| .. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 |
| |
| ============ |
| Introduction |
| ============ |
| |
| This document covers the Linux Kernel to Userspace API's used by video |
| and radio streaming devices, including video cameras, analog and digital |
| TV receiver cards, AM/FM receiver cards, Software Defined Radio (SDR), |
| streaming capture and output devices, codec devices and remote controllers. |
| |
| A typical media device hardware is shown at :ref:`typical_media_device`. |
| |
| .. _typical_media_device: |
| |
| .. kernel-figure:: typical_media_device.svg |
| :alt: typical_media_device.svg |
| :align: center |
| |
| Typical Media Device |
| |
| The media infrastructure API was designed to control such devices. It is |
| divided into five parts. |
| |
| 1. The :ref:`first part <v4l2spec>` covers radio, video capture and output, |
| cameras, analog TV devices and codecs. |
| |
| 2. The :ref:`second part <dvbapi>` covers the API used for digital TV and |
| Internet reception via one of the several digital tv standards. While it is |
| called as DVB API, in fact it covers several different video standards |
| including DVB-T/T2, DVB-S/S2, DVB-C, ATSC, ISDB-T, ISDB-S, DTMB, etc. The |
| complete list of supported standards can be found at |
| :c:type:`fe_delivery_system`. |
| |
| 3. The :ref:`third part <remote_controllers>` covers the Remote Controller API. |
| |
| 4. The :ref:`fourth part <media_controller>` covers the Media Controller API. |
| |
| 5. The :ref:`fifth part <cec>` covers the CEC (Consumer Electronics Control) API. |
| |
| It should also be noted that a media device may also have audio components, like |
| mixers, PCM capture, PCM playback, etc, which are controlled via ALSA API. For |
| additional information and for the latest development code, see: |
| `https://linuxtv.org <https://linuxtv.org>`__. For discussing improvements, |
| reporting troubles, sending new drivers, etc, please mail to: `Linux Media |
| Mailing List (LMML) <http://vger.kernel.org/vger-lists.html#linux-media>`__. |
