~ubuntu-branches/ubuntu/feisty/zapping/feisty

<para>To report a bug or make a suggestion regarding this application or this manual, visit the <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=2599">Zapping bug tracker</ulink> or mail us at <ulink url="mailto:zapping-misc@lists.sourceforge.net"> zapping-misc@lists.sourceforge.net</ulink>.</para>

</legalnotice>

</articleinfo>

<primary>Zapping</primary>

</indexterm>

<title>Introduction</title>

<para>With the Zapping application you can watch TV, take screenshots and record video and audio. Zapping has a deinterlacer and a Teletext viewer built in and supports Closed Caption and Teletext subtitles.</para>

<para>This document describes version &appversion; of Zapping.</para>

</sect1>

<title>Getting Started</title>

<title>Installation</title>

<para>Which hardware is supported by Zapping?</para>

<para>Zapping does not talk to hardware directly, it uses drivers already installed on your system. Hardware thus supported includes <emphasis>analog</emphasis> TV cards, graphic cards with video capture capability, both with and without tuner, and some USB cameras. Sorry I cannot usually answer if a particular brand and model will work.</para>

<term>Video4Linux or Video4Linux2 kernel drivers</term>

<para>Zapping can capture video, capture VBI (Teletext and Closed Caption) data and overlay video if this is supported by your driver. For installation and configuration of the driver please consult V4L or driver documentation.</para>

<para>When the driver and your TV card supports video overlay the appearance can be improved by enabling the XFree86 V4L/XVideo interface driver. If it has not been done already, open the file <filename>/etc/X11/XF86Config</filename> and add <userinput>Load "v4l"</userinput> to the module section:</para>

Section "Module"

…

Load "v4l"

EndSection

</programlisting>

</listitem>

</varlistentry>

<term>BKTR kernel driver (FreeBSD)</term>

<para>Zapping can capture video, capture VBI (Teletext and Closed Caption) data and overlay video with this driver. For installation and configuration of the driver please consult the FreeBSD handbook.</para>

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</listitem>

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</varlistentry>

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<term>XVideo drivers</term>

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<para>XVideo is an extension of the X Window system supporting video capture and output devices. With it, Zapping can display live video in a window. Video and VBI capturing is not possible with XVideo.</para>

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</listitem>

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</varlistentry>

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</variablelist>

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</sect2>

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<title>To Start Zapping</title>

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<para>You can start Zapping in the following ways:</para>

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<term><guimenu>Applications</guimenu> menu</term>

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<para>Choose <menuchoice><guisubmenu>Sound and Video</guisubmenu>

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<guimenuitem>Zapping</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.</para>

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</listitem>

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</varlistentry>

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<term>Command line</term>

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<para>To start Zapping from a command line, type the following command, then press <keycap>Return</keycap>:</para>

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<para><command>zapping</command></para>

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</listitem>

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</varlistentry>

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</variablelist>

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</sect2>

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<title>When You Start Zapping</title>

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<para>When you start Zapping, the following window is displayed.</para>

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<title>Zapping</title>

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</imageobject>

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</mediaobject>

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</screenshot>

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</figure>

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<para>The Zapping window contains a menu, toolbar and a context menu which opens when you click on the video with the right mouse button.</para>

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<title>Zapping Context Menu</title>

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</imageobject>

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<phrase>Context menu.</phrase>

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</textobject>

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</mediaobject>

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</screenshot>

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</figure>

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</sect2>

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</sect1>

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<title>Usage</title>

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<title>Video Modes</title>

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<para>Zapping can work in windowed, fullscreen or background mode. In each mode it can show Teletext, captured images or it can overlay video. What is the difference?</para>

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<para>In capture mode Zapping programs your TV card to store images in main memory. This permits screenshots, deinterlacing and video recording. It is also quite CPU intensive because to display video Zapping must further pass the images to the X server which programs the graphics processor to convert the images from YUV to RGB format, scale them, and copy them into screen memory.</para>

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<para>In overlay mode the TV card stores the images directly in screen memory. This is a more efficient display method, but now Zapping cannot access the images. When you try to take a screenshot, activate deinterlacing or recording in this mode it will switch back to capture mode, if supported by your TV card.</para>

