1. Manuals
  2. Brands
  3. Visual Circuits Manuals
  4. PCI Card
  5. 4ReelTime Pro
  6. User manual

Visual Circuits 4ReelTime Pro User Manual

Pci bus boards
Hide thumbs
Table of Contents

Advertisement

Quick Links

Download this manual
ReelTime 4/
4ReelTime Pro
User Manual
Visual Circuits Corporation

Advertisement

Table of Contents
loading

Related Manuals for Visual Circuits 4ReelTime Pro

Summary of Contents for Visual Circuits 4ReelTime Pro

  • Page 1 ReelTime 4/ 4ReelTime Pro User Manual Visual Circuits Corporation...
  • Page 2 The Visual Circuits logo is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries. All other products, services or company names mentioned herein are claimed as trademarks and trade names by their respective companies. Visual Circuits, 1999-2000. All rights reserved. No portion of this manual may be copied by any means without the prior consent of Visual Circuits.
  • Page 3 WARNING: Changes or modifications to this unit not expressly approved by the party responsible for compliance could void the user’s authority to operate the equipment. This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class A digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference when the equipment is operated in a commercial environment.
  • Page 4 The CE mark is affixed to this Visual Circuits Corporation product to confirm compliance with the following European Community Directives: Council Directive 89/336/EEC of 3 May 1989 on the approximation of the laws of Member States relating to electromagnetic compatibility. Council Directive 73/23/EEC of 19 February 1973 on the harmonization of the laws of Member States relating to electrical equipment...
  • Page 5 Audio/Video Distribution ..... . .3 ReelTime 4 vs. 4ReelTime Pro ....4 API for Calling the Driver .
  • Page 6 Server Setup Check ......33 Getting Started ......33 BIOS Settings .
  • Page 7 Contacting Technical Support....47 What You Should Have Ready When You Call ..47 What You Can Expect When You Call... .48 Technical Support Contact Information for the Value Added Reseller (VAR) or Distributor Only .
  • Page 9 The Visual Circuits ReelTime 4 and the 4ReelTime Pro boards are PCI bus boards that can play back up to four MPEG2 or MPEG1 video and audio files simultaneously. The ReelTime 4 supports composite video, S-video, or interlaced RGBS video (Red, Green, Blue, with combined H/V sync).
  • Page 10 An On-Screen Display (OSD) is also included on the boards. This OSD provides a full-resolution (up to 720x480) graphic or text overlay on each MPEG file being played. The overlay can be set to 16 levels of transparency and can have up to 16 simultaneous colors.

