tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14457082696444401522024-02-23T12:33:18.018+01:00Tv viewing and recording solutions for LinuxTv viewing and recording solutions for LinuxAndrew Schalkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18278726276253599249noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1445708269644440152.post-14216590396371411072016-04-13T08:35:00.000+02:002014-08-06T07:56:01.588+02:00Always on top<br />
This is a short guidepost for people who come here the first time.<br />
<br />
<h3>
What this blog is about.</h3>
In April 2011 I started this blog to support the usage of STK1160 based devices (EasyCAP DC60) on Linux.<br />
<br />
If you are new to analogue capturing devices on Linux start reading on the <a href="http://easycap.blogspot.co.at/p/quickstart.html" target="_blank">Quickstart</a> page.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Activate audio for the STK1160 device.</h3>
<br />
You must activate audio for the stk1160 driver in the mixer settings<br />
<ul>
<li>when you use your STK1160 device the first time,</li>
<li>on a fresh installed/ upgraded Linux system.</li>
</ul>
Read on <a href="http://easycap.blogspot.co.at/2014/04/activate-audio-for-stk1160-device.html" target="_blank">this post</a> how to activate audio in the mixer settings. <br />
<br />
Note: Only devices with builtin AC'97 chip have audio support on Linux.<br />
Read more about the different devices on <a href="http://easycap.blogspot.co.at/p/devices-and-drivers.html" target="_blank">this page</a>. <br />
<br />
<h3>
Switching the channels/ inputs while capturing</h3>
It is possible to switch from one input of the STK1160 device to another while the capturing program (e.g. mplayer) is running.<br />
<br />
Read on <a href="http://easycap.blogspot.co.at/2014/08/switching-channels-inputs-while.html" target="_blank">this post</a> how to switch inputs.<br />
<br />
This might be interesting especially for people who own the four inputs model (002) and want to build up a surveillance installation.<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: #ea9999;">Note: It is not possible to capture from more than one input simultaneously due to hardware limitations.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Andrew Schalkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18278726276253599249noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1445708269644440152.post-69192616868592895912014-08-06T07:55:00.000+02:002014-08-06T07:55:17.161+02:00Switching the channels/ inputs while capturingWhile capturing
(with mplayer or any other program) you can change the active input channel with this command in
the terminal:<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">v4l2-ctl -d /dev/video0 -i 1</span><br />
<br />
The -d option of the v4l2-ctl command selects the videodevice, it is not needed if there is only one (/dev/video0) in the system.<br />
<br />
The -i option selects/ changes the input channel of your device.<br />
<br />
The v4l2-ctl utility is part of the <b>v4l-utils</b> package. <br />
<br />
___________________________________________________________________<br />
<br />
With the "Qt V4L2 test utility" program (qv4l2) you can test switching the inputs.<br />
In this program there is a drop down menu where you can select
the different inputs while capturing.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8qOUpNq_dww1VuAYE-59LCPqGBsHo-V926bNlCRmQjyjvfdXDZkH6_CLfoMa8Zmf0HjX6VAcQW0GOaPRMBuh0apGPQUkLyuiV8DlhYOxMH6GmOTe7PIk4jMd7kH1wDzVNLZU3RWv0uws/s1600/qv4l2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8qOUpNq_dww1VuAYE-59LCPqGBsHo-V926bNlCRmQjyjvfdXDZkH6_CLfoMa8Zmf0HjX6VAcQW0GOaPRMBuh0apGPQUkLyuiV8DlhYOxMH6GmOTe7PIk4jMd7kH1wDzVNLZU3RWv0uws/s1600/qv4l2.png" height="305" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Andrew Schalkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18278726276253599249noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1445708269644440152.post-88767278259701177382014-04-16T08:06:00.000+02:002014-04-16T08:08:18.661+02:00Activate audio for the STK1160 deviceThe stk1160 module registers a control-only alsa soundcard. This sound card is called 'stk1160-mixer'.<br />
The real sound capture is done through the 'Controlle' soundcard which is also created after plugging in the EasyCAP.<br />
To get a list of the registerd ALSA soundcards, run the following command:<br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">cat /proc/asound/cards </span><br />
Sample output:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">0 [Intel ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel<br /> HDA Intel at 0xf0580000 irq 44<br /> 1 [stk1160mixer ]: stk1160 - stk1160-mixer<br /> stk1160 ac97 codec mixer control<br /> 2 [Controlle ]: USB-Audio - USB 2.0 Video Capture Controlle <br />Syntek Semiconductor USB 2.0 Video Capture Controlle at usb-0000:00:1d.7-1.1, h</span></blockquote>
<h3>
Activate audio </h3>
To enable sound capture you have to open alsamixer when the EasyCAP is
plugged in and select the 'Line' item on the capture menu for the
stk1160-mixer device:<br />
