Skip to content

flensrocker/vdr-plugin-pvrinput

Repository files navigation

This is a "plugin" for the Video Disk Recorder (VDR).

originally written by: Andreas <[email protected]>
(Some parts of the plugin's source are based on the analogtv plugin by
Andreas Kool.)

Since the ivtv driver API changed in ivtv >= 0.8 a lot of API calls are no
longer existent/working. Unfortunally the author does no longer maintain this
plugin (see http://www.vdr-portal.de/board/thread.php?threadid=48772).

This INOFFICIAL version allows to use the plugin with newer ivtv versions,
but it is completely without any warranty and still very experimental:

-Adapted to ivtv driver 0.8 by "Wirbel" Winfried Koehler 
 <[email protected]>
-Further development since 2006/2007 by Winfried Koehler and
 "Dr. Seltsam" Martin Dauskardt ([email protected]).
-in 2010 "mini73" Lars Hanisch ([email protected]) joined the team

See the file HISTORY for changes.
See the file COPYING for license information.


Description:
------------
This plugin uses a Hauppauge PVR card as an input device. All cards
supported by the ivtv or pvrusb2 driver should work. This version of the plugin
requires ivtv driver version 1.0 or higher. You need current versions of
videodev2.h in /usr/include/linux to get the plugin compiled 
Because of huge changes to the Makefile with vdr 1.7.34 old stuff is removed
from it. For older versions please use Makefile-1.6.

Supported devices
-----------------
All analogue devices supported by the ivtv or pvrusb2-driver should work. This
means:
Hauppauge PVR 150, PVR 250, PVR 350, PVR 500
Hauppauge PVRUSB2, HVR 1900, HVR 1950

The HVR 1900 and HVR 1950 are hybrid devices. Their analogue device can only be
used when their digital device is not opened. To prevent vdr from opening the
digital device, there are three possibilities:
-load pvrusb2 by using the adapter_nr parameter. If you have two other DVB
 cards (/dev/dvb/adapter0 and /dev/dvb/adapter1) use adapter_nr=3.
 example: modprobe pvrusb2 adapter_nr=3
 vdr detects adapter0 and adapter1 and stops searching when there is no device
 found on adapter2. This way adapter3 will not be opened and pvrinput can use
 the analogue device.  
-specify the DVB devices vdr shall use by using  vdr's -D parameter
-compile the pvrusb2 driver without DVB support

Altough the HVR 1300 is listed in menu entries, it is not really supported yet.

Support for the HVR 1600 (cx18-driver) is included. Other cx18-based devices could
be added later.
 
There is support for the Hauppauge HD PVR (beta-stage).

Patching vdr
------------
Starting with this version, pvrinput does no longer support the old channel 
syntax. It now uses only the new channel syntax which is similar like the
one from iptv. If your vdr version is already patched for the iptv-plugin, you 
don't need the vdr-1.x.x-pluginparam.patch. Otherwise you must apply it,
no matter if you are using vdr version 1.4, 1.6 or 1.7.x (x < 13).

channels.conf (vdr >= 1.7.13)
-----------------------------
With vdr version 1.7.13 the pluginparam-patch was integrated into vdr. With this
change there has to be some adjustments to the channels.conf.
The Source ID is now 'V' and the string "PVRINPUT|" must be omitted.
For now wirbelscan and w_pvrscan can only output the "old" format for the
plugin-param-patch. Use the channel-conv2.sh script at the example dir to convert
the generated output to the new syntax.

for example:
RTL:217250:TV:V:0:301+101=2:300:305:0:1:0:3476:0

For a description of the possible parameters read the next section.
Look at the file channels.conf_vdr-1.7.13-syntax.example in the example dir.

channels.conf (vdr < 1.7.13)
----------------------------
pvrinput now supports a new syntax using the Source Identifier 'P', similar to
the one from the iptv-plugin. Take the channels.conf_newsyntax.example in
example dir as a reference for your own channels.conf.

