Raspberry Pi Video Capture

[Arnold]

First of all, thank you for providing the tools and information to using the EasyCap on Linux.  I have been trying to use a Raspberry Pi for a home camera system.  I was able to unpack the firmware and the EasyCap is recognized when I run the 'lsusb' command, but I am still unable to capture any video.  I tried to use the somagic-record script, but all I see in my video.slog file is 100s of lines of "Unexpected block, expected [aa aa 00 00] found [00 00 00 00]", and in my video.mlog file:

"MPlayer svn r34540 (Debian), built with gcc-4.6 (C) 2000-2012 MPlayer Team

Playing -.
Reading from stdin..."

video.xlog is empty.  Here are my changes to the somagic-record script; nothing else in the file was changed from the original:
STANDARD=ntsc
SOMAGICOPTS="--sync=1 --luminance=2 --lum-aperture=3" # I am using the component video

I have also tried to build the kernel module with no success:

sudo make
make -C /lib/modules/`uname -r`/build M=/home/pi/easycap/easycap-somagic-linux/kernel modules
make[1]: Entering directory `/lib/modules/3.2.27+/build'
  CC [M]  /home/pi/easycap/easycap-somagic-linux/kernel/somagic_video.o
/home/pi/easycap/easycap-somagic-linux/kernel/somagic_video.c: In function ‘allocate_scratch_buffer’:
/home/pi/easycap/easycap-somagic-linux/kernel/somagic_video.c:188:2: error: implicit declaration of function ‘vmalloc_32’ [-Werror=implicit-function-declaration]
/home/pi/easycap/easycap-somagic-linux/kernel/somagic_video.c:188:25: warning: assignment makes pointer from integer without a cast [enabled by default]
/home/pi/easycap/easycap-somagic-linux/kernel/somagic_video.c: In function ‘free_scratch_buffer’:
/home/pi/easycap/easycap-somagic-linux/kernel/somagic_video.c:211:2: error: implicit declaration of function ‘vfree’ [-Werror=implicit-function-declaration]
/home/pi/easycap/easycap-somagic-linux/kernel/somagic_video.c: In function ‘rvmalloc’:
/home/pi/easycap/easycap-somagic-linux/kernel/somagic_video.c:237:6: warning: assignment makes pointer from integer without a cast [enabled by default]
cc1: some warnings being treated as errors
make[2]: *** [/home/pi/easycap/easycap-somagic-linux/kernel/somagic_video.o] Error 1
make[1]: *** [_module_/home/pi/easycap/easycap-somagic-linux/kernel] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/lib/modules/3.2.27+/build'
make: *** [all] Error 2

Any hints?

[Arnold]

Forgot to mention, I have an EasyCap002 with firmware SmiUsbGrabber3F.sys.

[Jon Arne Jørgensen]

Because none of the core developers have access to a Model002 device, this software will only do capture from the videosource that is connected to "input 2". You should try the capture script again and connect your camera to that input.

For the kernel driver there is an easy fix for your error. It's an open bug that I will fix today. If I for some reason don't get around to fix it, you can just add "#include <linux/vmalloc.h>" to the "somagic.h" file in the list with the other includes, and then try to run "make"

[Jon Arne]

I just received a mail from a guy with the Model 002 device, and it seems like he have been able to receive video on all four inputs.
Could you please try to compile the "somagic-capture" program with the attached file, and see it works for you?

(just take a backup of the old somagic-capture.c file and replace it with the attached file)

He noted that the numbers on the cables seems to be random, so you have to try the different numbers for each input until you find the right number.
To select input, you use the parameter "-i" followed by a number from 0-3.

[Arnold]

I recompiled the new somagic-capture program, but I still receive the same error messages in my video.slog file.  I also tried running somagic-capture from the command prompt and piping it into mplayer with this command:

somagic-capture -n | mplayer -vf yadif,screenshot -demuxer rawvideo -rawvideo "ntsc:format=uyvy:fps=30000/1001" -aspect 4:3 -

and I get these messages:

"...