1. start alsamixer<br />
2. select stk1160-mixer sound card (with F6)<br />
3. select capture controls (with F4)<br />
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
4. select "Line" output (with space key)<span id="yiv115918700yui_3_2_0_21_134147819877786"> </span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
</div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span id="yiv115918700yui_3_2_0_21_134147819877786">You can do this on the commandline as well with this line:</span></div>
<span id="yiv115918700yui_3_2_0_21_134147819877786" style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">amixer -c stk1160mixer sset Line unmute cap</span><span class="yiv115918700tab" style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> </span><br />
<br />
<div style="background-color: #ffd966;">
<b>Note! </b>In the viewing- or capturing program you must then<b> select the 'Controlle' soundcard </b>or its number to hear sound!</div>
<span style="background-color: #ea9999;"><br /></span>Andrew Schalkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18278726276253599249noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1445708269644440152.post-6495030640753483102013-07-31T12:38:00.000+02:002013-07-31T12:38:04.334+02:00Issue tracking for stk1160 github repository disabled<b>Ezequiel requests to inform anybody using the stk1160 driver, that stk1160 github issue tracking is *GONE*.<i> </i></b><br />
<br />
<i>"Stk1160 is a regular kernel driver, so it's not special and there's no reason<br />in having a special bugzilla/forum/mailing list or issue tracking."</i><br />
<br />
Nevertheless, the sourcecode will still be available on <a href="https://github.com/ezequielgarcia/stk1160-standalone">stk1160 github</a> for people who want to use the stk1160 driver with kernels 3.2 up to 3.6.<i> </i><br />
<br />
If you have questions concerning driver issues or want to report a bug
please visit this link: <a href="http://linuxtv.org/lists.php">http://linuxtv.org/lists.php</a><br />
or use the video4linux mailing list (<a href="mailto:linux-media@vger.kernel.org">linux-media@vger.kernel.org</a>)<br />
or
try asking in the IRC channel (#v4l). <i> </i><br />
<br />
<i>" The regular kernel channels work just fine, and you can get answers from developers. "</i>Andrew Schalkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18278726276253599249noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1445708269644440152.post-29720117165996310352013-04-05T18:34:00.000+02:002013-04-05T18:38:54.829+02:00Stk1160 on ARM devicesInbetween there are many Linux friendly boards and products out there for usually less than $200.<br />
Here are three lists of Linux friendly boards and mini PCs.<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://raymii.org/s/articles/Small_Linux_PCs.html">https://raymii.org/s/articles/Small_Linux_PCs.html</a></li>
<li><a href="http://omgfire.narod2.ru/SBC_comparison39.pdf">http://omgfire.narod2.ru/SBC_comparison39.pdf </a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.cnx-software.com/2012/06/26/list-of-39-low-cost-linux-friendly-boards-and-products/">http://www.cnx-software.com/2012/06/26/list-of-39-low-cost-linux-friendly-boards-and-products/</a></li>
</ul>
Please report in a comment if anyone uses the STK1160 with success on one of these products.<br />
<br />
Ezequiel mentions that <b>*any* Linux board with a USB 2.0 capable host<br />controller and enough RAM will work fine with STK1160 devices</b>.<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Currently there are some USB related problems on the Raspberry Pi. Read more on this <a href="http://easycap.blogspot.co.at/2013/03/raspberry-pi-and-easycap-devices.html">post</a>:<span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span>However, if the USB has some bandwidth limitation (some USB 3.0 are showing this) then it can have problems with the <span style="font-size: x-small;">STK</span>1160. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">The<span style="font-size: small;"> STK1160 w<span style="font-size: small;">as</span> successfully tested on these boards by Ezequiel:</span></span></span><br />
<ul>
<li>ISEE IGEP v2 (Texas Instruments SoC)</li>
<li>Plathome Openblocks AX3 (Marvell SoC)</li>
</ul>
Ezequiel Garcia wrote:<i><br /></i>
<i>"If any user wants to support STK1160 he can send me hardware.</i><br />
<i>(Another RPI would be nice :-) Also, I would love to have a non-ARM</i><br />
<i>non-x86 board, like a MIPS or something like that."</i><br />
You can contact Ezequiel via github: <a href="https://github.com/ezequielgarcia">https://github.com/ezequielgarcia</a> <i><br /></i>Andrew Schalkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18278726276253599249noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1445708269644440152.post-59004075589882411922013-03-29T13:15:00.001+01:002014-08-06T11:30:21.723+02:00Features of the stk1160 driver in the kernelUpdated August 6 2014 <br />
<br />
The stk1160 driver in the kernel (3.7 and upward) supports:<br />
<ul>
<li>video capturing</li>
<ul>