 Source ID: 'P'
 Video PID: 301 for TV, 0 for Radio
 Audio PID: 300
 Teletext PID: 305 (or 0 if not needed)
 PCR PID: 101

for example:
RTL:217250:PVRINPUT|TV:P:0:301+101:300:305:0:3476:0:0:0
|      |   |           |    |   |   |   |  |    | | |
|      |   |           |    |   |   |   |  |    | | --> Transport Stream ID
|      |   |           |    |   |   |   |  |    | |       (TID)
|      |   |           |    |   |   |   |  |    | --> Network ID (NID)
|      |   |           |    |   |   |   |  |    --> Service ID (SID), the
|      |   |           |    |   |   |   |  |        combination of SID, NID,
|      |   |           |    |   |   |   |  |        TID has to be unique.
|      |   |           |    |   |   |   |  --> CA identifier, should be 0
|      |   |           |    |   |   |   --> Teletext PID
|      |   |           |    |   |   --> Audio PID
|      |   |           |    |   --> PCR PID
|      |   |           |     --> Video PID (set to 0 for radio stations)
|      |   |           --> Source 'P'
|      |   --> Parameters (see below)
|      --> Frequency (1 for external inputs)
--> Channel Name (your choice..)

cx18:
cx18-driven cards are capable of delivering a TS. At the moment the stream type
is forced to TS, the setting in the menu does only effect ivtv-based cards.
The PIDs in the TS are the same as used by the plugin's PS-to-TS-repacker, so one
channel-entry should work for both types of cards.

HD PVR:
This box sets the PIDs to 4352 for audio, 4113 for video and 4097 for the PCR.
And it's better to tell vdr the type of video (H.264 has a stream type of 27).
If you use the digital input of the box, you must switch the audio encoding to AAC even
if it gets AC3, for the RCA inputs you should set the encoding to AC3, since the vdr seems
to have diffibulties with handling AAC audio.
The SID must be 1, since this is the program number in the PMT the device generates.
For the frequency you can enter any value you want as long as it's distinct.
It will be passed to the externchannelswitch-sh script.

for example (>= vdr 1.7.13):
HD PVR:1:COMPONENT:P:0:4113+4097=27:0;4352:0:0:1:1:0:0

for example (<= vdr 1.7.12):
HD PVR:1:PVRINPUT|COMPONENT:P:0:4113+4097=27:0;4352:0:0:1:1:0:0


NID and TID can be 0. The following method is used by wirbelscan and w_scan
to create a unique SID:

- for TV/radio: Frequency in MHz * 16 = SID
  example: 112250 = 112,25 MHz. 112,25 * 16 = 1796

- for external inputs: start numbering with 9001

Note: for vdr >= 1.7.13 we use this unique value as TID, while SID is 1.

Parameter Description:
Each Parameter is separated with "|" (vertical bar)

* First Parameter: always "PVRINPUT" (uppercase!). Otherwise pvrinput will
  ignore this channel.
* Second Parameter: always one of the following identifiers (uppercase!):
  *   "TV"               -> a normal tv channel
  *   "RADIO"            -> a radio channel. frequency should be in this case
                            87500..108000 and vpid = 0
  *   "COMPOSITE0"       -> external input, composite in number 0
  *   "COMPOSITE1"
  *   "COMPOSITE2"
  *   "COMPOSITE3"
  *   "COMPOSITE4"
  *   "SVIDEO0"          -> external input, S-Video input number 0
  *   "SVIDEO1"
  *   "SVIDEO2"
  *   "SVIDEO3"
  *   "COMPONENT"        -> external input, Component input of HD PVR

NOTE: * Some cards will have SVIDEO0 and COMPOSITE0 as first external input,
      * while other cards may start with SVIDEO1 and COMPOSITE1. This depends
      * on driver and hardware (ivtv, pvrusb2).
      * For all channels with external video inputs, frequency should be 1.

