-<HTML><HEAD>
-<TITLE>Video4Linux Kernel API Reference v0.1:19990430</TITLE>
-</HEAD>
-<! Revision History: >
-<! 4/30/1999 - Fred Gleason (fredg@wava.com)>
-<! Documented extensions for the Radio Data System (RDS) extensions >
-<BODY bgcolor="#ffffff">
-<H3>Devices</H3>
-Video4Linux provides the following sets of device files. These live on the
-character device formerly known as "/dev/bttv". /dev/bttv should be a
-symlink to /dev/video0 for most people.
-<P>
-<TABLE>
-<TR><TH>Device Name</TH><TH>Minor Range</TH><TH>Function</TH>
-<TR><TD>/dev/video</TD><TD>0-63</TD><TD>Video Capture Interface</TD>
-<TR><TD>/dev/radio</TD><TD>64-127</TD><TD>AM/FM Radio Devices</TD>
-<TR><TD>/dev/vtx</TD><TD>192-223</TD><TD>Teletext Interface Chips</TD>
-<TR><TD>/dev/vbi</TD><TD>224-239</TD><TD>Raw VBI Data (Intercast/teletext)</TD>
-</TABLE>
-<P>
-Video4Linux programs open and scan the devices to find what they are looking
-for. Capability queries define what each interface supports. The
-described API is only defined for video capture cards. The relevant subset
-applies to radio cards. Teletext interfaces talk the existing VTX API.
-<P>
-<H3>Capability Query Ioctl</H3>
-The <B>VIDIOCGCAP</B> ioctl call is used to obtain the capability
-information for a video device. The <b>struct video_capability</b> object
-passed to the ioctl is completed and returned. It contains the following
-information
-<P>
-<TABLE>
-<TR><TD><b>name[32]</b><TD>Canonical name for this interface</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>type</b><TD>Type of interface</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>channels</b><TD>Number of radio/tv channels if appropriate</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>audios</b><TD>Number of audio devices if appropriate</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>maxwidth</b><TD>Maximum capture width in pixels</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>maxheight</b><TD>Maximum capture height in pixels</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>minwidth</b><TD>Minimum capture width in pixels</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>minheight</b><TD>Minimum capture height in pixels</TD>
-</TABLE>
-<P>
-The type field lists the capability flags for the device. These are
-as follows
-<P>
-<TABLE>
-<TR><TH>Name</TH><TH>Description</TH>
-<TR><TD><b>VID_TYPE_CAPTURE</b><TD>Can capture to memory</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>VID_TYPE_TUNER</b><TD>Has a tuner of some form</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>VID_TYPE_TELETEXT</b><TD>Has teletext capability</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>VID_TYPE_OVERLAY</b><TD>Can overlay its image onto the frame buffer</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>VID_TYPE_CHROMAKEY</b><TD>Overlay is Chromakeyed</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>VID_TYPE_CLIPPING</b><TD>Overlay clipping is supported</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>VID_TYPE_FRAMERAM</b><TD>Overlay overwrites frame buffer memory</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>VID_TYPE_SCALES</b><TD>The hardware supports image scaling</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>VID_TYPE_MONOCHROME</b><TD>Image capture is grey scale only</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>VID_TYPE_SUBCAPTURE</b><TD>Capture can be of only part of the image</TD>
-</TABLE>
-<P>
-The minimum and maximum sizes listed for a capture device do not imply all
-that all height/width ratios or sizes within the range are possible. A
-request to set a size will be honoured by the largest available capture
-size whose capture is no large than the requested rectangle in either
-direction. For example the quickcam has 3 fixed settings.
-<P>
-<H3>Frame Buffer</H3>
-Capture cards that drop data directly onto the frame buffer must be told the
-base address of the frame buffer, its size and organisation. This is a
-privileged ioctl and one that eventually X itself should set.
-<P>
-The <b>VIDIOCSFBUF</b> ioctl sets the frame buffer parameters for a capture
-card. If the card does not do direct writes to the frame buffer then this
-ioctl will be unsupported. The <b>VIDIOCGFBUF</b> ioctl returns the
-currently used parameters. The structure used in both cases is a
-<b>struct video_buffer</b>.
