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.

Introduction 7
Image/VGA-460 User’s Guide Revision 1.0
Advanced
Feature Group This group includes the functions to handle the Event signal,
triggered capture, Strobe signal generation and different IRQ
services.
For details about the IV-4XX SDK, please refer to the Image /
VGA-4XX Software Development Guide.

8Introduction Revision 1.0 Image/VGA-460 User’s Guide

Installation 9
Image/VGA-460 User’s Guide Revision 1.0
1
2 Installation
2.1 System Requirements
Before installing the IV-460 Board, ensure that the following
requirements are satisfied
 The system must have at lease one PCI slot available.
 If the system has a VGA controller on the motherboard, the
IV-460 can be plugged into one of the PCI slots and will take
over as the primary VGA controller. If the system has a VGA
adapter board, it must be removed and replaced with the IV-
460 board.
 To capture an image, one of the following cameras is needed:

RS-170/CCIR monochrome camera

RS-170/CCIR RGB color camera
2.2 Package Contents
The standard shipping package of the Image / VGA-460 includes
the following items:
 IV-460 Board
 Image / VGA-460 Frame Grabber User’s Guide (this
document)
 IV-4XX Distribution CD (or Diskettes), which contains the
latest readme file, the software installer, the VGA drivers and
the demonstration utility for the desired Operating Environ-
ment (some Operating Systems must be specially ordered).
Product Options The following options must be ordered separately:
 VC-DB15-10 Video Cable, which provides 3 monochrome
video, 1 set of RGB video and connections for E-S-T signals.

10 Installation
Revision 1.0 Image/VGA-460 User’s Guide
 VC-DB15-12 Video Cable, which is similar to the VC-DB15-
10 Cable but with 3 monochrome and 1 set of RGB video, or
2 sets of RGB video inputs.
 MVC-D32 Ribbon Cable Assembly which provides the
connections between the 50 pin header and a DB-50 connector
on a separate bracket.
 Image / VGA-4XX Software Development Kit (for the Oper-
ating System of your choice), which includes the diskette(s)
and the Image / VGA-4XX Software Development Guide man-
ual.
 Sync-Gen Option must be ordered separately, if HD & VD
outputs are needed to drive the camera.
 Security Device and its programming utility must be ordered
separately, if an OEM customer needs to add some protection
to their software.
Please check the packing contents carefully; always check the
readme file on the Distribution Diskette for the latest change of the
package contents. If something is missing or damaged, contact the
MuTech Customer Support Department immediately. The
telephone number and e-mail address are listed on the cover pages.
2.3 Hardware Installation
The Image / VGA-4XX Series Boards are Plug and Play devices.
There is no I/O address or Memory address to set.
Input
Termination The jumpers on the IV-460 board are for input termination (75
Ohms). For most standard video sources, the video inputs should be
terminated by 75 Ohms. These are the factory default settings. If
the user does need to change the termination, please refer to
Appendix A: Jumper Settings.
Note,westronglyrecommendthattheuser readthereadme
file in the Image/VGA-4XX Series Distribution Disc(Dis-
kettes) first. It contains the latest information regarding
hardware installation procedures.

Installation 11
Image/VGA-460 User’s Guide Revision 1.0
2.4 Cable Connections
There are only two cable connections necessary for the IV-460.
They are the VGA monitor cable and the video input cable.
Figure 2.1: IV-460 Cable Connection Diagram

The VGA output connector of the IV-460 is a DB-15 High
Density Female Connector located in the lower part of the
bracket. Attach the cable coming from the VGA monitor and
secure the screws to complete this connection.