* Third and Fourth Parameters: THESE PARAMETERS ARE *OPTIONAL*.
  One of the following identifiers, uppercase:
  *   "PAL"              -> specify PAL channel, this is default.
                            (The ivtv driver sets 
                            V4L2_STD_PAL_BG | V4L2_STD_PAL_H)
  *   "SECAM"            -> specify Secam channel
                            (the ivtv drivers sets V4L2_STD_SECAM_L).
                            default is PAL
  *   "NTSC"             -> specify NTSC channel
                            (the ivtv driver sets V4L2_STD_NTSC_M).
                            default is PAL
  *   "CARD0"            -> specify one video device (here: /dev/video0)
                            which should receive this channel.
  *   "CARD1"               All other devices will not switch to this channel. 
  *   "CARD2"               (useful for external video inputs.) 
  *   "CARD3"               CARD0 is /dev/video0, CARD1 is /dev/video1 and 
  *   "CARD4"               so on. Be aware, that a full-featured DVB card
  *   "CARD5"               or other video devices might also have a 
  *   "CARD6"               /dev/videoXX. NOTE: if not specified *all* pvrinput
  *   "CARD7"               devices will try to receive this channel.

NOTE: You can specify other video standards like PAL_DK, SECAM_DK or NTSC_M_JP.
      Have a look at cPvrDevice::ParseChannel in device.c 

NOTE: /dev/video0../dev/video7 supported only.

OSD main menu
-------------
There is a small OSD window for setting up the picture parameters (brightness,
contrast, saturation, hue). It can be reached from the main menu (if enabled in
the plugin settings). Use the Up/Down keys to switch between the parameters
and Left/Right to change a value. Press Ok to save the settings and close the
window. Menu/Back just closes the window without saving the values.

Radio
-----
The PVR150 (some revisions), PVR350, PVR500(first device only),
PVRUSB2 and obviously some versions of PVR250 have a built-in radio tuner
which can be used with pvrinput. (The radio tuner of the HVR 1900
is up to now not supported by the pvrusb2 driver.)
Use the RADIO parameter in channels.conf to specify a radio channel.
VPID should be set to 0.

If you use a PVR350 as output device, you need pvr350-plugin version 1.7.0
from 11-2009 or later. Older versions of the pvr 350-plugin needed a video
stream to play audio (VPID=301), but this pvrinput versions does not generate
video for pvrinput radio streams.

Because the radio audio volume level is much lower, you can set radio and TV
audio volume separately for TV and FM radio.

vdr-1.6.x
---------
There is a bug in vdr 1.6.0 and 1.6.0-1 which leads to segfaults when stopping
vdr. This is fixed in the VDR maintenance patch 1.6.0-2, so it is highly
recommended to use both maintenance patches (1.6.0-1 and 1.6.0-2). 

vdr-1.7.x
---------
With 1.7.13 the "plugin-param-patch" was integrated into the vdr, so check your
channels.conf when upgrading to this version or up.

pvrusb2 & channel switching
---------------------------
To make channel switching smoother, we need to clear the encoder by stopping it
and restart it after tuning is done. This allows to start exactly on an i-frame
of the new channel, without audio/video interferences.

Unlike the ivtv driver, the pvrusb2 driver has no ioctls (driver commands) to do
this. We can only close and reopen the device, which also stops the encoder.
Unfortunately it happens randomly that we get a blank screen on the new
channel. This will only happen on old models (PVRUSB2 model
29xxx) with saa7115 digitizer chip. The newer models (PVRUSB2 model 24xxx and
HVR 1900) have a different digitizer.

A newer driver which fixes this problem is available: 
http://www.isely.net/pipermail/pvrusb2/2010-February/002734.html

This patch is in the main v4l-dvb hg and will be in kernel 2.6.34.

You could also patch and recompile your pvrusb2 driver in a simpler way: 

--- v4l-dvb-309f16461cf4-orig/linux/drivers/media/video/pvrusb2/pvrusb2-hdw.c	
2009-12-05 13:34:21.000000000 +0100
+++ v4l-dvb-309f16461cf4-patched/linux/drivers/media/video/pvrusb2/pvrusb2-
hdw.c	2009-12-24 22:42:49.746899065 +0100
@@ -4689,6 +4689,7 @@
 		del_timer_sync(&hdw->quiescent_timer);
 		if (hdw->flag_decoder_missed) return 0;
 		if (pvr2_decoder_enable(hdw,!0) < 0) return 0;
+		msleep(300);
 		hdw->state_decoder_quiescent = 0;
 		hdw->state_decoder_run = !0;
 	}


pvrusb2 & osdteletext
---------------------
The pvrusb2 driver does not support sliced vbi, so the osdteletext-plugin
won't work.

bilingual broadcastings
-----------------------
The driver default audio mode is stereo. According to 
http://v4l2spec.bytesex.org/spec/r12342.htm#TUNER-AUDMODE
it is now necessary to set the audio mode to  V4L2_TUNER_MODE_LANG1_LANG2,
otherwise you will only get the first language.
The default mode of the plugin is V4L2_TUNER_MODE_LANG1_LANG2
(bilingual), which should be well for all broadcastings.
MythTV also uses this mode.

