ELSA ERAZOR III LT User manual

ELSA ERAZORTM III Pro
ELSA ERAZORTM III LT
User Manual

© 1999 ELSA AG, Aachen (Germany)
Whiletheinformationinthismanualhasbeencompiledwithgreatcare,itmaynotbedeemedanassur-
ance of product characteristics. ELSA shall be liable only to the degree specified in the terms of sale
and delivery.
Thereproductionanddistributionofthedocumentationandsoftwaresuppliedwiththisproductandthe
use of its contents is subject to written authorization from ELSA.
ELSAisDINENISO9001certified. TheaccreditedTÜVCERTcertificationauthorityhasconfirmedELSA
conformity to the worldwide ISO 9001 standard in certificate number 09 100 5069, issued on June 15,
1998.
This product incorporates copyright protection technology that is protected by method claims of certain
U.S. patents and other intellectual property rights owned by Macrovision Corporation and other right
owners.UseofthiscopyrightprotectiontechnologymustbeauthorizedbyMacrovisionCorporation,and
is intended for home and other limited viewing uses only unless otherwise authorized by Macrovision
Corporation. Reverse engineering or disassembly is prohibited.
Trademarks
Windows®, Windows NT®and Microsoft®are registered trademarks of Microsoft, Corp.
Allothernamesmentionedmaybetrademarksorregisteredtrademarksoftheirrespectiveowners. The
ELSA logo is a registered trademark of ELSA AG.
Subject to change without notice. No liability for technical errors or omissions.
Aachen, August 1999
No. 21635/0899
ELSA AG
Sonnenweg 11
52070 Aachen
Germany
ELSA, Inc.
2231 Calle De Luna
Santa Clara, CA 95054
USA

Preface
Thank you for placing your trust in this ELSA product.
Whetheryouchosethe
ELSAERAZORIIIPro orthe ELSAERAZORIIILT ,youhaveselected
a graphics board which is just as well suited to professional users as to ambitious play-
ers. The graphics processor on the board ensures high-speed generation of on-screen
graphicsmakingthisboardidealforadvancedCADandvisualizationapplicationsaswell
as for fast animation. ELSA products are subject to the highest of standards in produc-
tion and quality control which are the foundation for consistently high product quality
ELSA ERAZOR III .
This manual provides all the information you will need to get the best out of your ELSA
graphics board. For instance, which resolution is best for which monitor, or how is the
board upgraded? The accompanying ELSA utility programs are described, and you will
find detailed information about 3D acceleration.
ELSA products are subject to continual further development. It is therefore possible that
the information printed in this manual is not current in all respects.
IntheREADMEfilesonthe
ERAZORIII CDcanalwaysbefoundcurrentinformationabout
updates.
If you have further questions or need additional help, you can rely on our online services
which are available to ELSA customers. Look for information on the ELSA's website.
In very urgent cases the ELSA Hotline can be reached under the following number:
1-800-272-6131
or from outside the USA:
[phone]
or in the United Kingdom:
[phone]

Before you read on...
TheinstallationoftheELSAERAZOR IIIhardwareandsoftwaredriversisdescribedinfull
intheInstallation Guide which accompanies thismanual. Youshould refer to that docu-
ment before attempting to install your board, and before reading this manual.

Contents
ELSA ERAZOR III Pro und ELSA ERAZOR III LT
V
Contents
Introduction ....................................................................................................................1
ELSA ERAZOR III highlights..................................................................................... 1
Video-in................................................................................................................... 1
Video-out................................................................................................................. 2
What's in the box?.................................................................................................. 2
What hardware do I need?..................................................................................... 2
CE conformity and FCC radiation standard............................................................. 3
After installing the drivers ...........................................................................................5
Software installation from the CD.......................................................................... 5
The right settings.................................................................................................... 5
What are your options?...................................................................................... 6
What makes sense?........................................................................................... 7
Changing the resolution.......................................................................................... 7
Windows 95 and Windows 98........................................................................... 7
Windows NT 4.0 ................................................................................................ 9
Video––what’s in, what’s out? ..................................................................................11
Signal interchange––an overview........................................................................ 11
Video-in............................................................................................................ 12
Video-out.......................................................................................................... 12
The right connection?............................................................................................ 12
One for all: The composite video adapter cable.............................................. 12
Connection to a TV set.......................................................................................... 14
ELSA video settings ....................................................................................................15
Video-in................................................................................................................. 15
The video picture on the computer monitor..................................................... 15
How does the video image get onto the computer monitor?.......................... 17
Overwhelmed?...................................................................................................... 17
What’s IN?....................................................................................................... 17
What is OUT?................................................................................................... 18
The computer display on TV/video.................................................................. 18
Useful stuff and more ..................................................................................................21
The Multimedia Player.......................................................................................... 21
Video control deluxe............................................................................................. 22
In detail: operation........................................................................................... 22
Searching for information................................................................................ 24
Neat, meetings!.................................................................................................... 24
MainActor—the principal performer.................................................................... 25

