[pvrusb2] question regarding ivtv

[Hans Verkuil]

> On Wed, 18 Apr 2007, devsk wrote:
>
>> Is the ivtv module required for the pvrusb2 driver to work correctly?
>> Do the ivtv utilities only work if ivtv is modprobed?
>
> The ivtv module is not required for the pvrusb2 driver to work.
>
> The presence of absence of the ivtv driver should not at all affect the
> pvrusb2 driver.
>
> I can't vouch for the ivtv utilities; I don't use them here.  But I
> imagine that any such utilities which stay within the standard V4L APIs
> (including the recently added mpeg API) have a fair chance of being
> usable with the pvrusb2 driver.

The v4l2-ctl utility included with ivtv works with all v4l2 devices,
including pvrusb2. It is in fact a copy of the v4l2-ctl utility from the
v4l-dvb repository.

The ivtvctl utility is however specific to ivtv.

>
>>
>> It figures in lsmod but I am not sure if it is needed or not. The
>> reason for asking is that ivtv is a maintenance headache and its use
>> collides with other requirements in my system e.g. mplayer wants older
>> kernel-headers if ivtv is in use but other packages want newer
>> kernel-headers package. Not to mention I have to rebuild it every time
>> I change my kernel.
>
> Yeah, building out-of-tree drivers can be a pain.  A similar headache
> appears when building the standalone pvrusb2 driver (as opposed to using
> the version in the kernel) - best I can do there is try to make it as
> painless as possible.
>
> The ivtv driver however is about to appear in the kernel tree.  In fact
> I think it may have been accepted into 2.6.21 so fairly soon it's going
> to get a lot easier to use ivtv.

2.6.22 to be exact. I was too late for 2.6.21.

Regards,

      Hans