Video for Windows 1.0 - Supplementary Release Notes for Creative Labs, Inc. Video Blaster Contents Creative Video Blaster VFW Driver Creative Video Blaster Video Capture Driver Creative Video Compressor ============================================================= Creative Video Blaster VFW Driver ============================================================= The Creative Video Blaster VFW Driver is a single driver that contains the functionality of both a Video Capture driver and a Video Compression/Decompression (CODEC) driver. For the purpose of discussion below, it will be treated as two separate drivers - Creative Video Blaster Video Capture Driver and Creative Video Compressor. This driver (Version 1.2.0.0) replaces the previously supplied driver. Installation ---------------- A single installation is sufficient for the driver. 1. Install the Video Blaster following the Installation Guide as provided by Creative Labs, Inc. Use the Creative Labs supplied "VBWSETUP.EXE" utility to setup the hardware and align the overlay window position. Verify proper operation of the hardware using the Creative Labs supplied "VIDEOKIT.EXE" Windows application. 2. Use the Control Panel Drivers applet to add the Video Blaster VFW driver from the Drivers disk. Use the "Setup..." button to configure the base memory address, interrupt and playback configuration. After the installation is complete, your "SYSTEM.INI" file should contain the entries: [Drivers] msvideo=vblaster.drv VIDC.cyuv=vblaster.drv 3. Do NOT use the analog audio channel inputs to the Video Blaster. These channels are not capable of digitizing sound, so you must have some other wave audio device to capture sound. 4. Video Blaster contains 1 Mb of memory. The starting address of this memory is located in the range between 1 Mb and 15 Mb. The base address of this block must be ABOVE all physical extended memory. ============================================================ Creative Video Blaster Video Capture Driver ============================================================ Creative Video Blaster Video Capture Driver supports 5 different capture formats - 8-bit RGB palettized, 16-bit RGB, 24-bit RGB, Truncated YUV and Packed YUV. The YUV formats are parts of the Creative YUV DIB Format Extension which are proprietary to Creative Labs, Inc. The YUV formats play back directly to the Video Blaster hardware and give better color resolution at low data rate. Palette capture is NOT required when capturing using the YUV formats. Truncated YUV yields better image quality while retaining the same data rate as 8-bit RGB palettized. ============================================================= Creative Video Compressor ============================================================= Creative Video Compressor is a Compression/Decompression (CODEC) driver that supports the playback of Creative YUV AVI file. It also supports the conversion of Creative YUV AVI file to other file formats and vice versa. Default playback of Creative YUV AVI file is through Video Blaster Frame Buffer. On machines not equipped with Video Blaster, Creative YUV AVI files may be played back through the VGA Display using the CODEC driver. Playback configuration can be selected in the Control Panel drivers option. Both Video Capture and Video Playback share the same Video Blaster hardware. Because of this, there are certain guidelines that need to be observed when using both simultaneously. - At any one time, only one Creative YUV AVI video sequence can be played back. Running multiple files will cause unpredictable results. - Some conflicts will occur when VidCap.exe is run while Media Player or VidEdit.exe playing Creative YUV AVI file. Unpredictable results might occur. - Creative YUV AVI file playback on Video Blaster Frame Buffer has a fixed size and cannot be stretched. A Zoom by 2 option is also supported. When the playback window size is resized, the image will be cropped. - The CODEC driver does not support the Full Screen option of the Media Player's Video Playback Options. - At any one time, only one Creative YUV AVI video sequence can be played back. Running multip After the installation is complete, your "SYSTEM.INI" file should contain the entries: [Drivers] Arial aster.drv VIDC.cyuv=vblaster.drv 3. Do NOT use the analog audio channel inputs to the Video Blaster. Thes