  • Page 11: Audio/Video Distribution

    A "non-switching" version of Genlock is also available. This is often used to provide a continuous signal sync for display devices. The external sync source is often a blackburst generator. However, any composite video signal source may be used. With "Non- switching"...
  • Page 12 The ReelTime 4 is the current multiple-channel board. The software is compatible with the 4ReelTime Pro with the exception of some initialization values and some additional driver parameter selections. Audio control is now selectable on the RGB baseboard through software.
  • Page 14 The main visual difference between the ReelTime 4 and the 4ReelTime Pro boards are the four large LSI chips located on the back side of the RGB board. When in doubt of which type of board you are using look on the back side of the board as a...
  • Page 15 The source code for the Vidserve demo program is provided for developers as an example of how to access the driver. The current version of the driver uses a proprietary C API interface (instead of a standard interface like MCI, ActiveMovie or Direct X). Applications can use the driver by calling the dynamic link library 4REELAPI.DLL.
  • Page 17 The Visual Circuits Corporation 4ReelTime Pro and ReelTime 4 decoder boards are full sized PCI cards. The card is secured using an IO mounting bracket secured to the chassis. This bracket is affixed to the 25-pin female D Sub output of the board.
  • Page 18 CAUTION To install the card, carefully slide the board into the selected PCI slot of the mainboard. Ensure that the bracket is aligned with the IO opening of the chassis and that the outer edge of the card rests securely according to the chassis’ design. Consult with the chassis manufacturer for specific guidelines.
  • Page 19 In some cases, the extension bracket may have to be modified to accommodate the chip circuitry of the board before attaching to the card. The bracket mounting screws will be inserted from the back- side of the card through the card holes. Be sure when attaching the bracket not to damage any board circuitry.
  • Page 20 1. Back the set-screws off fully before attaching the cable. Do not use the attaching screws to “pull” the cable onto the female D Sub connector of the board. 2. Orient the D Sub on the cable properly and apply slight even pressure while connecting the D Subs.
  • Page 23 The following figures show the default jumper settings for the ReelTime 4 and 4ReelTime Pro board. These jumper settings are for normal operation. The exception is the voltage jumper. This jumper can be set as follows: Right position: Use 3.3V power on the bus for reduced...
  • Page 24 Now that your card is installed: Be sure all software applications are closed. Run Vidserve, the playback application located under Visual Circuits’ programs. Browse to the MPEG file desired and open it. Click Load and wait for the position counter to stop moving.
  • Page 25 VccReg.exe is a driver editing utility designed specifically for editing the VCC4Pro driver settings.
  • Page 26 There are four tabs containing different parameters, descriptions of these parameters, and driver default settings. The four tabs in VccReg.exe are General, Performance, Audio/Video and Special and are located on the left side of the window. The right side of the window contains the Value, Default, Range and Description fields.
  • Page 27 4ReelTime Pro boards. Genlock 0 = Genlock daughterboard is not present. 1 = 4ReelTime Pro with Genlock daughterboard is present. 2 = MPEG Plus board or RT daughterboard is present. GreenBarFix 0 = May show green on the bottom of overscan monitors.
  • Page 28 RGB)or a standard model board (4ReelTime Pro). May cause color bars on some 4ReelTime Pro boards to be initiated on startup. 1 = Forces the driver to treat the board as a 4ReelTime Pro board and should be used with all 4ReelTime Pro cards.
  • Page 29 Performance AuxSkip 0 = Auto detects additional file playback information such as picture size, frame rate, bitrate, timecode, etc.. Most common setting. 1 = Use videoHSize, videoVSize, and VideoPicRate to set values. BufferSizePerChannel Amount of RAM allocated for each channel. A larger buffer supports larger minimum file reads which reduces hard drive seeking.
  • Page 30 MaxFileRead Set the largest file read the driver will perform. It must be larger than minfileread. 200000 = optimal/recommended. Setting maxfileread to a half of BufferSizePerChannel is recommended. MinDMA Sets the minimum data delivery size from the system memory buffer to the card. 2000 = recommended / optimal performance.
  • Page 31 NonPagedPoolSize Windows NT only. Reserves a block of memory for decoding. 0 = NT automatically assigns. Usually too low if there are multiple boards or a large buffer. Recommended: x800000 where x = number of boards. When changing NonPagedPoolSize, the system will require rebooting for Windows NT to allocate memory.
  • Page 32 Audio/Video AudioFreq 0 = AudioFreq, audio frequencies auto detected. 2c = all files are played at 44kHz. 30 = all files are played at 48kHz. DisableSync 0 = Enables audio/video synchronization. 1 = Disables audio/video synchronization. DSIZEAUDIO This parameter sets the size of audio memory allocated on the board.
  • Page 33 Svideo 0 = Composite video output. 1 = Composite and S-video outputs. VideoHSize If non_zero, fix the horizontal pixel number. Set auxskip=1 if this value is used / not set=0. VideoPicRate If non-zero, fix the frame rate to the value. Set auxskip=1 if this value is used / not set=0.
  • Page 34 C/S= Composite/S-Video RGB = RGB output...
  • Page 35 Examples: 1 board, all channels RGB VideoTypes = F 2 boards, board composite video board RGB VideoTypes = F0 2 boards, board channel 1-2 RGB, channel 3-4 S-video (=3) board channel 1-2 composite video, 3-4 RGB (=C) VideoTypes = C3 VideoVSize If non_zero, fix the vertical pixel number.
  • Page 36 Special DSIZEPES This parameter sets the size of PES memory allocated on the board. 3000 = Normal operation. LateLoadNext Sets the handling of mpgLoadNext calls that arrive after playback has stopped. 0 = Late mpgLoadNext calls will be ignored. 1 = Playback will always resume (default). MaxCards The number of cards to initialize (1-8).
  • Page 37 Proper drive mapping is crucial for MPEG playback performance. Fundamentally, this often involves configuring the driver so that it reads from different physical hard drives simultaneously. In a system with two MPEG content hard drives, data should be read from both drives at the same time for maximum performance. The MaxDisks driver parameter is used to specify the number of playback storage hard drives used in a system.