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<para>The available PCI bus bandwidth limits the image size in overlay mode. When the window or screen is larger than 768×576 pixels you will see a black border around the image. To avoid this Zapping can automatically <link linkend="zapping-settings-video-options">reduce the screen resolution</link> in fullscreen mode, or you can switch to capture mode. Capture mode is not limited if your graphics card supports image scaling.</para>

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<para>To switch between modes choose the mode from the <menuchoice>

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</menuchoice> menu, or the context menu. To return from fullscreen or background mode to windowed press the <keycap>Esc</keycap> key.</para>

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<para>In windowed mode you can freely resize the video. You can either resize the window as usual by dragging its border, or choose a size from the context menu <menuchoice>

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<guimenu>Appearance</guimenu>

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</menuchoice> submenu. This menu is editable, see the <link linkend="zapping-settings-video-options">preferences</link> section for details.</para>

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</sect2>

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<title>To Change Channels</title>

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<para>To change between TV channels you can choose from the <menuchoice>

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<guimenu>Channels</guimenu>

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</menuchoice> main menu or the context menu. The menu also lists video inputs on the device and supported video standards. Note you can add composite video inputs to the channel list as well, see the <link linkend="zapping-channel-editor">Channel Editor</link> section for details.</para>

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<para>To change to the next or previous channel in the list click on the <guilabel>Ch. Up</guilabel> or <guilabel>Ch. Down</guilabel> button in the toolbar, or press the <keycap>Pg Up</keycap> or <keycap>Pg Dn</keycap> key.</para>

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<para>On the numeric keypad (if <keycap>NumLock</keycap> is activated) you can enter a channel number. Either the number of the RF channel, or a channel list number. This can be changed in the <link linkend="zapping-settings-main">preferences</link>.</para>

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</sect2>

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<title>Picture controls</title>

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<para>To change the picture brightness, contrast and other controls click on the <guilabel>Controls</guilabel> button in the toolbar. Control levels can be changed by keyboard too, as configured in <link linkend="zapping-settings-keyboard">preferences</link>.</para>

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</sect2>

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<title>Volume and Mute Functions</title>

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<para>You can change the audio volume or mute audio in the controls dialog, opened when you click on the <guilabel>Controls</guilabel> button in the toolbar.</para>

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<para>Further you can click on the <guilabel>Mute</guilabel> button in the toolbar or choose <menuchoice>

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</menuchoice>.</para>

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<para>You can also press <keycap>A</keycap> or the <keycap>Enter</keycap> key on the numeric keypad to mute or unmute, <keycap>+</keycap> or <keycap>-</keycap> to change the volume level.</para>

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</sect2>

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<title>Caption / Subtitles</title>

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<para>Zapping supports Closed Caption and Teletext subtitles. Strictly speaking caption is an aid for the hard of hearing while subtitles help viewers understand programs in foreign languages. Technically there is no difference, for simplicity we only refer to subtitles here.</para>

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<para>To enable subtitles choose the desired channel, page or language from the context menu <menuchoice>

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<guimenu>Subtitles</guimenu>

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</menuchoice> submenu. To disable subtitles choose <menuchoice>

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<guimenu>Subtitles</guimenu>

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<guisubmenu>Disable</guisubmenu>

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</menuchoice>. You can also click on the <guilabel>Subtitles</guilabel> button in the toolbar to enable or disable subtitles. When enabled, Zapping displays the Closed Caption channel or Teletext subtitle page last chosen on this channel.</para>

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<para>Closed Caption channels are always listed in the menu, if transmitted. Teletext subtitle pages might not be listed if the station fails to transmit a subtitle link. To choose a Teletext subtitle page manually start Teletext, go to the desired page and click on the <guilabel>Subtitles</guilabel> button in the toolbar.</para>

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<para>Presently it is not possible to record subtitles, this is planned for a later date.</para>

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</sect2>

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<title>Take a screenshot</title>