Unexpected block, expected [aa aa 00 00] found [00 00 00 00]
Unexpected block, expected [aa aa 00 00] found [00 00 00 00]
Unexpected block, expected [aa aa 00 00] found [00 00 00 00]

MPlayer interrupted by signal 2 in module: demux_open
rawvideo file format detected.
Load subtitles in ./
XLib:   extension "XFree86-VidModeExtension" missing on display ":1.0".
Opening video filter: [yadif]
Opening video filter: [screenshot]
==========================================================
Opening video decoder:  [raw] RAW Uncompressed Video
Could not find matching colorspace - retrying with -vf scale...
Opening video filter: [scale]
Movie-Aspect is 1.33:1 - prescaling to correct movie aspect.
[swscaler @ 0x21ed860] using unscaled uyvy422 -> yuv420p special converter
VO:  [x11] 720x480 => 802x480 Planar YV12
[swscaler @ 0x2282f60] No accelerated colorspace conversion found from yuv420p to bgr8.
Selected video codec:  [rawuyvy]  vfm:  raw (RAW UYVY)
==========================================================
Audio: no sound
Starting playback...
V:      0.0   0/    0  ??% ??% ??,?%  0  0

Exiting... (Quit)"

I was able to compile the kernel module after adding the "#include <linux/vmalloc.h>" declaration to the somagic.h file.  However, after running insmod and troubleshooting other issues, I still do not see a "/dev/video*" entry.  This is the result of my "ls /dev" command:

autofs                      mem                         random       tty24  tty49       usbdev1.3
block/                      mmcblk0                   raw/            tty25  tty5         usbdev1.4
btrfs-control              mmcblk0p1               root@         tty26  tty50        usbdev1.5
bus/                         mmcblk0p2               shm@        tty27  tty51        usbdev1.6
cachefiles                net/                           snd/           tty28  tty52        vchiq
char/                       network_latency         sndstat@    tty29  tty53        vc-mem
console                   network_throughput    stderr@       tty3   tty54        vcs
cpu_dma_latency     null                           stdin@        tty30  tty55        vcs1
disk/                       ppp                            stdout@     tty31  tty56        vcs2
fb0                         ptmx                          tty              tty32  tty57        vcs3
fd@                       pts/                            tty0            tty33  tty58         vcs4
full                         ram0                          tty1            tty34  tty59         vcs5
fuse                       ram1                          tty10          tty35  tty6           vcs6
input/                     ram10                        tty11           tty36  tty60         vcs7
kmsg                     ram11                        tty12           tty37  tty61         vcsa
log=                       ram12                        tty13           tty38  tty62         vcsa1
loop0                     ram13                         tty14          tty39  tty63         vcsa2
loop1                     ram14                         tty15          tty4    tty7           vcsa3
loop2                     ram15                         tty16          tty40  tty8           vcsa4
loop3                     ram2                          tty17           tty41  tty9           vcsa5
loop4                     ram3                          tty18           tty42  ttyAMA0    vcsa6
loop5                     ram4                          tty19           tty43  ttyprintk     vcsa7
loop6                     ram5                          tty2             tty44  uinput        xconsole|
loop7                     ram6                          tty20           tty45  urandom    zero
loop-control            ram7                          tty21           tty46  usb/
MAKEDEV@         ram8                          tty22           tty47  usbdev1.1
mapper/                 ram9                          tty23           tty48  usbdev1.2

Also, where are you referring to a "-i" parameter?  The man page for somagic-capture does not specify a "-i" parameter.

[Jon Arne Jørgensen]

I'm sorry, but the warning you get when you compile the kernel-driver
is a compile-time issue,
and has nothing to do with the internal frame size of your capture device.

What this warning means is that the kernel driver might not work on
your RasberryPI.
(Or any other ARM device i assume.)
This is because of the way this driver is written and should be fixable,
but it requires a rather large rewrite of the buffer code so I'm not
sure when I get around to fix it.

I think we should focus on getting the user-space "somagic-capture"
tool working.
This warning "Unexpected block, expected [aa aa 00 00] found [00 00 00 00]"
is indicating that the device is not working as we expect.
It could be that you have gotten a device where the manufacturer have
changed the way the device works.
and it still functions with "somagic-init", but the way to start a
capture might have changed.

