<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
<!--
The FreeBSD Documentation Project
$FreeBSD$
-->
<chapter id="multimedia">
<chapterinfo>
<authorgroup>
<author>
<firstname>Ross</firstname>
<surname>Lippert</surname>
<contrib>Edited by </contrib>
</author>
</authorgroup>
</chapterinfo>
<title>Multimedia</title>
<sect1 id="multimedia-synopsis">
<title>Synopsis</title>
<para>&os; supports a wide variety of sound cards, allowing users
to enjoy high fidelity output from a &os; system. This includes
the ability to record and playback audio in the MPEG Audio Layer
3 (<acronym>MP3</acronym>), Waveform Audio File
(<acronym>WAV</acronym>), Ogg Vorbis, and other formats. The
&os; Ports Collection contains many applications for editing
recorded audio, adding sound effects, and controlling attached
MIDI devices.</para>
<para>&os; also supports the playback of video files and DVDs.
The &os; Ports Collection contains applications to encode,
convert, and playback various video media.</para>
<para>This chapter describes how to configure sound cards, video
playback, TV tuner cards, and scanners on &os;. It also
describes some of the applications which are available for
using these devices.</para>
<para>After reading this chapter, you will know how to:</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>Configure a sound card on os;.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Troubleshoot the sound setup.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Playback and encode MP3s and other audio.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Prepare a &os; system for video playback.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Playback DVDs, <filename>.mpg</filename>, and
<filename>.avi</filename> files.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Rip CD and DVD content into files.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Configure a TV card.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Install and setup MythTV on &os;</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Configure an image scanner.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>How to configure an image scanner.</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>Before reading this chapter, you should:</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Know how to configure and install a new kernel
(<xref linkend="kernelconfig"/>).</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<warning>
<para>Audio CDs have specialized encodings which differ from the
usual ISO-filesystem. This means that they should not be
mounted using &man.mount.8;.</para>
</warning>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="sound-setup">
<sect1info>
<authorgroup>
<author>
<firstname>Moses</firstname>
<surname>Moore</surname>
<contrib>Contributed by </contrib>
<!-- 20 November 2000 -->
</author>
</authorgroup>
<authorgroup>
<author>
<firstname>Marc</firstname>
<surname>Fonvieille</surname>
<contrib>Enhanced by </contrib>
<!-- 13 September 2004 -->
</author>
</authorgroup>
</sect1info>
<title>Setting Up the Sound Card</title>
<sect2 id="sound-device">
<title>Configuring the System</title>
<indexterm><primary>PCI</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>sound cards</primary></indexterm>
<para>Before beginning the configuration, determine the model of
the sound card and the chip it uses. &os; supports a wide
variety of sound cards. Check the supported audio devices
list of the <ulink url="&rel.current.hardware;">Hardware
Notes</ulink> to see if the card is supported and which &os;
driver it uses.</para>
<indexterm>
<primary>kernel</primary>
<secondary>configuration</secondary>
</indexterm>
<para>In order to use the sound device, the proper device driver
must be loaded. This may be accomplished in one of two ways.
The easiest way is to load a kernel module for the sound card
with &man.kldload.8;. This example loads the driver for a
Creative &soundblaster; Live! sound card:</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>kldload snd_emu10k1</userinput></screen>
<para>To automate the loading of this driver at boot time, add the
driver to <filename>/boot/loader.conf</filename>. The line for
this driver is:</para>
<programlisting>snd_emu10k1_load="YES"</programlisting>
<para>Other available sound modules are listed in
<filename>/boot/defaults/loader.conf</filename>. When unsure
which driver to use, load the <filename>snd_driver</filename>
module:</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>kldload snd_driver</userinput></screen>
<para>This is a metadriver which loads all of the most common
sound drivers and can be used to speed up the search for the
correct driver. It is also possible to load all sound drivers
by adding the metadriver to
<filename>/boot/loader.conf</filename>.</para>
<para>To determine which driver was selected for the sound card
after loading the <filename>snd_driver</filename> metadriver,
type <command>cat /dev/sndstat</command>.</para>
<para>Users who prefer to statically compile in support for the
sound card in a custom kernel should refer to the instructions
in the next section. For more information about recompiling a
kernel, refer to <xref linkend="kernelconfig"/>.</para>
<sect3>
<title>Configuring a Custom Kernel with Sound Support</title>
<para>When using a custom kernel to provide sound support, make
sure that the audio framework driver exists in the custom kernel
configuration file:</para>
<programlisting>device sound</programlisting>
<para>Next, add support for the sound card. Therefore, you need
to know which driver supports the card. To continue the example
of the Creative &soundblaster; Live! sound card from the
previous section, use the following line in the custom kernel
configuration file:</para>
<programlisting>device snd_emu10k1</programlisting>
<para>Be sure to read the manual page of the driver for the
syntax to use. The explicit syntax for the kernel
configuration of every supported sound driver can also be
found in <filename>/usr/src/sys/conf/NOTES</filename>.</para>
<para>Non-PnP ISA sound cards may require the IRQ and I/O port
settings of the card to be added to
<filename>/boot/device.hints</filename>. During the boot
process, &man.loader.8; reads this file and passes the
settings to the kernel. For example, an old Creative
&soundblaster; 16 ISA non-PnP card will use the
&man.snd.sbc.4; driver in conjunction with
<literal>snd_sb16</literal>. For this card, the following
lines must be added to the kernel configuration file:</para>
<programlisting>device snd_sbc
device snd_sb16</programlisting>
<para>If the card uses the <literal>0x220</literal> I/O port and
IRQ <literal>5</literal>, these lines must also be added to
<filename>/boot/device.hints</filename>:</para>
<programlisting>hint.sbc.0.at="isa"
hint.sbc.0.port="0x220"
hint.sbc.0.irq="5"
hint.sbc.0.drq="1"
hint.sbc.0.flags="0x15"</programlisting>
<para>In this case, the card uses the <literal>0x220</literal>
I/O port and the IRQ <literal>5</literal>.</para>
<para>The syntax used in
<filename>/boot/device.hints</filename> is described in
&man.sound.4; and the manual page for the driver of the sound
card.</para>
<para>The settings shown above are the defaults. In some
cases, the IRQ or other settings may need to be changed to
match the card. Refer to &man.snd.sbc.4; for more information
about this card.</para>
</sect3>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="sound-testing">
<title>Testing the Sound Card</title>
<para>After rebooting into the custom kernel, or after loading
the required module, the sound card should appear in the system
message buffer. Run &man.dmesg.8; and look for a message
like:</para>
<screen>pcm0: <Intel ICH3 (82801CA)> port 0xdc80-0xdcbf,0xd800-0xd8ff irq 5 at device 31.5 on pci0
pcm0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
pcm0: <Cirrus Logic CS4205 AC97 Codec></screen>
<para>The status of the sound card may also be checked using this
command:</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>cat /dev/sndstat</userinput>
FreeBSD Audio Driver (newpcm)
Installed devices:
pcm0: <Intel ICH3 (82801CA)> at io 0xd800, 0xdc80 irq 5 bufsz 16384
kld snd_ich (1p/2r/0v channels duplex default)</screen>
<para>The output may vary between systems. If no
<devicename>pcm</devicename> devices are listed, go back and
review the kernel configuration file and make sure the correct
device driver was chosen. Common problems are listed in <xref
linkend="troubleshooting"/>.</para>
<para>If all goes well, the sound card should now work in os;. If
the CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive's audio-out pins are properly
connected to the sound card, one can insert an audio CD in the
drive and play it with &man.cdcontrol.1;:</para>
<screen>&prompt.user; <userinput>cdcontrol -f /dev/acd0 play 1</userinput></screen>
<para>Various applications, such as <filename
role="package">audio/workman</filename> provide a friendlier
interface. The <filename role="package">audio/mpg123</filename>
port can be installed to listen to MP3 audio files.</para>
<para>Another quick way to test the card is to send data to
<filename>/dev/dsp</filename>:</para>
<screen>&prompt.user; <userinput>cat <replaceable>filename</replaceable> > /dev/dsp</userinput></screen>
<para>where
<filename><replaceable>filename</replaceable></filename> can
be any file. This command should produce some noise, confirming
that the sound card is actually working.</para>
<note>
<para>The <devicename>/dev/dsp*</devicename> device nodes will
be created automatically as needed. When not in use, they
do not exist and will not appear in the output of
&man.ls.1;.</para>
</note>
<para>Sound card mixer levels can be changed using &man.mixer.8;.
