
This is the WinVision frame grabber device driver. The WinVision
video capture board is made by Quanta Corporation, and currently
costs $155, including PhotoFinish 1.0 by ZSoft for Windows. I have
nothing to do with them other than having bought one of their
video capture boards. At the end of the message you will find their info.

The current release as of August 5 is 1.0.

The frame grabber captures images in black and white and has a resolution
that depends on the incoming image, the format (PAL or VHS) and some other
minor factors. My programs read images of 310x241 in NTCS format with
good aspect ratio and 187x241 in raw format (the image is expanded
to a good aspect ratio internally in the device driver if an IOCTL
is issued. See grab_exp.c for details). Some applications (like
vision & robotics, which is what I do), don't really need a good aspect
ratio for processing and can benefit better of some extra speed.

The depth of images captured is 6 bits per pixel, more than enough
for black and white images.

I shipped a few programs with this device driver for people to try:

grab_exp.c:	Grab images and display them in X. Push Q to quit,
		C for continuous mode and any other key to stop
		continuous mode.

grab.c:		Game as before, but with raw data, no correction for
		aspect ratio.

fgtopbm.c:	Output a pbm format greyscale image in stdout.

rate.c:		Determine the rate of capture of your board/machine.

Note: the continuous capture mode doesn't capture all the
frames coming out of the image source, but only the ones that are
available when the software is ready for the next capture. The image
displayed is the one coming out of the source at that precise moment
(i.e. the sound, if any is associated with the image, like in a VCR,
IS in sync with the image). The images have a "stroboscopic effect"
since the capture rate seldom goes above 5 or 6 frames per second.

Read the file INSTALL for installation instructions.

Have Phun!

++ Carlos Puchol
++ cpg@cs.utexas.edu

The board company's info:

	Quanta Corp.
	2629 Terminal Blvd.
	Mountain View, CA 94043
	(800) 682 17 38
	(415) 967 57 91
	(415) 967 87 62 (FAX)

---------------------- The Linux Software Map Entry ----------------------------
Begin
35:PkgName    = FGrabber
35:Title      = A frame grabber device driver
25:Version    = 1.0
65:Desc1      = This is a device driver for the WinVision B&W video capture
65:Desc2      = board. Includes a few programs to display images in X and dump
65:Desc3      = imgs to files.
65:Author     = Carlos Puchol (cpg@cs.utexas.edu)
65:MaintBy    = Carlos Puchol (cpg@cs.utexas.edu)
65:MaintAt1   = tsx-11.mit.edu
65:PathFile1  = fgrabber-1.0.tgz
65:MaintAt2   = sunsite.unc.edu
65:PathFile2  = fgrabber-1.0.tgz
65:Required1  = Requires a composite video source, like a VCR or camcorder &
65:Required2  = the WinVision video capture board ($155 from Quanta Corp).
65:Required3  = Read the REAME file for more info.
65:CopyPolicy = Source code available with authorisation from Quanta. Copyleft.
65:Keywords   = frame grabber video capture real-time video device driver
15:ApproxSize = 9K
65:Last3Rel   = N/A
65:Comment1   = If you have a B&W display, it may still work. I haven't tried
65:Comment2   = it in a B&W display. It may not work in 24 bitplane displays.
65:Comment3   = I have nothing to do with Quanta Corporation.
30:CheckedBy  = Carlos Puchol (cpg@cs.utexas.edu)
 8:Date       = 05AUG93
End
