foc.us InVideo USB User manual

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Chapter 1
Introduction
Thank you for purchasing the InVideo/PCIª video
frame grabber system. The system consists of a card
that you install in your PCI slot and some very
exciting software. On a very basic level, weÕve
designed InVideo/PCIª to accomplish two simple
tasks:
•Grab full color still images from a camcorder, VCR, or
laser disk player.
•Grab full color digital clips from a camcorder, VCR, or
laser disk player.
When used as part of FOCUS Enhancement's
InVideoª Conference package, InVideo/PCI is a great
tool for videoconferencing.
Minimum System Requirements
The following is the minimum system configuration
required for the operation of the InVideo/PCIª system.
1. 486 processor or better with an available PCI
expansion slot.
2. A hard disk drive and CD ROM drive for
installation.

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3. At least 8 Megabytes of RAM.
4. Microsoft Windows 3.1 or later.
5. A Video Graphics Array (VGA) Adapter, capable
of displaying at least 640 by 480 at 256 colors.
6. A video camera, camcorder, video tape player, or
any video source that puts out a composite or S-
Video signal.
Suggested System Requirements
Although not absolutely required, it is suggested that
you consider the following hardware/software to
increase the usability of InVideo/PCIª:
1. A PCI-based VGA adapter that supports ÒDirect DrawÓ for high
performance preview and at least 16 bit color.
2. Windows 95.
3. 16 Megabytes of memory or more for increased performance.
4. A fast Intel Pentium CPU.
5. A fast hard disk drive, preferably a SCSI hard disk that supports
higher speed disk access.
6. At least 512K of L2 cache for better performance.
Software Updates
You may purchase software updates directly from
FOCUS Enhancements for a nominal fee. You may

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also receive software updates for InVideo on the
Internet.
FOCUS Enhancements: www.focusinfo.com

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Chapter 2
Installation
Hardware Installation
Follow these steps for hardware installation:
1. Remove diskettes from all drives. Turn off all components
connected to the computer and the computer itself. Remove the
cover of your computer.
2. Inside your computer are the expansion slots. Choose one of the
empty PCI slots. Position the InVideo/PCIªboard over the selected
empty slot and slide the card in, pressing straight downward until
the card is seated firmly.
3. Replace the screw in the slot, securing the InVideo/PCIª adapter
card to your PC. Then, replace the cover on your computer.

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NOTE - PLEASE READ THE SOFTWARE INSTALLATION
INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE YOU TURN ON YOUR
COMPUTER.
Software Installation
Contents of InVideo/PCI CD-ROM:
The enclosed CD-ROM includes the drivers needed to
run this hardware on Windows 3.x and Windows 95
platforms. See FOCUS Enhancements's Web site for
Windows NT drivers, if needed. Also included are
two software programs as follows:
CineMaker
A Video For Windows application primarily designed
to captures motion video and audio and store them on
disk as AVI files.
InVideo/PCI
An application primarily designed to capture and store
still images in file formats such as GIF, JPG, BMP,
and TIF.
Please note that if you do not have a CD-ROM Drive,
you may download the latest drivers and applications
from our web site http://www.focusinfo.com.

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1. After installing the hardware as specified above, power on your
computer into Windows 95.
Windows has found a new PCI Multimedia Device and is installing
software for it.
Òinstall drivers from the disk provided by the hardware
manufacturerÓ and press OK.
5. Enter the location of your CD-ROM drive and press OK (ex. D:\).
6. Select OK again to install the selected device, InVideo/PCI Video
7. Restart Windows.
Installing
10. After performing the above steps, select Start and Run.
11. In the command line type D:\SETUP.EXE where D:\ is the location of
12. Follow the screen prompts to install InVideo/PCI and Cinemaker

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programs.
Windows 3.X Installation Procedures
1. After installing the hardware as specified above, boot your computer
into Windows 3.x.
2. From the Program Manager, select File and Run.
3. In the command line type D:\WIN31\SETUP.EXE where D:\ is the
location of your CD-ROM drive.
4. Follow the screen prompts to install all of the associated software.
Connecting Video
Once your software is installed, all that's left to do is
to connect your camera. The InVideo/PCIª hardware
has three connectors on it. The connectors are
described as follows (from top to bottom):
1. S-Video In - This connector is used to connect Hi8 camcorders and
SuperVHS VCR's.
2. Video In - All other video devices connect here with a standard video
cable.