The only way to check this is to get an usb dump from a computer where
this device is working.
If you have access to a windows computer where this device works you
should try to run UsbSnoop
and log all communication between your computer and the device when
you start a capture.
The UsbSnoop program is free and can be downloaded here:
http://benoit.papillault.free.fr/usbsnoop/

On Sat, Sep 15, 2012 at 1:57 AM, Arnold Wikey <wirean...@gmail.com> wrote:
> You are correct, the frame size appear to be 1472 instead of 1024. Here is
> the 'make' output:

>
>
> sudo make
> make -C /lib/modules/`uname -r`/build
> M=/home/pi/easycap/easycap-somagic-linux/kernel modules
> make[1]: Entering directory `/lib/modules/3.2.27+/build'

> CC [M] /home/pi/easycap/easycap-somagic-linux/kernel/somagic_dev.o
> /home/pi/easycap/easycap-somagic-linux/kernel/somagic_dev.c:398:12: warning:
> ‘saa_status’ defined but not used [-Wunused-function]

> CC [M] /home/pi/easycap/easycap-somagic-linux/kernel/somagic_video.o
> /home/pi/easycap/easycap-somagic-linux/kernel/somagic_video.c: In function

> ‘parse_field’:
> /home/pi/easycap/easycap-somagic-linux/kernel/somagic_video.c:1381:1:
> warning: the frame size of 1472 bytes is larger than 1024 bytes
> [-Wframe-larger-than=]
> CC [M] /home/pi/easycap/easycap-somagic-linux/kernel/somagic_audio.o
> CC [M] /home/pi/easycap/easycap-somagic-linux/kernel/somagic_bootloader.o
> CC [M] /home/pi/easycap/easycap-somagic-linux/kernel/somagic_main.o
> LD [M] /home/pi/easycap/easycap-somagic-linux/kernel/somagic.o
> Building modules, stage 2.
> MODPOST 1 modules
> CC /home/pi/easycap/easycap-somagic-linux/kernel/somagic.mod.o
> LD [M] /home/pi/easycap/easycap-somagic-linux/kernel/somagic.ko

>
> make[1]: Leaving directory `/lib/modules/3.2.27+/build'
>

> When I try to "insmod somagic.ko" the first time, I get: "Error: could not
> insert module somagic.ko: Unknown symbol in module"
> I fixed this error with "modprobe videodev" (from one of the other posts in
> this group), then "insmod somagic.ko" worked.
>
> These are the lines from "dmesg" output:
> [14392.274012] somagic: Unknown symbol v4l2_norm_to_name (err 0)
> [14392.274067] somagic: Unknown symbol video_ioctl2 (err 0)
> [14392.274341] somagic: Unknown symbol video_devdata (err 0)
> [14392.274498] somagic: Unknown symbol video_unregister_device (err 0)
> [14392.274555] somagic: Unknown symbol video_device_alloc (err 0)
> [14392.274586] somagic: Unknown symbol v4l2_device_disconnect (err 0)
> [14392.274619] somagic: Unknown symbol v4l2_device_register (err 0)
> [14392.274686] somagic: Unknown symbol __video_register_device (err 0)
> [14392.274722] somagic: Unknown symbol v4l2_device_unregister (err 0)
> [14392.274750] somagic: Unknown symbol video_device_release (err 0)
> [14488.436015] Linux video capture interface: v2.00
> [14492.007157] Somagic-Easycap version: 0.1
> [14492.010714] usbcore: registered new interface driver somagic_easycap
>
> The "unknown symbol" errors were fixed after I modprobe'd videodev. The
> last 3 I assume were from when I insmod'ed the kernel file. I also copied
> the kernel file to "/lib/modules/3.2.27+/kernel/drivers/media/video/".
>
> The easycap device is already attached to the raspberry pi, as I am managing
> these commands remotely via SSH. Let me know if you think it's necessary
> for me to physically plug/unplug something from the computer.
>
>
>
> On Fri, Sep 14, 2012 at 4:09 PM, Jon Arne Jørgensen
> <jonjon....@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> The -i parameter was added in the somagic-capture.c file i attached in the
>> last mail.
>> I see now that the error message you get must be for som other reason. The
>> somagic devices send the image data in blocks of 1024 bytes, starting with
>> the 4 byte header [aa aa 00 00].
>> It doesn't seem like your device is sending data this way, so maybe your
>> device differs from the somagic easycaps we've got.
>>
>> When trying the kernel module, the output of dmesg is the main source for
>> debugging. Can you please send me your dmesg log after you have installed
>> the kernel driver and attached the device.

