Foresight Imaging offers new frame grabbers and video streamers

FEBRUARY 13--Foresight Imaging (Chelmsford, MA; www.foresightimaging.com) has introduced the I-RGB 165 and I-RGB 200 frame grabbers and video streamers--the newest members of its I-Series of high-accuracy, high-performance imaging boards. The I-RGB 165 and 200 offer high-resolution, high-frequency image capture to 2048 x 2048 and 200 MHz.

"A number of customers in maritime data recording, military radar screen capture, VGA capture, and distance-learning applications have been requesting high-resolution RGB image capture in real time. Previously, they had been using our HI*DEF Accura board for a three-pass RGB capture in nonreal time. The I-RGB 165 and 200 deliver real-time capture at rates up to 200 MHz to accommodate 1600 x 1200 x 75-Hz and 1280 x 1024 x 85-Hz resolutions. All of this is based on our I-Series architecture," said Tony Molinari, vice president, marketing and business development.

The I-RGB 165 and 200 deliver high-speed video streaming up to 120 Mbytes/s. They support pixel-input rates up to 165 MHz and 200 MHz, respectively. Each accepts one RGB video input from nonstandard and standard video sources. Video digitization is 24-bit RGB, and color video formats include 24-bit RGB, 32-bit RGB, 16-bit RGB 555, and YUV 4:2:2. They feature extremely low pixel jitter of ±0.5 ns and a signal-to-noise ratio of 47 dB. Powered by high-speed PCI bus mastering, scatter-gather technology, and double buffering, the devices support more than120-Mbyte/s sustained PCI bus transfers to accommodate the most demanding video-streaming applications.

I-RGB 165 and 200 are supported by Auto-SYNC, Foresight Imaging's automated configuration software. Auto-SYNC automatically analyzes the incoming nonstandard or standard video signal and configures the frame grabber to acquire high-precision images from that video source. They are supported by the Imaging Development Environment for Applications (IDEA) software-development kit. IDEA supports both the I-Series and HI*DEF product families so that once an application is written with IDEA, users have support for all I-Series and HI*DEF boards without rewriting their software.

Also included is a VESA mode video detection application for instantly locking to any VESA-type RGB signal. A complete Video for Windows driver is included with VESA mode detection and video-streaming capabilities. Extensive example programs (with source code) for acquisition, video streaming (with or without compression), graphic overlays, triggering, and more are included with each board. Common Vision Blox, Image-Pro Plus, and TWAIN drivers are available for higher-level application requirements.