Acquisition Path; Digitizer Configuration Format - Matrox Helios Series Installation And Hardware Reference

Matrox Helios hardware reference 47

Acquisition path

This manual uses the term acquisition path to refer to a path that has the
components to, for example, digitize or capture a video input signal. The term
independent acquisition path is used to refer to an acquisition path that can, if
required, acquire data from an input source independently from another such path
on the same frame grabber. Each independent acquisition path has its own
programmable synchronization generator (PSG) to manage all video timing,
synchronization, triggering, exposure, and user-defined input and output signals
for the path.
MIL-Lite uses the concept of a MIL digitizer to represent the acquisition path(s)
with which to grab from one input source of the specified type. When several MIL
digitizers are allocated, their device number along with their DCF identify if they
represent the same path(s) (but perhaps for a different input format) or
independent path(s) for simultaneous acquisition. MIL-Lite uses the concept of
a data input channel to identify which input source to use when several of its type
can be connected to the same acquisition path(s) (for example, grab from
channel 0 or channel 1 of digitizer 0).

Digitizer configuration format

To program the acquisition section, allocate a MIL digitizer using MdigAlloc()
with an appropriate DCF (supplied or created) and digitizer device number; to
select the required input channel, use MdigChannel(). If you find a DCF file that
is suitable for your video source, but you need to adjust some of the more common
settings, you can do so directly, without adjusting the file, using the appropriate
MIL-Lite function. For more specialized adjustments, use the Matrox Intellicam
program to adjust the DCF file. Using Matrox Intellicam, you can set the active
video region, the sampling clock, and all the other parameters related to the timing
of the video signal (that is, standard and non-standard video, interlaced or
non-interlaced) in your DCF file.