More details can be found in &man.mixer.8;.</para>
<sect3 id="troubleshooting">
<title>Common Problems</title>
<indexterm><primary>device nodes</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>I/O port</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>IRQ</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>DSP</primary></indexterm>
<informaltable frame="none" pgwide="1">
<tgroup cols="2">
<thead>
<row>
<entry>Error</entry>
<entry>Solution</entry>
</row>
</thead>
<tbody>
<row>
<entry><errorname>sb_dspwr(XX) timed
out</errorname></entry>
<entry><para>The I/O port is not set
correctly.</para></entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><errorname>bad irq XX</errorname></entry>
<entry><para>The IRQ is set incorrectly. Make sure
that the set IRQ and the sound IRQ are the
same.</para></entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><errorname>xxx: gus pcm not attached, out of
memory</errorname></entry>
<entry><para>There is not enough available memory to
use the device.</para></entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><errorname>xxx: can't open
/dev/dsp!</errorname></entry>
<entry><para>Check with <command>fstat | grep
dsp</command> if another application is holding the
device open. Noteworthy troublemakers are
<application>esound</application> and
<application>KDE</application>'s sound
support.</para></entry>
</row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</informaltable>
<para>Another issue is that modern graphics cards often come
with their own sound driver, for use with
<acronym>HDMI</acronym> and similar. This sound device will
sometimes be enumerated before the sound card and the sound
card will subsequently not be used as the default playback
device. To check if this is the case, run
<application>dmesg</application> and look for
<literal>pcm</literal>. The output looks something like
this:</para>
<programlisting>...
hdac0: HDA Driver Revision: 20100226_0142
hdac1: HDA Driver Revision: 20100226_0142
hdac0: HDA Codec #0: NVidia (Unknown)
hdac0: HDA Codec #1: NVidia (Unknown)
hdac0: HDA Codec #2: NVidia (Unknown)
hdac0: HDA Codec #3: NVidia (Unknown)
pcm0: <HDA NVidia (Unknown) PCM #0 DisplayPort> at cad 0 nid 1 on hdac0
pcm1: <HDA NVidia (Unknown) PCM #0 DisplayPort> at cad 1 nid 1 on hdac0
pcm2: <HDA NVidia (Unknown) PCM #0 DisplayPort> at cad 2 nid 1 on hdac0
pcm3: <HDA NVidia (Unknown) PCM #0 DisplayPort> at cad 3 nid 1 on hdac0
hdac1: HDA Codec #2: Realtek ALC889
pcm4: <HDA Realtek ALC889 PCM #0 Analog> at cad 2 nid 1 on hdac1
pcm5: <HDA Realtek ALC889 PCM #1 Analog> at cad 2 nid 1 on hdac1
pcm6: <HDA Realtek ALC889 PCM #2 Digital> at cad 2 nid 1 on hdac1
pcm7: <HDA Realtek ALC889 PCM #3 Digital> at cad 2 nid 1 on hdac1
...</programlisting>
<para>Here the graphics card (<literal>NVidia</literal>) has
been enumerated before the sound card (<literal>Realtek
ALC889</literal>). To use the sound card as the default
playback device, change <varname>hw.snd.default_unit</varname>
to the unit that should be used for playback:</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>sysctl hw.snd.default_unit=<replaceable>n</replaceable></userinput></screen>
<para>Here, <literal>n</literal> is the number of the sound
device to use. In this example, it should be
<literal>4</literal>. Make this change permanent by adding
the following line to
<filename>/etc/sysctl.conf</filename>:</para>
<programlisting>hw.snd.default_unit=<replaceable>4</replaceable></programlisting>
</sect3>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="sound-multiple-sources">
<sect2info>
<authorgroup>
<author>
<firstname>Munish</firstname>
<surname>Chopra</surname>
<contrib>Contributed by </contrib>
</author>
</authorgroup>
</sect2info>
<title>Utilizing Multiple Sound Sources</title>
<para>It is often desirable to have multiple sources of sound that
are able to play simultaneously. &os; uses <emphasis>Virtual
Sound Channels</emphasis>, which can be enabled using
&man.sysctl.8;. Virtual channels allow one to multiplex the
sound card's playback by mixing sound in the kernel.</para>
<para>To set the number of virtual channels, three
&man.sysctl.8; knobs are available:</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>sysctl dev.pcm.0.play.vchans=4</userinput>
&prompt.root; <userinput>sysctl dev.pcm.0.rec.vchans=4</userinput>
&prompt.root; <userinput>sysctl hw.snd.maxautovchans=4</userinput></screen>
<para>The above example allocates four virtual channels, which
is a practical number for everyday use. Both
<varname>dev.pcm.0.play.vchans=4</varname> and
<varname>dev.pcm.0.rec.vchans=4</varname> are the number of
virtual channels <devicename>pcm0</devicename> has for playback
and recording, and are configurable after a device has been
attached. <literal>hw.snd.maxautovchans</literal> is the number
of virtual channels a new audio device is given when it is
attached using &man.kldload.8;. Since the
<devicename>pcm</devicename> module can be loaded independently
of the hardware drivers, <varname>hw.snd.maxautovchans</varname>
indicates how many virtual channels will be given to devices
when they are attached. Refer to &man.pcm.4; for more
information.</para>
<note>
<para>The number of virtual channels for a device cannot be
changed while it is in use. First, close any programs using
the device, such as music players or sound daemons.</para>
</note>
<para>
The correct <devicename>pcm</devicename> device will
automatically be allocated transparently to a program that
requests <filename>/dev/dsp0</filename>.</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<sect2info>
<authorgroup>
<author>
<firstname>Josef</firstname>
<surname>El-Rayes</surname>
<contrib>Contributed by </contrib>
</author>
</authorgroup>
</sect2info>
<title>Setting Default Values for Mixer Channels</title>
<para>The default values for the different mixer channels are
hardcoded in the source code of the &man.pcm.4; driver. There
are many different applications and daemons that allow values to
be set for the mixer that are remembered between invocations,
but this is not a clean solution. It is possible to set default
mixer values at the driver level. This is accomplished by
defining the appropriate values in
<filename>/boot/device.hints</filename>, as seen in this
example:</para>
<programlisting>hint.pcm.0.vol="50"</programlisting>
<para>This will set the volume channel to a default value of
<literal>50</literal> when the &man.pcm.4; module is
loaded.</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="sound-mp3">
<sect1info>
<authorgroup>
<author>
<firstname>Chern</firstname>
<surname>Lee</surname>
<contrib>Contributed by </contrib>
</author>
</authorgroup>
<!-- 11 Sept 2001 -->
</sect1info>
<title>MP3 Audio</title>
<para>This section describes some <acronym>MP3</acronym>
players available for &os;, how to rip audio CD tracks, and
how to encode and decode <acronym>MP3</acronym>s.</para>
<sect2 id="mp3-players">
<title>MP3 Players</title>
<para>A popular graphical <acronym>MP3</acronym> player is
<application>XMMS</application>.