-<P>
-<TABLE>
-<TR><TD><b>void *base</b></TD><TD>Base physical address of the buffer</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>int height</b></TD><TD>Height of the frame buffer</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>int width</b></TD><TD>Width of the frame buffer</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>int depth</b></TD><TD>Depth of the frame buffer</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>int bytesperline</b></TD><TD>Number of bytes of memory between the start of two adjacent lines</TD>
-</TABLE>
-<P>
-Note that these values reflect the physical layout of the frame buffer.
-The visible area may be smaller. In fact under XFree86 this is commonly the
-case. XFree86 DGA can provide the parameters required to set up this ioctl.
-Setting the base address to NULL indicates there is no physical frame buffer
-access.
-<P>
-<H3>Capture Windows</H3>
-The capture area is described by a <b>struct video_window</b>. This defines
-a capture area and the clipping information if relevant. The
-<b>VIDIOCGWIN</b> ioctl recovers the current settings and the
-<b>VIDIOCSWIN</b> sets new values. A successful call to <b>VIDIOCSWIN</b>
-indicates that a suitable set of parameters have been chosen. They do not
-indicate that exactly what was requested was granted. The program should
-call <b>VIDIOCGWIN</b> to check if the nearest match was suitable. The
-<b>struct video_window</b> contains the following fields.
-<P>
-<TABLE>
-<TR><TD><b>x</b><TD>The X co-ordinate specified in X windows format.</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>y</b><TD>The Y co-ordinate specified in X windows format.</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>width</b><TD>The width of the image capture.</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>height</b><TD>The height of the image capture.</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>chromakey</b><TD>A host order RGB32 value for the chroma key.</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>flags</b><TD>Additional capture flags.</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>clips</b><TD>A list of clipping rectangles. <em>(Set only)</em></TD>
-<TR><TD><b>clipcount</b><TD>The number of clipping rectangles. <em>(Set only)</em></TD>
-</TABLE>
-<P>
-Clipping rectangles are passed as an array. Each clip consists of the following
-fields available to the user.
-<P>
-<TABLE>
-<TR><TD><b>x</b></TD><TD>X co-ordinate of rectangle to skip</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>y</b></TD><TD>Y co-ordinate of rectangle to skip</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>width</b></TD><TD>Width of rectangle to skip</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>height</b></TD><TD>Height of rectangle to skip</TD>
-</TABLE>
-<P>
-Merely setting the window does not enable capturing. Overlay capturing
-(i.e. PCI-PCI transfer to the frame buffer of the video card)
-is activated by passing the <b>VIDIOCCAPTURE</b> ioctl a value of 1, and
-disabled by passing it a value of 0.
-<P>
-Some capture devices can capture a subfield of the image they actually see.
-This is indicated when VIDEO_TYPE_SUBCAPTURE is defined.
-The video_capture describes the time and special subfields to capture.
-The video_capture structure contains the following fields.
-<P>
-<TABLE>
-<TR><TD><b>x</b></TD><TD>X co-ordinate of source rectangle to grab</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>y</b></TD><TD>Y co-ordinate of source rectangle to grab</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>width</b></TD><TD>Width of source rectangle to grab</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>height</b></TD><TD>Height of source rectangle to grab</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>decimation</b></TD><TD>Decimation to apply</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>flags</b></TD><TD>Flag settings for grabbing</TD>
-</TABLE>
-The available flags are
-<P>
-<TABLE>
-<TR><TH>Name</TH><TH>Description</TH>
-<TR><TD><b>VIDEO_CAPTURE_ODD</b><TD>Capture only odd frames</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>VIDEO_CAPTURE_EVEN</b><TD>Capture only even frames</TD>
-</TABLE>
-<P>
-<H3>Video Sources</H3>
-Each video4linux video or audio device captures from one or more
-source <b>channels</b>. Each channel can be queries with the
-<b>VDIOCGCHAN</b> ioctl call. Before invoking this function the caller
-must set the channel field to the channel that is being queried. On return
-the <b>struct video_channel</b> is filled in with information about the
-nature of the channel itself.
-<P>
-The <b>VIDIOCSCHAN</b> ioctl takes an integer argument and switches the
-capture to this input. It is not defined whether parameters such as colour
-settings or tuning are maintained across a channel switch. The caller should
-maintain settings as desired for each channel. (This is reasonable as
-different video inputs may have different properties).
