Hello I just noticed that my external LG DVD drive, which happens to have video input, is actually recognized by Ubuntu 8.10's kernel as a v4l device: [ 58.236269] em28xx #0: V4L2 device registered as /dev/video0 and /dev/vbi0 [ 58.236272] em28xx #0: Found Unknown EM2750/28xx video grabber [ 58.236350] em28xx audio device (eb1a:2861): interface 1, class 1 [...] [ 11.640274] scsi 6:0:0:0: CD-ROM HL-DT-ST DVD-RAM GSA-E20N 1.03 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 Now, it could be handy sometimes to get some video input in through there, so I tried it with my pocket cam's video output (which hopefully works itself...). Nothing worked, in the end, getting blackness or sometimes blackness with the bottom of the screen including green lines (that with streamer -n pal -s 720x576 -o foo.ppm). cat /dev/video0, like other ways to try to access the device, do light up an access led on the drive. Is there some idiot-proof way to see if it can be set up properly to receive video or is there just no support for this particular thing? I've not much experience with v4l, but see below for some stuff I tried. mjr@phantom:~$ xawtv This is xawtv-3.95.dfsg.1, running on Linux/x86_64 (2.6.27-9-generic) xinerama 0: 1920x1200+1920+0 xinerama 1: 1920x1200+0+0 WARNING: No DGA direct video mode for this display. /dev/video0 [v4l2]: no overlay support v4l-conf had some trouble, trying to continue anyway Warning: Cannot convert string "-*-ledfixed-medium-r-*--39-*-*-*-c-*-*-*" to type FontStruct ioctl: VIDIOC_S_INPUT(int=0): Invalid argument mjr@phantom:~$ v4lctl -c /dev/video0 setinput Composite invalid value for input: Composite valid choices for "input": (Yes, there's nothing there for valid choices.) mjr@phantom:~$ dov4l -q dov4l v0.9, (C) 2003-2006 by folkert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Canonical name for this interface: Unknown EM2750/28xx video grabb Type of interface: Can capture to memory Number of radio/tv channels if appropriate: 0 Number of audio devices if appropriate: 0 Maximum capture width in pixels: 720 Maximum capture height in pixels: 576 Minimum capture width in pixels: 48 Minimum capture height in pixels: 32 Image size (x,y): 720, 576 Brightness: 32896 Hue: 32896 Colour: 32896 Contrast: 32896 Whiteness: 0 Depth: 16 Palette: Describe me mjr@phantom:~$ mplayer tv:// MPlayer 1.0rc2-4.3.2 (C) 2000-2007 MPlayer Team CPU: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4400+ (Family: 15, Model: 35, Stepping: 2) CPUflags: MMX: 1 MMX2: 1 3DNow: 1 3DNow2: 1 SSE: 1 SSE2: 1 Compiled with runtime CPU detection. mplayer: could not connect to socket mplayer: No such file or directory Failed to open LIRC support. You will not be able to use your remote control. Playing tv://. TV file format detected. Selected driver: v4l2 name: Video 4 Linux 2 input author: Martin Olschewski <olschewski@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> comment: first try, more to come ;-) Selected device: Unknown EM2750/28xx video grabb Capabilites: video capture audio read/write streaming supported norms: 0 = NTSC; 1 = NTSC-M; 2 = NTSC-M-JP; 3 = NTSC-M-KR; 4 = NTSC-443; 5 = PAL; 6 = PAL-BG; 7 = PAL-H; 8 = PAL-I; 9 = PAL-DK; 10 = PAL-M; 11 = PAL-N; 12 = PAL-Nc; 13 = PAL-60; 14 = SECAM; 15 = SECAM-B; 16 = SECAM-G; 17 = SECAM-H; 18 = SECAM-DK; 19 = SECAM-L; 20 = SECAM-Lc; inputs: Current input: 0 Current format: YUYV v4l2: ioctl enum input failed: Invalid argument Selected input hasn't got a tuner! xscreensaver_disable: Could not find XScreenSaver window. GNOME screensaver disabled ========================================================================== Opening video decoder: [raw] RAW Uncompressed Video VDec: vo config request - 640 x 480 (preferred colorspace: Packed YUY2) VDec: using Packed YUY2 as output csp (no 0) Movie-Aspect is undefined - no prescaling applied. VO: [xv] 640x480 => 640x480 Packed YUY2 Selected video codec: [rawyuy2] vfm: raw (RAW YUY2) ========================================================================== Audio: no sound Starting playback... ^C mjr@phantom:~$ cat /dev/video0 | od -x 0000000 8010 8010 8010 8010 8010 8010 8010 8010 * ^C mjr@phantom:~$ cat /dev/video0 | od -x [...] 3075400 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 * 3100240 8010 8010 8010 8010 8010 8010 8010 8010 * 3103100 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 * 3105740 8010 8010 8010 8010 8010 8010 8010 8010 [...] And so forth; any suggestions? -- Mikko Rauhala <mjr@xxxxxx> - http://www.iki.fi/mjr/blog/ The Finnish Pirate Party - http://piraattipuolue.fi/ World Transhumanist Association - http://transhumanism.org/ Singularity Institute - http://singinst.org/ -- video4linux-list mailing list Unsubscribe mailto:video4linux-list-request@xxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/video4linux-list