dvcont - send control commands to DV cameras

dvcont <command1> [ <command2> ... ]

dvcont is a command line tool to send control commands via an IEEE1394 link to a device that implements the AV/C specifications by the 1394 Trade Association. Or for the non-techies: dvcont lets you remote control your DV camera via a Firewire cable. The following commands are understood:

dev <number>

Select device number on chain to use. (dvcont tries to automatically detect the camera. Use the dev command BEFORE any other commands for manual control.)

play

Tell the camera to play. If already playing, it toggles slow-motion.

reverse

Tell the camera to play in reverse. If already playing, it toggles slow-motion.

trickplay < -14 to +14 >

Tell the camera to play at various speeds. 0 = forward play, -14 = fastest reverse, -8 = 1X reverse, -1 = slowest reverse, 1 = slowest forward, 8 = 1X forward, 14 = fastest forward. (Not supported by all cameras.)

stop

Tell the camera to stop playing.

rewind

Tell the camera to rewind. (Use in stop or play mode.)

ff

Tell the camera to fast forward. (Use in stop or play mode.)

pause

Tell the camera to toggle pause play.

next

Tell the camera to go to the next frame. (Use in pause mode.)

nextindex

Tell the camera to search for the next scene. (Use in pause or play mode.)

prev

Tell the camera to go to the previous frame. (Use in pause mode)

previndex

Tell the camera to search for the previous scene. (Use in pause or play mode)

record

Tell the camera to record. (Use with caution!)

eject

Tell the camera to eject the tape. (Not supported by all cameras.)

timecode

Report the timecode on tape in the format HH:MM:SS:FF (hours, minutes, seconds, intra-second frames).

seek <timecode>

Tell the camera to go to the timecode, given in format HH:MM:SS:FF as above.

status

Report the status of the device.

pluginfo

Report available plugs. (This option is mainly intended for internal development.)

verbose

Tell the program to tell you debug info.

version

Tell the program to tell you the program version.

help

Tell the program to show you a help screen.

dvcont was written by Jason Howard <jason@spectsoft.com> and Dan Dennedy <dan@dennedy.org>. This man page was written with the help of help2man by Daniel Kobras <kobras@debian.org> for the Debian GNU/Linux distribution (but may be used by others). Updated by Dan Dennedy <dan@dennedy.org>.