BKTR(4)

📦 version 12.2, in debian bookworm, debian trixie, ubuntu jammy, ubuntu noble, ubuntu questing, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

✨ NAME ✨

so like, this is the bktr manual page from the Kernel Interfaces Manual section — it's the Brooktree Bt848/849/878/879 and Pinnacle PCTV video capture driver 💖

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

device bktr

device iicbus
device iicbb
device smbus

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

okay so the bktr driver is the one that gives you PCI video capture and VBI capture on those low cost, high performance boards. It's based on the Matrox Meteor driver and it uses the exact same API, no cap. It should support most video cards built on the Brooktree Bt848/849/878/879 Video Capture Chip, and most Pinnacle PCTV video cards too. And like, bonus: it also supports FM Radio if the tuner supports it. obsessed 😌

The driver currently supports the following features:

  • PCI to PCI dma transfer
  • clipping
  • yuv
  • rgb16
  • rgb24
  • rgb32

On the supported cards, the tuners and other components are all interconnected with an I2C bus, and the Brooktree848 chips act as a master device on that bus to control them. So that means the iicbus(4), iicbb(4) and smbus(4) controller declarations are mandatory to activate bktr support — no skipping these bestie, it literally won't work without them 🙈

The following kernel parameters may be used to further configure the driver:

  • options BROOKTREE_ALLOC_PAGES=xxx — specifies the number of contiguous pages to allocate when successfully probed. The default number of pages allocated by the kernel is 216. That means there are (216*4096) bytes available for use.
  • options BROOKTREE_SYSTEM_DEFAULT=BROOKTREE_PAL — one of these options can be used to set the default video format for the driver.
  • options BROOKTREE_SYSTEM_DEFAULT=BROOKTREE_NTSC — same vibe, other format. This one fixed random hangs and lockups with the VideoLogic Captivator PCI card. 💅

The following sysctls may be used to further configure the driver:

  • sysctl hw.bt848.card=nnnn — this can be used to override the card make which was detected at boot time. 'nnnn' is set to an integer from 1 to 23 taken from the following table:

🎀 hw.bt848.card values 🎀

  • MIRO — 1
  • HAUPPAUGE — 2
  • STB — 3
  • INTEL — 4
  • IMS_TURBO — 5
  • AVER_MEDIA — 6
  • OSPREY — 7
  • NEC_PK — 8
  • IO_GV — 9
  • FLYVIDEO — 10
  • ZOLTRIX — 11
  • KISS — 12
  • VIDEO_HIGHWAY_XTREME — 13
  • ASKEY_DYNALINK_MAGIC_TVIEW — 14
  • LEADTEK — 15
  • TERRATVPLUS — 16
  • IO_BCTV3 — 17
  • AOPEN_VA1000 — 18
  • PINNACLE_PCTV_RAVE — 19
  • PIXELVIEW_PLAYTV_PAK — 20
  • TERRATVALUE — 21
  • PIXELVIEW_PLAYTV_PRO_REV_4C — 22
  • Bt848_MAX — 23
  • sysctl hw.bt848.tuner=nnnn — this can be used to override the tuner make which was detected at boot time. 'nnnn' is set to an integer from 0 to 16 taken from the following table:

🌈 hw.bt848.tuner values 🌈

  • NO_TUNER — 0
  • TEMIC_NTSC — 1
  • TEMIC_PAL — 2
  • TEMIC_SECAM — 3
  • PHILIPS_NTSC — 4
  • PHILIPS_PAL — 5
  • PHILIPS_SECAM — 6
  • TEMIC_PALI — 7
  • PHILIPS_PALI — 8
  • PHILIPS_FR1236_NTSC — 9 — /* These have FM Radio support */
  • PHILIPS_FR1216_PAL — 10 — /* These have FM Radio support */
  • PHILIPS_FR1236_SECAM — 11 — /* These have FM Radio support */
  • ALPS_TSCH5 — 12
  • ALPS_TSBH1 — 13
  • MT2032 — 14
  • LG_TPI8PSB12P_PAL — 15
  • Bt848_MAX — 16

👑 HARDWARE 👑

The bktr driver supports video capture cards based on the Brooktree Bt848/849/878/879 chips, as well as Pinnacle PCTV cards, including:

  • AOpen VA1000
  • AVerMedia AVerTV Studio
  • AVerMedia TF/FM-98
  • ATI TV Wonder VE
  • Hauppauge WinCast/TV
  • Hauppauge WinTV-Go-FM
  • Hauppauge WinTV-pci
  • Hauppauge WinTV-radio
  • Intel Smart Video Recorder III
  • KWORLD PCI TV Tuner
  • Miro PC TV
  • Pinnacle PCTV Pro
  • Pinnacle PCTV Rave
  • PixelView PlayTV PAK
  • PixelView PlayTV Pro (rev 4C, 9D)
  • SIGMA TV II
  • STB TV PCI Television Tuner
  • Super TV Tuner
  • TerraTec TValue
  • V-Stream XPERT TV-PVR 878
  • Video Highway XTreme
  • VideoLogic Captivator PCI

🍓 FILES 🍓

  • /usr/ports/multimedia/fxtv — a TV and Camera display program utilizing the bktr driver. It requires that The X Window System and The Ports Collection also be installed.
  • /usr/ports/audio/xmradio — an FM Radio Tuner for cards which have an FM Radio tuner fitted. It requires that The X Window System and The Ports Collection also be installed, and it also requires Motif or the lesstif port.

🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

💜 HISTORY 💜

The bktr driver first appeared in FreeBSD 2.2.

🫶 AUTHORS 🫶

This driver is based on the work of Jim Lowe <james@miller.cs.uwm.edu>, Mark Tinguely <tinguely@plains.nodak.edu>, Amancio Hasty <hasty@star-gate.com>, Roger Hardiman <roger@FreeBSD.org> and a bunch of other people. Support for Pinnacle PCTV Rave cards was added by Branko Lankester <branko@euro.net>.

and that's the whole page bestie, you ate that 💅✨

kisses from the Debian crew — this one's dated January 18, 2006, and it lives in section 4 of the manual (that's the kernel interfaces girlies, iykyk) 🌸

📦 where this page comes from