> --
> Sincerely,
>
> Arnold Eduard Wikey
> Owner/Operator
> Wire and Kloud Ready Enterprises
> www.wireandkloudready.com
> wirean...@gmail.com



--
Jonarne
http://jonarne.no

[Vinoth Rajendiran]

i'm also getting the same thing.. did u make it work????

[C. Bassa]

Hi,

On Thu, Jan 17, 2013 at 9:03 AM, Vinoth Rajendiran <rvin...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> and I get these messages:
>>
>> "...
>> Unexpected block, expected [aa aa 00 00] found [00 00 00 00]
>> Unexpected block, expected [aa aa 00 00] found [00 00 00 00]
>> Unexpected block, expected [aa aa 00 00] found [00 00 00 00]

My somagic device returns the same errors when running on a Raspberry
Pi, while the same device operates fine on a normal PC.

This problem is related to the data array only containing 0x00 bytes
when running on the Raspberry Pi. On the normal PC the blocks do start
with 0xaa 0xaa 0x00 0x00.

It may be that this issue is related to the firmware. In my case I
used the firmware that came with the CD and unpacked on the normal PC
per the instructions on the webpage.

Regards.

[Jon Arne Jørgensen]

It's nice to hear that a device that is working on a regular computer isn't working on the Rasberry Pi.
I actually believed that the error was caused by a new version of the easycap with new firmware, but now it seems like the problem is with the Rasberry Pi kernel in combination with our driver.

I don't have a raspi, so I'm not sure how to debug this problem.

I guess you guys have tried the userspace tools to test the device on the raspi?
Do you get any error messages when you do that?

Is the raspi Usb 2.0 compatible?
The driver doesn't do any checks for USB version, it just assumes it's usb 2.0, but I'm not sure what errors this could trigger if the raspi is only Usb 1.0.

I know there exists some different kernels for the raspi, have you tried with different kernels?

[C. Bassa]

Hi,

On Thu, Jan 17, 2013 at 3:12 PM, Jon Arne Jørgensen
<jonjon....@gmail.com> wrote:
> I guess you guys have tried the userspace tools to test the device on the
> raspi? Do you get any error messages when you do that?

If by this you mean running somagic-init and checking the USB ID, then
yes, I did that test and the USB ID changed from 1c88:0007 to
1c88:003c. Furthermore, somagic-capture --test-only returned 0. This
is the same behavior as I got on my normal PC.

> Is the raspi Usb 2.0 compatible?

Yes, all documents on the web suggest it is.

> I know there exists some different kernels for the raspi, have you tried
> with different kernels?

No, so far only with hard float Raspbian Wheezy image.

Is it expected that the firmware works on an ARM device?

Cheers

[Jon Arne Jørgensen]

The firmware is independet of the computer. It's just a blob of data that is uploaded to the easycap. When you run somagic-init, you actualy upload the firmware, that is why the usb-id changes.
So, as far as I can see, this seems to work.

The driver seems to fail when it starts running the capture process on the easycap. This involves receiving lots of data from the easycap, but the easycap doesn't seem to be sending any data, or the kernel isn't forwarding the correct data to the driver.

This could probably be debugged with the usbmonitor kerne-module. You can use this module to capture all data passing on the usb-bus. (But I'm not sure how to use this module on the raspi)

The easiest would probably be to try another kernel...

[Emil]

 Hi.

