7.5. TV Cards
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## 7.5. TV Cards

Original contribution by Josef El-Rayes.
Enhanced and adapted by Marc Fonvieille.

TV cards 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.

FreeBSD provides support for PCI-based TV cards using a Brooktree Bt848/849/878/879 video capture chip with the bktr(4) driver. This driver supports most Pinnacle PCTV video cards. Before purchasing a TV card, consult bktr(4) for a list of supported tuners.

### 7.5.1. Loading the Driver

In order to use the card, the bktr(4) driver must be loaded. To automate this at boot time, add the following line to `/boot/loader.conf`:

    bktr_load="YES"

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:

    device	 bktr
    device	iicbus
    device	iicbb
    device	smbus

These additional devices are necessary as the card components are interconnected via an I2C bus. Then, build and install a new kernel.

To test that the tuner is correctly detected, reboot the system. The TV card should appear in the boot messages, as seen in this example:

    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.

The messages will differ according to the hardware. If necessary, it is possible to override some of the detected parameters using sysctl(8) or custom kernel configuration options. For example, to force the tuner to a Philips SECAM tuner, add the following line to a custom kernel configuration file:

    options OVERRIDE_TUNER=6

or, use sysctl(8):

    # sysctl hw.bt848.tuner=6

Refer to bktr(4) for a description of the available sysctl(8) parameters and kernel options.

### 7.5.2. Useful Applications

To use the TV card, install one of the following applications:

- multimedia/fxtv provides TV-in-a-window and image/audio/video capture capabilities.

- multimedia/xawtv is another TV application with similar features.

- audio/xmradio provides an application for using the FM radio tuner of a TV card.

More applications are available in the FreeBSD Ports Collection.

### 7.5.3. Troubleshooting

If any problems are encountered with the TV card, check that the video capture chip and the tuner are supported by bktr(4) and that the right configuration options were used. For more support or to ask questions about supported TV cards, refer to the freebsd-multimedia mailing list.

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