Contents
ELSA ERAZOR III Pro und ELSA ERAZOR III LT
VI
The sequencer.................................................................................................. 25
The video editor............................................................................................... 26
The Viewer....................................................................................................... 26
Fine-tuning for performance freaks...................................................................... 27
All about graphics ....................................................................................................... 29
3D graphics representation .................................................................................. 29
The 3D pipeline................................................................................................ 29
3D interfaces......................................................................................................... 31
What APIs are available? ................................................................................ 32
Direct 3D.......................................................................................................... 32
OpenGL............................................................................................................. 33
Color Palettes, TrueColor and Gray Scales........................................................... 33
VGA.................................................................................................................. 33
DirectColor....................................................................................................... 34
VESA DDC (Display Data Channel)....................................................................... 34
DDC2B.............................................................................................................. 35
DDC2AB ........................................................................................................... 35
Video signal formats............................................................................................. 35
Composite video .............................................................................................. 35
S-VHS............................................................................................................... 35
IEEE 1394.......................................................................................................... 36
Video formats: compressors at work.................................................................... 36
RGB16 .............................................................................................................. 36
YVU9 ................................................................................................................ 36
ELSA compression ........................................................................................... 37
Technical data .............................................................................................................39
Characteristics of the graphics board .......................................................... 39
ELSA graphics board addresses........................................................................... 39
Ports on the graphics board.................................................................................. 40
The VGA D-shell socket .................................................................................. 40
Appendix .......................................................................................................................41
Declarations of Conformity .................................................................................. 41
Warranty conditions............................................................................................. 43
Glossary ........................................................................................................................45
Index ..............................................................................................................................49

Introduction
ELSA ERAZOR III Pro and ELSA ERAZOR III LT
1
Introduction
Youpossesseitherthe ELSAERAZORIIIPro ,whichexistsintwoversions—withorwith-
outvideofunctions—orthe
ELSAERAZORIIILT ,whichhasnovideofunctions. Thisman-
ual describes both versions. You may not need to read everything: Sections within the
manual which refer to video functions are marked accordingly.
ELSA ERAZOR III
highlights
쮿NewNVIDIATNT2Prographicsprocessor(
ELSAERAZORIIIPro )orTNT2M64( ELSA
ERAZOR III LT
)
쮿The raw power of 32MB of synchronous video memory plus up to 128 MB of AGP
texture space
쮿Pixel clock frequency up to 300 MHz
쮿With
ELSAERAZORIIIPro optionalvideo-in and outversionforvideocapture, inter-
net video and games on the big screen for Windows 98 and Windows 95
쮿Two independent 3D rendering pipelines for maximum performance
쮿Product support via Internet WWW site
쮿Six-year warranty
쮿This board complies with the CE and FCC rules.
쮿full compatibility with 3D shutter glasses
ELSA 3D REVELATOR
Video-in
쮿Video recording—Full screen for PAL/NTSC
쮿Videoediting withbundled MainActorsoftwareincluding animatedGIFandMPEG2
export.
쮿Internet videoconferencing with bundled Microsoft NetMeeting software
쮿Comfortable videotext and teletext display (TV tuner required, e. g. VCR)
쮿Three independent video inputs (1 x S-Video, 2 x composite) for VCR, satellite tuner
and camera

Introduction
ELSA ERAZOR III Pro and ELSA ERAZOR III LT
2
Video-out
쮿Play games on the big TV screen
쮿Record games and applications to VCR
쮿Render animation previews directly to the VCR
쮿Edit video directly on the TV
쮿High quality output with 10bit DAC and flicker filter
쮿Two simultaneous video outputs (1 x S-Video, 1 x composite)
What's in the box?
Youwillnoticeifyourgraphicsboardismissing. Butyouneedtocheckthattheboxcon-
tained all of the following:
쮿Graphics board
쮿Installation Guide
쮿User Manual
User Manual for ELSA ERAZOR III LT on CD only.
쮿CD-ROM with installation and driver software and utilities
쮿CD-ROM with Direct3D demo programs
쮿Only with video-equipped graphics boards:
Adapter for video-in and video-out
Ifanypartismissingpleasecontactyourdealer. ELSAreservestherighttovarytheprod-
ucts supplied without prior notice.
What hardware do I need?
쮿Computer: Minimum requirements are a Pentium 166 or compatible. The
ERAZOR III only really comes to life if your computer has a Pentium II or compatible
processor or even better. Less muscular processors will not get the best out of the
board.
쮿Bus: The
ERAZOR III is available as an AGP version. Your computer must have an
AGP bus.
쮿Monitor: The
ERAZOR III works with the standard IBM VGA compatible horizontal
scan frequency of 31.5 kHz while booting and in DOS operation.

Introduction
ELSA ERAZOR III Pro and ELSA ERAZOR III LT
3
CE conformity and FCC radiation standard
CE
This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits of the European
CouncilDirectiveontheapproximationofthelawsofthememberstatesrelatingtoelec-
tromagnetic compatibility (89/336/EEC) according to EN 55022 class B.
FCC
This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital
device pursuant to Part 15 of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Rules.
CE and FCC
Theselimitsaredesignedtoprovidereasonableprotectionagainstradiofrequencyinter-
ference in a residential installation. This equipment generates, uses, and can radiate
radiofrequencyenergy. Itmayinterferewithtoradiocommunicationsifnotinstalledand
used in accordance with the instructions. However, there is no guarantee that interfer-
encewill notoccurin aparticularinstallation. If thisequipmentdoescause interference
toradio ortelevisionreception (thiscanbedeterminedby turningthisequipment offand
on),theuserisencouragedtotrytocorrecttheinterferencebyoneormoreofthefollow-
ing measures:
쮿Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna.
쮿Increase the distance between this equipment and the receiver.
쮿Connecttheequipmenttoanoutletonacircuitotherthanthattowhichthereceiver
is connected.
쮿Consult your dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician.
쮿Caution:To complywiththelimits foranFCC Class Bcomputingdevice, alwaysuse
a shielded signal cable.
Caution to the user: The Federal Communications Commission warns the user that
changes or modifications to the unit not expressly approved by the party responsible for
compliance could void the user's authority to operate the equipment.

Introduction
ELSA ERAZOR III Pro and ELSA ERAZOR III LT
4