7.18. The saa7134 driver

Author Gerd Hoffmann

This is a v4l2/oss device driver for saa7130/33/34/35 based capture / TV boards.

7.18.1. Status

Almost everything is working. video, sound, tuner, radio, mpeg ts, ...

As with bttv, card-specific tweaks are needed. Check CARDLIST for a list of known TV cards and saa7134-cards.c for the drivers card configuration info.

7.18.2. Build

Once you pick up a Kernel source, you should configure, build, install and boot the new kernel. You’ll need at least these config options:

./scripts/config -e PCI
./scripts/config -e INPUT
./scripts/config -m I2C
./scripts/config -m MEDIA_SUPPORT
./scripts/config -e MEDIA_PCI_SUPPORT
./scripts/config -e MEDIA_ANALOG_TV_SUPPORT
./scripts/config -e MEDIA_DIGITAL_TV_SUPPORT
./scripts/config -e MEDIA_RADIO_SUPPORT
./scripts/config -e RC_CORE
./scripts/config -e MEDIA_SUBDRV_AUTOSELECT
./scripts/config -m VIDEO_SAA7134
./scripts/config -e SAA7134_ALSA
./scripts/config -e VIDEO_SAA7134_RC
./scripts/config -e VIDEO_SAA7134_DVB
./scripts/config -e VIDEO_SAA7134_GO7007

To build and install, you should run:

make && make modules_install && make install

Once the new Kernel is booted, saa7134 driver should be loaded automatically.

Depending on the card you might have to pass card=<nr> as insmod option. If so, please check Documentation/admin-guide/media/saa7134-cardlist.rst for valid choices.

Once you have your card type number, you can pass a modules configuration via a file (usually, it is either /etc/modules.conf or some file at /etc/modules-load.d/, but the actual place depends on your distribution), with this content:

options saa7134 card=13 # Assuming that your card type is #13

7.18.3. Changes / Fixes

Please mail to linux-media AT vger.kernel.org unified diffs against the linux media git tree:

This is done by committing a patch at a clone of the git tree and submitting the patch using git send-email. Don’t forget to describe at the lots what it changes / which problem it fixes / whatever it is good for ...

7.18.4. Known Problems

  • The tuner for the flyvideos isn’t detected automatically and the default might not work for you depending on which version you have. There is a tuner= insmod option to override the driver’s default.

7.18.5. Credits

andrew.stevens@philips.com + werner.leeb@philips.com for providing saa7134 hardware specs and sample board.