--- name: "fbtv" section: "1" platform: "linux" package: "fbtv" version: "3.107-4" release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)" platforms: ["linux"] url: "https://new.carta.tech/fbtv" --- # fbtv(1) a console program for watching TV ## NAME fbtv - a console program for watching TV ## SYNOPSIS **fbtv \[ options \] \[ station name \]** ## DESCRIPTION **fbtv** is a program for watching TV with your linux box. It runs on top of a graphic framebuffer device (**/dev/fb0**). You'll need a kernel newer than 2.1.x to play with this. **fbtv** shares the config file (**$HOME/.xawtv**) with the **xawtv** application. Check the **[xawtv(1)](/xawtv/1.md)** manpage for details about the config file format. ## OPTIONS - **-h** Display a command line options summary. - **-o base** set **base** string for the snapshot output files. The filename will be **base-timestamp-nr.ext**. - **-v** Be verbose. - **-c device** video4linux device (default is **/dev/video0**). - **-D driver** video4linux driver (default is **libv4l**). - **-d device** framebuffer device (default is **$FRAMEBUFFER**; **/dev/fb0** if unset) - **-g** grayscaled display (works for 256 color mode only) - **-s *width*x*height*** sets the V4L2 capture in *width* x *height* resolution if possible. - **-f font** font for text. Default is to look for **lat1-16** console font. It no path is specified, it will seek for the font at the following directories: ``` /usr/share/consolefonts/ /usr/share/kbd/consolefonts/ /usr/lib/kbd/consolefonts/ /lib/kbd/consolefonts/ ``` If you have a local X11 font server running (or the **FONTSERVER** environment variable set to some working server), you can also give X11 font specs here. - **-m mode** video mode for TV. **fbtv** will look up the mode in **/etc/fb.modes**. - **-j joydev** joystick device to use for controlling **fbtv**. - **-k** keep capture on when switching consoles. Might be useful together with -s switch, you have a video picture while working on another console. This is more or less a dirty hack. Works only if all your consoles have the same video mode and fbcon does not use panning to speed up scrolling. For a multiheaded setup this is useful too. - **-q** quiet mode. Doesn't reserve space for the status line at the top, doesn't display the status messages and clock. When **fbtv** is started on this mode, it won't try to load the font file at start. You can toggle this at runtime too (using the **'F'** key). - **-M** EXPERIMENTAL: Turn on backend scaler mode (write yuv to offscreen memory and let the gfx board scale up the video). Supported hardware: Matrox G200/G400 (with matroxfb) and ATI Mach64 VT/GT (with atyfb, 16bpp only). You'll need at least bttv-0.7.16 or kernel 2.3.50. ## USAGE **fbtv** is supported to work much like **xawtv** from user's point of view. You might have noticed that **xawtv** has a lot of keyboard shortcuts. They work in **fbtv** too (if it useful). Here is the list: ``` G Grab picture (full size, ppm) J Grab picture (full size, jpeg) F Fullscreen. Toggle quiet mode (see above). up/down tune up/down one channel left/right fine tuning pgup/pgdown station up/down ESC,Q Quit X Quit, but leave sound on. +/- Volume up/down Enter mute ``` The channel hotkeys defined in **$HOME/.xawtv** are supported too, with one exception: modifier keys (something like "**key = Ctrl+F1**") do not work. ## FULLSCREEN TV Some hints from Dag Bakke \: The BT8xx cards can produce images up to 768x576 pixels. In order to have **fbtv** make use of your entire monitor-size and get maximum image quality, you need to create a 768x576 pixels framebufferconsole. This can be accomplished with the **[fbset(1)](/fbset/1.md)** utility, which is available at various locations. See: http://www.cs.kuleuven.ac.be/~geert/bin/ Or, you can let **fbtv** handle the videomode changes with the -m switch. This requires that you have a small database with the various videomodes available. The file containing the videomodes is normally named **/etc/fb.modes**. For example, the following entry produces a 768x576x32bpp mode, with 75Hz refresh on a Matrox G200. ``` mode "tv" # D: 49.188 MHz, H: 46.580 kHz, V: 75.008 Hz geometry 768 576 768 576 32 timings 20330 128 32 32 8 128 5 endmode ``` The command "**fbtv -q -mtv**" thus gives you crisp clear (well, as good as the received signal anyway) tv on your entire screen. Alias this command to '**tv**', and you're set. **NB!** Please note that your monitor may or may not be able to handle such a "custom" resolution. And that misuse of the aforementioned fbset utility can toast your monitor. It is a lot easier to pull smoke out of electronic components, than to put it back in. A database of the standard VESA-modes can be downloaded from: ftp://platan.vc.cvut.cz/pub/linux/matrox-latest/fb.modes.vesa60.gz ## SEE ALSO [xawtv(1)](/xawtv/1.md) ## AUTHOR Gerd Knorr \ ## COPYRIGHT Copyright (C) 1997,98 Gerd Knorr \ This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.