<li>PAL at 25 fps at 720x576</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>NTFS at 30 fps at 720x480</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>S-Video from input Nr. 4</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>the CVBS + S-Video model and </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>the four CVBS model (all four channels) </li>
</ul>
<li>audio capturing </li>
<ul>
<li>must be enabled in the mixer settings (read more on <a href="http://easycap.blogspot.co.at/2014/04/activate-audio-for-stk1160-device.html">this post</a>)</li>
<li>audio capturing <b>only</b> from the CVBS + S-Video model <u>with built in AC'97 chip</u> (3 chip Easycap; 48000Hz model) is supported</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<ul>
</ul>
Good to know<br />
<ul>
<li>The Easycap works even if it is connected to an USB 2.0 hub.</li>
<li>Use a powered hub if you get a crampy picture.<br />Some performance issues are caused by too low power provided by some small boards (like Raspberry PI).</li>
<li>Some USB 3.0 hosts may have bandwith limitation, then it can cause problems with stk1160.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
</ul>
<br />
Supported features <br />
<ul>
<li>Two (or more) stk1160 devices working side by side on one system<br />(If this is not possible, it's not a driver issue, but rather about USB bandwidth)</li>
<li>Switching channels/ inputs while capturing (with the v4l2-ctl tool - read more on <a href="http://easycap.blogspot.co.at/2014/08/switching-channels-inputs-while.html">this post</a>.).</li>
</ul>
Not supported: (but supported by the legacy easycapdriver)<br />
<ul>
<li>Famescaling <br />Only full PAL or NTFS frames can be captured <br />(this is important e.g. for settings in Zoneminder)</li>
<li>audio capturing from the 8000Hz Easycap<br />The stk1160 driver doesn't support audio on <br />the four CVBS model and on <br />the the CVBS + S-Video model where the AC'97 chip is missing. <br />(Adding support for the 8 bit ADC in the stk1160 chip is planned in the future.)</li>
</ul>
Known issues<br />
<ul>
<li>Some stk1160 based Easycaps don't work on the stk1160 driver but on the legacy easycap driver. (will be solved in kernel 3.12 !)<br />Read more on this <a href="http://easycap.blogspot.co.at/2013/03/the-stk1160-regression-problem.html">post</a>:</li>
<li>Easycap device issues on the Raspberry Pi<br />Read more on this <a href="http://easycap.blogspot.co.at/2013/03/raspberry-pi-and-easycap-devices.html">post</a>:</li>
</ul>
Andrew Schalkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18278726276253599249noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1445708269644440152.post-25186355933218311392013-03-29T13:15:00.000+01:002014-02-14T09:11:58.229+01:00The stk1160 regression problemUpdate Feb 13 2014<br />
<br />
This issue described below is <b>solved in
kernel 3.12 </b>(not 3.11). It affects Easycap devices with gm7113 chip,
which is a clone of the Philips saa7113 chip.<br />
<br />
I cannot verify by myself, so please report, if this problem is solved in kernel 3.12.<br />
Thanks<br />
_______________________________________________________________________ <br />
<br />
Ezequiel Garcia wrote:(28. 03. 13)<br />
<br />
<i>"There are a batch of stk1160 Easycaps that don't work on stk1160 but do work</i><br />
<i>on the legacy easycap driver. This is a known issue since Nov. 2012."</i>Andrew Schalkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18278726276253599249noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1445708269644440152.post-81198279528383543072013-03-23T18:30:00.002+01:002014-04-16T08:17:49.239+02:00Raspberry Pi and Easycap devices<i>Update Feb 13 2014</i><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Inbetween I found some hints on this page: <a href="http://bite-in.com/?p=9">http://bite-in.com/?p=9</a> for the usage of STK1160 based devices with the RPI.</li>
<li>Here is <a href="http://raspberry-at-home.com/video-grabber-for-raspberry-pi/" target="_blank">one more story of success</a> for the STK1160 based Easycap on the RPI (with the legacy easycapdriver). </li>
</ul>
<br />
Some hints for checking:<br />
<ul>
<li>Use a <b>powered USB hub</b> to conntect the STK1160 device to the RPI because Raspberry pi is not strong enough to power usb easycap directly.</li>
<li>Try the <b>-zoom</b> option in your mplayer command. <br />The stk1160 driver in the kernel doesn't support (hardware-) framescaling.<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">
from mplayers manpage:<br />
<div style="margin-left: 11%;">
<i><b>−zoom </b></i></div>
<i>
</i><br />
<div style="margin-left: 22%;">
<i>Allow software scaling, where
available. This will allow scaling with output drivers (like
x11, fbdev) that do not support hardware scaling where
MPlayer disables scaling by default for performance
reasons.</i></div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Example: <br />
<i>mplayer tv:// -tv driver=v4l2:device=/dev/video0 -vf scale=400:300 -zoom</i></blockquote>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li> You can try <a href="http://www.mplayer2.org/" target="_blank">mplayer2</a> instead of mplayer.</li>
