To watch TV programs with AVerTV Volar HX/AX/MAX, you need TV applications.
Some popular TV applications are listed below for your reference.
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Kaffeine
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Kaffeine is a digital TV application for watching DVB-T programs.
Please refer to the following website for download and installation:
http://kaffeine.kde.org
Ubuntu Linux is tested with Kaffeine and works with our driver.
To use Kaffeine in Ubuntu, please install two packages:
kaffeine, xine-ui
Do the following at the terminal window to install the packages:
$ sudo apt-get install kaffeine xine-ui
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MPlayer
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MPlayer is a multimedia player capable of supporting variety of media sources.
In this case, MPlayer can be used for watching NTSC/PAL/SECAM/DVB-T TV programs.
TV audio is supported by MPlayer directly.
Ubuntu Linux has been tested with MPlayer and works with our driver.
To use MPlayer in Ubuntu, please install by doing the following at the terminal
window:
$ sudo apt-get install mplayer
To watch NTSC TV programs, for example, please do the following:
$ mplayer tv:// -tv driver=v4l2:device=/dev/video0:alsa:adevice=hw.1,0:amode=1:audiorate=48000:forceaudio:volume=100:immediatemode=0:normid=12:freq=409250:outfmt=YUY2
To watch PAL TV programs, for example, please do the following:
$ mplayer tv:// -tv driver=v4l2:device=/dev/video0:alsa:adevice=hw.1,0:amode=1:audiorate=48000:forceaudio:volume=100:immediatemode=0:normid=0:freq=147250:outfmt=YUY2
The above example can also be used in the case of external inputs such as
composite and S-Video.
If video signal is from composite and is NTSC:
$ mplayer tv:// -tv driver=v4l2:device=/dev/video0:alsa:adevice=hw.1,0:amode=1:audiorate=48000:forceaudio:volume=100:immediatemode=0:normid=12:outfmt=YUY2:input=1
If video signal is from S-Video and is NTSC:
$ mplayer tv:// -tv driver=v4l2:device=/dev/video0:alsa:adevice=hw.1,0:amode=1:audiorate=48000:forceaudio:volume=100:immediatemode=0:normid=12:outfmt=YUY2:input=2
If video signal is from composite and is PAL:
$ mplayer tv:// -tv driver=v4l2:device=/dev/video0:alsa:adevice=hw.1,0:amode=1:audiorate=48000:forceaudio:volume=100:immediatemode=0:normid=0:outfmt=YUY2:input=1
If video signal is from S-Video and is PAL:
$ mplayer tv:// -tv driver=v4l2:device=/dev/video0:alsa:adevice=hw.1,0:amode=1:audiorate=48000:forceaudio:volume=100:immediatemode=0:normid=0:outfmt=YUY2:input=2
MPlayer also supports receiving FM radio from our tuner products.
$ mplayer radio://104.9/capture -radio device=/dev/radio0:adevice=hw=1,0 -rawaudio rate=48000
This example receives FM radio broadcast from 104.9MHz. Note that MPlayer has unidentified issues with receiving
FM radio on some platforms. This causes the above example to successfuly execute but no sound can be heard.
Please note that the ALSA audio device specified in the above examples may change, depending on the audio hardware
available in the system. For a listing of audio devices, please do:
$ cat /proc/asound/pcm
00-02: ALC883 Analog : ALC883 Analog : capture 1
00-01: ALC883 Digital : ALC883 Digital : playback 1 : capture 1
00-00: ALC883 Analog : ALC883 Analog : playback 1 : capture 1
01-00: H826 PCM : H826 : capture 1
In this case, the audio device from H826 tuner must be specified as "adevice=hw.1,0".
To watch DVB-T TV programs, please fist use "dvbscan" to perform channel scan
and copy the resulting program list into ~/.mplayer/channels.conf.
Then issue the following command:
$ mplayer dvb://BBC
In this case there must be a program name called "BBC" in ~/.mplayer/channels.conf.
Please also note that MPlayer provides a "slave" mode in which commands can be
issued to mplayer to change
TV channel and other settings as well. A list of commands can be obtained by
running the following commands:
$ mplayer -input cmdlist
For detailed usage of MPlayer, please refer to the official MPlayer website:
http://www.mplayerhq.hu
For detailed information of "dvbscan", please refer to the following website:
http://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/Scan
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MEncoder
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mencoder (MPlayer's Movie Encoder) is a simple movie encoder, designed
to encode MPlayer-playable movies (see above) to other MPlayer-playable
formats (see below).
Ubuntu Linux has been tested with MEncoder and works with our driver.
To use MEncoder in Ubuntu, please install by doing the following at the terminal
window:
$ sudo apt-get install mencoder
To record "test.avi" in mpeg4 format from composite, for example, please do the following:
$ mencoder tv:// -o test.avi -oac copy -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4 -tv driver=v4l2:device=/dev/video0:alsa:adevice=hw.1,0:amode=1:audiorate=48000:forceaudio:volume=100:immediatemode=0:normid=12:input=1:outfmt=YUY2
To record "test.avi" in raw data format from SVideo, for example, please do the following:
$ mencoder tv:// -o test.avi -oac copy -ovc copy -tv driver=v4l2:device=/dev/video0:alsa:adevice=hw.1,0:amode=1:audiorate=48000:forceaudio:volume=100:immediatemode=0:normid=12:input=1:outfmt=YUY2
To record "tv55.avi" in raw data format from TV channel 55, for example, please do the following:
$ mencoder tv:// -o tv55.avi -ovc copy -oac copy -tv driver=v4l2:device=/dev/video0:alsa:adevice=hw.1,0:amode=1:audiorate=48000:forceaudio:volume=100:immediatemode=0:normid=12:outfmt=YUY2:input=0:chanlist=us-cable:channel=55:buffersize=16
For detailed usage of MEncoder, please refer to the official MEncoder website:
http://www.mplayerhq.hu
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TVTime
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TVTime is an analog TV application for watching NTSC/PAL/SECAM tv programs.
Please refer to the following website for download and installation:
http://tvtime.sourceforge.net
Ubuntu Linux is tested with TVTime and works with our driver. Although,
TVTime does not support TV audio with our driver. To get audio from TV,
issue the following command while watch TVTime:
$ arecord -D hw:1,0 -r 48000 -c 2 -f S16_LE | aplay -
Please refer to ALSA documents for help with arecord and aplay commands.
Also refer to the following Wiki pages for ALSA and TV audio related issues:
http://www.linuxtv.org/v4lwiki/index.php/Saa7134-alsa
Besides using arecord and aplay, using "sox" is also a good idea.
First use "pavucontrol" to discover your audio hardware, including A827/H826
and the sound card.
For Ubuntu 8.10:
$ sox -c 2 -s -w -r 48000 -t alsa hw:0 -t alsa -w -r 32000 front:2
For Ubuntu 9.04:
$ sox -c 2 -s -r 48000 -t alsa hw:1 -t alsa -r 48000 -d
Please refer to the documentations of sox for detailed usage.