Copyright: © miro Computer Products AG 1996


Video Format

The Video Format dialog lets you select the size of the video window and the number of colors for the captured video clip.

Image Dimensions

Image Format


Image Dimensions

Image Dimensions lets you select the size of the video window.

You can select the buttons 1/4, 1/2, Full (for full-screen) or choose the desired resolution from the list box.

The following table lists the possible image sizes for the video standard you use.

	NTSC	PAL/SECAM
1/4	160 x 120 pixel	192 x 144 pixel
1/2	320 x 240 pixel	384 x 288 pixel
Full	640 x 480 pixel	768 x 576 pixel


Image Format

Image Format lets you select the number of colors you want to use for capturing the video sequence.

The following table explains the settings. With the first setting mentioned you achieve the best image quality, the YUV9 setting offers the lowest image quality.

Setting	Explanation	Recommended for...
32 bit RGBA	corresponds to  24 bit RGB	single-frames only
24 bit RGB		single-frames only
YUY2	corresponds to YUV422	video clips
15 bit RGB		single-frames and video clips
BTYUV	corresponds to YUV411, offers a better quality than 15 bit RGB	video clips
YUV9	YUV vertical subsampled	video clips (best choice)


Video Source

The Video Source dialog box allows you to select a video source and the video standard you use. In addition, you can make settings for the overlay function.

Color

Video Connector

Standard

Overlay


Color

Color lets you adjust the Brightness, the Contrast, and the Saturation. You can view the changes immediately on the monitor.

You can only change the Hue if you selected the NTSC standard.


Standard

Please select here the video standard you use. In Europe the PAL is most commonly used. In France the common video standard is SECAM and in the USA NTSC.


Overlay

Under Overlay you can specify which kind of overlay you want to use.

Force Preview:
When you selected Force Preview, the video image will be displayed in the preview mode. In this mode, the video data will be transferred first to the main memory of the computer. From there the data are transmitted during fixed time intervals to the graphics board memory.
The advantage of this mode is that it is compatible with any standard VGA board. The disadvantage is that the image quality may be limited depending on the number of colors. The video sequence will not be displayed in real-time, that means that only a few images per second are displayed.

Use Primary:
Here the miroMEDIA PCTV board takes on the scaling of the displayed image. For this purpose, the video data is transferred directly to the video memory of the graphics board. Which sizes are available depends on the video standard of the input signal (maximum 640x480 for NTSC and 768x576 for PAL/SECAM).
The advantage of this setting is the optimal image quality at 16/32-bit resolutions (16.7 million colors) while disturbing effects are avoided. At 8-bit resolutions the color transition are not smooth due to the limited number of colors.

Use Overlay:
In the Overlay mode the graphics board scales the images. The video data are transferred into the the part of the graphics board´s memory which is not used for displaying graphics data. The processor of the graphics board displays the video signal supplied by the miroMEDIA PCTV board. You can also change the image size by selecting a different video format.
If the graphics board is equipped with sufficient memory, the full-screen mode is possible. Independently of the number of colors you selected for your graphics board, the overlay appears in real colors.

The disadvantage is that this mode is so “demanding” that distortions may occur on some graphics boards. If this is the case, either reduce the image refresh rate or the number of colors of your graphics board.


Video Connector

Here you can select the active miroMEDIA PCTV Video Connector (video input) to which the video source is attached: An antenna, to use the tuner, composite, or S-Video.

In case you connect the video source to another video input, you have to select the video input again, otherwise no video image appears on your monitor.


Video Display

The Video Display dialog allows you to adjust the ClosedCaption Engine.

This feature is only useful for NTSC (USA). For further information, please refer to your manual.


Can not capture at this time

Capturing in the Full format is not possible in the overlay mode.

Please change the settings from Overlay to Preview or select the 1/2 or 1/4 image size.


Device is busy with another Application

Another application which uses the capture driver is open (e.g. miroTELEVISION); if you want to use VidCap, please close this application.


Failed to create Direct Draw Interface. Overlay Channel is inoperable.

When this error message appears, an Overlay is not possible. Please quit and restart the application, then the problem should be solved.

In case the problem has not been solved yet, please restart Windows.