</ul>
<b>It would be nice, if someone could report if these hints are useful/ working.<br />Thanks</b><br />
<br />
____________________________________________________________________________<br />
legacy Information:<br />
<br />
Summing up all the comments below this post and some forum posts I've read about that issue, I can say that many USB video capture devices and webcams are not working at all (or only at a very low resolution) on the raspberry pi because of a rpi related USB issue. <br />
<br />
These USB problems on the rpi are still pending and I couldn't find any report that the stk1160 device or any other Easycap device is working acceptably on the RPI.<br />
<br />
Mainly USB webcams which are <span id="bc_0_19b+seedBNBSD" kind="d">supported by the <b>
uvcvideo</b> driver</span> (many but not all)<span id="bc_0_19b+seedBNBSD" kind="d"> are working on the pi. <a href="http://elinux.org/RPi_VerifiedPeripherals#USB_Webcams">List of pi verified USB webcams</a></span><br />
<br />
<span id="bc_0_19b+seedBNBSD" kind="d">More information about the rpi USB issue</span><br />
<a href="http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=23544&sid=e116f267f5d79b807a4837c5c9bb3393&start=275">In this thread on the raspberrypi.org forum </a> (page 12 to 16)<br />
<a href="http://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/questions/5382/webcam-issue-apparently-not-related-to-usb-system">In this thread on raspberrypi.stackexchange.com </a><br />
<a href="http://markmail.org/thread/z5r57qadnf77yv2s">success with a modified em28xx driver</a><br />
<br />
_________________________________________________________________<br />
<br />
more legacy information:<br />
<br />
<b>Easycap devices (stk1160, empia, somagic) <u>currently are causing some problems</u> with standard Linux disributions on the Raspberry Pi</b> because of some RPI related USB issues.<br />
However, enhancements are in progress.<br />
<br />
The Easycap device registers properly like under any other Linux system (when the driver is in the kernel), but the video data transport through the RPIs USB system doesn't work.<br />
I suppose this issue affects many other v4l2 devices plugged into the RPIs USB.<br />
<br />
<br />
Ezequiel Garcia reported to me the following:<br />
<br />
<i>"The problem with the RPI is that it has a crappy USB driver and USB hardware.<br />When that is solved, stk1160 will work. Probably will take a long time<br />because synopsis USB datasheet is not public."</i><br />
<br />
Note: The RPI branch on Ezequiels github <a href="https://github.com/ezequielgarcia/stk1160-standalone/tree/rpi"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span id="yui_3_7_2_1_1364037526596_4809">https://github.com/ezequielgarcia/stk1160-standalone/tree/rpi</span></span></span></a> is broken and doesn't work at all!<br />
<br />
<br />
<span id="yui_3_7_2_1_1364037526596_4899"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Andrew </span> </span></span>Andrew Schalkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18278726276253599249noreply@blogger.com32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1445708269644440152.post-55203408457051691152012-10-16T19:07:00.001+02:002012-10-16T19:07:34.196+02:00STK1160 News<h3>
Asking for Linux support from Syntek</h3>
Ezequiel is asking every EasyCAP stk1160 user to send an email to Syntek<br />asking them to support Linux drivers and provide a datasheet for their chips.<br /><br /><a href="mailto:sales@stk.com.tw">sales@stk.com.tw</a><br />
<br />
<h3>
STK1160 driver in kernel 3.7.</h3>
The stk1160 driver will replace the easycapdriver in the 3.7.x kernel release.<br />
So, the spring releases of all major distros (Ubuntu 13.04 ...) will have the stk1160 driver onboard. :-)<br />
<br />
<h3>
STK1160 S-video support </h3>
Ezequiel is continuously working on the driver and has recently added s-video support.<br />
If you want to use the s-video input you must download the <strong>svideo2_for_v3.2</strong> branch from <a href="https://github.com/ezequielgarcia/stk1160-standalone/tree/svideo2_for_v3.2">https://github.com/ezequielgarcia/stk1160-standalone/tree/svideo2_for_v3.2</a> (hit the ZIP button on top left).<br />
Install the driver as described <a href="http://easycap.blogspot.co.at/2012/07/new-driver-for-easycap-dc60-stk1160.html">below</a>. <br />
<br />Before you can use the s-video input with the stk1160 driver you need to run (while the STK1160 device is plugged in):<br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">sudo rmmod stk1160</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">sudo modprobe stk1160 svideo_input=9</span><br />
Now s-video is available from input number 4.<br />
<br />
Andrew Schalkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18278726276253599249noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1445708269644440152.post-36146473919437312622012-07-09T14:38:00.000+02:002012-07-11T12:24:04.804+02:00Summary before summer - Part 2Summer is here now. Since I planned this post some great things concerning the EasyCAP happened.<br />