<application>Winamp</application>
skins can be used with <application>XMMS</application> since
the interface is almost identical to that of Nullsoft's
<application>Winamp</application>.
<application>XMMS</application> also has native plug-in
support.</para>
<para><application>XMMS</application> can be installed from
the <filename role="package">multimedia/xmms</filename> port
or package.</para>
<para><application>XMMS</application>'s interface is intuitive,
with a playlist, graphic equalizer, and more. Those familiar
with <application>Winamp</application> will find
<application>XMMS</application> simple to use.</para>
<para>The <filename role="package">audio/mpg123</filename> port
provides an alternative, command-line <acronym>MP3</acronym>
player.</para>
<para><application>mpg123</application> can be run by specifying
the sound device and the <acronym>MP3</acronym> file on the
command line. Assuming the audio device is
<devicename>/dev/dsp1.0</devicename> and the
<acronym>MP3</acronym> file is
<replaceable>Foobar-GreatestHits.mp3</replaceable>, enter the
following to play the file:</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>mpg123 -a <devicename>/dev/dsp1.0</devicename> <replaceable>Foobar-GreatestHits.mp3</replaceable></userinput>
High Performance MPEG 1.0/2.0/2.5 Audio Player for Layer 1, 2 and 3.
Version 0.59r (1999/Jun/15). Written and copyrights by Michael Hipp.
Uses code from various people. See 'README' for more!
THIS SOFTWARE COMES WITH ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY! USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!
Playing MPEG stream from Foobar-GreatestHits.mp3 ...
MPEG 1.0 layer III, 128 kbit/s, 44100 Hz joint-stereo</screen>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="rip-cd">
<title>Ripping CD Audio Tracks</title>
<para>Before encoding a CD or CD track to
<acronym>MP3</acronym>, the audio data on the CD must be
ripped to the hard drive. This is done by copying the raw CD
Digital Audio (<acronym>CDDA</acronym>) data to
<acronym>WAV</acronym> files.</para>
<para>The <command>cdda2wav</command> tool, which is installed
with the <filename role="package">sysutils/cdrtools</filename>
suite, is used for ripping audio information from CDs and the
information associated with them.</para>
<para>With the audio CD in the drive, the following command can
be issued as <username>root</username> to rip an entire CD
into individual (per track) <acronym>WAV</acronym>
files:</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>cdda2wav -D <replaceable>0,1,0</replaceable> -B</userinput></screen>
<para>The <option>-D <replaceable>0,1,0</replaceable></option>
indicates the SCSI device <devicename>0,1,0</devicename>,
which corresponds to the output of <command>cdrecord
-scanbus</command>.</para>
<para><application>cdda2wav</application> will support ATAPI
(IDE) CDROM drives. To rip from an IDE drive, specify the
device name in place of the SCSI unit numbers. For example,
to rip track 7 from an IDE drive:</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>cdda2wav -D <replaceable>/dev/acd0</replaceable> -t 7</userinput></screen>
<para>To rip individual tracks, make use of the
<option>-t</option> as shown:</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>cdda2wav -D <replaceable>0,1,0</replaceable> -t 7</userinput></screen>
<para>This example rips track seven of the audio CDROM. To rip
a range of tracks, such as track one to seven, specify a
range:</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>cdda2wav -D <replaceable>0,1,0</replaceable> -t 1+7</userinput></screen>
<para>&man.dd.1; can also be used to extract audio tracks on
ATAPI drives, as described in <xref
linkend="duplicating-audiocds"/>.</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="mp3-encoding">
<title>Encoding MP3s</title>
<para>
<application>Lame</application> is a popular
<acronym>MP3</acronym> encoder which can be installed from the
<filename role="package">audio/lame</filename> port. Due to
licensing restrictions, a package is not available.</para>
<para>The following command will convert the ripped
<acronym>WAV</acronym> files
<filename><replaceable>audio01.wav</replaceable></filename>
to
<filename><replaceable>audio01.mp3</replaceable></filename>:</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>lame -h -b <replaceable>128</replaceable> \
--tt "<replaceable>Foo Song Title</replaceable>" \
--ta "<replaceable>FooBar Artist</replaceable>" \
--tl "<replaceable>FooBar Album</replaceable>" \
--ty "<replaceable>2001</replaceable>" \
--tc "<replaceable>Ripped and encoded by Foo</replaceable>" \
--tg "<replaceable>Genre</replaceable>" \
<replaceable>audio01.wav audio01.mp3</replaceable></userinput></screen>
<para>128 kbits is a standard <acronym>MP3</acronym>
bitrate. The 160 and 192 bitrates provide higher quality.