-<P>
-The <b>struct video_channel</b> consists of the following
-<P>
-<TABLE>
-<TR><TD><b>channel</b></TD><TD>The channel number</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>name</b></TD><TD>The input name - preferably reflecting the label
-on the card input itself</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>tuners</b></TD><TD>Number of tuners for this input</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>flags</b></TD><TD>Properties the tuner has</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>type</b></TD><TD>Input type (if known)</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>norm</b><TD>The norm for this channel</TD>
-</TABLE>
-<P>
-The flags defined are
-<P>
-<TABLE>
-<TR><TD><b>VIDEO_VC_TUNER</b><TD>Channel has tuners.</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>VIDEO_VC_AUDIO</b><TD>Channel has audio.</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>VIDEO_VC_NORM</b><TD>Channel has norm setting.</TD>
-</TABLE>
-<P>
-The types defined are
-<P>
-<TABLE>
-<TR><TD><b>VIDEO_TYPE_TV</b><TD>The input is a TV input.</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>VIDEO_TYPE_CAMERA</b><TD>The input is a camera.</TD>
-</TABLE>
-<P>
-<H3>Image Properties</H3>
-The image properties of the picture can be queried with the <b>VIDIOCGPICT</b>
-ioctl which fills in a <b>struct video_picture</b>. The <b>VIDIOCSPICT</b>
-ioctl allows values to be changed. All values except for the palette type
-are scaled between 0-65535.
-<P>
-The <b>struct video_picture</b> consists of the following fields
-<P>
-<TABLE>
-<TR><TD><b>brightness</b><TD>Picture brightness</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>hue</b><TD>Picture hue (colour only)</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>colour</b><TD>Picture colour (colour only)</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>contrast</b><TD>Picture contrast</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>whiteness</b><TD>The whiteness (greyscale only)</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>depth</b><TD>The capture depth (may need to match the frame buffer depth)</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>palette</b><TD>Reports the palette that should be used for this image</TD>
-</TABLE>
-<P>
-The following palettes are defined
-<P>
-<TABLE>
-<TR><TD><b>VIDEO_PALETTE_GREY</b><TD>Linear intensity grey scale (255 is brightest).</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>VIDEO_PALETTE_HI240</b><TD>The BT848 8bit colour cube.</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>VIDEO_PALETTE_RGB565</b><TD>RGB565 packed into 16 bit words.</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>VIDEO_PALETTE_RGB555</b><TD>RGV555 packed into 16 bit words, top bit undefined.</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>VIDEO_PALETTE_RGB24</b><TD>RGB888 packed into 24bit words.</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>VIDEO_PALETTE_RGB32</b><TD>RGB888 packed into the low 3 bytes of 32bit words. The top 8bits are undefined.</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>VIDEO_PALETTE_YUV422</b><TD>Video style YUV422 - 8bits packed 4bits Y 2bits U 2bits V</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>VIDEO_PALETTE_YUYV</b><TD>Describe me</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>VIDEO_PALETTE_UYVY</b><TD>Describe me</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>VIDEO_PALETTE_YUV420</b><TD>YUV420 capture</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>VIDEO_PALETTE_YUV411</b><TD>YUV411 capture</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>VIDEO_PALETTE_RAW</b><TD>RAW capture (BT848)</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>VIDEO_PALETTE_YUV422P</b><TD>YUV 4:2:2 Planar</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>VIDEO_PALETTE_YUV411P</b><TD>YUV 4:1:1 Planar</TD>
-</TABLE>
-<P>
-<H3>Tuning</H3>
-Each video input channel can have one or more tuners associated with it. Many
-devices will not have tuners. TV cards and radio cards will have one or more
-tuners attached.