A new driver for the EasyCAP DC60 has been published and the program mtvcgui has been updated. (See previous posts).<br />
<br />
Some other news I want to mention: <br />
<ul>
<li><b>Lavc - avconv </b><br />In Ubunt 12.04 there is a new versin of libav (ffmepg branch) which now supports v4l2 capturing again. The ffmpeg and ffplay command in libav are deprecated and soon will be entirely replaced by 'avconv' and 'avplay'.</li>
<li><b>Puppylinux (Racy Puppy) and EasyCAP</b><br />On my other EasyCAP related site I published an article, how Puppylinux can be installed besides of Ubuntu and how the EasyCAP can be used with Puppylinux. <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/viewandrecordwithlinux/install-puppy-beside-ubuntu"><br />https://sites.google.com/site/viewandrecordwithlinux/install-puppy-beside-ubuntu</a></li>
<li>After these evolutions a widely rewrite of some pages of this blog is pending.</li>
<li>By the way, I changed my blogname for not to cause some confusion.</li>
</ul>
AndrewAndrew Schalkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18278726276253599249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1445708269644440152.post-87619450292472831852012-07-08T13:42:00.000+02:002013-01-18T16:30:21.995+01:00New driver for the EasyCAP DC60 - stk1160<h2>
Great news!</h2>
Some time ago Ezequiel Garcia informed me:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"I just wanted you to know I've re-worked the old easycap driver</i><br />
<i>from scratch. Now it's called stk1160, because it's the correct name</i><br />
<i>for such driver. "</i></blockquote>
Inbetween the driver has been succesfully tested on Ubuntu 12.04 and Bodhilinux 1.4.0 with kernel 3.2. So it should work even on most systems which have the 3.2.0 kernel.<br />
<br />
Although some enhancements have to be done, the driver already can be used as a replacement of the easycapdriver. It is expexted that the driver soon will get into the mainline kernel.<br />
<br />
The great improvements compared to the easycapdriver are:<br />
- there is no framedropping anymore<br />
- the snd_usb_audio issue is solved<br />
- the driver loads and registers quicker than the easycapdriver<br />
<br />
<h3>
<b>Installation and usage (tested on Ubuntu 12.04)</b></h3>
<br />
<div style="background-color: #e06666;">
Note: Although the driver is tested on Ubuntu, you do the installation at your own risk! </div>
<br />
Download the driver from here:<br />
<a href="https://github.com/ezequielgarcia/stk1160-standalone/zipball/for_v3.2">https://github.com/ezequielgarcia/stk1160-standalone/zipball/for_v3.2</a><br />
<br />
Unpack the content into your homedir and open a terminal.<br />
<br />
At first we blacklist the easycap module (driver), so it cannot conflict with the new driver.<br />
<br />
<div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">
echo "blacklist easycap" | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf </div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
</div>
</blockquote>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
If you want to reuse the easycap module, simply run<br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">sudo modprobe easycap </span><br />
or delete the entry<br />
<div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">
blacklist easycap </div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">in</span> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf<br />
<br />
Enter the unpacked directory with the driversource inside</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">cd ezequielgarcia-stk1160-standalone-...</span>(the exact name)<br />
and run<br />
<div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">
make</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">
sudo make install</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">
sudo depmod -a<br />
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
With the next command you can check if the module has been correctly installed:</div>
</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">
</div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">
modinfo stk1160</div>
<br />
After plugging in the EasyCAP test it with mplayer:<br />
<span id="yiv115918700yui_3_2_0_21_134147819877786" style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">mplayer tv://</span><br />
<br />
<h4>
<span id="yiv115918700yui_3_2_0_21_134147819877786" style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Configure sound</span> </span></h4>
<br />
The stk1160 module registers a control-only alsa soundcard. This sound card is called 'stk1160-mixer'.<br />
The real sound capture is done through the 'Controlle' soundcard which is also created after plugging in the EasyCAP.<br />
To get a list of the registerd ALSA soundcards, run the following command:<br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">cat /proc/asound/cards </span><br />