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<para>To take a screenshot click on the <guilabel>Screenshot</guilabel> button in the toolbar or press the <keycap>S</keycap> key. A dialog will open where you can choose a file name, image format and compression quality if applicable.</para>

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<para>The deinterlace option can remove interlace artefacts on the fly. It makes no sense to deinterlace scaled images, so the option is only available if the image height is 480 or 576 pixels.</para>

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<para>Screenshots are only possible if your TV card and its driver supports video capturing.</para>

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</sect2>

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<title>Record video and audio</title>

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<para>To record video and/or audio click on the <guilabel>Record</guilabel> button in the toolbar or press the <keycap>R</keycap> key. A dialog will open where you can choose a file name and format. Click on the <guilabel>Record</guilabel> button in the dialog to start recording, on the <guilabel>Stop</guilabel> button to stop.</para>

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<para>File formats can be configured in <link linkend="zapping-settings-recording">preferences</link>. You can create different configurations and name them as desired.</para>

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<para>Video recording is only possible if your TV card and its driver supports video capturing in realtime. Video compression hardware is not yet supported.</para>

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<para>Currently recording is not supported on FreeBSD.</para>

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</sect2>

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<title>Using a Remote Control</title>

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<para>Zapping supports the LIRC (Linux Infrared Remote Control) infrastructure. Visit <ulink url="http://www.lirc.org">http://www.lirc.org</ulink> for more information about LIRC.</para>

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<para>To use LIRC you must create a <filename>.lircrc</filename> file in your home directory. For each remote control button add an entry like these:</para><programlisting>

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begin

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prog = zapping_lirc

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button = VOL_UP

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config = zapping.volume_incr(+5)

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end

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begin

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prog = zapping_lirc

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button = 0

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config = SETCHANNEL 0

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end

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begin

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prog = zapping_lirc

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button = 1

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config = SETCHANNEL 1

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end

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begin

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prog = zapping_lirc

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button = 9

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config = SETCHANNEL 9

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end

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</programlisting>

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<listitem><para>is the program interpreting the command and must be <userinput>zapping_lirc</userinput></para>

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</listitem>

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</varlistentry>

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<term>button</term>

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<listitem><para>is the name of the remote control button. Presumably with LIRC you installed <filename>/etc/lircd.conf</filename>, this file lists all available buttons.</para>

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</listitem>

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</varlistentry>

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<term>config</term>

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<listitem><para>is a Zapping command. Valid commands are listed in the <link linkend="zapping-commands-lirc">Commands</link> section.</para>

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</listitem>

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</varlistentry>

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</variablelist>

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<para>Suppose your remote control has a <guilabel>TV/RADIO</guilabel> button and you want to switch between two layers of commands, much like <keycap>Shift Lock</keycap> switches between lower and upper case characters.</para>

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<para>This can be accomplished by embracing the entries above within a zapping_lirc section, and programming the <guilabel>TV/RADIO</guilabel> button to enable this section, "switch to this mode" in LIRC speak.</para><programlisting>

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begin zapping_lirc

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begin

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button = TV/RADIO

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mode = radio

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end

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Zapping entries …

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end zapping_lirc

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begin radio

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begin

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button = TV/RADIO

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mode = zapping_lirc

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end

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Other entries …

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end radio

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Mode-independend entries …

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</programlisting>

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<para>Which mode will be initially selected? Well, none. But when you start Zapping it automatically switches to zapping_lirc mode, if such a section exists.</para>

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<para>For further instructions please see the LIRC documentation.</para>

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</sect2>

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</sect1>

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&settings;

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&channel-editor;

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&zapzilla;

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&commands;

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<title>About Zapping</title>

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<para>Zapping was written by Iñaki García Etxebarria, Michael H. Schimek and many contributors. Visit our web page at <ulink url="http://zapping.sourceforge.net" type="http"> http://zapping.sourceforge.net</ulink>.</para>

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<para>This program is distributed under the terms of the <ulink url="ghelp:gpl" type="help">GNU General Public License</ulink> as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. A copy of this license can be found in the file COPYING included with the source code of this program.</para>

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</sect1>

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&fdl-appendix;

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</article>

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