The Video Input connector is a DB-15 High Density Male
Connector located in the upper part of the bracket. If the
MuTech VC-DB15-10 cable was purchased, it should be
plugged in, then connect the video group (C. Video or RGB
Video) and the trigger group (Event, Strobe or Grab Trigger)
of connectors according to the application needs. For the cable
color specification or if a custom cable is to be made, consult
Appendix B: Specification of Connectors.
Note, it is not necessary to connect the video input signal in order
for the IV-460 to work. However, the demonstration programs
provided by MuTech do require that a video signal be connected.
2.5 Software Installation
The software installation can be divided into two parts.
1. Installation of the VGA driver(s).
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Monitor

12 Installation
Revision 1.0 Image/VGA-460 User’s Guide
2. Installation of the demonstration utilities.
The following sub-sections describe these procedures.
Windows NT
Driver
Installation
The installation procedures are described step by step in the readme
file found on the Image/VGA-41X VGA Driver Disk. Please follow
the instructions there.
Windows 9X
Driver
Installation
The installation procedures are different for first time installation
and for new version upgrades. These procedures are described step
by step in the readme file found on the Image/VGA-41X VGA
Driver Disk. Please follow the instructions given there.
DOS Extender
Distribution
Software
Installation
To install the Distribution Software provided by MuTech follow
these procedures.
1. Put the Distribution Diskette in drive A.
2. Under DOS, change to A:\, run INSTALL, and then follow
the instructions.
3. The installation/setup program will ask the user to enter the
base directory for all the IV-4XX software. The default direc-
tory name is “C:\IV-400”, but the user can select a different
drive/name. The installation setup program will create this
base directory and several sub-directories on the drive speci-
fied by the user and copy all software into them.
Windows
Distribution
Software
Installation
1. Put the Image/VGA-4XX Series Distribution Disk for Win-
dows in drive A.
2. Open My Computer folder, and select A: drive. Double click
on the Setup.exe icon to start the setup program. Follow the
instructions on the screen to complete the installation.
3. There are a total of five drivers/programs that can be installed
by the setup program: core driver, MCI driver, TWAIN driver,
Video Capture driver, and IV-4XX Demo program.The user is
able to choose which drivers should be installed.When the
Setup Type dialog box is displayed, select Typical to install
all drivers, select Compact to install only the IV-4XX Demo
program and core driver, select Custom to install specified
MuTech recommends that the user read the readme file in
the Image/VGA-4XX Series Distribution Disk first. It con-
tains the latest information regarding the software installa-
tion procedures.

Installation 13
Image/VGA-460 User’s Guide Revision 1.0
drivers.
4. Upon completion of the Windows setup, the program will
also have:
 Created a variable called “IV-400” under the [MuTech]
section of the WIN.IN file, and assigned the base directo-
ry name to it. This is used to locate all files needed by the
IV-4XX software.

Created a program group called MuTech and setup an
icon for the IV-4XX Windows demonstration program.
 Modified the Windows NT registry to configure the ker-
nel driver.

Copied the driver files to:
for Windows NT,
C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\
and C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32
for Windows 9x,
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM
The system must be restarted to make everything effective. Also,
this procedure is documented in the readme file of the Image/VGA-
4XX Series Distribution Disk.
After installation of the software, it can used to check the IV-41X
hardware and software. The next section provides descriptions of
the software usage.
2.6 Distribution Software
Demo. Utility This section contains descriptions of all software distributed with
the Image / VGA-41X boards. The software includes drivers for
Windows 9x and Windows NT/2000, a DOS demonstration utility
named IV4DEMOW.EXE and a Windows demonstration utility,
named CIV4DEMO.EXE for Windows 9x, and NIV4DEMO.EXE
for Windows NT/2000.
Camera Config.
Files Also distributed is a group of camera configuration files which are
tested with some of the popular cameras.

