README.TXT
for Foresight Imaging IDEA V2.5 Release
September 18, 2007
This release
is provided as an online download or on CD.
Please note that product documentation is provided in electronic format
only.
You will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader version 4.0 or higher to view the
documentation.
It is provided on the Foresight Imaging Software & Documentation CD (p/n 042700-250) or can be downloaded at either:
The IDEA software
documentation is located on the CD and in the ..\idea\doc
directory (after installation) as SDK_Manual.pdf.
For product installation, please refer to the Foresight imaging Installation
and Users Guide.
It is provided on the CD and in the ..\idea\doc
directory (after installation) as Install_Manual.pdf.
A demonstration version of
the Pegasus Imaging JPEG codec is included for use with the example
programs. For information on licensing this software, please go to
IDEA
Active X Demo Using Visual Basic and IDEA API Example Program are the two
example programs recommended
for use to evaluate the full functionality of the frame grabbers
and video streamers. They are included in:
Start || Programs || Foresight
|| Demos .
VideoTest
is a demonstration program to verify the system's ability to
create a live direct draw surface for display.
They are included in the 32 bit
installation:
Start || Programs || Foresight ||
Demos
VidCap is the demonstration program
recommended for use of the Video for Windows driver.
It is included in the 32 bit
installation::
..\foresight\idea\demo\bin
directory.
=============================================================
********* Important Changes in the 2.5
Release ********
=============================================================
* You must uninstall any previous versions of the IDEA development software
prior to installing version 2.5.
* This release can support 64-bit or 32-bit development. For this release,
you can only install either the 64-bit or the
32-bit development environments. You cannot install both
environments on the same system.
This release includes .NET support.
* Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 is no longer supported. You must
use Visual studio 2005 to build the
demonstration applications.
* The 64-bit installation
does not support the Video For Windows driver, or
TWAIN interfaces.
* In the native library SDK,
the type of an ImageHandle has changed
from a "short" to a "void *".
You may need to make this change in your application to
avoid compile time warnings and errors.
Note that this also changes the return type of ihHD_Allocate().
To check for an error you must cast the return value to a LONG.
* In the ActiveX control, the OnFrameReady event has
changed. It only passes a 32 bit value for the frame number. It
no longer passes the frame data.
You may need to change your application to
correctly handle this event.
* To Import the ActiveX
Control into a VB.NET application perform the following steps.
1. Regsvr32 ideactls.ocx - if not already
registered.
2. aximp ideactls.ocx
- using the correct 32 or 64 bit version of aximp
from the .NET SDK.
3. regtlib ideactls.ocx
* From inside Visual Studio 2005 for the application project:
1. Select "Project|Add Reference"
2. From the COM Tab select "idea ActiveX
Control Module"
3. From the Browse Tab go to the ..\idea\ActiveX directory
and select AxIdeaCTLSLib.dll.
* You should now be able to
build and execute a VB.NET application using the IDEA ActiveX control.
* If you are moving from
IDEA 2.4, you MUST update the hardware device driver.
From the Hardware Device Manager find the entry.
This is in the entry for Sound, video and game controllers.
Although the new hardware installation will put it under Imaging devices.
Select your Foresight frame grabber and from the Driver tab of the
Properties select Update Driver….
Then use the INF file from the
appropriate 32 or 64 bit folder in the Drivers folder.
You will have to reboot after installing this driver.
* The default
IDEA directory is:
c:\program files\foresight\idea\ (32 bit)
c:\program files(x86)\foresight\idea\ (64 bit)
* IDEA 2.5 cannot co-exist with any other IDEA version.
* IDEA 2.5 dll's , sys drivers & ocx's cannot be interchanged with other IDEA revisions.
* To rollback a system installed with IDEA 2.5 to a previous version of
IDEA, follow the instructions at:
http://www.fi-llc.com/information/IDEA25Rollback.pdf
UPGRADING to IDEA
2.5
=========
For developers releasing an Application:
* Your existing IDEA based application must be recompiled and re-linked using
the new IDEA 2.5 libraries, header files,
& OCX wherever applicable.