If you use a PVR350 for playback with the pvr350-plugin, you need version
2008-05-17 or higher to be able to select the languages. Starting with that
version, the pvr350-plugin supports SetAudioChannel() and GetAudioChannel().

switching between different PVR devices
---------------------------------------
At least with vdr 1.6.0, you can use the femon plugin and switch with 
the "Left" and "Right" keys between the cards. This is useful if you want
to start a recording from an extern input. With femon you can choose the
card that is actually connected to an extern video source.
(Note: you can also configure the card in the channels.conf)

plugin settings
---------------
The plugin calls the driver for its default values and sets them. Due to a
driver bug, this can lead to wrong values. It was fixed for ivtv in v4l-dvb hg in
July 2008. Have a look at  http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/ivtv/devel/38637.
A similar in the pvrusb2 driver was fixed in April 2009.

Therefore it is recommended to check the plugin settings and adjust them if necessary.
It is especially important to set the Audio sampling rate to 48 KHz.

These are the default values as they should appear in a setup.conf (which had no
pvrinput-entries before) after storing:

pvrinput.AspectRatio = 1                         //4:3
pvrinput.AudioBitrate = 10                       //224 kBit/s
pvrinput.AudioSampling = 1                       //48 KHz
pvrinput.AudioVolumeFM = 62535                   //100%
pvrinput.AudioVolumeTVCommon = 62258             //95%
pvrinput.AudioVolumeTVException = 62258          //95%
pvrinput.AudioVolumeTVExceptionCard = 8          //AudioVolumeTVCommon for all cards
pvrinput.BitrateMode = 0                         //VBR
pvrinput.Brightness = 128                        //50%
pvrinput.Contrast = 64                           //50%
pvrinput.FilterChromaMedianBottom = 0            //Chroma Median Filter Bottom = 0
pvrinput.FilterChromaMedianTop = 255             //Chroma Median Filter Top = 255
pvrinput.FilterChromaSpatialType = 1             //Chroma Spatial Filter Type = 1D horizontal
pvrinput.FilterLumaMedianBottom = 0              //Luma Median Filter Bottom = 0
pvrinput.FilterLumaMedianTop = 255               //Luma Median Filter Top = 255
pvrinput.FilterLumaSpatialType = 1               //Luma Spatial Filter Type = 1D horizontal
pvrinput.FilterMedianType = 0                    //Median Filter Type = off
pvrinput.FilterSpatial = 0                       //Strength Spatial Filter = 0
pvrinput.FilterSpatialMode = 0                   //Mode Spatial Video Filter = manual
pvrinput.FilterTemporal = 8                      //Strength Temporal Video Filter = 8
pvrinput.FilterTemporalMode = 0                  //Mode Temporal Video Filter = manual
pvrinput.HDPVR_AudioEncoding = 0                 // AAC = 0, AC3 = 1
pvrinput.HDPVR_AudioInput = 0                    // RCA back = 0, RCA front = 1, SPDIF = 2 (needs audio encoding = 0)
pvrinput.HideMainMenuEntry = 1                   //yes (hide main menu entry)
pvrinput.Hue = 0                                 //50%
pvrinput.LogLevel = 2                            //errors and info messages
pvrinput.Saturation = 64                         //50%
pvrinput.SliceVBI = 1                            //only for ivtv-based cards: yes (slice VBI teletext)
pvrinput.StreamType = 0                          //V4L2_MPEG_STREAM_TYPE_MPEG2_PS
pvrinput.TunerAudioMode = 4                      //bilingual
pvrinput.UseOnlyCard = 8                         //use all cards
pvrinput.UseExternChannelSwitchScript = 0        //don't call externchannelswitch.sh
pvrinput.ExternChannelSwitchSleep = 0            //sleep x seconds after call of externchannelswitch.sh
pvrinput.VideoBitrateTV = 6000                   //6 MBit/s

Using filters may increase the picture quality, but the default value of 8
for the temporal filter may cause ghosting effects. If this is the case,
try smaller values.