14 Installation
Revision 1.0 Image/VGA-460 User’s Guide
CamConfig
Utility To simplify the generation of the required camera configuration
file for the specific camera, a utility program for camera
configuration file generation and modification is included in the
distribution package. In general, the user should pick the most
similar camera configuration file from the group of files, load it
into the CamConfig Utility, modify the configuration, test the new
configuration file, then save it.
Drivers All VGA drivers for the IV-41X board are licensed from S3
Incorporated. MuTech provides these drivers for the convenience
of our users. From time to time, S3 will either release newer
versions of drivers or add driver supports to new operating systems,
the user can download the latest drivers from the MuTech home
page: website“www.mutech.com”.
The drivers provided for the S3 Chip are listed below:

Windows 9X

Windows NT 4.0
S3 Technical
Support Note, MuTech did NOT develop the VGA drivers, nor does it have
the resources or expertise to support the VGA drivers. For any
VGA driver issue or anything regarding the S3 SavagePro 4
Accelerator Chip, please contact S3 Technical Support at:
[phone]
or visit:
http://www.s3.com/
or write to:
S3 Incorporated
2770 San Thomas Expressway
PO Box 58058
Santa Clara, CA 95052-8058

Installation 15
Image/VGA-460 User’s Guide Revision 1.0
2.6.1 Windows Demonstration Utility
This section describes the basic functionality of the Demonstration
Utility for Windows 9X and Windows NT/2000. DOS users can
skip this section.
To start the DEMO utility, double click the program icon in the
MuTech Program Group. When the program starts, it shows a
group of menu selections. They are File, Grab, Trig/ Exp., Adjust,
Snap, and Help. The following list describes the functions provided
under each of the menus.
File Load/Save image from/to file. The file formats supported are
Bitmap, TARGA and TIFF. The current configurations can also be
saved to a file, and can be loaded to override the defaults the next
time the utility is run.
Grab Start/stop image capture, enable/disable the video display, set the
grab to frame mode or field mode. Start of capture can also be
specified on ODD/EVEN/NEXT field (for interlaced video). A
Board Configuration Dialog Box is provided under this menu.
Trig/Exp. Provides interfaces to Event, Strobe and Trigger features. The
following settings can be controlled

Select Event channel/polarity of Event Signal. Enable/disable/
reset/generate Event.

Select Strobe channel/polarity of Strobe Output/other Strobe
parameters. Enable/disable Strobe.

Select Trigger channel/modes/polarity of trigger signal. En-
able/disable/reset/generate trigger.
Adjust Under this menu, the followings can be set or adjusted.

Capture of scale factors (H & V)

TV standard (or non-standard) selection

Channel selection

Gain/Offset control (or Top/Bottom/Clamping control)

Enable/bypass the LUT, and the selection of different LUTs

Display zoom factors (H & V)

Keying mode adjustment: selecting mode and changing key
values

16 Installation
Revision 1.0 Image/VGA-460 User’s Guide
Snap Use this menu to capture a single frame/single field.
Help Use this to find information about the utility.
2.6.2 DOS Demonstration Utility
This section describes the basic functionality of the DOS
Demonstration Utility.
To start the IV4DEMOW utility, change to the IV-400 Base
Directory. The default is “C:\IV-400”. If a different directory has
been specified during installation, change to that one. Then change
to the DOS4GW sub-directory under the Base Directory. Make
sure the DOS4GW.EXE file is in the same sub-directory. Run
IV4DEMOW from there. When the program starts, it shows a
group of menu selections. They are File, Grab, Trig/ Exp., Adjust,
Snap, Save Current Configuration, Show Board Information, and
Exit. The following list gives the functions provided under each of
the menus.
File Load/Save an image from/to file. The file formats supported are
Bitmap, TARGA and TIFF.
Configuration Provides interface to configure the board or load a camera
configuration file.
Grab Start or stop video capture, enable or disable video display, set the
grab to frame mode or field mode, and specify the start of capture
on ODD / EVEN / NEXT field (for interlaced video).
Trig/Exp. Provides interfaces to Event, Strobe and Trigger features.
Following settings can be controlled:

Select Event channel/polarity of Event Signal. Enable/disable/
reset/generate Event.

Select Strobe channel/polarity of Strobe Output/other Strobe
parameters. Enable/disable Strobe.

Select Trigger channel/modes/polarity of trigger signal. En-
able/disable/reset/generate trigger.
Adjust Under this menu, the follow settings and adjustments are possible.

Capture of scale factors (H & V)

TV standard (or non-standard) selection

Channel selection