* Updating only the IDEA DLL's and drivers without rebuilding the applicaiton may result in unstable operation.
For an end-user based system using TWAIN, Video for Windows, or the IDEA demo
programs:
OVERVIEW:
* In "Control Panel", "Add/Remove Software",
uninstall the current IDEA software.
* Decompress and run the "InstallScan20.exe" program on
the IDEA v2.5 CD or the downloaded version located
in the "ADDONS", "INSTALLSCAN" directory.
Select "Clean Installation"
* install the new IDEA software.
* Previous versions of IDEA software MUST be un-installed.
DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS:
* Uninstall IDEA 2.4, from Control Panel, Add/Remove Software, select
IDEA 2.4.
* Remove the ACCUSTREAM device driver in:
- Control Panel, System, Hardware, Devices, Sound & Multi-media
controllers,
AccuStream 170, right-click, select:
uninstall.
* Install IDEA 2.5
* Re-boot the system or select "Add / Remove Hardware" in
control panel
- When "Found New Hardware" wizard starts, On "search
for new software?" select: "No, no at this time",
NEXT,
- On "Installation CD?", select: "Install from a list,
(Advanced)", NEXT
- On "Installation Options", select: "Don't search, I will
choose the driver to install", NEXT
- On "AccuStream 170", select: "Have Disk"
- (32 bit) Browse to: c:\program files\foresight\idea\drivers\Win32\fsi.inf,
OPEN, OK
- (64 bit) Browse to: c:\program
files(x86)\foresight\idea\drivers\Win64\fsi.inf OPEN, OK
- On "Windows Logo Testing", select: "Continue
Anyway"
- Select "FINISH"
* Windows Device Manager will now list IDEA 2.5 products under:
"Imaging Devices"
(not "Sound
Video & Game controllers" )
* With IDEA 2.5, DO NOT
use the IDEA 2.4 driver located in c:\program
files\foresight\idea\drivers\NT_2K_XP
Supported:
=========
* Windows XP/XP Pro, Windows 2003 Server, & Windows XP 64
* Foresight Imaging frame grabbers and video streamers:
AccuStream 170, AccuStream 75, & AccuStream 50.
* Video for Windows & TWAIN Drivers are
supported in 32 bit environments ONLY
Not Supported:
=========
* Microsoft Vista operating system is not supported in this release.
* Windows 2000 operating system has not been qualified with this
release.
* Windows 98/Me is not supported.
* Video for Windows & TWAIN Drivers are not supported in 64
bit operating system environments
Machine Vision products:
===============================
* Machine Vision (MV)products are no longer offered.
* Software support for machine vision has been discontinued.
CONTENTS:
========
This CD-ROM contains:
* IDEA 2.5 SDK and Demo files in the setup directory
* DirectX 9.0 for live video display under all supported operating systems
* The IDEA installation and SDK manuals in PDF format
* Acrobat Reader for the PDF documents
* Pegasus compression software for streaming to disk demo (AVI file
creation)
* A Video Test program for verification of VGA display modes.
* VidCap32 application program as an example for running the Video
for Windows driver (32 bit only).
* The unpacked IDEA library contains the IDEA software, Demos, Documents,
and Windows Drivers.
Updates from the IDEA 2.4 Release
(Details)
==================================
New Additions Detailed:
1) Support for 64 bit versions of Windows XP.
2) Support for AccuStream 50 and AccuStream 75
3)
Support for .NET
Updates to
Documentation
========================
The documentation has been updated to match the V2.5
software release.
Additionally, the PDF files are fully searchable and have been book marked for
easy navigation.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
=============
* Pentium 4, 1.8 MHz or greater
* Windows XP or XP Pro Operating System,
* Memory: minimum 512 MB
* VGA card supporting DirectDraw overlay & graphics
* Appropriate video source
* High quality input video cabling
* 32 bit PCI bus or PCI-64/66 PCI Bus
* +5.0 volt or 3.3 volt PCI slots are supported.
