xawtvrc(5)xawtvrc(5)NAMExawtvrc-- TV apps config file
SYNOPSIS
/etc/X11/xawtvrc
$HOME/.xawtv
DESCRIPTIONxawtvrc is the config file originally used by xawtv only (that's why
the name xawtvrc). These days a number of other TV applications /
utilities read it too to get configuration information from it.
Both a global (/etc/X11/xawtvrc) and personal ($HOME/.xawtv) config
file are used by the applications. Settings in the personal config
file will overwrite the global ones.
Applications
The following applications use these config files:
xawtv The classic X11 TV application.
motv A better, motif-based GUI for xawtv ...
fbtv TV application for the linux framebuffer console.
ttv aalib-based TV application for any terminal.
v4lctl command line tool to control video4linux devices.
Create a config file
xawtv and motv both provide some functions to edit the channels and
save the configuration. The save function will not preserve any com‐
ments you might have put into the config file throught ...
You can also use your favorite text editor and modify the config file
directly.
You can use the command line utility scantv to create a initial config
file. scantv will automatically scan all channels for TV stations and
write the ones it has found to the config file.
SYNTAXxawtvrc uses the same syntax like smb.conf: sections starting with
[name], followed by lines with option = value pairs.
There are four special sections: [global], [launch], [eventmap] and
[defaults]. All other sections describe a TV station each.
TV station options.
The following options are allowed for TV stations and the [defaults]
section. The options from the [defaults] sections are used -- as the
name suggests -- as defaults for all other channels. You can put
everything which is common for all TV stations (like the TV norm which
is used in your country) into the [defaults] section, so you don't have
to specify it for every single channel.
With a reasonable [defaults] section you usually only need to specify
the channel for each TV station, like this:
[ORB]
channel = 27
The other options are:
fine = n
finetuning (what left+right keys do within xawtv), default: 0
norm = pal | ntsc | secam
which TV norm, default is pal
key = keysym
Hotkey for the channel. All X11 keysyms allowed here. You can
prefix a keysym with Modifier+, "Ctrl+F" for example.
capture = off | overlay | grabdisplay
capture mode: off, overlay (default, TV card => video, 0% cpu)
or grabdisplay (TV card => main memory => X-Server => video,
frame rate depends on load and picture size). Default is over‐
lay. If it is not possible to use overlay for some reason
(remote display, not supported by the hardware, whatever) the
applications will automatically fallback to grabdisplay.
input = Television | Composite1 | Composite2 | SVHS
input source. The valid choices depend on the hardware driver,
the values above are just examples. You can use "v4lctl list"
to get a list of valid choices.
color = n
bright = n
hue = n
contrast = n
Valid range is 0-65535, default is 32768. Adding a percent sym‐
bol changes the range to 0-100, i.e. "50%" has the same effect
like "32768".
audio = mono | stereo | lang1 | lang2
Set the audio mode for the given channel.
freq = n
Specify the frequency for the given station (MHz, video car‐
rier). You shouldn't need this for normal operation, all your
channels should be listed in the frequency table for your area
(if not, mail me a patch). Maybe unless you live near the bor‐
der and the foreign country uses another channel scheme.
midi = note
Use midi noteon event for <note> as hotkey for the channel.
group = name
Put the channel into the group <name>. motv uses that to create
submenus per channel group.
Global options
A number of not channel-related settings go to the "[global]" section:
fullscreen = width x height
specify which video mode should be used for full-screen. Works
with XFree only, and of course you need a valid modeline for
this mode in your XF86Config file. You also have to enable the
VidMode extension (option -vm, see above) to make this work.
wm-off-by = [+-]x[+-]y
Some WM's handle static gravity incorrectly (I know mwm and
kwm). This is somewhat boring with fullscreen mode. With this
option you can correct this with a displacement for moving win‐
dows. For example, wm-off-by = -4-24 does the trick for kwm
(the KDE1 window manager).
freqtab =
select a channel-to-freqency mapping. Options window->Frequency
table (in xawtv) brings up a menu with all valid entries (and
allows table-switching at runtime).
pixsize = width x height
size of the channel pixmaps (within Channels window). 0x0 dis‐
ables this feature.
pixcols = n
number of columns the channel window should use. Defaults to 1.