The higher the bitrate, the larger the size of the resulting
<acronym>MP3</acronym>. <option>-h</option> turns on the
<quote>higher quality but a little slower</quote> mode. The
options beginning with <option>--t</option> indicate ID3 tags,
which usually contain song information, to be embedded within
the <acronym>MP3</acronym> file. Additional encoding options
can be found in the <application>lame</application> manual
page.</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="mp3-decoding">
<title>Decoding MP3s</title>
<para>In order to burn an audio CD from <acronym>MP3</acronym>s,
they must first be converted to a non-compressed
<acronym>WAV</acronym> format. Both
<application>XMMS</application> and
<application>mpg123</application> support the output of
<acronym>MP3</acronym> to an uncompressed file format.</para>
<para>Writing to Disk in <application>XMMS</application>:</para>
<procedure>
<step>
<para>Launch <application>XMMS</application>.</para>
</step>
<step>
<para>Right-click the window to bring up the
<application>XMMS</application> menu.</para>
</step>
<step>
<para>Select <literal>Preferences</literal> under
<literal>Options</literal>.</para>
</step>
<step>
<para>Change the Output Plugin to <quote>Disk Writer
Plugin</quote>.</para>
</step>
<step>
<para>Press <literal>Configure</literal>.</para>
</step>
<step>
<para>Enter or browse to a directory to write the
uncompressed files to.</para>
</step>
<step>
<para>Load the <acronym>MP3</acronym> file into
<application>XMMS</application> as usual, with volume at
100% and EQ settings turned off.</para>
</step>
<step>
<para>Press <literal>Play</literal>. The
<application>XMMS</application> will appear as if it is
playing the <acronym>MP3</acronym>, but no music will be
heard. It is actually playing the <acronym>MP3</acronym>
to a file.</para>
</step>
<step>
<para>When finished, be sure to set the default Output
Plugin back to what it was before in order to listen to
<acronym>MP3</acronym>s again.</para>
</step>
</procedure>
<para>Writing to stdout in
<application>mpg123</application>:</para>
<procedure>
<step>
<para>Run <command>mpg123 -s
<replaceable>audio01.mp3</replaceable> >
<replaceable>audio01.pcm</replaceable></command></para>
</step>
</procedure>
<para><application>XMMS</application> writes a file in the
<acronym>WAV</acronym> format, while
<application>mpg123</application> converts the
<acronym>MP3</acronym> into raw PCM audio data. Both of these
formats can be used with <application>cdrecord</application>
to create audio CDs, whereas &man.burncd.8; requires a raw
Pulse-Code Modulation (<acronym>PCM</acronym>. When using
<acronym>WAV</acronym> files, there will be a small tick
sound at the beginning of each track. This sound is the
header of the <acronym>WAV</acronym> file. One can remove the
header with <application>SoX</application>, which can be
installed from the <filename
role="package">audio/sox</filename> port or package:</para>
<screen>&prompt.user; <userinput>sox -t wav -r 44100 -s -w -c 2 <replaceable>track.wav track.raw</replaceable></userinput></screen>
<para>Refer to <xref linkend="creating-cds"/> for more
information on using a CD burner in &os;.</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="video-playback">
<sect1info>
<authorgroup>
<author>
<firstname>Ross</firstname>
<surname>Lippert</surname>
<contrib>Contributed by </contrib>
</author>
</authorgroup>
<!-- 5 June 2002 -->
</sect1info>
<title>Video Playback</title>
<para>Before configuring video playback, determine the model
of the video card and the chip it uses. While
<application>&xorg;</application> supports a wide variety of
video cards, fewer give good playback performance. To obtain
a list of extensions supported by the
<application>&xorg;</application> server using the card, run
&man.xdpyinfo.1; while <application>&xorg;</application> is
running.</para>
<para>It is a good idea to have a short MPEG test file for
evaluating various players and options. Since some DVD
applications look for DVD media in <filename
class="directory">/dev/dvd</filename> by default, or have this
device name hardcoded in them, it might be useful to make
symbolic links to the proper devices:</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>ln -sf /dev/acd0 /dev/dvd</userinput>
&prompt.root; <userinput>ln -sf /dev/acd0 /dev/rdvd</userinput></screen>
<para>Due to the nature of &man.devfs.5;, manually created links
will not persist after a system reboot. In order to create the
symbolic links automatically when the system boots, add the
following lines to <filename>/etc/devfs.conf</filename>:</para>
<programlisting>link acd0 dvd
link acd0 rdvd</programlisting>
<para>DVD decryption invokes special DVD-ROM functions and
requires write permission on the DVD devices.</para>
<para>To enhance the shared memory
<application>&xorg;</application> interface, it is
recommended to increase the values of these &man.sysctl.8;
variables:</para>
<programlisting>kern.ipc.shmmax=67108864
kern.ipc.shmall=32768</programlisting>
<sect2 id="video-interface">
<title>Determining Video Capabilities</title>
<indexterm><primary>XVideo</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>SDL</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>DGA</primary></indexterm>
<para>There are several possible ways to display video under
<application>&xorg;</application>. What works is largely
hardware dependent. Each method described below will have
varying quality across different hardware.</para>
<para>Common video interfaces include:</para>
<orderedlist>
<listitem>
<para><application>&xorg;</application>: normal output using
shared memory.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>XVideo: an extension to the
<application>&xorg;</application> interface which supports
video in any drawable object.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><acronym>SDL</acronym>: the Simple Directmedia
Layer.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><acronym>DGA</acronym>: the Direct Graphics
Access.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>SVGAlib: low level console graphics layer.</para>
</listitem>
</orderedlist>
<sect3 id="video-interface-xvideo">
<title>XVideo</title>
<para><application>&xorg;</application> has an extension called
<emphasis>XVideo</emphasis>, also known as Xvideo, Xv, and xv.
It allows video to be directly displayed in drawable objects
through a special acceleration. This extension provides
good quality playback even on low-end machines.</para>
<para>To check whether the extension is running, use
<command>xvinfo</command>:</para>
<screen>&prompt.user; <userinput>xvinfo</userinput></screen>
<para>XVideo is supported for the card if the result looks
like:</para>
<screen>X-Video Extension version 2.2
screen #0
Adaptor #0: "Savage Streams Engine"
number of ports: 1
port base: 43
operations supported: PutImage
supported visuals:
depth 16, visualID 0x22
depth 16, visualID 0x23
number of attributes: 5
"XV_COLORKEY" (range 0 to 16777215)
client settable attribute
client gettable attribute (current value is 2110)
"XV_BRIGHTNESS" (range -128 to 127)
client settable attribute
client gettable attribute (current value is 0)
"XV_CONTRAST" (range 0 to 255)
client settable attribute
client gettable attribute (current value is 128)
"XV_SATURATION" (range 0 to 255)
client settable attribute
client gettable attribute (current value is 128)
"XV_HUE" (range -180 to 180)
client settable attribute
client gettable attribute (current value is 0)
maximum XvImage size: 1024 x 1024
Number of image formats: 7
id: 0x32595559 (YUY2)
guid: 59555932-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71
bits per pixel: 16
number of planes: 1
type: YUV (packed)
id: 0x32315659 (YV12)
guid: 59563132-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71
bits per pixel: 12
number of planes: 3
type: YUV (planar)
id: 0x30323449 (I420)
guid: 49343230-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71
bits per pixel: 12
number of planes: 3
type: YUV (planar)
id: 0x36315652 (RV16)
guid: 52563135-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
bits per pixel: 16
number of planes: 1
type: RGB (packed)
depth: 0
red, green, blue masks: 0x1f, 0x3e0, 0x7c00
id: 0x35315652 (RV15)
guid: 52563136-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
bits per pixel: 16
number of planes: 1
type: RGB (packed)
depth: 0
red, green, blue masks: 0x1f, 0x7e0, 0xf800
id: 0x31313259 (Y211)
guid: 59323131-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71
bits per pixel: 6
number of planes: 3
type: YUV (packed)
id: 0x0
guid: 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
bits per pixel: 0
number of planes: 0
type: RGB (packed)
depth: 1
red, green, blue masks: 0x0, 0x0, 0x0</screen>
<para>The formats listed, such as YUV2 and YUV12, are not present
with every implementation of XVideo and their absence may hinder
some players.</para>
<para>If the result looks like:</para>
<screen>X-Video Extension version 2.2
screen #0
no adaptors present</screen>
<para>XVideo is probably not supported for the card. This means
that it will be more difficult for the display to meet the
computational demands of rendering video. Depending on the
video card and processor, one might still be able to have a
satisfying experience.</para>
</sect3>
<sect3 id="video-interface-SDL">
<title>Simple Directmedia Layer</title>
<para>The Simple Directmedia Layer, SDL, is a
porting layer for many operating systems
allowing cross-platform applications to be developed which make
efficient use of sound and graphics. The SDL layer provides a
low-level abstraction to the hardware which can sometimes be
more efficient than the <application>&xorg;</application>
