MuTech Image/VGA-460 User manual

Image/VGA-460
Frame Grabber
User’s Guide
MuTech Corporation
When Your Image Counts

Copyright 2000
MuTech Corporation
85 Rangeway Road
Billerica, MA 01862
USA
Telephone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.mutech.com
Revision 1.0
09/15/00

i
Image/VGA-460 User’s Guide Revision 1.0
Table of Content
1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Description of IV-460.............................................................................1
1.2 Options...................................................................................................2
1.3 VGA Display Modes.............................................................................3
1.4 Video Capture ......................................................................................3
1.5 Software.................................................................................................5
1.6 Software Development Kits..................................................................5
2 Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.1 System Requirements............................................................................9
2.2 Package Contents................................................................................9
2.3 Hardware Installation..........................................................................10
2.4 Cable Connections ............................................................................11
2.5 Software Installation............................................................................11
2.6 Distribution Software...........................................................................13
3 Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.1 Block Diagram.....................................................................................19
3.2 Overview of the Component Blocks ................................................20
Appendix A Jumper Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Appendix B Specification of Connectors . . . . . . . . . . 25
B.1 Video Input Connector (P1) ..............................................................25
B.2 VIP Connector.....................................................................................27
B.3 J1 Connector.......................................................................................28
Appendix C Product Specification. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

ii Revision 1.0 Image/VGA-460 User’s Guide

Introduction 1
Image/VGA-460 User’s Guide Revision 1.0
1
1 Introduction
Note, nomenclature definitionsused indocuments and product
literature:
 Image/VGA-400 Series or IV-4XX are used to refer to the
whole line of products (including the old 400/450/450P and
the new 410/460, etc.)
 IV-41X is used to refer to the group of new products (i.e. 410,
460, etc.)
 A specific product is referred by name, i.e. 400, 450, 460, etc.
1.1 Description of IV-460
Integrated VGA
Controller The Image / VGA-460 (IV-460) is a single slot, PCI Bus frame
grabber and video digitizer with integrated VGA controller. It
captures and displays RGB/monochrome video on a standard VGA
or Super VGA screen. It works as a standard VGA Adapter in any
of the PCI Bus slots. The IV-460 includes device drivers for
Windows 9X, NT and Win2K.Drivers for other operating systems
may also be available. Please contact the Customer Support
Department of MuTech Corporation for the most up to date
information on drivers.
Standard or Non-
Standard Video The IV-460 is capable of digitizing video signals from a standard/
non-standard camera. The video can be either monochrome or
RGB color. The timing can come from either composite video or
separate sync/clock. The digitized video data are stored in the on-
board video buffer and mixed with the VGA signal for display on
the computer monitor.
Trigger & Expo.
Control The IV-460 is capable of accepting an external Event Trigger,
generating a general purpose Strobe Signal to control the exposure
/ integration of the camera, and then receiving a Grab Trigger for
capturing single or multiple frames of video.

2Introduction
Revision 1.0 Image/VGA-460 User’s Guide
Savage4 Pro
Accelerator Chip
from S3
The IV-460 needs a PCI Bus slot. If there is a VGA adapter on the
computer motherboard, the IV-460 can replace it and become the
primary VGA display controller. The VGA controller of the IV-
460 is the S3 Savage4 Pro Accelerator Chip (possibly with
different versions and different revisions). The IV-460 is delivered
with onboard VGA BIOS from S3.
Connectors The IV-460 has three connectors. The first is the Video Input
Connector which takes either Monochrome Video or RGB Color
Video from a camera. This is a High-Density DB-15 male
connector. This connector also provides connections for the Event/
Grab Trigger, the Strobe, and camera power output. The second is
the VGA Output Connector, which provides VGA display signals
to the computer monitor. This is a High-Density DB-15 female
connector. The third is a 50 pin header connector on top of the
board, which can be connected, via a ribbon cable to a DB-50
connector on a second bracket. This connector provides the
maximum possible connections to the IV-460 board, including 4
monochrome video, 2 sets of RGB video, 2 sets of external sync
and clock, 4 sets of Event-Strobe-Trigger and camera power. For
customers who need to utilize these connection, MuTech provides
an optional Ribbon Cable (MVC-D32). A custom cable from the
DB-50 connector must be made by the customer.
Major
Components The Image / VGA-460 board consists of the following major
components:

