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New Star Software Collection
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3-012 video blaster software
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README.TXT
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1993-01-29
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236 lines
************************************************************************
* Copyright (c) Creative Technology Ltd, 1991-93. All rights reserved. *
************************************************************************
VIDEO BLASTER LATEST INFORMATION
================================
This file contains information not available during the printing of
the manual. Please read all the sections before you proceed with any
installation procedure.
This file contains the following sections:
1. Software Installation
2. Package Contents
3. Changes Made to Software
4. Memory Conflict Problem on 16 MB Systems
5. PAL Video System Users
6. Loading of Large Image Files
7. Supports for JPEG file format
1. SOFTWARE INSTALLATION
The installation program, INSTALL.EXE will modify your
AUTOEXEC.BAT file. If you have Microsoft Windows 3.1 installed
in your system, you can optionally select to modify WIN.INI to
include the command to setup the drivers and applications for
Video Blaster the next time you startup Windows. Your original
files will be renamed with a .B~K extension.
The procedure for installation is as follows.
a. Run the program INSTALL.EXE from DOS prompt. This program can
be found on Disk #1.
b. Select "Begin Installation" and follow the instructions on the
screen.
c. Quit the installation program when it completes successfully.
d. REBOOT YOUR SYSTEM.
e. You may proceed to test your Video Blaster card with the
program VBTEST.EXE located in the \VBLASTER directory.
If you allowed the installation program to add a command to your
WIN.INI, the program WINSETUP.EXE will be run the next time you
startup Windows. Optionally you may follow the following steps to
run WINSETUP.EXE.
a. Startup Microsoft Windows 3.1.
b. From the FILE menu in Program Manager, choose RUN.
c. Type "C:\VBLASTER\WINSETUP" and press ENTER, assuming that
you installed Video Blaster software onto drive C.
d. Follow the instructions on the screen to complete the
installation.
2. PACKAGE CONTENTS
The following are files contained in the distribution diskette(s):
INSTALL.EXE - Software installation program
README .COM - Program to display the README.TXT file
README .TXT - This file
INSTALL.001 - Installation data files
DISK .ID - Disk identification file
The following are files that will be installed to your hard disk.
In the \VBLASTER directory:
README .COM - Program to display this README.TXT file
README .TXT - This file
VBSETENV.EXE - Program to set up the VIDEOBLST environment
variable
VBSETUP .EXE - DOS program to set up video defaults
VBTEST .EXE - DOS program for testing the Video Blaster card
VBLSTDRV.COM - Video Blaster DOS driver
VBSET .EXE - DOS command-line program to control the Video
Blaster
VID_ON .BAT - Batch file to turn video on (from DOS)
VID_OFF .BAT - Batch file to turn video off (from DOS)
WINSETUP.EXE - Video Blaster Windows 3.1 drivers and
applications set up program
WINSETUP.INF - WINSETUP program information file
In the \VBLASTER\MMPLAY sub-directory:
MMPLAY .EXE - The multimedia player program
MMPLAY .CFG - MMPLAY configuration file
MMVBDEMO.BAT - Sample MMPLAY batch file
MMVBDEMO.ACT - Sample MMPLAY script
FLCVESA .DRV - MMPLAY VESA FLC driver
PCXDRV .DRV - MMPLAY PCX file-load driver
*.VOC - Sample voice files
*.CMF - Sample CMF files
*.FLI - Sample FLI image files
*.PCX - Sample PCX picture files
In the \VBLASTER\WINDOWS sub-directory:
VBSOUND .EXE - Windows program to control the Video Blaster
VBWSETUP.EXE - Windows program to set up video defaults volume
levels
VIDEOKIT.EXE - Windows program to display video under Windows
PCVIDEO .DLL - Windows Dynamic Link Library for controlling
the Video Card
CTJPEG.DLL - Windows Dynamic Link Library for JPEG
compression/decompression
CTRES.DLL - DLL for Custom controls.
CTCCW.DLL - DLL for Custom controls.