interface.</para>
<para><acronym>SDL</acronym> can be installed using the <filename
role="package">devel/sdl12</filename> package or port.</para>
</sect3>
<sect3 id="video-interface-DGA">
<title>Direct Graphics Access</title>
<para><acronym>DGA</acronym> is an
<application>&xorg;</application> extension which allows a
program to bypass the <application>&xorg;</application> server
and directly alter the framebuffer. Because it relies on a low
level memory mapping, programs using it must be run as
<username>root</username>.</para>
<para>The <acronym>DGA</acronym> extension can be tested and
benchmarked using &man.dga.1;. When <command>dga</command> is
running, it changes the colors of the display whenever a key is
pressed. To quit, press <keycap>q</keycap>.</para>
</sect3>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="video-ports">
<title>Ports and Packages Dealing with Video</title>
<indexterm><primary>video ports</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>video packages</primary></indexterm>
<para>This section introduces some of the software available from
the &os; Ports Collection which can be used for video
playback.</para>
<para>Many of the video applications which run on &os; were
developed as &linux; applications. Many of these applications
are still beta-quality. Some of the problems commonly
encountered with video packages on &os; include:</para>
<orderedlist>
<listitem>
<para>An application cannot playback a file which another
application produced.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>An application cannot playback a file which the
application itself produced.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>The same application on two different machines,
rebuilt on each machine for that machine, plays back the
same file differently.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>A seemingly trivial filter, like rescaling of the image
size, results in bad artifacts from a buggy rescaling
routine.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>An application frequently dumps core.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Documentation is not installed with the port and can be
found either on the web or under the port's <filename
class='directory'>work</filename>
directory.</para>
</listitem>
</orderedlist>
<para>Many applications may also exhibit
<quote>&linux;-isms</quote>. There may be issues resulting from
the way some standard libraries are implemented in the &linux;
distributions, or some features of the &linux; kernel which have
been assumed by the authors of the applications. These issues
are not always noticed and worked around by the port
maintainers, which can lead to problems like these:</para>
<orderedlist>
<listitem>
<para>The use of <filename>/proc/cpuinfo</filename> to detect
processor characteristics.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>A misuse of threads which causes a program to hang upon
completion instead of truly terminating.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Relies on software which is not yet available in the
&os; Ports Collection.</para>
</listitem>
</orderedlist>
<sect3 id="video-mplayer">
<title>MPlayer</title>
<para><application>MPlayer</application> is a command-line video
player with an optional graphical interface which aims to
provide speed and flexibility. This application, as well as
other graphical front-ends, is available from the &os; Ports
Collection.</para>
<sect4 id="video-mplayer-building">
<title>Building MPlayer</title>
<indexterm><primary>MPlayer</primary>
<secondary>making</secondary></indexterm>
<para><application>MPlayer</application> is available as a
package or port in <filename
role="package">multimedia/mplayer</filename>. Several
compile options are available and a variety of hardware
checks occur during the build process. For these reasons,
some users prefer to build the port rather than install the
package. The available options will be displayed in a
menu after these commands are input:</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>cd /usr/ports/multimedia/mplayer</userinput>
&prompt.root; <userinput>make</userinput></screen>
<para>The menu options should be reviewed to determine the
type of support to compile into the port. If an option is
not selected, <application>MPlayer</application> will not be
able to display that type of video format. Use the arrow
keys and spacebar to select the required formats. When
finished, press <keycap>Enter</keycap> to continue the port
compile and installation.</para>
<para>By default, this package or port will build the
<command>mplayer</command> command line utility and the
<command>gmplayer</command> graphical utility. To encode
videos, install the <filename
role="package">multimedia/mencoder</filename> port. Due
to licensing restrictions, a package is not available for
<command>MEncoder</command>.</para>
</sect4>
<sect4 id="video-mplayer-using">
<title>Using MPlayer</title>
<indexterm><primary>MPlayer</primary>
<secondary>use</secondary></indexterm>
<para>The first time <application>MPlayer</application> is
run, it will create <filename
class="directory">~/.mplayer</filename> in the user's
home directory. This subdirectory contains default versions
of the user-specific configuration files.</para>
<para>This section describes only a few common uses. Refer
to the <command>mplayer</command> manual page for a complete
description of its numerous options.</para>
<para>To play the file
<filename><replaceable>testfile.avi</replaceable></filename>,
specify the video interfaces with
<option>-vo</option>:</para>
<screen>&prompt.user; <userinput>mplayer -vo xv <replaceable>testfile.avi</replaceable></userinput></screen>
<screen>&prompt.user; <userinput>mplayer -vo sdl <replaceable>testfile.avi</replaceable></userinput></screen>
<screen>&prompt.user; <userinput>mplayer -vo x11 <replaceable>testfile.avi</replaceable></userinput></screen>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>mplayer -vo dga <replaceable>testfile.avi</replaceable></userinput></screen>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>mplayer -vo 'sdl:dga' <replaceable>testfile.avi</replaceable></userinput></screen>
<para>It is worth trying all of these options, as their
relative performance depends on many factors and will vary
significantly with hardware.</para>
<para>To play a DVD, replace the
<filename><replaceable>testfile.avi</replaceable></filename>
with <option>dvd://<replaceable>N</replaceable> -dvd-device
<replaceable>DEVICE</replaceable></option>, where
<replaceable>N</replaceable> is the title number to play
and <filename><replaceable>DEVICE</replaceable></filename>
is the device node for the DVD-ROM. For example, to play
title 3 from <devicename>/dev/dvd</devicename>:</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>mplayer -vo xv dvd://3 -dvd-device /dev/dvd</userinput></screen>
<note>
<para>The default DVD device can be defined during the build
of the <application>MPlayer</application> port by
including the
<makevar>WITH_DVD_DEVICE=/path/to/desired/device</makevar>
option. By default, the device is
<filename>/dev/acd0</filename>. More details can be found
in the port's
<filename>Makefile.options</filename>.</para>
</note>
<para>To stop, pause, advance, and so on, consult the
keybindings, which are displayed by running <command>mplayer
-h</command>, or read the manual page.</para>
<para>Additional playback options include
<option>-fs -zoom</option>, which engages fullscreen mode,
and <option>-framedrop</option>, which helps
performance.</para>
<para>Each user can add commonly used options to their
<filename>~/.mplayer/config</filename> like so:</para>
<programlisting>vo=xv
fs=yes
zoom=yes</programlisting>
<para><command>mplayer</command> can be used to rip a DVD
title to a <filename>.vob</filename>. To dump the second
title from a DVD:</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>mplayer -dumpstream -dumpfile out.vob dvd://2 -dvd-device /dev/dvd</userinput></screen>
<para>The output file, <filename>out.vob</filename>, will be
MPEG and can be manipulated by the other packages described
in this section.</para>
<para>The <ulink url="http://www.mplayerhq.hu/DOCS/">MPlayer
documentation</ulink> is technically informative and
should be consulted by anyone wishing to obtain a high level
of expertise with &unix; video. The
<application>MPlayer</application> mailing list is hostile
to anyone who has not bothered to read the documentation, so
before making a bug report, read the documentation
first.</para>
</sect4>
<sect4 id="video-mencoder">
<title><application>MEncoder</application></title>
<indexterm>
<primary>mencoder</primary>
</indexterm>
<para>Before using <command>mencoder</command>, it is a good
idea to become familiar with the options described in the
<ulink
url="http://www.mplayerhq.hu/DOCS/HTML/en/mencoder.html">HTML
documentation</ulink>. There are innumerable ways to
improve quality, lower bitrate, and change formats, and some
of these options may make the difference between good or bad
performance. Improper combinations of command line options
can yield output files that are unplayable even by
<command>mplayer</command>.</para>
<para>Here is an example of a simple copy:</para>
<screen>&prompt.user; <userinput>mencoder <replaceable>input.avi</replaceable> -oac copy -ovc copy -o <replaceable>output.avi</replaceable></userinput></screen>
<para>To rip to a file, use <option>-dumpfile</option> with
<command>mplayer</command>.</para>
<para>To convert
<filename><replaceable>input.avi</replaceable></filename>
to the MPEG4 codec with MPEG3 audio encoding, first install
the <filename role="package">audio/lame</filename> port.