These values are "hidden", which means they are not listed in the plugin menu and will
not appear in setup.conf unless you add them manually:

pvrinput.ExternChannelSwitchSleep = 0            // sleep x seconds after call of externchannelswitch.sh
pvrinput.ReadBufferSizeKB = 64                   // size of buffer for reader in KB (default: 64 KB)
pvrinput.TsBufferSizeMB = 3                      // ring buffer size in MB (default: 3 MB)
pvrinput.TsBufferPrefillRatio = 0                // wait with delivering packets to vdr till buffer is filled

Earlier versions of the plugin used a ReadBufferSize of 256KB. It looks like
some output devices work better with smaller values. If you experience
stuttering after channel switching try increasing pvrinput.ReadBufferSizeKB.

You could also try to increase pvrinput.TsBufferSizeMB to e.g. 6 MB

Use for example "pvrinput.TsBufferPrefillRatio = 20" to fill the TSBuffer up to
20% before delivering packets to vdr.

Force the plugin to use a certain card
--------------------------------------
By default the plugin will detect and use all supported cards. For testing
purposes it may be useful to test the behaviour of a certain card. This could
be done by using the CARD parameter in the channels.conf, but there is
also an easier way by using the PvrSetup.UseOnlyCard value. A value of 0 to 7
will force the plugin to use only /dev/videoX, while x is the value of 
PvrSetup.UseOnlyCard. "PvrSetup.UseOnlyCard = 8" means that all detected
devices will be used.
Note: Don't change vdr's setup.conf while vdr is running, it won't take effect
and will be overwritten by vdr when vdr terminates.
There is also an OSD menu entry to allow setting PvrSetup.UseOnlyCard while
vdr is running. Have a look in the 'Expert Parameters' submenu.

Using Stream type V4L2_MPEG_STREAM_TYPE_MPEG2_DVD (not possible for HD PVR)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some users have reported that recordings which were done using this stream type
work better with the burn plugin or mplex. 
If you want to use this stream, you can use PvrSetup.StreamType=1 by editing
the setup.conf. There is also a menu entry in the 'Expert Parameters' submenu.

Adjust different Audio volume levels (not possible for HD PVR)
--------------------------------------------------------------
Different cards may have different tuners. As a result the audio volume
on some cards may be much lower than on others. 
You can specify a common audio volume level which will be used for all cards
by default.
An exception audio level can be set for certain cards. You can choose the card
which shall use the exception audio level by its /dev/videoX number, or by its
card name.
(Note: A PVR500 consists of two PVR150) 

externchannelswitch
-------------------
You may want to use a Digital Receiver connected to the external inputs of the
PVR device. 
You can use more than one channels.conf entries for the same input, as long as the
combination of frequency, NID, TID and SID (Service-ID) is unique:

Digibox Channel 1:1:PVRINPUT|SVIDEO1:P:0:301=2:300:305:0:9001:0:0:0
Digibox Channel 10:1:PVRINPUT|SVIDEO1:P:0:301=2:300:305:0:9010:0:0:0
Digibox Channel 101:1:PVRINPUT|SVIDEO1:P:0:301=2:300:305:0:9101:0:0:0 

Copy the externchannelswitch.sh.example script as externchannelswitch.sh into
your CONFDIR/pvrinput (e.g. /etc/vdr/pvrinput). When switching to a channel with
an external input, pvrinput will call this script with three arguments:
-SID
-vdr channel number
-card number (/dev/videoX) of the choosen PVR device
-frequency

It is up to you what you want to do in this script. For example, you could
use the lirc irsend command. The scripts contains an exampe for usage of dct6200.  

Note: You need to activate 'use externchannelswitch.sh' in the
'Expert Parameters' submenu.