Sample output:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">0 [Intel ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> HDA Intel at 0xf0580000 irq 43</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> 1 [Controlle ]: USB-Audio - USB 2.0 Video Capture Controlle</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> Syntek Semiconductor USB 2.0 Video Capture Controlle at usb-0000:00:1d.7-2, hig</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> 2 [stk1160mixer ]: stk1160 - stk1160-mixer</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> stk1160 ac97 codec mixer control</span></blockquote>
To enable sound capture you have to open alsamixer when the EasyCAP is plugged in and select the 'Line' item on the capture menu for stk1160-mixer device:<br />
1. start alsamixer<br />
2. select stk1160-mixer sound card (with F6)<br />
3. select capture controls (with F4)<br />
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
4. select "Line" output (with space key)<span id="yiv115918700yui_3_2_0_21_134147819877786"> </span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span id="yiv115918700yui_3_2_0_21_134147819877786">You can do this on the commandline as well with this line:</span></div>
<span id="yiv115918700yui_3_2_0_21_134147819877786" style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">amixer -c stk1160mixer sset Line unmute cap</span><span class="yiv115918700tab" style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> </span><br />
<br />
<div style="background-color: #ffd966;">
<b>Note! </b>In the viewing- or capturing program you must then<b> select the 'Controlle' soundcard </b>or its number to hear sound!</div>
<span style="background-color: #ea9999;"><br /></span>
<h4>
<span style="background-color: #ea9999;">Reinstallation oft the driver is required after kernel update!</span></h4>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">If you have installed a new kernel on your system (or your update-manager did so automatically</span>) you need to reinstall the stk1160 driver!<br />
<h4>
</h4>
<h4>
When you do not want to use the stk1160 driver anymore</h4>
<br />
Simply blacklist the stk1160 module as described above and revert the blacklisting of the easycap module.<br />
<br />
<hr />
Thanks to Ezequiel for his work and support!<br />
<br />
Andrew<br />
<br />Andrew Schalkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18278726276253599249noreply@blogger.com38tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1445708269644440152.post-50160436712203045752012-06-23T20:27:00.000+02:002012-06-23T20:27:15.043+02:00Mtvcgui updatedSantiago Bruno, the developer of <a href="http://code.google.com/p/mtvcgui/">mtvcgui</a>, informed me about the new version (1.0.2) of his great program he has released some days ago.<br />
<br />
<i>"One of the new features in this release is that it queries mplayer to get the list of supported norms, so it should report the correct values," </i>he reports.<br />
<br />
The other great new feature is, that he provides booth a .deb and .rpm package, which installs (and adds a launcher to the menu), and runs (I've tested the .deb package with Ubuntu 12.04) without any problem.<br />
<br />
If you want to preview or capture video, now mtvcgui and the EasyCAP DC60 work together without any adaptations,<br />
but if you want to capture audio as well as video with the EasyCAP, you need to do the following:<br />
<br />
On the second tab, check the "<i>Capture audio using ALSA</i>" checkbox,<br />
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
then type in "<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">hw.1</span>" as ALSA device (if the EasyCAP is the second soundcard on your system).</div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
Into the "<i>Extra tv parameters</i>" field type in: </div>
<div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">
amode=1:forceaudio:immediatemode=0</div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">else the audio stream won't be captured (and you won't hear audio if you press the "<i>Preview channel with mplayer</i>" button on the first tab.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">When I've done some more tests I will update the description concerning the usage of mtvcgui with the EasyCAP on the Recording page of this blog.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Andrew </span></div>Andrew Schalkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18278726276253599249noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1445708269644440152.post-50876027599642096552012-06-18T14:46:00.000+02:002012-06-18T14:46:53.435+02:00Summary before summer - Part 1Here is a summary of some news concerning the easycapdevice and about improvements of EasyCAP related software. 1'st part<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><b> New driver for Easycaps with somagic chip</b><br />This page<br /><a href="http://code.google.com/p/easycap-somagic-linux/wiki/GettingStarted">http://code.google.com/p/easycap-somagic-linux/wiki/GettingStarted</a><br />is the light at the end of the tunnel for owners of any Somagic - EasyCAP who want to use it with Linux.<br /><br />When buying any EasyCAP on the Internet, people cannot figure out, what type of device they will get. <br />(See the picture and the <a href="http://easycap.blogspot.co.at/p/devices.html">Devices</a> page on this blog.)<br />Let's hope that any time soon the Somagic EasyCAPs can be used with Linux as easy as the "real" DC60 devices at present .</li>