Due to licensing restrictions, a package is not available.
Once installed, type:</para>
<screen>&prompt.user; <userinput>mencoder <replaceable>input.avi</replaceable> -oac mp3lame -lameopts br=192 \
-ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vhq -o <replaceable>output.avi</replaceable></userinput></screen>
<para>This will produce output playable by applications such
as <command>mplayer</command> and
<command>xine</command>.</para>
<para><filename><replaceable>input.avi</replaceable></filename>
can be replaced with <option>dvd://1 -dvd-device
/dev/dvd</option> and run as <username>root</username>
to re-encode a DVD title directly. Since it may take a few
tries to get the desired result, it is recommended to dump
the title to a file and to work on the file.</para>
</sect4>
</sect3>
<sect3 id="video-xine">
<title>The <application>xine</application> Video Player</title>
<para><application>xine</application> is a video player with a
reusable base library and a modular executable which can be
extended with plugins. It can be installed using the
<filename role="package">multimedia/xine</filename> package or
port.</para>
<para>In practice, <application>xine</application> requires
either a fast CPU with a fast video card, or support for the
XVideo extension. The <application>xine</application> video
player performs best on XVideo interfaces.</para>
<para>By default, the <application>xine</application> player
starts a graphical user interface. The menus can then be used
to open a specific file.</para>
<para>Alternatively, <application>xine</application> may be
invoked to play a file immediately without the graphical
interface:</para>
<screen>&prompt.user; <userinput>xine</userinput></screen>
<para>Alternatively, it may be invoked to play a file
immediately without the GUI with the command:</para>
<screen>&prompt.user; <userinput>xine -g -p <replaceable>mymovie.avi</replaceable></userinput></screen>
<para>The <ulink
url="http://dvd.sourceforge.net/xine-howto/en_GB/html/howto.html">
xine HOWTO</ulink> contains a chapter on performance
improvement which is general to all players.</para>
</sect3>
<sect3 id="video-ports-transcode">
<title>The <application>transcode</application>
Utilities</title>
<para><application>transcode</application> provides a suite of
tools for re-encoding video and audio files.
<application>transcode</application> can be used to merge
video files or repair broken files using command line tools
with <filename>stdin/stdout</filename> stream
interfaces.</para>
<para><application>transcode</application> can be installed
using the <filename
role="package">multimedia/transcode</filename> package or
port. Many users prefer to compile the port as it provides a
menu of compile options for specifying the support and codecs
to compile in. If an option is not selected,
<application>transcode</application> will not be able to
encode that format. Use the arrow keys and spacebar to select
the required formats. When finished, press
<keycap>Enter</keycap> to continue the port compile and
installation.</para>
<para>This example demonstrates how to convert a DivX file into
a PAL MPEG-1 file (PAL VCD):</para>
<screen>&prompt.user; <userinput>transcode -i
<replaceable>input.avi</replaceable> -V --export_prof vcd-pal -o output_vcd</userinput>
&prompt.user; <userinput>mplex -f 1 -o <replaceable>output_vcd.mpg output_vcd.m1v output_vcd.mpa</replaceable></userinput></screen>
<para>The resulting MPEG file,
<filename><replaceable>output_vcd.mpg</replaceable></filename>,
is ready to be played with <application>MPlayer</application>.
The file can be burned on a CD-R media to create a Video CD. In
this, install and use the <filename
role="package">multimedia/vcdimager</filename> and <filename
role="package">sysutils/cdrdao</filename> programs.</para>
<para>In addition to the manual page for
<command>transcode</command>, refer to the <ulink
url="http://www.transcoding.org/cgi-bin/transcode">transcode
wiki</ulink> for further information and examples.</para>
</sect3>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="tvcard">
<sect1info>
<authorgroup>
<author>
<firstname>Josef</firstname>
<surname>El-Rayes</surname>
<contrib>Original contribution by </contrib>
</author>
</authorgroup>
<authorgroup>
<author>
<firstname>Marc</firstname>
<surname>Fonvieille</surname>
<contrib>Enhanced and adapted by </contrib>
<!-- 02 January 2004 -->
</author>
</authorgroup>
</sect1info>
<title>Setting Up TV Cards</title>
<indexterm>
<primary>TV cards</primary>
</indexterm>
<sect2>
<title>Introduction</title>
<para>TV cards allow can be used to watch broadcast or cable TV on
a computer. Most cards accept composite video via an RCA or
S-video input and some cards include a FM radio tuner.</para>
<para>&os; provides support for PCI-based TV cards using a
Brooktree Bt848/849/878/879 or a Conexant CN-878/Fusion 878a
video capture chip with the &man.bktr.4; driver. Ensure the
board comes with a supported tuner. Consult &man.bktr.4; for a
list of supported tuners.</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Loading the Driver</title>
<para>In order to use the card, the &man.bktr.4; driver must be
loaded. To automate this at boot time, add the following line
to <filename>/boot/loader.conf</filename>:</para>
<programlisting>bktr_load="YES"</programlisting>
<para>Alternatively, one can statically compile support for
the TV card into a custom kernel. In that case, add the
following lines to the custom kernel configuration
file:</para>
<programlisting>device bktr
device iicbus
device iicbb
device smbus</programlisting>
<para>These additional devices are necessary as the card
components are interconnected via an I2C bus. Then, build and
install a new kernel.</para>
<para>To test the driver, reboot the system. The TV card
should appear in the boot messages, as seen in this
example:</para>
<programlisting>bktr0: <BrookTree 848A> mem 0xd7000000-0xd7000fff irq 10 at device 10.0 on pci0
iicbb0: <I2C bit-banging driver> on bti2c0
iicbus0: <Philips I2C bus> on iicbb0 master-only
iicbus1: <Philips I2C bus> on iicbb0 master-only
smbus0: <System Management Bus> on bti2c0
bktr0: Pinnacle/Miro TV, Philips SECAM tuner.</programlisting>
<para>The messages will differ according to the hardware. Check
the messages to determine if the tuner is correctly detected.
