Path: menudo.uh.edu!usenet From: korczyns@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Joseph F. Korczynski) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews Subject: MINI-REVIEW: V-Lab 24-bit Video Digitizer Card Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.graphics Date: 4 May 1993 04:12:49 GMT Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett Lines: 209 Sender: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu (comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator) Distribution: world Message-ID: <1s4qg1$7sb@menudo.uh.edu> Reply-To: korczyns@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Joseph F. Korczynski) NNTP-Posting-Host: karazm.math.uh.edu Keywords: hardware, graphics, digitizer, 24-bit, Zorro, commercial PRODUCT NAME V-LAB V3.1 BRIEF DESCRIPTION 24-Bit Real Time Video Digitizing Card AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION Name: MacroSystemUS Address: 17019 Smugglers Cove Mt. Clemens, MI 48038 USA Telephone: (313) 263-0095 FAX: (313) 263-9639 LIST PRICE $499.95 (US). I paid $415 at my local dealer. SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS HARDWARE Amiga 2x00/3000/4000 Zorro II slot 1 MB Chip RAM, 2 MB Fast RAM minimum. 8 MB recommended. 50MB hard drive minimum. Works with all 680x0 microprocessors It is suggested that A2000 owners use an accelerator. SOFTWARE Requires AmigaDOS 2.04 (Kickstart V37.175, Workbench V37.67). Workbench 2.1 and 3.0 supported as well. COPY PROTECTION None MACHINE USED FOR TESTING Amiga 4000/040/120MB IDE hard drive 2MB CHIP RAM, 12MB 32-bit Fast RAM, 2MB 16-bit Fast RAM AmigaDOS 3.0 (Kickstart V39.106 and Workbench V39.29) C= 2091 SCSI controller populated with 2MB RAM 44MB SyQuest Removable Drive Chinon CDX-431 CD-ROM Drive DCTV display enhancer/slow scan video digitizer Canon XAPSHOT still video camera HPII compatible laser printer MINI-REVIEW Unlike DCTV, V-Lab is a real-time 24-bit video digitizer. Since upgrading from a 2000, I've had been using my DCTV exclusively for digitizing still video images. One of my dislikes of DCTV is that I am constantly switching the printer cable and DCTV digitizing cable on my parallel port. (Yeah, I know its cheaper to buy a switchbox.) In addition, I often need the capability to digitize images off of video tape. Since DCTV is a slow scan digitizer, it takes 10 seconds to digitize a video signal. This requires a VTR with excellent freeze frame capability (which I do not have). I spent about a month researching the various framegrabbers on the market. LIVE! and Progressive Peripherals Framegrabber are not actively supported by their manufacturers from my viewpoint, and I was not sure if their aging software would work under AmigaDOS 3.0. With the latest release of Art Department Professional (V2.3), I noticed that ASDG included loaders for YUVN and VLAB which were provided by MacroSystems. I opted for the V-Lab board after learning that it is AmigaDOS 2.0 compatible and it supports ARexx. Installation was fairly simple. I opened the Amiga 4000 and put the board in the next available Zorro slot. The board is not a full height card (compared to the 2091, it is about 2/3 as high). All the integrated circuits are socketed. V-Lab uses a commercially available video chip set which converts video frames and stores it in special video RAM on the V-Lab card. Once in the V-Labs memory, it can be transferred to the Amiga's system memory using a 16-bit bus width (Zorro II). The V-Lab card supports AutoConfig so there are no jumpers to set. Since the V-Lab card has two composite inputs, you can connect multiple video sources (like a still video and VTR) and select them via software. The software is delivered on a single floppy disk. It does not contain Workbench and is not bootable. Installation is painless. Clicking on the Install script, you are asked if you prefer German or English installation instructions. All you have to do is supply the path of where you want the V-Lab software installed, and the script takes care of the rest. There are also install scripts for for the V-Lab library file (LIBS: directory) and Art Department Professional YUVN and VLAB loader modules. The software takes full advantage of OS2.04 and higher environment. It is also Amiga Style Guide compliant. You have the option of running V-Lab on the Workbench or on its own public screen. The V-Lab software system offers the user an environment that puts the functions of the pull down menus in individual windows which make extensive use of gadgets to adjust various parameters. These windows include: SCAN for single frame grabbing; CONVERT for converting raw images to Amiga graphic modes both ECS and AGA; SEQUENCE for grabbing multiple frames (limited to your available system RAM); COLOR CORRECTION for adjusting chrominance, red, green, blue, contrast, luminance, and gamma; SELECT SOURCE for selecting input source signal PAL,NTSC or user definable; DEFINE SOURCE for altering PAL, NTSC or defining your image clip width (X1,X2) and height (Y1,Y2), RCA input jack, luminance filter, chroma filter, VCR mode activates built-in time base correction, VSYNC correction, noise filter, filter frequency, filer weight; PREVIEW for a grayscale thumbnail size view of the incoming video signal. Screen mode, screen fonts, window fonts and language are user definable. Extensive support for ARexx scripts. Each menu item has an ARexx equivalent. There are over 125 ARexx commands. The V-Lab hardware is capable of digitizing one frame of video in 1/30 of a second, or one field in 1/60 of a second (2 fields equal 1 frame). The maximum digitizing width and height is 720 x 611 pixels. When images are digitized, they are stored in YUVN format. In order to display the image on your Amiga or use it in other programs, you will have to render it in a display mode that your Amiga supports (ECS or AGA) and save it in that rendered IFF format. You also have the option of saving it as a 24-bit IFF. Typically, an image in the YUVN file format is 55% the size of the same image in 24-bit IFF file format. I've had the V-Lab only for a couple days, and I have successfully digitized still video images from the Canon XAPSHOT camera within the V-Lab software environment and Art Department Professional (V2.3). The images appear much sharper when digitized with V-Lab than with DCTV (you get what you pay for!). I have captured single frames and sequences from my VCR with very good results to date. DOCUMENTATION Bound printed manual. Text layout via AmigaTEX. It has the same look and feel of Art Department Professional manual. It has a table of contents but lacks an index. Includes a quick start section and gives you a thorough explanation of all menus, ARexx and AmigaDOS scripting commands. It also devotes a chapter on video signal technology (very informative for the novice). LIKES AND DISLIKES The software is very well thought out and seems bug free. I was able to use the software without out digging too deeply into the manual, and it has not crashed the system. The software is Amiga Style Guide compliant. One dislike has to do with the user manual construction. The binding seems somewhat fragile. After only two days of use, some of the pages are separating from the binding. COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS Over the years I have owned and used LIVE! (A1000), DigiView (A1000), and DCTV (A2000/A4000). Each product was an improvement over the previous one in ease of use and image quality. Because of its dual functionality as a display enhancer and slow scan digitizer, DCTV is still an excellent value. BUGS None from a user's point of view. VENDOR SUPPORT The product was developed by MacroSystems of Germany. However, it is marketed in North America by MacroSystemUS. WARRANTY A warranty/registration card is included; however, the length of warranty is not stated. I assume the standard 90 day warranty on electronics applies. CONCLUSIONS I'm impressed by the software interface and the control that user has over the hardware. As a whole I give this product 4 out of 5 stars. I think the manual should be spiral bound so that it is a bit more durable. COPYRIGHT NOTICE Copyright 1993 Joseph F. Korczynski. All rights reserved. --- Daniel Barrett, Moderator, comp.sys.amiga.reviews Send reviews to: amiga-reviews-submissions@math.uh.edu Request information: amiga-reviews-requests@math.uh.edu Moderator mail: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu