunker. It creates device-specific chunks of register-accesses
0033 depending on length of a register and the number of values that can be
0034 multi-written and multi-read.
0035
0036 The source code of the particular DVB USB devices does just the communication
0037 with the device via the bus. The connection between the DVB-API-functionality
0038 is done via callbacks, assigned in a static device-description (struct
0039 dvb_usb_device) each device-driver has to have.
0040
0041 For an example have a look in drivers/media/usb/dvb-usb/vp7045*.
0042
0043 Objective is to migrate all the usb-devices (dibusb, cinergyT2, maybe the
0044 ttusb; flexcop-usb already benefits from the generic flexcop-device) to use
0045 the dvb-usb-lib.
0046
0047 TODO: dynamic enabling and disabling of the pid-filter in regard to number of
0048 feeds requested.
0049
0050 Supported devices
0051 -----------------
0052
0053 See the LinuxTV DVB Wiki at https://linuxtv.org for a complete list of
0054 cards/drivers/firmwares:
0055 https://linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/DVB_USB
0056
0057 0. History & News:
0058
0059 2005-06-30
0060
0061 - added support for WideView WT-220U (Thanks to Steve Chang)
0062
0063 2005-05-30
0064
0065 - added basic isochronous support to the dvb-usb-framework
0066 - added support for Conexant Hybrid reference design and Nebula
0067 DigiTV USB
0068
0069 2005-04-17
0070
0071 - all dibusb devices ported to make use of the dvb-usb-framework
0072
0073 2005-04-02
0074
0075 - re-enabled and improved remote control code.
0076
0077 2005-03-31
0078
0079 - ported the Yakumo/Hama/Typhoon DVB-T USB2.0 device to dvb-usb.
0080
0081 2005-03-30
0082
0083 - first commit of the dvb-usb-module based on the dibusb-source.
0084 First device is a new driver for the
0085 TwinhanDTV Alpha / MagicBox II USB2.0-only DVB-T device.
0086 - (change from dvb-dibusb to dvb-usb)
0087
0088 2005-03-28
0089
0090 - added support for the AVerMedia AverTV DVB-T USB2.0 device
0091 (Thanks to Glen Harris and Jiun-Kuei Jung, AVerMedia)
0092
0093 2005-03-14
0094
0095 - added support for the Typhoon/Yakumo/HAMA DVB-T mobile USB2.0
0096
0097 2005-02-11
0098
0099 - added support for the KWorld/ADSTech Instant DVB-T USB2.0.
0100 Thanks a lot to Joachim von Caron
0101
0102 2005-02-02
0103 - added support for the Hauppauge Win-TV Nova-T USB2
0104
0105 2005-01-31
0106 - distorted streaming is gone for USB1.1 devices
0107
0108 2005-01-13
0109
0110 - moved the mirrored pid_filter_table back to dvb-dibusb
0111 first almost working version for HanfTek UMT-010
0112 found out, that Yakumo/HAMA/Typhoon are predecessors of the HanfTek UMT-010
0113
0114 2005-01-10
0115
0116 - refactoring completed, now everything is very delightful
0117
0118 - tuner quirks for some weird devices (Artec T1 AN2235 device has sometimes a
0119 Panasonic Tuner assembled). Tunerprobing implemented.
0120 Thanks a lot to Gunnar Wittich.
0121
0122 2004-12-29
0123
0124 - after several days of struggling around bug of no returning URBs fixed.
0125
0126 2004-12-26
0127
0128 - refactored the dibusb-driver, split into separate files
0129 - i2c-probing enabled
0130
0131 2004-12-06
0132
0133 - possibility for demod i2c-address probing
0134 - new usb IDs (Compro, Artec)
0135
0136 2004-11-23
0137
0138 - merged changes from DiB3000MC_ver2.1
0139 - revised the debugging
0140 - possibility to deliver the complete TS for USB2.0
0141
0142 2004-11-21
0143
0144 - first working version of the dib3000mc/p frontend driver.
0145
0146 2004-11-12
0147
0148 - added additional remote control keys. Thanks to Uwe Hanke.
0149
0150 2004-11-07
0151
0152 - added remote control support. Thanks to David Matthews.
0153
0154 2004-11-05
0155
0156 - added support for a new devices (Grandtec/Avermedia/Artec)
0157 - merged my changes (for dib3000mb/dibusb) to the FE_REFACTORING, because it became HEAD
0158 - moved transfer control (pid filter, fifo control) from usb driver to frontend, it seems
0159 better settled there (added xfer_ops-struct)
0160 - created a common files for frontends (mc/p/mb)
0161
0162 2004-09-28
0163
0164 - added support for a new device (Unknown, vendor ID is Hyper-Paltek)
0165
0166 2004-09-20
0167
0168 - added support for a new device (Compro DVB-U2000), thanks
0169 to Amaury Demol for reporting
0170 - changed usb TS transfer method (several urbs, stopping transfer
0171 before setting a new pid)
0172
0173 2004-09-13
0174
0175 - added support for a new device (Artec T1 USB TVBOX), thanks
0176 to Christian Motschke for reporting
0177
0178 2004-09-05
0179
0180 - released the dibusb device and dib3000mb-frontend driver
0181 (old news for vp7041.c)
0182
0183 2004-07-15
0184
0185 - found out, by accident, that the device has a TUA6010XS for PLL
0186
0187 2004-07-12
0188
0189 - figured out, that the driver should also work with the
0190 CTS Portable (Chinese Television System)
0191
0192 2004-07-08
0193
0194 - firmware-extraction-2.422-problem solved, driver is now working
0195 properly with firmware extracted from 2.422
0196 - #if for 2.6.4 (dvb), compile issue
0197 - changed firmware handling, see vp7041.txt sec 1.1
0198
0199 2004-07-02
0200
0201 - some tuner modifications, v0.1, cleanups, first public
0202
0203 2004-06-28
0204
0205 - now using the dvb_dmx_swfilter_packets, everything runs fine now
0206
0207 2004-06-27
0208
0209 - able to watch and switching channels (pre-alpha)
0210 - no section filtering yet
0211
0212 2004-06-06
0213
0214 - first TS received, but kernel oops :/
0215
0216 2004-05-14
0217
0218 - firmware loader is working
0219
0220 2004-05-11
0221
0222 - start writing the driver
0223
0224 How to use?
0225 -----------
0226
0227 Firmware
0228 ~~~~~~~~
0229
0230 Most of the USB drivers need to download a firmware to the device before start
0231 working.
0232
0233 Have a look at the Wikipage for the DVB-USB-drivers to find out, which firmware
0234 you need for your device:
0235
0236 https://linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/DVB_USB
0237
0238 Compiling
0239 ~~~~~~~~~
0240
0241 Since the driver is in the linux kernel, activating the driver in
0242 your favorite config-environment should sufficient. I recommend
0243 to compile the driver as module. Hotplug does the rest.
0244
0245 If you use dvb-kernel enter the build-2.6 directory run 'make' and 'insmod.sh
0246 load' afterwards.
0247
0248 Loading the drivers
0249 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
0250
0251 Hotplug is able to load the driver, when it is needed (because you plugged
0252 in the device).
0253
0254 If you want to enable debug output, you have to load the driver manually and
0255 from within the dvb-kernel cvs repository.
0256
0257 first have a look, which debug level are available:
0258
0259 .. code-block:: none
0260
0261 # modinfo dvb-usb
0262 # modinfo dvb-usb-vp7045
0263
0264 etc.
0265
0266 .. code-block:: none
0267
0268 modprobe dvb-usb debug=<level>
0269 modprobe dvb-usb-vp7045 debug=<level>
0270 etc.
0271
0272 should do the trick.
0273
0274 When the driver is loaded successfully, the firmware file was in
0275 the right place and the device is connected, the "Power"-LED should be
0276 turned on.
0277
0278 At this point you should be able to start a dvb-capable application. I'm use
0279 (t|s)zap, mplayer and dvbscan to test the basics. VDR-xine provides the
0280 long-term test scenario.
0281
0282 Known problems and bugs
0283 -----------------------
0284
0285 - Don't remove the USB device while running an DVB application, your system
0286 will go crazy or die most likely.
0287
0288 Adding support for devices
0289 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
0290
0291 TODO
0292
0293 USB1.1 Bandwidth limitation
0294 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
0295
0296 A lot of the currently supported devices are USB1.1 and thus they have a
0297 maximum bandwidth of about 5-6 MBit/s when connected to a USB2.0 hub.
0298 This is not enough for receiving the complete transport stream of a
0299 DVB-T channel (which is about 16 MBit/s). Normally this is not a
0300 problem, if you only want to watch TV (this does not apply for HDTV),
0301 but watching a channel while recording another channel on the same
0302 frequency simply does not work very well. This applies to all USB1.1
0303 DVB-T devices, not just the dvb-usb-devices)
0304
0305 The bug, where the TS is distorted by a heavy usage of the device is gone
0306 definitely. All dvb-usb-devices I was using (Twinhan, Kworld, DiBcom) are
0307 working like charm now with VDR. Sometimes I even was able to record a channel
0308 and watch another one.
0309
0310 Comments
0311 ~~~~~~~~
0312
0313 Patches, comments and suggestions are very very welcome.
0314
0315 3. Acknowledgements
0316 -------------------
0317
0318 Amaury Demol (Amaury.Demol@parrot.com) and Francois Kanounnikoff from DiBcom for
0319 providing specs, code and help, on which the dvb-dibusb, dib3000mb and
0320 dib3000mc are based.
0321
0322 David Matthews for identifying a new device type (Artec T1 with AN2235)
0323 and for extending dibusb with remote control event handling. Thank you.
0324
0325 Alex Woods for frequently answering question about usb and dvb
0326 stuff, a big thank you.
0327
0328 Bernd Wagner for helping with huge bug reports and discussions.
0329
0330 Gunnar Wittich and Joachim von Caron for their trust for providing
0331 root-shells on their machines to implement support for new devices.
0332
0333 Allan Third and Michael Hutchinson for their help to write the Nebula
0334 digitv-driver.
0335
0336 Glen Harris for bringing up, that there is a new dibusb-device and Jiun-Kuei
0337 Jung from AVerMedia who kindly provided a special firmware to get the device
0338 up and running in Linux.
0339
0340 Jennifer Chen, Jeff and Jack from Twinhan for kindly supporting by
0341 writing the vp7045-driver.
0342
0343 Steve Chang from WideView for providing information for new devices and
0344 firmware files.
0345
0346 Michael Paxton for submitting remote control keymaps.
0347
0348 Some guys on the linux-dvb mailing list for encouraging me.
0349
0350 Peter Schildmann >peter.schildmann-nospam-at-web.de< for his
0351 user-level firmware loader, which saves a lot of time
0352 (when writing the vp7041 driver)
0353
0354 Ulf Hermenau for helping me out with traditional chinese.
0355
0356 André Smoktun and Christian Frömmel for supporting me with
0357 hardware and listening to my problems very patiently.
