Driver for NXP SAA7154

Driver for NXP SAA7154

[Andreas Feuersinger]

Hi,

I wonder if there is work in progress for a Linux driver supporting
the NXP SAA7154 Multistandard video decoder with comb filter, component
input and RGB output chip. The chip provides some improvements of the
SAA7119 chip which is (partially?) supported by the kernel right now.
(I'm not so sure about that)

I work for a very small startup company developing an arm based embedded
system and would very much be interested in the development of that
driver.

We would especially be interested in 

* De-interlacing for progressive displays

NXP Product page:
http://www.nxp.com/#/pip/pip=[pip=SAA7154E_SAA7154H]|pp=[t=pip,i=SAA7154E_SAA7154H]
Datasheet:
http://www.nxp.com/documents/data_sheet/SAA7154E_SAA7154H.pdf

Any help appreciated!

Thanks,
Andreas

Re: Driver for NXP SAA7154

[Hans Verkuil]

Hi Andreas,

>
> Hi,
>
> I wonder if there is work in progress for a Linux driver supporting
> the NXP SAA7154 Multistandard video decoder with comb filter, component
> input and RGB output chip. The chip provides some improvements of the
> SAA7119 chip which is (partially?) supported by the kernel right now.
> (I'm not so sure about that)

I'm pretty sure no one is working on that device. Actually, I don't think
the saa7119 is supported either.

> I work for a very small startup company developing an arm based embedded
> system and would very much be interested in the development of that
> driver.
>
> We would especially be interested in
>
> * De-interlacing for progressive displays
>
> NXP Product page:
> http://www.nxp.com/#/pip/pip=[pip=SAA7154E_SAA7154H]|pp=[t=pip,i=SAA7154E_SAA7154H]
> Datasheet:
> http://www.nxp.com/documents/data_sheet/SAA7154E_SAA7154H.pdf
>
> Any help appreciated!

I think it will have to be a new driver, partially based on the current
saa7115.c driver (at least the composite/S-Video input part seems to be
very similar to that one). The good news is that the datasheet is
available, that will help a lot.

Regards,

        Hans

-- 
Hans Verkuil - video4linux developer - sponsored by TANDBERG Telecom

Re: Driver for NXP SAA7154

[Andreas Feuersinger]

Hi Hans

Thank you for your reply!

On Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:20:53 +0100
"Hans Verkuil" <hverkuil@xs4all.nl> wrote:
> > I wonder if there is work in progress for a Linux driver supporting
> > the NXP SAA7154 Multistandard video decoder with comb filter,
[..]
> > Datasheet:
> > http://www.nxp.com/documents/data_sheet/SAA7154E_SAA7154H.pdf

> I think it will have to be a new driver, partially based on the
> current saa7115.c driver (at least the composite/S-Video input part
> seems to be very similar to that one). The good news is that the
> datasheet is available, that will help a lot.

Is it possible for you to estimate time and effort for writing the
driver? I don't really have experience in Linux driver writing so far.
How much help could one expect?
Are there other people interested in or willing to write the driver? 

I considered asking people from Linux Driver Project for assistance...

Sorry for asking probably silly questions, I am new to the kernel
development process.

Regards,
	Andreas

Re: Driver for NXP SAA7154

[Hans Verkuil]

> Hi Hans
>
> Thank you for your reply!
>
> On Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:20:53 +0100
> "Hans Verkuil" <hverkuil@xs4all.nl> wrote:
>> > I wonder if there is work in progress for a Linux driver supporting
>> > the NXP SAA7154 Multistandard video decoder with comb filter,
> [..]
>> > Datasheet:
>> > http://www.nxp.com/documents/data_sheet/SAA7154E_SAA7154H.pdf
>
>> I think it will have to be a new driver, partially based on the
>> current saa7115.c driver (at least the composite/S-Video input part
>> seems to be very similar to that one). The good news is that the
>> datasheet is available, that will help a lot.
>
> Is it possible for you to estimate time and effort for writing the
> driver? I don't really have experience in Linux driver writing so far.

How long it will take depends on many factors. But I would guess between
2-8 weeks, depending on the experience of the developer, how much of
saa7115 can be reused, and how much of the functionality of the device has
to be available in the initial driver. I mean, if you need to support
complex features like raw and/or sliced VBI on the input side, then that
will add to the time.

Some parts like the VGA input (which needs support for non-PAL/NTSC
resolutions) require video4linux core support that is not yet available,
although I expect/hope that we will have that very soon.

> How much help could one expect?

On this list people can give you pointers and do code reviews. Actual
coding is another matter.

> Are there other people interested in or willing to write the driver?
>
> I considered asking people from Linux Driver Project for assistance...

That's definitely a possibility, although such a request might end up on
this list anyway.

The important thing is that whoever is going to develop such a driver
needs the hardware to test it with.

>
> Sorry for asking probably silly questions, I am new to the kernel
> development process.

Not silly at all!

Regards,

        Hans

-- 
Hans Verkuil - video4linux developer - sponsored by TANDBERG Telecom