Summary

Step-by-step guide to using your Somagic EasyCAP under Linux

Table of contents

• Getting help
• Prerequisites
• Downloading and installing official releases
  • somagic-capture Debian package
  • somagic-capture-tools Debian package
  • somagic-capture source package
  • somagic-capture-tools source package
• Downloading and building git sources
• Extracting firmware
• Performing user space capture

Getting help

Go here: Home#Getting_help_or_contributing

NOTE: Comments added to this wiki page are not actively monitored.

NOTE: To get the device to appear in /dev, so you can use it with Video4Linux enabled applications, you will need to use the kernel module see BuildingKernelModule

Prerequisites

• GNU/Linux. There has also been success with OS X, see here: http://code.google.com/p/easycap-somagic-linux/issues/detail?id=7
• USB 2.0 capable USB port. USB 1.1 will not work (it's too slow, for one thing).
• Somagic variant of the EasyCAP. To determine that: plug in the EasyCAP, run "lsusb", and verify "1c88:0007 Somagic, Inc" or "1c88:003d Somagic, Inc".
• EasyCAP USB 2.0 Video Adapter with Audio or EasyCAP002 4-Channel USB 2.0 DVR installation CD-ROM.

Downloading and installing official releases

Go to the Downloads tab, and select the appropriate file for your system. Specific details follow:

somagic-capture Debian package

1. Install dependencies and suggested packages with "apt-get install libusb-1.0-0 libgcrypt11 mplayer usbutils".
2. Install the Debian package with "dpkg -i somagic-easycap_VERSION_ARCH.deb".

somagic-capture-tools Debian package

1. Install dependencies and suggested packages with "apt-get install libgcrypt11 wine".
2. Install the Debian package with "dpkg -i somagic-easycap-tools_VERSION_ARCH.deb".

somagic-capture source package

1. Install build and usage dependencies: make, gcc, libusb-1.0-0 (and development headers), libgcrypt11 (and development headers), mplayer (optional), lsusb (optional).
2. Unpack the source package with "tar xvf somagic-easycap_VERSION.tar.gz".
3. Change to the source directory
4. See the README file for additional instructions.
5. Run "make".
6. Run as root "make install".

somagic-capture-tools source package

1. Install build and usage dependencies: make, gcc, libgcrypt11 (and development headers), wine (optional).
2. Unpack the source package with "tar xvf somagic-easycap-tools_VERSION.tar.gz".
3. Change to the source directory
4. See the README file for additional instructions.
5. Run "make".
6. Run as root "make install".

Downloading and building git sources

1. Install the following programs and libraries: git, make, gcc, libusb-1.0-0 (and development headers), libgcrypt11 (and development headers), wine, mplayer, lsusb. If you are running Debian or Ubuntu, install the following packages: git, build-essential, libusb-1.0-0-dev, libgcrypt11-dev, wine, mplayer, and usbutils.
2. For Debian package building, additionally install the fakeroot, devscripts, and debhelper packages.
3. Go to the directory where you want the source tree, then run "git clone https://code.google.com/p/easycap-somagic-linux/".
4. If you have git commit access, update your ~/.netrc and ~/.gitconfig files, as appropriate.
5. To update the git tree in the future, use "git pull".
6. Run "./build_packages 1.1" from the source tree root directory to build Debian packages.

Extracting firmware

1. Please do not ask for or provide links to the copyrighted firmware. If you don't have your driver CD, you might be able to find the firmware online via a web search.
2. Using wine, run "Drivers/Setup.exe" (or sometimes "Driver/Setup.exe"), on the EasyCAP installation CD. For the EasyCAP DC60, this should create a file named "Program Files/Common Files/Somagic/SmiUsbGrabber3C/xp/SmiUsbGrabber3C.sys". For EasyCAP002 this should create a file named either "Program Files/Common Files/Somagic/SmiUsbGrabber3E/xp/SmiUsbGrabber3E.sys" or "Program Files/Common Files/Somagic/SmiUsbGrabber3F/xp/SmiUsbGrabber3F.sys".
3. Run "cp ~/.wine/drive_c/Program\ Files/Common\ Files/Somagic/SmiUsbGrabber3*/xp/SmiUsbGrabber3*.sys SmiUsbGrabber.sys".
4. Run as root "somagic-extract-firmware SmiUsbGrabber.sys", to create "/lib/firmware/somagic_firmware.bin".

Performing user space capture

1. Plug in the EasyCAP device.
2. Run "somagic-init" to initialize the EasyCAP device, which changes its USB id. This step is not necessary for the EzCAP USB 2.0, which is automatically initialized. If there is no output, initialization was successful. However, to manually verify whether initialization was successful, re-run "somagic-init" or check "lsusb" for the new id "1c88:003c Somagic, Inc" (EasyCAP DC60), "1c88:003e Somagic, Inc" (EasyCAP002), or "1c88:003f Somagic, Inc" (EasyCAP002). You can also run "somagic-capture --test-only" and check for a return code of 0 with "echo $?".
3. For EzCAP USB 2.0 only, run "modprobe -r usbhid".
4. Activate your video source and ensure video is connected, either via CVBS/composite (any device), or S-VIDEO (EasyCAP DC60 or EzCAP USB 2.0). For the EasyCAP002 the correct plug may vary. First try "2", then "3".
5. Choose and run a usage example from "man somagic-capture".