I'm backing up VHS onto DVDs. To capture the video, I can run:

transcode -i /dev/video0 -p /dev/dsp -o test.avi -g 352x288 -f 29.97 -x v4l -y ffmpeg -F mpeg4

On a FC3 box, I can issue this command while xawtv is open (viewing and capturing the video at the same time).

On my MDK9.2 box, transcode fails if xawtv is open, with the following output. If xawtv is not open, the video device is not "open", and transcode captures (I hear audio, but, of course, see no video).

transcode v0.6.14 (C) 2001-2003 Thomas Oestreich, 2003-2004 T. Bitterberg
[probe_v4l] cannot (reopen) device in RW mode
[probe_v4l] open video4linux device: Device or resource busy
[transcode] auto-probing source /dev/video0 (failed)
[transcode] V: import format | unknown (V=v4l|A=(null))
[transcode] V: import frame | 352x288 1.22:1
[transcode] V: bits/pixel | 0.592
[transcode] V: decoding fps,frc | 29.970,0
[transcode] V: Y'CbCr | YV12/I420
[transcode] A: import format | 0x2000 AC3 [48000,16,2]
[transcode] A: export format | 0x55 MPEG layer-3 [48000,16,2] 128 kbps
[transcode] V: encoding fps,frc | 29.970,4
[transcode] A: bytes per frame | 6408 (6406.400000)
[transcode] A: adjustment | -1600@1000
[transcode] V: IA32 accel mode | sse (sse 3dnowext 3dnow mmxext mmx asm C)
tc_memcpy: using mmxext for memcpy
[transcode] V: video buffer | 10 @ 352x288
[import_v4l.so] v0.0.5 (2003-06-11) (video) v4l | (audio) PCM
[export_ffmpeg.so] v0.3.13 (2004-08-03) (video) FFmpeg0.4.9-pre1b4718 | (audio) MPEG/AC3/PCM
[import_v4l.so] video4linux audio grabbing
(audio.c) audio blocksize 4096
[import_v4l.so] video4linux video grabbing
grab device open: Device or resource busy
error grab init
video import module error: OPEN failed
[transcode] critical: failed to open input source

How do I allow two programs to access the video?

Here's an idea... the MDK system is using nvidia drivers. I'll try disabling them, and rather than delete all this, I'll report back if I'm successful. <(Edit: No, this wasn't the answer)>

I'd welcome any other suggestions.