On Fri, 24 Aug 2007, Erwin.D.Mascardo wrote:

> Sander Sweers wrote:
>> On vr, 2007-08-24 at 10:32 -0400, Erwin.D.Mascardo wrote:
>>
>>> We're trying to set up a video encoding server using Debian etch and a
>>> PVR-150. The hardware that we have available does not have an onboard
>>> sound card, so ALSA is convinced that there is no sound hardware
>>> available. Is it possible to fool ALSA into thinking that /dev/video24
>>> is a microphone or other source of audio-in?
>>>
>>
>> Not at this time. I know Hans wants /dev/video24 to change to an alsa
>> device but this is probably not high on the todo list. So for now this
>> is not possible.
>>
>> I am however a bit puzzled why you would want this to show up as a
>> microphone/other sound input. Why do you need alsa at all? Maybe you can
>> explain a bit more what the goal is and how you like it to be setup.
>> Maybe people can suggest an other or better solution to the problem.
>>
>> But if you are going to use /dev/video24 then you will have live with
>> a/v being out of sync.
>>
>>
>
> Certainly. Our goal here is to use Helix Producer to capture video in
> .rm format, and possibly also Darwin for Quicktime videos. Producer uses
> OSS (therefore the ALSA OSS emulation) for its audio input. I haven't
> looked yet into how Darwin handles audio input, but that's a secondary
> requirement, so we'll hit it when it comes.
>
> Anyhow, Helix Producer insists on having an explicit OSS audio device --
> if it can't find a valid /dev/dsp, it spins in a loop trying to find
> one, starting with /dev/dsp0 and continuing to increment the number by 1
> until overflow. (Or at least I assume it will continue that long; I've
> never had the patience to wait it out, and it really serves no purpose
> to try that. Who wants to have to "warm up" an application in this day
> and age?) Hence our trying to get /dev/video24 recognized as a valid
> audio input device, even with the implications of a/v sync problems.
>
> The folks in the Helix community haven't had this issue come up as of
> now, and I'll be heading there next, but as I said before, I figured I'd
> try to solve the lower-level issue first, if it is indeed an issue.
>

Honestly, if you're trying to live-encode video into something other than 
MPEG2, you may be using the wrong card for the job. The PVR-xxx cards all 
output MPEG2 as their primary datastream. The functionality does exist to 
grab raw frames and audio (AFAIK), but there are limitations and I don't 
think Helix will like them very much (lack of an audio device, for one, 
and I seem to remember some trouble with audio/video sync, but it's been 
a while since I tried it).

You may be better off using something BT8x8 or CX2388x based; that is, 
just a raw framegrabber that'll feed frames into the Helix encoder - and
have a /dev/dspX device to record synced audio from as well.

Right now I'm using Hauppauge's ImpactVCB for a similar application to 
yours. No tuner, but several composite and S-Video inputs and decent 
picture quality. BT8x8 based so it's fully Linux supported (and a real 
/dev/dspX audio device to record from).

-- Brendan

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