  • Page 38: Channel Systems

    Be sure to follow the drive mapping fundamentals for multiple board systems. The following examples provide some basic information: 4 Channel Systems: 4 Channels, each with a 6 mbps file (single IDE drive, C:\, partition with Windows NT and application software only 700- 900MB in size.
  • Page 39 8 Channel Systems: 8 Channels, each with a 8 mbps file ("8X8"). Channels 1-8 may be mapped to a single SCSI drive. MaxDisks = 1. If two SCSI disks are used: Channels 1-4 are mapped to drive D:\ Channels 5-8 are mapped to drive E:\ Set MaxDisks = 2.
  • Page 41 Prior to any troubleshooting, power down the system and be sure that the card is properly installed in the system’s PCI slot. Test only one card in the system at a time. Confirm that the system has the power connected properly. Confirm that all video and audio cables are connected properly.
  • Page 42 On the main application window, the radio button selected should indicate Card 1 found. If it states “VCC4Pro driver not found” see page 37 for tips on how to fix the error. 2. Next, select Color Bars on the main window. In Composite and Svideo modes, color bars should be visible.
  • Page 43 5. Next, click Play for channel 1 and view video and audio playback. 6. Repeat the process for each individual channel by browsing, opening and playing files. Be sure to play only one file at a time. By performing the above process, you can determine if basic playback for the board is functioning.

  • Page 45: Bios Settings

    Ensure BIOS settings for Windows NT servers have the “Non PnP OS” selected. If a Blue Screen occurs during NT startup and NT cannot be started, remove all devices from the system and reboot. Try a process of elimination to run the system in a single minimal system configuration, such as by inserting each device into the system and rebooting.

  • Page 46: Channel

    Using Vidserve, check the box titled COLOR BARS and observe if color bars appear on the output. First, ensure that the cable or breakout box is plugged in properly and that the video and audio outputs are plugged in correctly to the display device. Try testing another channel of the server on the same display.

  • Page 47: No Audio

    Video only MPEG files played on the same channel as MPEG files with video and audio data: Confirm that all files on a particular channel are either video only, audio only, or audio/video files. It is recommended to have a "blank"...
  • Page 48 Incorrect channel to drive mapping in multiple card systems with multiple content drives. For more information see “Multi-Card Servers” on page 29. Incorrect source timecode provided or improperly closed encoding session. If the incorrect timecode for a file on tape is given, it is possible to encode a frame or two of trailer or header information from the tape.
  • Page 49 Visual Circuits Driver editing utility "VccReg.exe" for changing this parameter.) However, testing should be done with this driver setting, as with all parameter changes, to verify the overall effect on the presentation. Testing is especially important in regards to cross-channel synchronization.
  • Page 50 Graphic Interchange Format (GIF) files are created with standard graphics authoring programs. The following are basic creation guidelines and playback tips: 1. The width, or "X" axis, of the GIF’s resolution must be a multiple of 16 pixels. 2. GIF must be 16-color non-interlaced format. A palette of exactly 16 colors (any colors) can be used.
  • Page 51 Be sure buffers are fully loaded before calling a playback command. Usually following the initial buffer load, a delay is required. Make sure the file is not a transport stream. These files typically have a .m2t extension. Visual Circuits MPEG decoders do not support transport stream files.
  • Page 52 Verify ATA 66 to ATA 33 compatible components and drivers. A different IDE bus driver may be required for proper system performance. This will not work unless you set network=1. Only one program can access the driver at a time. Close all programs using the VCC4PRO driver and run Vidserve again.
  • Page 53 Make sure mute button is not checked. Check cables and test with other audio source. Be sure not to mix audio only, video only or files with both audio and video on the same channel. Make sure BIOS is not set to PnP operating system. Verify number of boards and number of channels using VccReg.exe driver editing utility.
  • Page 55 If you are experiencing problems with the ReelTime 4 or 4ReelTime Pro boards, consult Troubleshooting on page 30 and the support information available at www.visualcircuits.com first. If you need further assistance, please contact your Visual Circuits Value Added Reseller or Distributor.

