1 .. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 2 3 ============ 4 Introduction 5 ============ 6 7 This document covers the Linux Kernel to Userspace API's used by video 8 and radio streaming devices, including video cameras, analog and digital 9 TV receiver cards, AM/FM receiver cards, Software Defined Radio (SDR), 10 streaming capture and output devices, codec devices and remote controllers. 11 12 A typical media device hardware is shown at :ref:`typical_media_device`. 13 14 .. _typical_media_device: 15 16 .. kernel-figure:: typical_media_device.svg 17 :alt: typical_media_device.svg 18 :align: center 19 20 Typical Media Device 21 22 The media infrastructure API was designed to control such devices. It is 23 divided into five parts. 24 25 1. The :ref:`first part <v4l2spec>` covers radio, video capture and output, 26 cameras, analog TV devices and codecs. 27 28 2. The :ref:`second part <dvbapi>` covers the API used for digital TV and 29 Internet reception via one of the several digital tv standards. While it is 30 called as DVB API, in fact it covers several different video standards 31 including DVB-T/T2, DVB-S/S2, DVB-C, ATSC, ISDB-T, ISDB-S, DTMB, etc. The 32 complete list of supported standards can be found at 33 :c:type:`fe_delivery_system`. 34 35 3. The :ref:`third part <remote_controllers>` covers the Remote Controller API. 36 37 4. The :ref:`fourth part <media_controller>` covers the Media Controller API. 38 39 5. The :ref:`fifth part <cec>` covers the CEC (Consumer Electronics Control) API. 40 41 It should also be noted that a media device may also have audio components, like 42 mixers, PCM capture, PCM playback, etc, which are controlled via ALSA API. For 43 additional information and for the latest development code, see: 44 `https://linuxtv.org <https://linuxtv.org>`__. For discussing improvements, 45 reporting troubles, sending new drivers, etc, please mail to: `Linux Media 46 Mailing List (LMML) <http://vger.kernel.org/vger-lists.html#linux-media>`__.
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