</ul>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/8996/s5003467.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="227" src="http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/8996/s5003467.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<ul>
<li><b>Changes to the easycapdriver</b><br />When typing "easycap" into the search field of the gitweb summary of the latest mainline kernel (3.5 -rc2) on kernel.org,<br /><a href="http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git;a=summary">http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git;a=summary</a><br /> the output shows that some people were recently working on the driver. <br />Although I cannot interpret the effects of these changes in detail, I think that the driver will become still more stable in future kernel releases. <br /><br /></li>
<li><b>Minimal system requirements for the EasyCAP</b><br />Piotr from Poland mailed me his success story with his EasyCAP 002 and Zoneminder. <br />His system data:<br /><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: #cccccc;">Celeron 533 MHz, 320MB RAM, Debian Wheezy (alpha) !</span></span></div>
<small>
</small></li>
</ul>Andrew Schalkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18278726276253599249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1445708269644440152.post-34261019097135895182012-02-12T13:26:00.000+01:002012-02-12T13:26:06.857+01:00More InformationIn the last few weeks I altered some pages and I added some more information to my blog:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://easycap.blogspot.com/p/mtvcgui.html">Practice</a> page has been created.</li>
<li>The <a href="http://easycap.blogspot.com/p/driver.html">Drivers and Installation</a> pages have been updated and put together.</li>
<li>I've tested the recent stk11xx driver with my EasyCAP DC60. <br />Read more on the <a href="http://easycap.blogspot.com/p/driver.html">Drivers and Installation</a> page.</li>
<li>I found out, that the recent easycapdriver is only capable of 22.75 fps (PAL).<br />Read more on the bottom of the <a href="http://easycap.blogspot.com/p/quickstart.html">Quickstart</a> page.</li>
<li>A description of a <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/viewandrecordwithlinux/diy-surveillance">DIY surveillance installation</a>, provided by a reader of this blog, including EasyCAP related hints for Windows has been published.</li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"> </span>Some more corrections and updates have been applied, but there is still a lot to be done.</li>
</ul>
<br />
Average more than hundred visitors daily spur me on to make this blog better.<br />
<br />
Some people emailed to me, and I like to help if I can.<br />
Feel free to comment or email if you have any question or contribution.<br />
<br />
AndrewAndrew Schalkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18278726276253599249noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1445708269644440152.post-59927027124072543442011-12-23T15:29:00.000+01:002011-12-23T20:39:32.187+01:00Get startedYou have bought a cheap EasyCAP device for capturing video (e.g. ripping old VHS tapes) and now you want to know, how to get it to work, right?<br />
<br />
This is the right site for you if you want to use your EasyCAP on Linux.<br />
<br />
And this is even the right site for you if you want to use any analogue video capture device on Linux. <br />
<br />
Start on the <a href="http://easycap.blogspot.com/p/quickstart.html">Quickstart page</a>.<br />
<br />
If you want to get answers, how to use the EasyCAP on Windows you have to search for somewhere else.<br />
______________________________________________________<br />
<br />
I've uploaded a new Zenity based script for viewing and capturing analogue video on Linux called tvcap-script.sh. <br />
On the <a href="http://easycap.blogspot.com/p/easyview-n-cap.html">tvcap page</a> there is a detailed description of this script.<br />
<br />
Merry Christmas<br />
and a happy new year!<br />
<br />
AndrewAndrew Schalkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18278726276253599249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1445708269644440152.post-64319673636622573092011-11-14T21:09:00.000+01:002011-12-13T08:35:44.764+01:00CompendiumTime passes on and things change.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>The Easycapdriver is now <u>part of the kernel release</u> (since 2.6.38). This means, that the EasyCAP DC60 works out of the box with Ubuntu 11.04 (no audio support), Ubuntu 11.10 (full ALSA audio support) and onward.</li>
<li>If you need to install the driver by yourself (e.g. for previous kernel versions), you can download the sourcecode (0.9 version) from here:<br /><a href="https://sites.google.com/site/viewandrecordwithlinux/file-cabinet/easycap_dc60.0.9.tar.gz?attredirects=0&d=1" style="background-color: white;">https://sites.google.com/site/viewandrecordwithlinux/file-cabinet/easycap_dc60.0.9.tar.gz?attredirects=0&d=1</a><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></li>
