3. Configuring a TV tuner: Avermedia AVerTV 305/307¶

• Configuring a TV tuner: Avermedia AVerTV 305/307
• Probing for modules
• Loading modules
• tvtime
• SECAM standard
• PAL standard
• Configuring for both PAL and SECAM
• mplayer
• Read
• Write

Probing for modules¶

You will need the following modules to use your TV tuner: "tuner", "saa7134", "tda9887".

Check if all necessary modules are here and run them if they are not running yet:

modprobe tuner
modprobe saa7134
modprobe tda9887

Loading modules¶

Create a file in /etc/modules.d and name it to your liking, e.g. saa7134:

touch /etc/modules.d/saa7134

The saa7134 file must contain the following lines:

alias char-major-81 videodev
alias char-major-81-0 saa7134
options saa7134 card=102 tuner=38 secam=dk i2c_scan=1 alsa=1
options tuner secam=d
options tda9887 port2=0 port1=1

For modules to be loaded at system booting, execute:

update-modules --force

You can reboot now.

tvtime¶

You will have to install tvtime:

emerge media-tv/tvtime

SECAM standard¶

Configuration: method 1

Select SECAM, the applicable channel table and launch the query (from the tvtime menu).

Configuration: method 2

1. Select SECAM, the CUSTOM channel table.
2. Quit tvtime.
3. Execute:
   

   tvtime-scanner
   tvtime
   

PAL standard¶

The same as for SECAM applies here, just select PAL instead of SECAM.

Configuring for both PAL and SECAM¶

Method 1

1. Select SECAM, the applicable channel table and launch the query.
2. Select PAL, restart and launch the query.
3. Edit the file ~/.tvtime/stationlist.xml; it will include two sections.
   For SECAM mode, all channels will be listed with their settings.
   The active option means that the channel is configured (Sure Signal - 1, No Signal - 0).
   The same will be listed below for PAL mode, with active channels that belong there.
   Each channel is defined by the norm option: norm=SECAM or norm=PAL, respectively.
4. Add all channels you need from the PAL section to the SECAM section with active=1, norm=PAL
5. Select SECAM and restart.

Method 2

Execute:

tvtime-scanner -n PAL && tvtime-scanner -n SECAM

Edit the ~/.tvtime/stationlist.xml file as described for the first method above (sections 3 to 5).

mplayer¶

Read¶

mplayer tv:// -tv device=/dev/video0:driver=v4l2:freq=144.25:normid=17

where: * freq=144.25 stands for frequency (after scanning, you can look up the value in ~/.tvtime/stationlist.xml) * normid=17 stands for SECAM (when launching mplayer, available standards and normid's will be displayed)

Write¶

mencoder tv:// -tv device=/dev/video0:driver=v4l2:freq=144.25:normid=17 -ffourcc XVID  -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vbitrate=1800:v4mv -vf pp=fd -audio-demuxer 20  -oac mp3lame -lameopts cbr:preset=128:mode=1 -o ./Video.avi

The ffourcc XVID option assures compatibility with common video player devices and with Windows.

mpeg4 video codec
Video bit rate: vbitrate=1800. The higher is the bit rate, the better quality you will get (at the cost of a higher processor load). Values above 2500 only make sense if the original is very good.
Common devices support video bit rate up to 2000.

Removing dot crawl: -vf pp=fd
mp3 audio codec (the lame codec must be installed)
Sound bit rate 128

Writing to the directory where it was launched; the file name is ./Video.avi