-<P>
-Tuners are described by a <b>struct video_tuner</b> which can be obtained by
-the <b>VIDIOCGTUNER</b> ioctl. Fill in the tuner number in the structure
-then pass the structure to the ioctl to have the data filled in. The
-tuner can be switched using <b>VIDIOCSTUNER</b> which takes an integer argument
-giving the tuner to use. A struct tuner has the following fields
-<P>
-<TABLE>
-<TR><TD><b>tuner</b><TD>Number of the tuner</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>name</b><TD>Canonical name for this tuner (eg FM/AM/TV)</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>rangelow</b><TD>Lowest tunable frequency</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>rangehigh</b><TD>Highest tunable frequency</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>flags</b><TD>Flags describing the tuner</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>mode</b><TD>The video signal mode if relevant</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>signal</b><TD>Signal strength if known - between 0-65535</TD>
-</TABLE>
-<P>
-The following flags exist
-<P>
-<TABLE>
-<TR><TD><b>VIDEO_TUNER_PAL</b><TD>PAL tuning is supported</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>VIDEO_TUNER_NTSC</b><TD>NTSC tuning is supported</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>VIDEO_TUNER_SECAM</b><TD>SECAM tuning is supported</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>VIDEO_TUNER_LOW</b><TD>Frequency is in a lower range</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>VIDEO_TUNER_NORM</b><TD>The norm for this tuner is settable</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>VIDEO_TUNER_STEREO_ON</b><TD>The tuner is seeing stereo audio</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>VIDEO_TUNER_RDS_ON</b><TD>The tuner is seeing a RDS datastream</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>VIDEO_TUNER_MBS_ON</b><TD>The tuner is seeing a MBS datastream</TD>
-</TABLE>
-<P>
-The following modes are defined
-<P>
-<TABLE>
-<TR><TD><b>VIDEO_MODE_PAL</b><TD>The tuner is in PAL mode</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>VIDEO_MODE_NTSC</b><TD>The tuner is in NTSC mode</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>VIDEO_MODE_SECAM</b><TD>The tuner is in SECAM mode</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>VIDEO_MODE_AUTO</b><TD>The tuner auto switches, or mode does not apply</TD>
-</TABLE>
-<P>
-Tuning frequencies are an unsigned 32bit value in 1/16th MHz or if the
-<b>VIDEO_TUNER_LOW</b> flag is set they are in 1/16th KHz. The current
-frequency is obtained as an unsigned long via the <b>VIDIOCGFREQ</b> ioctl and
-set by the <b>VIDIOCSFREQ</b> ioctl.
-<P>
-<H3>Audio</H3>
-TV and Radio devices have one or more audio inputs that may be selected.
-The audio properties are queried by passing a <b>struct video_audio</b> to <b>VIDIOCGAUDIO</b> ioctl. The
-<b>VIDIOCSAUDIO</b> ioctl sets audio properties.
-<P>
-The structure contains the following fields
-<P>
-<TABLE>
-<TR><TD><b>audio</b><TD>The channel number</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>volume</b><TD>The volume level</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>bass</b><TD>The bass level</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>treble</b><TD>The treble level</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>flags</b><TD>Flags describing the audio channel</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>name</b><TD>Canonical name for the audio input</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>mode</b><TD>The mode the audio input is in</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>balance</b><TD>The left/right balance</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>step</b><TD>Actual step used by the hardware</TD>
-</TABLE>
-<P>
-The following flags are defined
-<P>
-<TABLE>
-<TR><TD><b>VIDEO_AUDIO_MUTE</b><TD>The audio is muted</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>VIDEO_AUDIO_MUTABLE</b><TD>Audio muting is supported</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>VIDEO_AUDIO_VOLUME</b><TD>The volume is controllable</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>VIDEO_AUDIO_BASS</b><TD>The bass is controllable</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>VIDEO_AUDIO_TREBLE</b><TD>The treble is controllable</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>VIDEO_AUDIO_BALANCE</b><TD>The balance is controllable</TD>
-</TABLE>
-<P>
-The following decoding modes are defined
-<P>
-<TABLE>
-<TR><TD><b>VIDEO_SOUND_MONO</b><TD>Mono signal</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>VIDEO_SOUND_STEREO</b><TD>Stereo signal (NICAM for TV)</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>VIDEO_SOUND_LANG1</b><TD>European TV alternate language 1</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>VIDEO_SOUND_LANG2</b><TD>European TV alternate language 2</TD>
-</TABLE>
-<P>
-<H3>Reading Images</H3>
-Each call to the <b>read</b> syscall returns the next available image
-from the device. It is up to the caller to set format and size (using
-the VIDIOCSPICT and VIDIOCSWIN ioctls) and then to pass a suitable
-size buffer and length to the function. Not all devices will support
-read operations.
-<P>
-A second way to handle image capture is via the mmap interface if supported.
-To use the mmap interface a user first sets the desired image size and depth
-properties. Next the VIDIOCGMBUF ioctl is issued. This reports the size
-of buffer to mmap and the offset within the buffer for each frame. The
-number of frames supported is device dependent and may only be one.