3. DC Output - Provides the power necessary to run the DCVC-2 video
camera (optional) from FOCUS Enhancements, Inc. If you're using a
To capture audio along with the video, connect the audio output from
your camera to your sound card.
Title:
Creator:
Preview:
with a preview included in it.
This EPS picture will print to a
other types of printers.

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Chapter 3
Using the CineMaker Software
Once you've installed both the hardware and the
software, you're ready to capture your first image.
The setup program installs an application called
CineMaker, a quick and easy application for capturing
single images and movies. Begin by launching the
CineMaker program.
Setup
If you're running CineMaker for the first time, select
the Video Source menu from the Options menu.
Here, you are able to choose the type of video
connected to your InVideo/PCIª. You can choose the

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video standard:
•NTSC: Used in North America and the Orient.
•PAL: Used in most other parts of the world, including
most of Europe.
•SECAM: Used in select areas of the world such as
France and some Eastern European countries.
If you don't know which video standard you're using,
click the Detect button to automatically determine it.
You can choose the type of connection for the video:
•COMPOSITE: Also known as the RCA connector, this is
the most common video connector. Use this for the
View All PC system and most camcorders and VCRs.
•S-VIDEO: Provides a cleaner video signal than
composite. YouÕll find this connector on Hi8
camcorders and SuperVHS VCRs. Sometimes called
the Y/C connector.
The other controls in the Video Source window
include:
CENTERING & WIDTH: Use the centering control to
remove black bars from the sides of your image.
Slight differences between video sources may cause
the preview and capture image to be offset and black
bars may appear around the edges. Centering
addresses this issue. If you adjust the centering and
black bars still appear around the border of the image,
increment the width control.

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AUTOCAL, BRIGHTNESS,
CONTRAST,SATURATION, HUE: The BCSH
controls let you compensate for unusual lighing
conditions and differences between video sources. A
good way to use these controls is to click on the
AutoCal button, which causes InVideo/PCI to
determine proper BCSH levels. Then, manually fine-
tune the settings to your preferences. If youÕd like to
AutoCal every time you start the program, a checkbox
is included for doing so.
The Video Format window is the next option to
choose when you're setting up.
This window lets you choose the resolution and
number of colors of the capture. Image size is
selectable (in number of pixels). Pixel depth, or
number of colors, is selectable as well. For the best
performance with motion capture, set the image size
to 320 by 240 or smaller and the pixel depth to 15-bit
or lower.

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Finally, the interlace, or field order, is selectable.
InVideo/PCIª does a good job in determining field
order. If however, you find that your captured images
are unusually fuzzy, you might try changing the field
order.
Types of Preview
InVideo/PCIª offers two types of Preview, selectable
from the Capture menu. Choose the type of preview
based on the capabilities of your VGA card. Preview
type does not affect the performance of the capture,
just the preview speed. The types of preview are:
Direct Preview - Using a PCI card that supports
Direct Draw, you can set up InVideo/PCIª to talk
directly to the VGA. This gives you real-time
previews and uses almost no computing power (no
CPU time).
Indirect Preview - For VGA cards that don't support
Direct Draw, the InVideo/PCIª software uses the
standard method of drawing the video preview on
your screen. The standard method uses up computing
power and is slower than Direct Preview. However,
Indirect Preview works with all VGA cards.
Single Image Capture
While you're previewing the video, you can select Still
from the Capture menu (Capture Still). That moment
in time will be digitally frozen, and you can save the
image to disk with the File, Save AsÉ menu.

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Motion Video Capture
To capture a movie, first set up for the capture. Select
Capture setup from the Capture menu.
Here you'll be able to set the capture frame rate and
choose the characteristics of the video and audio.
When setting up, keep in mind the following:
•Video runs at a maximum of 30 frames per second. it's
not worth setting the video to capture faster than that.
•The speed of capture is determined by the number of
colors, the resolution, and the type of device to which
you capture the movie. To a lesser degree, audio
capture may also affect performance. Experiment with
these options to optimize your capture.

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•The megahertz rating of your CPU and the hard disk
speed have a bearing on the performance as well.
Consider upgrades if you're not getting the performance
you need.
After setting up, select video from the Capture menu
(Capture video). CineMaker will begin spooling
video as fast as it can either to your computer's
memory or to your hard disk. The speed of the
capture will depend upon the speed of your machine,
the hard disk speed, and the characteristics (resolution
and number of colors) of the image. The capture will
continue until you press the Escape key, run out of
memory, or the designated time parameters have run
out.
Finish the process with Save Captured Video As...
from the File menu. CineMaker will save a standard
.AVI file to disk that you can load into other common
programs.

