HDMI acquisition?

[josborne]

Hi all,

I have been doing a lot of USB and Firewire video acquisition using LabVIEW.

But someone recently asked me if I could acquire from an HDMI camera?

Anyone know if IMAQdx can do this?

I know the NI VMS can do it, but I want to use LabVIEW.  Can't seem to find much reference to HDMI on the NI website.

[CSD]

LabVIEW can do it, though without NI Hardware.  Epiphan (http://www.epiphan.com/) sells a PCIe and USB DVI (and VGA) capture device that shows up in windows as a WDM device.  IMAQdx can capture directly from WDM devices.  HDMI can be converted to DVI via a cable change, although the embedded audio in the HDMI will be dropped.

If you need to do the capture at some distance from the source, you may consider converting the HDMI signal to HD-SDI via mini converter from Blackmagic, and capturing that data via one of Blackmagic's Decklink cards.  These cards also show up as WDM devices in windows, and LabVIEW/IMAQdx sees them just fine.

[BlueCheese]

Keep in mind that those Epiphan solutions appear to only capture unencrypted DVI/HDMI transmissions. Many HDMI devices output encrypted streams which this would be unable to capture. The NI Digital Video Analyzer system (http://sine.ni.com/nips/cds/view/p/lang/en/nid/205782), on the other hand, can do analysis of an encrypted image stream. Although I don't know offhand, I would not be suprised if it cannot do straight capturing due to licensing issues with decrypting HDMI. Such restrictions would likely be present in any device that can accept an encrypted stream.

Eric

[josborne]

Thanks! 

Though, I am still a little confused how I'd make that work with a "WDM" device.  If I do this, does IMAQdx end up using the DirectShow interface to the WDM camera?

In any case, it sounds like it might be possible if the video stream is unencrypted.

[CSD · Accepted solution]

BlueCheese is correct, the Ephianan solution will only work if the HDMI stream is unencrypted.  I forgot to mention that as one of my assumptions.

WDM devices are visible to IMAQdx through DirectShow.  They show up in MAX and are available to LabVIEW for recording as an IMAQdx source.

If you plan to widely deploy this solution, you'll need to consider the liscensing of IMAQdx as well.  The Ephianan devices come with sample software for capture and display purposes, which may or may not fulfill all your requirements.

Good luck.

[mdnelson1234]

OK I have a BlackMagic Intensity Pro card and NI vision does see it and will capture.   But I don't see an IMAQdx example of wdm capture like I found when I was capturing USB twain streams.

Am I missing the Icon or is there some place I can get an example code to plagiarize?

Thanks

[mdnelson1234]

Never Mind.  I just found anE enumerate VI from Steve_tdiode.  

http://forums.ni.com/t5/Machine-Vision/IMAQdx-Open-Camera-and-MAX-listing-DirectShow-cameras-that-ar...

And so I modified my old USB video capture program to point to the WDM device and Viola.  I am capturing and analyzing HDMI video streams in realtime.   I love Labview.

[BruceMoyer]

I have an Intensity Pro card as well but I cannot get HDMI video in MAX, although I am able to see video using their supplied software.  The Region of Interest settings don't seem correct either (they are too small) but I can't change them.

Is there some setting that I may be missing?

Thanks,

Bruce

[mdnelson1234]

Bruce,

Had no end of trouble with the Blackmagic card.  I just happened to get lucky that MAX was able to configure for the resolution of my camera system on one computer and one resolution.    On another computer and different install of Labiew and IMAQ it did not recognize the resolution and format and was not able to capture.  I think it is a problem with the BlackMagic driver but BlackmagicDesign swears it was the Labview driver. (im gonna cut some fingers off one of these days).   Many emails and message board entries on BlackMagic left me hanging.   

I bit the bullet and got the Epiphan card and it's all good now.   Any resolution is supported and the Epiphan driver and IMAQ hold hands famously.   And my camera doesn't output HDCP if the receiver(TV) doesn't acknoledge it so i capture HDMI till the cows come home.    Its a shame because the BlackMagic card is so cheap.   Also got a Shuttle that had the same problems.  It's probably identical inside so that makes sense.   I suggest you spend the kilobuck and get the Epiphan as it was cheaper then the hours I spent trying to get the Intensity Pro working.

BUT, if you can get it working please post as I have two Blackmagic solutions collecting dust.   Good Luck. 

Mark

[BruceMoyer]

Thanks for your quick response.  I'll try a few things (and let you know if anything works), but it doesn't seem like there's going to be a straightforward solution.