It is still possible to override some of the detected
parameters with &man.sysctl.8; MIBs and kernel configuration
file options. For example, to force the tuner to a Philips
SECAM tuner, add the following line to a custom kernel
configuration file:</para>
<programlisting>options OVERRIDE_TUNER=6</programlisting>
<para>or, use &man.sysctl.8;:</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>sysctl hw.bt848.tuner=6</userinput></screen>
<para>Refer to &man.bktr.4; and
<filename>/usr/src/sys/conf/NOTES</filename> for more
details on the available options.</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Useful Applications</title>
<para>To use the TV card, install one of the following
applications:</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para><filename role="package">multimedia/fxtv</filename>
provides TV-in-a-window and image/audio/video capture
capabilities.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><filename role="package">multimedia/xawtv</filename>
is another TV application with similar features.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><filename role="package">audio/xmradio</filename>
provides an application for using the FM radio tuner of a
TV card.</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>More applications are available in the &os; Ports
Collection.</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Troubleshooting</title>
<para>If any problems are encountered with the TV card,
check that the video capture chip and the tuner are
supported by &man.bktr.4; and that the right configuration
options were used. For more support and various questions
about TV cards, refer to the archives of the
&a.multimedia.name; mailing list.</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="mythtv">
<title>MythTV</title>
<para>MythTV is a popular, open source <acronym
role="Personal Video Recorder">PVR</acronym>
application. This section demonstrates how to install and
setup MythTV on &os;. Refer to the <ulink
url="http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/">MythTV wiki</ulink> for
more information on how to use MythTV.</para>
<para>MythTV requires a frontend and a backend; however,
it allows the user to have the frontend and backend on
different machines.</para>
<para>For the frontend, <filename
role="package">multimedia/mythtv-frontend</filename> is
required, as well as an X server, which can be found in
<filename role="package">x11/xorg</filename>. Ideally, the
frontend computer also has a video card that supports <acronym
role="X-Video Motion Compensation">XvMC</acronym> and,
optionally, a <acronym role="Linux Infrared Remote
Control">LIRC</acronym>-compatible remote.</para>
<para>For the backend, <filename
role="package">multimedia/mythtv</filename> is required,
along with the &mysql; database server. Optionally a tuner
and storage for any recorded data. The &mysql; package should
be automatically installed as a dependency when installing
<filename role="package">multimedia/mythtv</filename>.</para>
<sect2>
<title>Hardware</title>
<para>MythTV is designed to utilize <acronym
role="Video for Linux">V4L</acronym> to access video input
devices such as encoders and tuners. At this time, MythTV
works best with <acronym role="Universal Serial
Bus">USB</acronym> DVB-S/C/T cards supported by <filename
role="package">multimedia/webcamd</filename>, as it provides
a <acronym
role="Video for Linux">V4L</acronym> userland application.
Any <acronym role="Digital Video Broadcasting">DVB</acronym>
card supported by <application>webcamd</application> should
work with MythTV. A list of known working cards can be
found <ulink
url="http://wiki.freebsd.org/WebcamCompat">here</ulink>.
Drivers are also available for Hauppauge cards in the
following ports: <filename
role="package">multimedia/pvr250</filename> and <filename
role="package">multimedia/pvrxxx</filename>, but they
provide a non-standard driver interface that does not work
with versions of MythTV greater than 0.23. Due to licensing
restrictions, no packages are available and these two ports
must be compiled.</para>
<para>The <ulink url="http://wiki.freebsd.org/HTPC">HTPC
wiki page</ulink> contains a list of all available <acronym
role="Digital Video Broadcasting">DVB</acronym>
drivers.</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Setting up MythTV</title>
<para>To install the MythTV port:</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>cd /usr/ports/multimedia/mythtv</userinput>
&prompt.root; <userinput>make install</userinput></screen>
<para>Once installed, set up the MythTV database:</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>mysql -uroot -p < /usr/local/share/mythtv/database/mc.sql</userinput></screen>
<para>Configure the backend:</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>mythtv-setup</userinput></screen>
<para>Start the backend:</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>echo 'mythbackend_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf</userinput>
&prompt.root; <userinput>service mythbackend start</userinput></screen>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="scanners">
<sect1info>
<authorgroup>
<author>
<firstname>Marc</firstname>
<surname>Fonvieille</surname>
<contrib>Written by </contrib>
<!-- 04 August 2004 -->
</author>
</authorgroup>
</sect1info>
<title>Image Scanners</title>
<indexterm>
<primary>image scanners</primary>
</indexterm>
<para>In &os;, access to image scanners is provided by the
<application>SANE</application> (Scanner Access Now Easy)
<acronym role="Application Programming
Interface">API</acronym> available through the &os; Ports
Collection. <application>SANE</application> will also use
some &os; device drivers to provide access to the scanner
hardware.</para>
<para>&os; supports both SCSI and USB scanners. Be sure the
scanner is supported by <application>SANE</application> prior
to performing any configuration. Refer to the <ulink
url="http://www.sane-project.org/sane-supported-devices.html">
supported devices list</ulink> for more information about supported
scanners.</para>
<sect2>
<title>Kernel Configuration</title>
<para>Both SCSI and USB interfaces are supported. Depending
upon the scanner interface, different device drivers are
required.</para>
<sect3 id="scanners-kernel-usb">
<title>USB Interface</title>
<para>The <filename>GENERIC</filename> kernel by default
includes the device drivers needed to support USB scanners.