MCIVBLST.DRV - Video Blaster MCI Overlay driver
OVERLAY .WRI - Microsoft Write file documenting the overlay
driver functions
3. CHANGES MADE TO SOFTWARE
The following are changes made to the software that have not found
their way into the manual:
a. The Video Blaster will run at resolutions up to 640x480 only.
However, we have provided a 800x600 compatibility feature for
users who have 800x600 VGA cards. This feature will allow you
to see clean video at 800x600.
Note: Total compatibility is not possible, but we have tried to
minimise the conflicts as much as we can. We recommend
that you not set this feature on unless you really need
to work at 800x600 with very clean video display. Please
let us know if you find that with the 800x600 feature
enabled, you experience difficulty with the video.
b. We have included an MCI OVERLAY driver for use with our Video
Blaster card. Details about this driver is available in the
Microsoft Write file OVERLAY.WRI in the \VBLASTER\WINDOWS
directory.
4. MEMORY CONFLICT PROBLEM ON 16 MB SYSTEMS
The Video Blaster has a built-in RAM buffer to hold video data
that is being captured, which occupies 1 MB of system memory
address space. The PC AT with a 24-bit address bus provides for a
system address space of up to 16 MB. Even on 386 systems which
can address up to 4 gigabytes, the ISA bus limits direct
addressing to only 16 MB. Therefore, for the system to access the
Video Blaster RAM buffer, the 1 MB buffer must be mapped into the
system memory at an address from 1 MB to 15 MB.
This method of mapping allows fast storage and retrieval of image
data, but causes conflict when physical memory exists at the
address range used by the Video Blaster. The result of this
address range contention is that any attempt to access the video
buffer will read from or write to the system memory instead. This
means that Video Blaster users will get garbage data when saving
to image files, and will corrupt system memory when loading from
image files. This can yield unexpected and undesirable results
with programs that make use of extended memory. However, viewing
of live video without loading or saving image files will still be
possible.
As a result of this memory-mapping conflict, the Video Blaster may
run into problems on machines equipped with 16 MB memory or more.
Some machines which have more than 16 MB perform some form of
paging in which only certain banks of memory are active at any one
time. This method is system-dependent, however, and could not be
applied to solve the memory conflict problem of the Video Blaster.
It is therefore regretted that there is no solution to the problem
except to free up some system memory space for the Video Blaster.
5. PAL VIDEO SYSTEM USERS
The Video Blaster by default accepts NTSC video signals. As such
a default crop-window of nearly 500 lines is imposed on the video
signal. PAL system users have a video signal that has about 600
lines. This means that the default crop-window will cut away
almost 100 lines from a PAL source, or about an inch or so of
video.
PAL users may solve this problem by adjusting the crop-window for
their live source. This can be done from inside the SETUP
programs, both VBSETUP and VBWSETUP. Select the source that is
connected to the PAL source, and then choose the Crop... option to
adjust the crop-window for that source. Increase the crop height
until almost all of the video may be seen in the video window
again.
6. LOADING OF LARGE IMAGE FILES
The Video Blaster has a video buffer that can hold only 512 lines
of video data. Therefore files which have more than 512 lines
cannot be loaded into the video buffer. In particular, files
saved under the 800x600 compatibility mode of the VideoKit program
when the display window has more than 512 lines cannot be loaded
back into the video buffer. However, other applications will
still be able to load these large files, as they do not make use
of the Video Blaster video buffer, are therefore not constrained
by the size of the video buffer.
7. SUPPORTS FOR JPEG FILE FORMAT
The Windows program VIDEOKIT.EXE can save and load standard JPEG
(or JFIF) files.
While saving an image as a JPEG file, the Q factor (Quantization
factor) will determine the JPEG compression level in the file.
With a higher Q factor, blocking artifacts will be visible,
leading to poorer image quality. Conversely, the lower the Q
factor, the better the image will be,but file size will be larger.
The recommended range for selecting the Q factor is 1 to 35, where
the image result will be satisfactory in proportion to the file
size.
Note that the Q factor actually determines the level of
compression and is NOT the compression factor. That is, the
resultant file size is not proportional to the Q factor chosen.
JPEG compression/decompression copyrighted by
Xing Technology Corporation, 1990-93. All rights reserved.
********** End of README.TXT **********