PCI bus interface

VGA graphics controller

RAMDAC

Buffer memory, 8 MB (16 MB optional)

10 bit monochrome A/D Converter (only 8 bit data are used)

3 x 8 bit RGB A/D Converter

Input LUT

Grab and Exposure Control Unit

Sync Stripper, Separator and PLL

The auxiliary circuits
1.2 Options
The following options are available for the IV-460:

Introduction 3
Image/VGA-460 User’s Guide Revision 1.0
Options

8/16 MByte Video Buffer Memory

Security Device -a 256 x 8 bit EEPROM (XICOR X24C02)
with write protection jumper is implemented on the board
(must be provided by OEM or software developer)

RS-170 or CCIR Sync Generator to provide standard drive
signals to camera
1.3 VGA Display Modes
Without the video window display, the IV-460 supports all VGA /
SVGA display modes, only limited by the amount of on board
memory.
When the video window is on, the display resolution and/or color
depth are further limited. The IV-460 has shared memory
architecture. In this architecture, the video display, the VGA
overlay, the video capture, and the host access all compete for the
same limited memory bandwidth. This will limit the maximum
spatial resolution and/or color depth. The next table shows the
resolution and color depth tested for the IV-460.
Note The above listed resolution and color depth are also limited
by the on board memory amount.
1.4 Video Capture
Video Inputs The IV-460 board digitizes either RGB color or monochrome video
signals. It supports up to 4 monochrome video inputs or up to 2
RGB video inputs. When the default connector (DB-15HD) is
used, the maximum video input combination is limited by the
available connections. The channel switching is under software
control. The monochrome video is digitized into 8 bits which is
further combined with dummy chrominance data to form 16 bit
pixels in YCbCr 4:2:2 format (per the CCIR601 standard). The
RGB color video is digitized into 3 x 8 bits which are either stored
Screen Resolution Maximum Colors Refresh Rate
640 x 480
800 x 600
1024 x 768
1280 x 1024
16 M
16 M
16 M
16 M
85
85
85
75

4Introduction
Revision 1.0 Image/VGA-460 User’s Guide
in 24 bit pixel format or combined with a dummy byte to form 32
bit pixel format. Capturing and displaying of the video are real time
(30 fps for RS-170, 25 fps for CCIR).
Video Window The IV-460 supports only one video window. Software can control
the settings of the Top / Bottom Reference Level of the A/D
Converter, aswell as theClamping Level of the video signal.A 256
x 8 bit input LUT is available for monochrome video. Three 256 x
8 bit input LUTs are available for RGB video. In both cases, there
are 16 banks in each of the LUTs. The user may pre-load them with
16 different look-up-tables and switch them during the vertical
retrace periods. All LUTs may be bypassed.
Scaling The video scaling is implemented by programming the PLL. For
standard RS-170(CCIR) video, the default PLL setting will
generate 640(768) pixels per line. This corresponds to non-scaled
capture with a 1:1 aspect ratio.
Display Mixing There are basically three different working modes for displaying
and mixing of video and graphical content. They are the:
 Opaque Mode
 Color Key Overlay Mode
 Chroma Key Underlay Mode
Opaque Mode In the Opaque Mode, the video content is displayed in the video
window and the graphical content is displayed on another part of
the screen.
Color Key
Overlay Mode In the Color Key Overlay Mode, the graphical content may overlay
the video content in the video window. This overlay is controlled
by the Color Key (or Index Key). If the color of the graphical
content is the same as the Color Key, the user will see-through that
pixel and see the video content under it. Otherwise the user will see
the graphical content.
Chroma Key
Underlay Mode In the Chroma Key Underlay Mode, the graphical content may
underlay the video content inside the video window. This is
controlledbytheChroma Key Registersettings(onesetof registers
for each of the R, G, and B channels, in the case of color video). If
the video pixel color is withinthe Chroma Key color range, the user
will see through the video pixel to the graphical content under it.
Otherwise the user will see the video content.
Zooming The captured video may be zoomed up by an arbitrary ratio, in both
directions, on the way to being displayed on the monitor.