<li>If you want to initiate <u>further development</u> of the easycapdriver, you can submit bugs to <a href="http://bugzilla.kernel.org/">bugzilla.kernel.org</a> or to the bug filing systems of the major Linux distributuins like <a href="https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/Bugs">Ubuntu</a>.</li>
<li>Mike Thomas has withdrawn the driver on sourceforge. On this site <a href="http://easycapdc60.sourceforge.net/">http://easycapdc60.sourceforge.net/</a> his statement can be found.<br />Even the whole discussion on the former projectpage has been deleted. (So some links on this blog are dead now.)</li>
<li>For German speaking users i wrote some articles on <a href="http://wiki.ubuntuusers.de/Baustelle/EasyCAP_DC60_USB_Audio_und_Videograbber">ubuntuusers.de</a> wich cover the same informations than this blog.</li>
<li>Some updates remain to be done on this blog, but i hope, that even in this present state this informations are useful.</li>
</ul>
Andrew <br />
<br />Andrew Schalkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18278726276253599249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1445708269644440152.post-49789904897651200132011-04-22T21:01:00.000+02:002011-04-22T11:02:52.022+02:00Overviewupdated: April 2011 <br />
<ul><li>A <span style="background-color: yellow; color: black;">new version of the easyview-n-cap script</span> has been added<br />
View<a href="http://easycap.blogspot.com/p/recording.html"> Recording</a> page for more information</li>
<li>If you want to contact me, view my profile and use the provided email-link </li>
<li>A new capturing/ recording solution (mtvcgui) has been added<br />
- see <a href="http://easycap.blogspot.com/p/recording.html">Recording</a> page or <a href="http://easycap.blogspot.com/p/mtvcgui.html">mtvcgui</a> page</li>
<li>The easycapdriver has now two "branches"<br />
- the new <span style="background-color: yellow;">0.9 version delivers audio via ALSA</span> <br />
The purpose of this release is to allow audio playback/capturing on Linux distributions where OSS is etirely disabled (Ubuntu 10.10)<br style="background-color: yellow;" /><a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/easycapdc60/forums/forum/1071438/topic/4024036">Detailed informations: http://sourceforge.net/projects/easycapdc60/forums/forum/1071438/topic/4024036</a><br />
- the recent 0.8.5 version delivers audio via <span style="background-color: yellow;">OSS</span></li>
<li> new features coming with 0.8.5. version<br />
- more than one video channel (4 cvbs easycap) is supported<br />
- more than one plugged in easycaps are supported<br />
- /dev/video0 can be used alternatively to /dev/easycap0<br />
- Zoneminder and Xawtv are now supported <br />
Detailed information about all the new features:<br />
<a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/easycapdc60/forums/forum/1071438/topic/3901200"><span style="background-color: #cccccc;">* 0.8.4 features:</span> http://sourceforge.net/projects/easycapdc60/forums/forum/1071438/topic/3901200</a> <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/easycapdc60/forums/forum/1071438/topic/3911043"><br />
<span style="background-color: #cccccc;">* 0.8.5 update</span> http://sourceforge.net/projects/easycapdc60/forums/forum/1071438/topic/3911043</a><br />
<a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/easycapdc60/forums/forum/1071438/topic/3820067"><span style="background-color: #cccccc;">* Zoneminder</span> http://sourceforge.net/projects/easycapdc60/forums/forum/1071438/topic/3820067</a></li>
</ul><ul><li><span style="background-color: yellow;">it supports </span><span style="background-color: yellow;">all the three different types of the easyCAP DC60 device</span><br />
see the <a href="http://easycap.blogspot.com/p/devices.html">Devices</a> page, to identify your device</li>
<li>For a quick installation guide see the <a href="http://easycap.blogspot.com/p/installation.html">Install</a> page.</li>
<li>I modified the <span style="background-color: yellow;">recording script</span>. Now it is an easy solution to invoke the viewing applications (mplayer, vlc and tvtime), or to make recordings.<br />
It can be downloaded from the <a href="http://easycap.blogspot.com/p/recording.html">Recording</a> page.<br />
</li>
</ul>More detailed information can be found in the open discussion on the drivers page<br />
<a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/easycapdc60/forums/forum/1071438">http://sourceforge.net/projects/easycapdc60/forums/forum/1071438</a><br />
<br />
<b>This Blog is dedicated to all owners of the EasyCAP DC60 or identical device, who want to use it under Linux.</b><br />
<br />
The device has some limitations, but it is a good solution for viewing and even capturing from any analog video source under Linux.<br />
<br />
<br />
Andrew (alias Professor Schalk)Andrew Schalkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18278726276253599249noreply@blogger.com2