Users with a custom kernel should ensure that the following
lines are present in the custom kernel configuration
file:</para>
<programlisting>device usb
device uhci
device ohci
device ehci</programlisting>
<para>Plug in the USB scanner. Use &man.dmesg.8; to determine
whether the scanner appears in the system message
buffer:</para>
<screen>ugen0.2: <EPSON> at usbus0</screen>
<para>These messages indicate that the scanner is using
either <filename>/dev/ugen0.2</filename> or
<filename>/dev/uscanner0</filename>, depending on the &os;
version. For this example, a
&epson.perfection; 1650 USB scanner was used.</para>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>SCSI Interface</title>
<para>If the scanner uses a SCSI interface, it is important to
know which SCSI controller board it will use. Depending
upon the SCSI chipset, a custom kernel configuration file
may be needed. The <filename>GENERIC</filename> kernel
supports the most common SCSI controllers. Refer to
<filename>/usr/src/sys/conf/NOTES</filename> to determine
the correct line to add to a custom kernel configuration
file. In addition to the SCSI adapter driver, the following
lines are needed in the kernel configuration file:</para>
<programlisting>device scbus
device pass</programlisting>
<para>Verify that the device is displayed in the system
message buffer:</para>
<screen>pass2 at aic0 bus 0 target 2 lun 0
pass2: <AGFA SNAPSCAN 600 1.10> Fixed Scanner SCSI-2 device
pass2: 3.300MB/s transfers</screen>
<para>If the scanner was not powered-on at system boot, it
is still possible to manually force the detection by
performing a SCSI bus scan with the &man.camcontrol.8;
command:</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>camcontrol rescan all</userinput>
Re-scan of bus 0 was successful
Re-scan of bus 1 was successful
Re-scan of bus 2 was successful
Re-scan of bus 3 was successful</screen>
<para>The scanner should now appear in the SCSI devices
list:</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>camcontrol devlist</userinput>
<IBM DDRS-34560 S97B> at scbus0 target 5 lun 0 (pass0,da0)
<IBM DDRS-34560 S97B> at scbus0 target 6 lun 0 (pass1,da1)
<AGFA SNAPSCAN 600 1.10> at scbus1 target 2 lun 0 (pass3)
<PHILIPS CDD3610 CD-R/RW 1.00> at scbus2 target 0 lun 0 (pass2,cd0)</screen>
<para>Refer to &man.scsi.4; and &man.camcontrol.8; for more
details about SCSI devices on &os;.</para>
</sect3>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>SANE Configuration</title>
<para>The <application>SANE</application> system is split in two
parts: the backends (<filename
role="package">graphics/sane-backends</filename>) and the
frontends (<filename
role="package">graphics/sane-frontends</filename>). The
backends provide access to the scanner. The
<application>SANE</application>'s <ulink
url="http://www.sane-project.org/sane-supported-devices.html">supported
devices</ulink> list specifies which backend will support the
image scanner. The correct backend is needed in order to use
the scanner. The frontends provide the graphical scanning
interface, <application>xscanimage</application>.</para>
<para>After installing the <filename
role="package">graphics/sane-backends</filename> port or
package, use <command>sane-find-scanner</command> to check the
scanner detection by the
<application>SANE</application> system:</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>sane-find-scanner -q</userinput>
found SCSI scanner "AGFA SNAPSCAN 600 1.10" at /dev/pass3</screen>
<para>The output should show the interface type of the scanner
and the device node used to attach the scanner to the system.
The vendor and the product model may or may not appear.</para>
<note>
<para>Some USB scanners require firmware to be loaded. Refer
to &man.sane-find-scanner.1; and &man.sane.7; for
details.</para>
</note>
<para>Next, check if the scanner will be identified by a
scanning frontend. By default, the
<application>SANE</application> backends come with a command
line tool called &man.scanimage.1;. This command can be used
to list the devices and perform an image acquisition. Use
<option>-L</option> to list the scanner devices:</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>scanimage -L</userinput>
device `snapscan:/dev/pass3' is a AGFA SNAPSCAN 600 flatbed scanner</screen>
<para>Here is the output for the USB scanner used in <xref
linkend="scanners-kernel-usb"/>:</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>scanimage -L</userinput>
device 'epson2:libusb:/dev/usb:/dev/ugen0.2' is a Epson GT-8200 flatbed scanner</screen>
<para>In this output,
<literal>'epson2:libusb:/dev/usb:/dev/ugen0.2'</literal> is
the backend name (<literal>epson2</literal>) and the device
node (<literal>/dev/ugen0.2</literal>) used by the
scanner.</para>
<note>
<para>No output or a message saying that no scanners were
identified indicates that &man.scanimage.1; is unable to
identify the scanner. If this happens, edit the backend
configuration file in <filename
class="directory">/usr/local/etc/sane.d/</filename>
and define the scanner device used.</para>
<para>In the above example, the USB scanner is perfectly
detected and working.</para>
<para>To determine if the scanner is correctly
identified:</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>scanimage -L</userinput>
No scanners were identified. If you were expecting something different,
check that the scanner is plugged in, turned on and detected by the
sane-find-scanner tool (if appropriate). Please read the documentation
which came with this software (README, FAQ, manpages).</screen>
<para>Since the scanner is not identified, edit
<filename>/usr/local/etc/sane.d/epson2.conf</filename>. In
this example, the scanner model is
&epson.perfection; 1650 and it uses the
<literal>epson2</literal> backend. When editing, read the
help comments in the backend configuration file. Line
changes are simple: comment out all lines that have the
wrong interface for the scanner. In this example, comment
out all lines starting with the word <literal>scsi</literal>
as the scanner uses the USB interface. Then, at the end
of the file, add a line specifying the interface and the
device node used. In this case, add the following
line:</para>
<programlisting>usb /dev/uscanner0</programlisting>
<para>Save the edits and verify that the scanner is
identified:</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>scanimage -L</userinput>
device `epson:/dev/uscanner0' is a Epson GT-8200 flatbed scanner</screen>
<para>The <literal>`epson:/dev/uscanner0'</literal> field now
gives the right backend name and the device node.</para>
</note>
<para>Once <command>scanimage -L</command> sees the scanner, the
configuration is complete and the device is now ready to
scan.</para>
<para>While &man.scanimage.1; can be used to perform an image
acquisition from the command line, it is often preferable to
use a graphical interface to perform image scanning. The
<filename role="package">graphics/sane-frontends</filename>
package or port installs a simple but efficient graphical
interface, <application>xscanimage</application>.</para>
<para><application>Xsane</application>, which is installed with
the <filename role="package">graphics/xsane</filename> package
or port, is another popular graphical scanning frontend. It
offers advanced features such as various scanning modes, color
correction, and batch scans. Both of these applications are
usable as a <application>GIMP</application> plugin.</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Giving Other Users Access to the Scanner</title>
<para>In order to have access to the scanner, a user needs
read and write permissions to the device node used by the
scanner. In the previous example, the USB scanner uses the
device node <filename>/dev/ugen0.2</filename> which is really a
symlink to the real device node
<filename>/dev/usb/0.2.0</filename>. The symlink and the device
node are owned, respectively, by the
<groupname>wheel</groupname> and
<groupname>operator</groupname> groups. Adding the user to
these groups will allow access to the scanner. However, for
security reasons, always think twice before adding a user
to any group, especially <groupname>wheel</groupname>. A better
solution is to create a group to make the scanner device
accessible to members of this group.</para>
<para>This example creates a group called
<groupname><replaceable>usb</replaceable></groupname> using
&man.pw.8;:</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>pw groupadd usb</userinput></screen>
<para>Then, make the <filename>/dev/ugen0.2</filename> symlink
and the <filename>/dev/usb/0.2.0</filename> device node
accessible to the <groupname>usb</groupname> group with write
permissions of (<literal>0660</literal> or
<literal>0664</literal>. All of this is done by adding the
following lines to
<filename>/etc/devfs.rules</filename>:</para>
<programlisting>[system=5]
add path ugen0.2 mode 0660 group usb
add path usb/0.2.0 mode 0666 group usb</programlisting>
<para>Finally, add the users to
<groupname><replaceable>usb</replaceable></groupname> in order
to allow access to the scanner:</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>pw groupmod usb -m <replaceable>joe</replaceable></userinput></screen>
<para>For more details refer to &man.pw.8;.</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
</chapter>