  Got an  SMI Grabber (EasyCAP DC60+ clone), a Raspberry with Raspian and I'm eager to help! Done some tracing but I don't know much about USB, so if anyone can help me out I can provide logs and what else is needed. What I can see is that the device is not sending data as often as libusb is reporting it (which could be the reason to why it is zeroes?) and the data sent is similar in each chunk. Will try to compare with what usb is reporting on a working setup (debian on x86), but any differences will not tell me much...

   /Emil

[Sujita Purushothaman]

Hi,

   I am also trying to get an Somagic Easycap device running on Raspberry Pi and am encountering the same problem - I get the error message 

Unexpected block, expected [aa aa 00 00] found [00 00 00 00]
Unexpected block, expected [aa aa 00 00] found [00 00 00 00]
Unexpected block, expected [aa aa 00 00] found [00 00 00 00]

I compiled the somagic capture and tools on the Raspberry Pi - no errors during compilation.

I have however managed to get it running on an Ubuntu system. I have run usbmon on both systems while the somagic-capture program is running, and the data from the USB bus doesn't seem to be very different. Below is an extract of the relevant raw data files (/sys/kernel/debug/usb/usbmon/*busno*u)

Any help much appreciated :-)

Output from Raspberry Pi (capture not working - error message "Unexpected block, expected [aa aa 00 00] found [00 00 00 00]")

d4b0e600 199950529 C Zi:1:042:2 0:1:0:0 10 0:0:3072 0:3072:3072 0:6144:3072 0:9216:2048 0:12288:3072 30720 = aaaa0000 7cbc5ab2 7ca75a99 7e8e5a88 7e8d5c9c 7eb35dcc 80dd5ee8 7fec5eec
d6aa5400 199951770 C Zi:1:042:2 0:1:0:0 10 0:0:3072 0:3072:3072 0:6144:3072 0:9216:2048 0:12288:3072 30720 = aaaa0000 84be5bca 80db59ec 7ef55af6 7ff15cf2 7ef662f8 7ffc69fe 81fe6efe
d6a15400 199953002 C Zi:1:042:2 0:1:0:0 10 0:0:3072 0:3072:2048 0:6144:3072 0:9216:3072 0:12288:3072 30720 = aaaa0000 74807b7c 78787e7a 787e817c 7a798472 7d6f856c 7d6c8571 7f778478
d5ef2000 199954251 C Zi:1:042:2 0:1:0:0 10 0:0:3072 0:3072:3072 0:6144:3072 0:9216:3072 0:12288:3072 30720 = aaaa0000 7d6d906c 7e6c926e 7e709271 7f719371 80729472 7f749473 7f729372
d5ef2a00 199955521 C Zi:1:042:2 0:1:0:0 10 0:0:3072 0:3072:3072 0:6144:3072 0:9216:2048 0:12288:3072 30720 = aaaa0000 76727c74 767a7b7a 78777a75 77747975 78777976 79747970 7770796f
d4a32a80 199956005 C Zi:1:042:2 0:1:0:0 4 0:0:3072 0:3072:2048 0:6144:3072 0:9216:3072 12288 = aaaa0000 8b8d678c 8a8b678c 898d658f 878d648b 8389658a 808c658d 7f8f668f

Output from Laptop Running Ubuntu (Somagic Capture Working Correctly)

