Documentation
The documentation about the kernel modules for video.
A list of the kernel/drivers/media/video modules parameters (generated using modinfo).
BTTV homepage, BTTV Mini-HOWTO, Video 4 Linux, kWinTV homepage.
The features
A list of the features can be found here.
The configuration itself
A TV card is configured by writing the proper aliases and options to the modules.conf file. The module options are the main problem because the autodetection does not work for every card perfectly.
It is possible to have more cards in one computer at the same time. The configuration module must reflect it.
Database of cards for manual configuration
It has to be maintained manually, I am affraid there is no database to generate it from. Some of the possible sources of information are a list of the cards in bttv CARDLIST and the initial paragraph of Zoran module doc.
The volume of the soundcard
The module has to ask the user if he has his TV card's audio output connected to the sound card. If yes, it must unmute the sound card and configure the (sound card's input) volume.
It is important to ask user, because there are also grabber boards without any audio/tuner (they have just the bt848/878 chip, a video input and nothing else), so the users could be confused.
If the sound card is not configured at all, it must be possible to run the sound card configuration module.
More cards in one computer
The videodev.o module gives out minor numbers to the drivers. Aliases work like this:
alias char-major-81 videodev alias char-major-81-<minor> driver
Starting with 2.4.5 the video4linux modules have insmod options for the minor numbers, i.e. you can give them fixed minor numbers this way:
alias char-major-81-0 foo alias char-major-81-1 bar option foo video_nr=0 option bar video_nr=1
Scan for the channels
This is application-dependent and will not be implemented. Theoretically, scantv command-line tool can be used, but it can write just xawtv configuration files.
Anyway, it is not a big problem, because the recommended application (kwintv) has a wizard for scanning the channels.
The workflow
Overview
The module starts to the TV card setup (Detected, Edit configuration or Configure manually?) screen. The list contains the detected but not yet configured cards. There could be one more menuentry in the Control Center which starts the module directly in the TV card overview (Overview dialog).
The first screen: Detected, Edit configuration or Configure manually?
TV card refers to the type of the card if the autodetection is able to provide it, else it is the name of the chipset.
Manual configuration
For some bttv cards it is necessary to select tuner as well. Select tuner button opens a pup-up, where it is possible to choose one. A choice Autodetected should be present for the cards that do not need the tuner explicitely mentioned.
Manual configuration: Details
There must be a warning in the helptext, that changing the kernel module resets the parameters.
Is audio output connected to the sound card?
TV card: refers to the type of the card (from autodetection or the user's selection).
The overview dialog
Card name refers to the type of the card (from autodetection or the user's selection).