*** Note: For RGB
signals, please ensure that the cable lengths are
identical for all connections.
A bundled RGB and sync cable is
recommended.
Other Notes:
============
1) You must install the DirectX SDK (available from Microsoft) in order
to recompile and build the VideoTest
application.
2) IDEA demo programs create AVI type 1 files, with a file size limit of 4.0 gig.
For AVI files larger than 4.0 gig, see
the AMCap demo code in the Microsoft DirectX 9 SDK
package.
The AMCap executable for 32 bit
O/S available at:
3)
Install the Pegasus Compression CODECS to use lossy & lossless compression for 32 Bit O/S at
http://www.pegasusimaging.com/pvmjpegdownload.htm
4)
In IDEADEMO program, the message: "Unable to find compression codec: pvmjpg20.dll" indicates
the
Pegasus compression codecs
are not available.
In the IDEADEMO "Options" menu, select
"Uncompressed RGB32", or, i
f32 bit O/S, install the Pegasus codecs.
5) For AVI file playback, the latest version of Windows Media Player is
available at:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download/
6) If
the live preview window only updates when the window is moved, in the registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\foresight\idea\common\
Add the entry: DDrawFlip REG_DWORD
0x00000001 (1)
Contact Foresight support for additional information.
Video Streaming:
============
* Video stream rates are dependant on several factors beyond the AccuStream
board.
The AccuStream boards can run in PCI 32 & 64 bit slots.
* For fastest stream rates and data transfers, a PCI-64/66 MHz bus is
recommended.
PCI 64 bit motherboards/systems are available from Intel, Asus, SuperMicro, & Dell.
* System processor , memory & disk speed all contribute to transfer rate
speeds.
* Below are transfer rates on "typical" PCI 32 & PCI 64 bit
machines that perform at
125 MB/second transfers and 250 MB/second transfers
respectively. Your performance
may vary on different machines.
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* For fastest video streaming, computers with a 64 bit PCI-64/66
Bus,
1 gig + memory & a SATA Raid striped disk sub-system is
recommended for best
performance when streaming to disk.
Part numbers:
============
32 bit IDEA disk P/N 042700-250
64 bit IDEA disk P/N 042701-250
AccuStream 170
030000-100
AccuStream 75 030000-175
AccuStream 50 030000-150
All boards are ROHS compliant
Typical maximum video capture formats:
AccuStream 170 - VGA 1600x1200x60 (162 MHz)
AccuStream 70 - VGA 1024x768x70 (70 MHz),
- HDTV 1920x1024x30 interlaced (74 MHz)
AccuStream 50 - VGA 800x600x70 (45.5MHz)
- RS170 (12 MHz),
-
PAL (14 MHz)
Power & Operating Temperatures
============
* AccuStream Power consumption:
1.5 amps at 5.0 volts
* Operating temperatures:
10 to 50 degrees Centigrade
* Humidity:
10% to 90% non-condensing
* Storage Temperature:
0 to 70 degrees Centigrade
0 to 70 degrees Centigrade
HDTV Signals
=============
* Some HDTV
Analog signals with a "tri-sync" synchronization will not
result in a proper CHP file in Auto-SYNC.
* For these signals, open a pre-defined CHP file in Auto-SYNC, from
the ..\foresight\idea\chp\HDTV
directory,
* Open the respective file, adjust the parameters as desired,
* Save the adjusted file with a unique file name.
* Additional HDTV adjustment instructions are available at:
http://www.fi-llc.com/information/IDEA25HDTVAdjustments.pdf
Additional Information:
=======
* For the latest IDEA 2.5
updates and information, access:
http://www.fi-llc.com/information/IDEA25updates.pdf
End of Document
================