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If you just want to save one frame from the motion
clip, simply play the video until you get to the
appropriate frame, and select Save Single Frame As...
from the File menu. For better control over still frame
captures, use the InVideo software (rather than
CineMaker) to capture the image.
Sequential Frame Capture
Sequential frame captures one frame at a time and
strings the single frames together into a movie. This
technique is used by cartoonists and those of you
working with clay models for animations.
Select frames from the Capture menu. Click the
Capture button when your frame is ready. Adjust your
scene slightly and click the Capture button again.
When your animation is done, click the OK button.
Tool Bar
Commonly used menu items are included in the tool
bar as shown:
For the new user, the Help and Help Menu buttons can
be a very effective way to learn all about

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InVideo/PCIª. For the experienced user, the tool bar
can be a fabulous time saver.
Memory Usage
The InVideo/PCIª software reserves a one Megabyte
area of memory during the boot up of Windows. This
memory is dedicated for use for the InVideo hardware
and cannot be used for any other program. However,
you can release this memory if you will not be using
InVideo/PCI further. To release this memory, simply
edit the [386enh] section of the
C:\Windows\System.ini file. Look for the line:
device = vdmamemd.vdx
change it to:
!device = vdmamemd.vdx
Using InVideo with Other Software
When you install the software, a Video for Windows
(VFW) driver is also installed. This driver opens up a
world of possibilities, making InVideo compatible
with a long list of applications. When properly
installed, the driver appears as a line in the Microsoft
Windows 95 Control panel ÒMultimedia.Ó Here are a
few of the many compatible applications:
•White Pine's Enhanced CU-SeeMeª and Microsoft
NetMeeting - Two great videoconferencing packages.
Look for NetMeeting on your InVideo/PCI CD.
•WebCastª - We've included a trial version of WebCast
from Galacticomm, Inc. Use it to do live video
broadcasts over the web.

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•ISpy and EmuLive Pro - ÒWeb CamsÓ have become a
popular diversion on the Internet. When you hit a web
page on which a web cam is setup, youÕll see an up-to-
date image of the subject matter in front of the camera.
Web Cams are currently aimed at fish tanks, backyards,
school campuses, coffee pots, and a wide range of
other subjects. To see examples of Web Cams, see the
Web Cam Central page at http://www.camcentral.com/.
Use ISpy or EmuLive Pro to set up your own Web Cam.
If you have a dedicated internet connection and a
InVideo/PCI, itÕs easy!
•Adobe Premiere and MGI Video Wave - Programs like
Premiere and Video Wave let you edit your video clips,
add music tracks, and give you special effects. Use
them to get professional results on your captured
movies.
•Cool Cards - Capture images and use them for
electronic greeting cards that you can email to friends
and family.
Developer's Package
FOCUS Enhancements makes available a
InVideo/PCIª software developer’s package. While
most software development projects need only support
standard Video for Windows calls to work well with
InVideo/PCI, this package includes C code that allows
users to capture images with InVideo/PCIª directly
from within their own programs. For example, if
you’re developing an ID software system that would
capture images directly without requiring the user to
exit the application, the developer package might be

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right for you. Contact FOCUS Enhancements for
more information or to order the developer’s package.
While most software development projects need only
support standard Video for Windows calls to work
well

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Chapter 4
Using the InVideo Software
The InVideo software is designed to let you capture
and save a still image from video. It includes support
for file formats such as BMP, TIF, JPG, and GIF.
Set up the InVideo software by selecting Setup... from
the File menu. Choose the appropriate options for
Video Standard and Video Source.
Video Standards Differ by country:
NTSC – Americas & Japan
PAL – Western Europe, Mid-east,
Asia & Australia
SECAM – E. Europe & Africa
Once you’ve captured a few
images, experiment with the
Filter to achieve the best
image quality for your video
device.
To remove black
stripes on the sides of
the image by adjusting
and centering the
image.

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Click to grab a
frame or
choose Capture
from the Image
manu.
Click to start &
stop the
looping video
Choose “Show BCHS” from
the Options Menu to access
this window.
Default settings
are B,C,H,S at
50%
Click AutoCal
to have the
software choose
the optimal
settings.