Warning
This software is provided "as-is" and without any warranty nor liability. I am not responsible for any instability, security issues, conflicts with anti-virus and anti-cheat software, or any other problems arising from its use. I do not guarantee the accuracy or reliability of any captures made by this software.
Due to security restrictions in Windows 10 and 11, Secure Boot and Driver Signature Enforcement must be disabled to allow the use of unsigned drivers. Please ensure you understand the potential security risks involved in disabling these features, and remember to re-enable them when you are not actively capturing.
This is a Windows port of the cxadc driver for Conexant CX2388x video decoder/encoder chips commonly found on PCI TV-tuner and capture cards. This is intended for use with the decode projects.
You can find more information about these cards here.
The latest release can be downloaded here.
-
Disable Secure Boot in your BIOS
-
Disable Signature Enforcement
PowerShell (Administrator)
PS> Set-BcdElement -Element "testsigning" -Type Boolean -Value $trueCommand Prompt (Administrator)
> bcdedit -set testsigning on
- Open Device Manager
- Right click Multimedia Video Controller, click Properties
- Click Update Driver...
- Click Browse my computer for drivers
- Browse to the path containing cxadc-win.inf and cxadc-win.sys, click Next
- Click Install this driver software anyway when prompted
- PowerShell
≥7.4.0is required, you can download the latest version here - Allow the modules and scripts to run
PS> Unblock-File .\CxadcWin.psm1,.\CxadcClockGen.psm1,.\LocalCapture.ps1
The local capture script requires additional software.
The clockgen must be updated to work correctly on Windows.
A pre-built firmware containing these changes is included in each release.
Caution
This writes data to the EEPROM, if something goes wrong the card may be bricked
This driver only uses the video function (14F1:8800).
Device manager may be polluted with Multimedia Controller devices, these are unused and can be disabled.
View function state
PS> Get-CxadcWinDeviceFunction -Path \\.\cxadc0
Video Audio MPEG IR
----- ----- ---- --
True True False False
Disable all unused functions
PS> Set-CxadcWinDeviceFunction -Path \\.\cxadc0 -Disable All
The following action will write data to the EEPROM, if something goes wrong the card may be bricked.
Do you take full responsbility and wish to continue?
[Y] Yes [N] No [S] Suspend [?] Help (default is "Y"): y
WARNING: A reboot is required for changes to apply.
Devices can be configured via the PowerShell module, WMI or Device Manager.
PS> Import-Module .\CxadcWin.psm1
PS> Get-CxadcWinDevice
Path InstanceName Location
---- ------------ --------
\\.\cxadc0 PCI\VEN_14F1&DEV_8800&SUBSYS_45534E4F&REV_05\5&69f2177&0&080015_0 07:00.0
PS> Get-CxadcWinConfig -Path \\.\cxadc0
Active : True
CenterOffset : 0
EnableSixDB : False
EnableTenbit : False
InstanceName : PCI\VEN_14F1&DEV_8800&SUBSYS_45534E4F&REV_05\5&69f2177&0&080015_0
Level : 16
VideoMux : 2
PSComputerName :
PS> Get-CxadcWinState -Path \\.\cxadc0
Active : True
InitialPage : 0
InstanceName : PCI\VEN_14F1&DEV_8800&SUBSYS_45534E4F&REV_05\5&69f2177&0&080015_0
IsCapturing : False
LastGpCount : 0
OverUnderflowCount : 0
ReaderCount : 0
PSComputerName :
PS> Set-CxadcWinConfig -Path \\.\cxadc0 -VideoMux 1
Active : True
CenterOffset : 0
EnableSixDB : False
EnableTenbit : False
InstanceName : PCI\VEN_14F1&DEV_8800&SUBSYS_45534E4F&REV_05\5&69f2177&0&080015_0
Level : 16
VideoMux : 1
PSComputerName :
Available parameters
See cxadc-linux3 for parameter descriptions.
| Parameter | PowerShell / WMI Property | Range | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
vmux |
VideoMux |
0-2 |
2 |
level |
Level |
0-31 |
16 |
tenbit |
EnableTenbit |
0-1 |
0 |
sixdb |
EnableSixDB |
0-1 |
0 |
center_offset |
CenterOffset |
0-63 |
0 |
Device values are stored in the registry at the following location
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\PCI\VEN_14F1&DEV_8800&SUBSYS_XXXXXXXX&REV_XX\X&XXXXXXXX&X&XXXXXX\DeviceParameters
PS> Import-Module .\CxadcClockGen.psm1
PS> Get-CxadcClockGenDevice
DevicePath : \\?\usb#vid_1209&pid_0002&mi_00#7&8abc8b&3&0000#{9ded1fd1-c739-4d2a-a1e5-e060342724de}
ClockRate0 : 28.63MHz
ClockRate1 : 28.63MHz
AdcRate : 48000
Serial : E66118604B118121
FirmwareVersion : 0
Get specific output.
