From owner-freebsd-multimedia@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Apr 27 20:13:30 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-multimedia@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-multimedia@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id E242216A405 for ; Thu, 27 Apr 2006 20:13:30 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jmg@hydrogen.funkthat.com) Received: from hydrogen.funkthat.com (gate.funkthat.com [69.17.45.168]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id EFA7443D49 for ; Thu, 27 Apr 2006 20:13:21 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from jmg@hydrogen.funkthat.com) Received: from hydrogen.funkthat.com (ihqbl6n1fhc0295k@localhost.funkthat.com [127.0.0.1]) by hydrogen.funkthat.com (8.13.4/8.13.3) with ESMTP id k3RKDJbY040267; Thu, 27 Apr 2006 13:13:19 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from jmg@hydrogen.funkthat.com) Received: (from jmg@localhost) by hydrogen.funkthat.com (8.13.4/8.13.3/Submit) id k3RKDGFM040266; Thu, 27 Apr 2006 13:13:16 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from jmg) Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2006 13:13:16 -0700 From: John-Mark Gurney To: Torfinn Ingolfsen Message-ID: <20060427201316.GJ728@funkthat.com> Mail-Followup-To: Torfinn Ingolfsen , freebsd-multimedia@freebsd.org References: <20060427182528.35070.qmail@exxodus.fedaykin.here> <20060427205905.9ab1500f.torfinn.ingolfsen@broadpark.no> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20060427205905.9ab1500f.torfinn.ingolfsen@broadpark.no> User-Agent: Mutt/1.4.2.1i X-Operating-System: FreeBSD 5.4-RELEASE-p6 i386 X-PGP-Fingerprint: B7 EC EF F8 AE ED A7 31 96 7A 22 B3 D8 56 36 F4 X-Files: The truth is out there X-URL: http://resnet.uoregon.edu/~gurney_j/ X-Resume: http://resnet.uoregon.edu/~gurney_j/resume.html Cc: freebsd-multimedia@freebsd.org Subject: Re: FreeBSD Multimedia API and Google SOC2006 X-BeenThere: freebsd-multimedia@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: John-Mark Gurney List-Id: Multimedia discussions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2006 20:13:31 -0000 Torfinn Ingolfsen wrote this message on Thu, Apr 27, 2006 at 20:59 +0200: > On Thu, 27 Apr 2006 15:25:05 -0300 > Mario Sergio Fujikawa Ferreira wrote: > > > I was wondering if someone could propose a > > project for a basic multimedia API for FreeBSD. > > Video4bsd (V4B) perhaps? > Here is one candidate: http://people.freebsd.org/~jmg/videobsd.html Yeh, I think I'll mentor someone if someone is interested.... > Also, the USB Video class (example at http://linux-uvc.berlios.de/) > looks interesting, I think it should be included in a multimedia API > for BSD. > > > I am not proposing V4Linux but some sort of common > > API abstraction. > > IMHO, if we create our own multimedia API, it should have V4L2 > and V4L1 "faces" or "shims" that allows devices to be operated through > these APIs. At least V4L2, only V4L1 if it is really needed. > The reason for this is that it will ease porting of programs that uses > the V4L API's. And there are a lot of those. > Note: I am very much out of my waters here, I can't really tell if this > is feasible / practical at all. Personally the V4Lx API's are at the wrong level for how far computers have advanaced... Any video api should be a userland library, that provides access to it... and not a kernel interface that is of limited use... This has the advantage that updates for new tuners and other stuff can happen easier and quicker... and more people are willing to touch the code... My bktrau driver for the DViCO FusionHDTV5 Lite has a minimal kernel presence... the userland capture program uses the GPIO defines in bktr, the iic device driver for controlling the tuner and demodulator to control the capture.. This means my driver is under 1k lines of code.. > If there is need for a mechanism (sp?) to distinguish which API a > certain device can be operated with, an easy way would be to use a > naming convention. Example: /dev/video0 - use the V4L > API, /dev/bsdvideo0 - use the V4B API. Most likely, somebody else has a > better suggestion. I'd suggest NOT to use a kernel interface.. they are expensive to maintain, and harder to shoehorn things like USB web cams into... -- John-Mark Gurney Voice: +1 415 225 5579 "All that I will do, has been done, All that I have, has not."