What is V4L(Video4Linux) ?

作者：旅行中 10月 17, 2008

wiki : Video4Linux
Video4Linux or V4L is a capture API for
.

about v4l + v4l2

v4l: is the original video capture/overlay API of the linux kernel. It appeared late the 2.1.x development cycle in the linux kernel.

v4l是原本的 linux kernel就有包含的有關 video 的api，在2.1.x版本都還可以看到。

如果想要看V4L規格的話，請參閱
/usr/src/linux/Documentation/video4linux/API.html
或 http://linuxtv.org/downloads/video4linux/API/V4L1_API.html

v4l2: is the second generation of the video4linux API which fixes a number of design bugs of the first version. It was integrated into the standard kernel in 2.5.x.

v4l2則是第二代的video相關api，解決了前一代的一些小問題，整合在linux2.5.x之中。

如果想要看V4L2規格的話，請參閱http://v4l2spec.bytesex.org/
Althrough v4l2 is integrated into the standard kernel a number of drivers don't support the new v4l2 API yet, so we'll likely see v4l and v4l2 coexist for some time.

不過目前還不是很多驅動程式都支援v4l2，所以目前還會看到兩者共存的情形。