-<P>
-The video_mbuf structure contains the following fields
-<P>
-<TABLE>
-<TR><TD><b>size</b><TD>The number of bytes to map</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>frames</b><TD>The number of frames</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>offsets</b><TD>The offset of each frame</TD>
-</TABLE>
-<P>
-Once the mmap has been made the VIDIOCMCAPTURE ioctl starts the
-capture to a frame using the format and image size specified in the
-video_mmap (which should match or be below the initial query size).
-When the VIDIOCMCAPTURE ioctl returns the frame is <em>not</em>
-captured yet, the driver just instructed the hardware to start the
-capture. The application has to use the VIDIOCSYNC ioctl to wait
-until the capture of a frame is finished. VIDIOCSYNC takes the frame
-number you want to wait for as argument.
-<p>
-It is allowed to call VIDIOCMCAPTURE multiple times (with different
-frame numbers in video_mmap->frame of course) and thus have multiple
-outstanding capture requests. A simple way do to double-buffering
-using this feature looks like this:
-<pre>
-/* setup everything */
-VIDIOCMCAPTURE(0)
-while (whatever) {
- VIDIOCMCAPTURE(1)
- VIDIOCSYNC(0)
- /* process frame 0 while the hardware captures frame 1 */
- VIDIOCMCAPTURE(0)
- VIDIOCSYNC(1)
- /* process frame 1 while the hardware captures frame 0 */
-}
-</pre>
-Note that you are <em>not</em> limited to only two frames. The API
-allows up to 32 frames, the VIDIOCGMBUF ioctl returns the number of
-frames the driver granted. Thus it is possible to build deeper queues
-to avoid loosing frames on load peaks.
-<p>
-While capturing to memory the driver will make a "best effort" attempt
-to capture to screen as well if requested. This normally means all
-frames that "miss" memory mapped capture will go to the display.
-<P>
-A final ioctl exists to allow a device to obtain related devices if a
-driver has multiple components (for example video0 may not be associated
-with vbi0 which would cause an intercast display program to make a bad
-mistake). The VIDIOCGUNIT ioctl reports the unit numbers of the associated
-devices if any exist. The video_unit structure has the following fields.
-<P>
-<TABLE>
-<TR><TD><b>video</b><TD>Video capture device</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>vbi</b><TD>VBI capture device</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>radio</b><TD>Radio device</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>audio</b><TD>Audio mixer</TD>
-<TR><TD><b>teletext</b><TD>Teletext device</TD>
-</TABLE>
-<P>
-<H3>RDS Datastreams</H3>
-For radio devices that support it, it is possible to receive Radio Data
-System (RDS) data by means of a read() on the device. The data is packed in
-groups of three, as follows:
-<TABLE>
-<TR><TD>First Octet</TD><TD>Least Significant Byte of RDS Block</TD></TR>
-<TR><TD>Second Octet</TD><TD>Most Significant Byte of RDS Block
-<TR><TD>Third Octet</TD><TD>Bit 7:</TD><TD>Error bit. Indicates that
-an uncorrectable error occurred during reception of this block.</TD></TR>
-<TR><TD> </TD><TD>Bit 6:</TD><TD>Corrected bit. Indicates that
-an error was corrected for this data block.</TD></TR>
-<TR><TD> </TD><TD>Bits 5-3:</TD><TD>Received Offset. Indicates the
-offset received by the sync system.</TD></TR>
-<TR><TD> </TD><TD>Bits 2-0:</TD><TD>Offset Name. Indicates the
-offset applied to this data.</TD></TR>
-</TABLE>
-</BODY>
-</HTML>
+<TITLE>V4L API</TITLE>
+<H1>Video For Linux APIs</H1>
+<table border=0>
+<tr>
+<td>
+<A HREF=http://www.linuxtv.org/downloads/video4linux/API/V4L1_API.html>
+V4L original API</a>
+</td><td>
+Obsoleted by V4L2 API
+</td></tr><tr><td>
+<A HREF=http://www.linuxtv.org/downloads/video4linux/API/V4L2_API.html>
+V4L2 API</a>
+</td><td>
+Should be used for new projects
+</td></tr>
+</table>
git.openpandora.org / pandora-kernel.git / commitdiff