mixer = ctl | device:ctl
This allows volume control using the sound card mixer. ctl is
the mixer control, i.e. "vol" for the master volume. "line1" is
a good candidate for the TV card. device is the mixer device
(defaults to /dev/mixer in unspecified). Volume-control works
with the keypad: + is up, - is down, Enter is mute.
jpeg-quality = n
set the quality for (M)JPEG images/frames. As usual the valid
range for n is [0 .. 100] with 75 as default.
keypad-ntsc = on | off
Configure keypad mode. Default is off. When set to on, numbers
typed on the keypad are interpreted as channel numbers (this is
like NTSC TV sets work). Otherwise they are interpreted as pro‐
grammed station, i.e. 1 is the first station from $HOME/.xawtv,
...
keypad-partial = on | off
Another configuration of keypad mode. Default is on. When set
to off, typing one digit on the keypad doesn't change the sta‐
tion number when there are two-digit station numbers starting
with that digit.
osd = on | off
Enable/disable the onscreen display in fullscreen mode. Default
is on.
osd-position = x , y
Position the onscreen display, in pixels. Default is 30,20.
use-wm-fullscreen = on | off
Enter fullscreen mode by asking the window manager to handle
that via _NET_WM_STATE_FULLSCREEN (if supported by the wm).
Default is on.
ratio = x:y
Set a fixed aspect ratio for the TV image. Default is 4:3. Use
0:0 if you don't want a fixed aspect ratio.
mov-driver = files | raw | avi | mov
mov-video = ppm | pgm | jpeg | rgb | gray | 422 | 422p | rgb15 | rgb24
| mjpeg | jpeg | raw | mjpa | png
mov-fps = fps
mov-audio = mono8 | mono16 | stereo
mov-rate = rate
Set defaults for movie recording. Not all possible combinations
are valid choices. "streamer -h" will print a nice list.
midi = port
You can specify a ALSA port where xawtv should receive midi
events from. If configured this way, you can program your midi
keyboard keys as station hotkeys and use midi controller events
to control settings like volume, bright etc. Check the
[eventmap] description below for details.
filter = name
Enable the specified filter.
The [launch] section
You can start other programs from within xawtv. This is configured
with entries in the "[launch]" section:
label = key, command line
The specified hotkey will run the configured program. Calling
the Action "Launch(label)" works too. If you want to play with
the Xt translation tables, feel free to do so. But don't com‐
plain if you broke something while doing so...
The [eventmap] section
The eventmap simply has a number of "event = action" lines. "action"
can be any command which xawtv understands (check the xawtv-remote man
page for a list). "event" is some event generated by any input device
xawtv listens to. An event might have some argument, the midi-ctrl
events for example have one. If present the argument is appended to
the action.
There are default mappings for lirc and joystick input events, so you
don't have to create an eventmap to use them. But if you don't like
the defaults you can change them easily.
Here is a list of valid events:
lirc-key-<name>
The key <name> was pressed on the IR remote control.
joy-button-<n>
Joystick button <n> was pressed.
joy-axis-<left|right|up|down>
Joystick was moved into the given direction.
midi-note-<n>
noteon event for note <n> was received (i.e. you probably
pressed some key on the midi keyboard).
midi-ctrl-<n>
midi controller message for control <n> was received. This
event has an argument (the current value of the control).
kbd-key-<name>
Key <name> was pressed on the keyboard.
sample config file
# this is a comment
# empty lines are ignored too
[global]
freqtab = europe-west
#mixer = line
jpeg-quality = 75
midi = 64:0
fullscreen = 768x576
# for /etc/XF86Config
# Modeline "pal" 50.00 768 832 856 1000 576 590 595 630 -hsync -vsync
[launch]
mixer = M, gtkaumix
AleVT = Ctrl+A, alevt
[eventmap]
midi-ctrl-7 = volume
kbd-key-h = msg "hello world"
[defaults]
input = television
norm = pal
[ZDF]
channel=33
key=F1
[ORB]
channel = 27
key = F2
# more stations follow here
[Camera]
input = Composite1
key = K
SEE ALSOscantv(1), xawtv(1), motv(1), fbtv(1), ttv(1), v4lctl(1)xawtvrc(5)