  • Page 56: What You Should Have Ready When You Call

    As a Value Added Reseller or Distributor, you may contact Visual Circuits technical support. Your call will be handled in the following manner: 1. A technical support representative will record several pieces of information (see What You Should Have Ready When You Call, above).
  • Page 57 If the ReelTime 4/Pro board has problems that cannot be corrected over the telephone by Visual Circuits technical support, you may need to return the ReelTime 4 board to Visual Circuits Corporation. All materials shipped back to Visual Circuits Corporation must be accompanied by a Return Materials Authorization (RMA) number.
  • Page 63 For all cables, 75-ohm cable is recommended for all video outputs and inputs if applicable. The challenge to making cables for RGB and Daughter Card (Genlock) decoder boards is the number of wire leads required. In these instances, 24 of the 25 pins available are used and often do not feed into standard D Sub shells.
  • Page 64 PIN-OUT CONNECTION TABLE:...
  • Page 66 (See Block Diagram of Board on page 60 for the following description) The board consists of a PCI bus-mastering bridge chip and four identical MPEG2 decoder channels. The key to understanding the operation of the board and the driver is to understand the buffer management.
  • Page 67 There is no explicit end-of-file detection by the decoder chip. It will continue to decode and display data once it is initialized, and provided there is no need to change initialization parameters (such as the display resolution), there will be seamless transitions between files.
  • Page 68 SCSI CO N TRO LLE R H O ST M E M O RY BUF FE R CH ANN EL1 H O ST M E M O RY BUF FE R CH ANN EL2 H O ST M E M O RY BUF FE R CH ANN EL3 H O ST M E M O RY BUF FE R CH ANN EL4 8X32 BIT PC I BRIDG E...

  • Page 69: Motherboard

    The following general guidelines are for systems built solely for the purpose of displaying digital video using Visual Circuits decoder boards on a Windows NT Workstation operating platform. Systems running multiple devices and software programs may run smoothly with Visual Circuits decoder boards. However, due to the short life cycle of components and the emergence of new products there is always the possibility of incompatibility.
  • Page 70 Servers running 1- 4 channels require only a single IDE disk drive. NT Workstation is installed on the first partition of the disk in C:\ using approximately 800 MB of disk space. (This amount of disk space is recommended in order to perform future software upgrades to NT or other applications.
  • Page 71 The VCC4PRO driver automatically handles multiple boards for the system, depending on the driver version. The standard driver will support 4 boards but drivers for more than 4 boards are also available. If RGB output is required on any channel of an individual system, the entire system must be assembled with ReelTime 4 boards.
  • Page 72 The driver will examine the status of the channel buffer data pointers 200 times a second (this is a parameter, which may be changed). If the MinDMA is set too small, then there will be a lot of requests for small amounts of data, which can cause too much overhead.
  • Page 73 4ReelTime Pro 3 4ReelTime RGB 3 ambient temperature 54 API interface 4 audio 2, 38, 51 AudioFreq 24 AudioSync 19 AuxSkip 21 BIOS 45 BIOS settings 37 bitrate 30 blackburst 1 blue screen 37 breakout box 3 buffers 44 BufferSizePerChannel 21...

  • Page 74: Memory

    MaxCards 28 MaxDisks 21, 29 MaxDMA 21 MaxFileRead 22 MaxSyncFix 24 memory 61 MinDMA 22 MinFileRead 22 monitor 1, 4 motherboard 61 mounting bracket 9 MPEG 29, 39, 44 Multiapp 28 multiple board servers 63 multiple drives 29 Network 20 NoCache 22 NonPagedPoolSize 23 NoReadBuff 23...

  • Page 75: Revision History

    Revision History 813-0001a (September 2000)ECO#638 Publication number went from 50023c to 813-0001a. New sketch art added. Trouble shooting section expanded. 4ReelTime RGB and ReelTime 4 are the same product, it is a name change only.

This manual is also suitable for:

Reeltime 4

Table of Contents