1 <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN""http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd"> 2 <HTML 3 ><HEAD 4 ><TITLE 5 >Introduction</TITLE 6 ><META 7 NAME="GENERATOR" 8 CONTENT="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.79"><LINK 9 REL="HOME" 10 TITLE="Video for Linux Two API Specification" 11 HREF="book1.htm"><LINK 12 REL="PREVIOUS" 13 TITLE="Video for Linux Two API Specification" 14 HREF="book1.htm"><LINK 15 REL="NEXT" 16 TITLE="Common API Elements" 17 HREF="c174.htm"></HEAD 18 ><BODY 19 CLASS="PREFACE" 20 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" 21 TEXT="#000000" 22 LINK="#0000FF" 23 VLINK="#840084" 24 ALINK="#0000FF" 25 ><DIV 26 CLASS="NAVHEADER" 27 ><TABLE 28 SUMMARY="Header navigation table" 29 WIDTH="100%" 30 BORDER="0" 31 CELLPADDING="0" 32 CELLSPACING="0" 33 ><TR 34 ><TH 35 COLSPAN="3" 36 ALIGN="center" 37 >Video for Linux Two API Specification: Revision 0.24</TH 38 ></TR 39 ><TR 40 ><TD 41 WIDTH="10%" 42 ALIGN="left" 43 VALIGN="bottom" 44 ><A 45 HREF="book1.htm" 46 ACCESSKEY="P" 47 >Prev</A 48 ></TD 49 ><TD 50 WIDTH="80%" 51 ALIGN="center" 52 VALIGN="bottom" 53 ></TD 54 ><TD 55 WIDTH="10%" 56 ALIGN="right" 57 VALIGN="bottom" 58 ><A 59 HREF="c174.htm" 60 ACCESSKEY="N" 61 >Next</A 62 ></TD 63 ></TR 64 ></TABLE 65 ><HR 66 ALIGN="LEFT" 67 WIDTH="100%"></DIV 68 ><DIV 69 CLASS="PREFACE" 70 ><H1 71 ><A 72 NAME="AEN163" 73 ></A 74 >Introduction</H1 75 ><P 76 >Video For Linux Two is the second version of the Video For 77 Linux API, a kernel interface for analog radio and video capture and 78 output drivers.</P 79 ><P 80 >Early drivers used ad-hoc interfaces. These were replaced in 81 Linux 2.2 by Alan Cox' V4L API, based on the interface of the bttv 82 driver. In 1999 Bill Dirks started the development of V4L2 to fix some 83 shortcomings of V4L and to support a wider range of devices. The API 84 was revised again in 2002 prior to its inclusion in Linux 2.5/2.6, and 85 work continues on improvements and additions while maintaining 86 compatibility with existing drivers and applications. In 2006/2007 87 efforts began on FreeBSD drivers with a V4L2 interface.</P 88 ><P 89 >This book documents the V4L2 API. Intended audience are 90 driver and application writers.</P 91 ><P 92 >If you have questions or ideas regarding the API, please 93 write to the Video4Linux mailing list: <A 94 HREF="https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/video4linux-list" 95 TARGET="_top" 96 >https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/video4linux-list</A 97 >. For inquiries about 98 the V4L2 specification contact the maintainer <A 99 HREF="mailto:mschimek (a] gmx.at" 100 TARGET="_top" 101 >mschimek (a] gmx.at</A 102 >.</P 103 ><P 104 >The latest version of this document and the DocBook SGML 105 sources are hosted at <A 106 HREF="../index.html" 107 TARGET="_top" 108 >http://v4l2spec.bytesex.org</A 109 >, 110 and <A 111 HREF="http://linuxtv.org/downloads/video4linux/API/V4L2_API" 112 TARGET="_top" 113 >http://linuxtv.org/downloads/video4linux/API/V4L2_API</A 114 >.</P 115 ></DIV 116 ><DIV 117 CLASS="NAVFOOTER" 118 ><HR 119 ALIGN="LEFT" 120 WIDTH="100%"><TABLE 121 SUMMARY="Footer navigation table" 122 WIDTH="100%" 123 BORDER="0" 124 CELLPADDING="0" 125 CELLSPACING="0" 126 ><TR 127 ><TD 128 WIDTH="33%" 129 ALIGN="left" 130 VALIGN="top" 131 ><A 132 HREF="book1.htm" 133 ACCESSKEY="P" 134 >Prev</A 135 ></TD 136 ><TD 137 WIDTH="34%" 138 ALIGN="center" 139 VALIGN="top" 140 ><A 141 HREF="book1.htm" 142 ACCESSKEY="H" 143 >Home</A 144 ></TD 145 ><TD 146 WIDTH="33%" 147 ALIGN="right" 148 VALIGN="top" 149 ><A 150 HREF="c174.htm" 151 ACCESSKEY="N" 152 >Next</A 153 ></TD 154 ></TR 155 ><TR 156 ><TD 157 WIDTH="33%" 158 ALIGN="left" 159 VALIGN="top" 160 >Video for Linux Two API Specification</TD 161 ><TD 162 WIDTH="34%" 163 ALIGN="center" 164 VALIGN="top" 165 > </TD 166 ><TD 167 WIDTH="33%" 168 ALIGN="right" 169 VALIGN="top" 170 >Common API Elements</TD 171 ></TR 172 ></TABLE 173 ></DIV 174 ></BODY 175 ></HTML 176 > 177