Introduction 5
Image/VGA-460 User’s Guide Revision 1.0
Trigger &
Exposure Control The IV-460 is designed for industrial use. It provides a general
purpose Event Trigger Input, a general purpose Strobe Output and
a Grab Trigger Input. The Event signal is used to start the camera
control-capturing sequence. The Strobe could be used to reset the
camera, to control the exposure / integration time, or to strobe a
flash light. When the desired frame / field is ready, the Grab
Trigger is used to capture the desired frame / field. There are 4 sets
of E-S-T signals, selectable by software, so each of the video
channels may have its own control.
1.5 Software
Utility Programs Several utility programs are delivered with the IV-460 board. They
can be used for testing the installation, simple debugging, and
demonstration purposes. They can also be used as utilities for
capturing video and saving to files. The utility programs provided
support Extended DOS, Windows 9X, NT and Win2K. Also
distributed are VGA drivers for Windows 9X, NT and Win2K
(these drivers are available for down-loading from the S3 home
page as well as from the MuTech home page). All drivers are
directly licensed from S3.
MuTech does provide full customer support for the utility
programs and the Software Development Kits described below.
1.6 Software Development Kits
MuTech offers Software Development Kits (SDKs) for OEMs or
any users developing application programs for the IV-4XX Series
Product Line. These SDKs support Extended DOS and Windows
9X, WinNT/2000. Each of the SDK includes:

LIBs and/or DLLs

include files

sample source codes (showing typical calling sequences and
the usage of the core functions) in both C and VC++ formats.
MuTech does NOT modify any of the VGA drivers and does
NOT have any expertise to provide customer support for
them.

6Introduction
Revision 1.0 Image/VGA-460 User’s Guide
 make files
The major groups of functions in the SDKs are listed below. For
each group, a simple description is given to show the tasks of
functions in the group. For definitions of the logical windows/
frames used in this section, please refer to the Image / VGA-4XX
Software Development Guide.
Board
Initialization
Group
Included in this group are functions used to open/close the IV-460
board, to initialize the board to a default state, and to retrieve the
information about the board, the current configuration, the SDK
version, etc.
Capture Control
Group This group consists of the functions which are used to control the
Capturing Process. This includes defining the Grab Window,
setting the Scale Factors, defining the Video Frame, and starting/
stopping the grabbing. Also, this group includes functions to wait
for the Vertical Sync or for the End of a Frame.
Display Control
Group This group consists of the functions which are used to control the
Displaying Process. This includes defining the Display Image
Frame, setting the Display Zoom Factors and setting the Image
Windows on screen. Other functions in this group control the
Overlay Mode and the settings of the Color/Chroma Key values.
Front End
Adjustment
Group
The functions in this group controlthe adjustment of features of the
input video signal. For example, the TV standard, the channel
selection, the settings of the Gain and Offset are all controlled in
this group.
Look Up Table
Group The functions in this group are used to load the input video LUT,
to use or to bypass the input LUT, or to switch the LUT banks.
On-board
Memory Access
Group
Functions in this group are provided to read/write the video
memorybuffer. Whenaccessingthebufferthroughthesefunctions,
the SDK hides the low level details from the caller, and presents the
video data as lines in a 2-D memory array.
File I/O Group The functions in this group provide high speed image file read/
write, in one of the supported file formats (Bitmap, TIFF or
TARGA).
Miscellaneous /
Utility Group Functions in this group provide support for some minor tasks for
the user. For example, wait for VGA vertical retrace, etc.