PS> (Get-CxadcClockGenRate).ClockRate0
28.63MHz
PS> (Get-CxadcClockGenRate).AdcRate
48000
PS> Get-CxadcClockGenDevice | Get-CxadcClockGenRateOptions
Output Values
------ ------
ADC {48000, 46875}
Clock0 {20MHz, 28.63MHz, 40MHz, 50MHz}
Clock1 {20MHz, 28.63MHz, 40MHz, 50MHz}
PS> Set-CxadcClockGenRate -Output Clock0 -Rate 40mhz
PS> Set-CxadcClockGenRate -Output Clock1 -Rate 40mhz
PS> Set-CxadcClockGenRate -Output ADC -Rate 46875
The capture-server is a Windows port of cxadc_vhs_server.
Use LocalCapture.ps1 to capture video, hifi and baseband audio, with optional resampling and compression.
Note
LocalCapture.ps1 does not support 10-bit captures
PS> .\LocalCapture.ps1 -Name TestCapture `
-Video 0 -CompressVideo -VideoBaseRate 28636
Details
- Video data is captured and compressed from
\\.\cxadc0using a sample rate of28636- Setting a base rate is required when the crystal/clockgen is not 40MHz
Output files
TestCapture-video.flac
PS> .\LocalCapture.ps1 -Name TestCapture `
-Video 0 `
-Baseband
Details
- Video data is captured from
\\.\cxadc0 - Audio is captured from a clockgen device
Output files
TestCapture-video.u8
TestCapture-baseband.s24
PS> .\LocalCapture.ps1 -Name TestCapture `
-Video 0 -CompressVideo `
-Baseband -BasebandRate 46875 -ConvertBaseband
Details
- Video data is captured and compressed from
\\.\cxadc0 - Audio is captured, converted and compressed from a clockgen device with a sample rate of
46875
Output files
TestCapture-video.flac
TestCapture-baseband.flac
TestCapture-headswitch.flac
PS> .\LocalCapture.ps1 -Name TestCapture -AddDate `
-Video 0 -CompressVideo `
-Hifi 1 -CompressHifi -ResampleHifi `
-Baseband -BasebandRate 46875 -ConvertBaseband
Details
- Video data is captured and compressed from
\\.\cxadc0 - Hifi data is captured, resampled and compressed from
\\.\cxadc1 - Audio is captured, converted and compressed from a clockgen device with a sample rate of
46875 - A timestamp is added to the file names
Output files
TestCapture-20250601T1217596850-video.flac
TestCapture-20250601T1217596850-hifi.flac
TestCapture-20250601T1217596850-baseband.flac
TestCapture-20250601T1217596850-headswitch.flac
PS> Get-Help .\LocalCapture-ps1 -Full
This driver works with a fork of cxcvbs.
Important
This may not work if level is too high, or with non-stock crystal frequencies
You can "break" the UltraLock by changing HTOTAL.
Set register to max then min
PS> Set-CxadcWinRegister -Path \\.\cxadc0 -Address 0x310120 -Value 0x00017FF
PS> Set-CxadcWinRegister -Path \\.\cxadc0 -Address 0x310120 -Value 0x0001000
Both SCHERR and FCNTR will be static if successful.
Check register values
PS> Get-CxadcWinRegister -Path \\.\cxadc0 -Address 0x310100,0x310190
Note
There may be issues with the Video SDL Sink on Windows. (25/02/15)
This driver works with GNU Radio, see tandersn/GNRC-Flowgraphs for example flowgraphs.
This has only been tested with VS 2022 and WSDK/WDK 10.0.26100.
This is based on the Linux cxadc driver, without which this would not exist. Thanks to the Domesday86 discord for testing.