eccb7400 3897970630 C Zi:3:017:2 0:1:1863:0 10 0:0:3072 0:3072:3072 0:6144:3072 0:9216:3072 0:12288:2048 30720 = aaaa0000 80717f6f 806f7f6f 7f727e72 7f717c6e 7d6e7b70 7c707b72 7c717a72
eccb7e00 3897971831 C Zi:3:017:2 0:1:1863:0 10 0:0:3072 0:3072:3072 0:6144:3072 0:9216:2048 0:12288:3072 30720 = aaaa0000 80018001 80018001 80018001 80018001 80018001 80018001 80018001
eccb6e00 3897973080 C Zi:3:017:2 0:1:1863:0 10 0:0:3072 0:3072:3072 0:6144:2048 0:9216:3072 0:12288:3072 30720 = aaaa0000 800c800d 800c800c 7f0c7f0c 800c7e0c 800c7e0d 800c7e0b 800b7e0b
eccb7a00 3897974310 C Zi:3:017:2 0:1:1863:0 10 0:0:2048 0:3072:3072 0:6144:3072 0:9216:3072 0:12288:3072 30720 = aaaa0000 83618b64 83658a64 84648966 83668a65 84638963 84658967 82668a65
eccb7c00 3897975577 C Zi:3:017:2 0:1:1863:0 10 0:0:3072 0:3072:3072 0:6144:3072 0:9216:3072 0:12288:2048 30720 = aaaa0000 73827883 74857787 74887783 757c7872 776e796b 77697a68 79677c6b
eccb6800 3897976828 C Zi:3:017:2 0:1:1863:0 10 0:0:3072 0:3072:3072 0:6144:2048 0:9216:3072 0:12288:3072 30720 = aaaa0000 7a817780 79817781 7a817980 78807a80 76837a84 77857a85 76867985
ed293100 3897977330 C Zi:3:017:2 0:1:1863:0 4 0:0:3072 0:3072:3072 0:6144:2048 0:9216:3072 12288 = aaaa0000 85967d96 85967d97 85967b95 87967995 85957594 83927193 83966b9b
ecf0d800 3897978581 C Zi:3:017:2 0:1:1863:0 10 0:0:3072 0:3072:3072 0:6144:2048 0:9216:3072 0:12288:3072 30720 = aaaa0000 7e807880 80807480 807e717e 817c707e 837e6f7e 827f6f7d 817c6f7a
ecf0c600 3897979827 C Zi:3:017:2 0:1:1864:0 10 0:0:2048 0:3072:3072 0:6144:3072 0:9216:3072 0:12288:3072 30720 = aaaa0000 75737e73 76737f72 78747f72 78727f71 79737e72 7a737d71 7a707e70
ecf0d000 3897981079 C Zi:3:017:2 0:1:1864:0 10 0:0:2048 0:3072:3072 0:6144:3072 0:9216:3072 0:12288:2048 30720 = aaaa0000 866f7f6d 866c7f6a 866c7f6c 896d7f6a 89688069 8869816c 876b816c
ecf0dc00 3897982327 C Zi:3:017:2 0:1:1864:0 10 0:0:3072 0:3072:3072 0:6144:2048 0:9216:3072 0:12288:3072 30720 = aaaa0000 8760815e 865f815c 855b815a 865a815a 8558825a 8659815a 875f7d5b
efa3b800 3897983578 C Zi:3:017:2 0:1:1864:0 10 0:0:3072 0:3072:3072 0:6144:2048 0:9216:3072 0:12288:3072 30720 = aaaa0000 7b769475 7c769477 7c789577 7c779577 7f789578 7f789578 80799479
efa3b400 3897984827 C Zi:3:017:2 0:1:1864:0 10 0:0:2048 0:3072:3072 0:6144:3072 0:9216:3072 0:12288:2048 30720 = aaaa0000 85578958 85578a57 84588a59 835b8a5a 81598a58 81598a5b 815c8b5c
ed293200 3897985325 C Zi:3:017:2 0:1:1864:0 4 0:0:3072 0:3072:3072 0:6144:3072 0:9216:3072 12288 = aaaa0000 83558b56 84568c57 85568d56 86568d55 86568d57 87588d57 85578d57

[Diego Pamio]

Any news on this? I got the same response.

Then, recently I've updated the raspberry firmware, recompiled the kernel modules and now it doesn't even load the .io module with insmod.

Any clue?

[Arnold Wikey]

Hello,

I finally got around to setting up the EasyCap stuff on an Arch Linux distribution, but the errors are exactly the same as from the Raspbian distribution (Unexpected block, expected [aa aa 00 00] found [00 00 00 00]).  It seems that the EasyCap capture does not like the flavor of Raspberry Linux.  I'm not sure what else I can do with the EasyCap to get it to work, but I will post something here if I find any success.

- Arnold

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