Imaging Source DFG/SV1 frame grabber not correctly recognised in LabVIEW 2009

[OCastell]

I have an Imaging Source DFG/SV1 frame grabber/capture card (I think this uses a Bt878 chip) which I am trying to use with LabVIEW 2009 (Fall 2009 Academic Site License edition) including the vision acquisition elements (NI Vision, NI-IMAQ (4.3) NI-IMAQdx (3.4), etc). I have all the latest Imaging Source support Drivers and software for the board (http://www.theimagingsource.com/en_US/products/grabbers/dfgsv1/ Drivers: v6.0.3.0, IC Capture v2.1 and IC Imaging Control v3.1) with the drivers being DirectShow compliant. The DFG/SV1 is detected in MAX under NI-MAQdx devices / DFG/SV1 / cam0 and I can grab and preview images, however only at resolutions of  320x240, I have a higher resolution camera and know the board is capable of greater resolutions using the manufacture's IC Capture and also via TWAIN drivers through ImageJ software. Interesteingly, if I try to acquire an image from the frame grabber using Vision Assistant, the DFG/SV1 card is not recognised as a frame grabber, but listed under IEEE 1394 or GigE devices, which with it being a direct show device I can't figure out. Despite this I can acquire images, but am limited to 320x240 format and changing the image type (RGB, UYVY etc) causes an error. Again, rather curiously, I can use the  'grab and select mode example VI' which should only be compatible with IEEE 1394 cameras.

I am unsure as to why LabVIEW isn't seeing this card correctly, I have contacted Imaging source who were also puzzled by the fact.

Any information on how this could be solved would be much appreciated.

Many thanks in advance.

[BlueCheese · Accepted solution]

Hi OCastell,

With that Imaging Source board, the only supported interface with NI's Vision Acquisition drivers is via the DirectShow interface using IMAQdx. It is possible that their DirectShow driver does not properly support all the capabilities of their board. Since the IC Capture and TWAIN support might go through a different implementation than their DirectShow support, you may see different functionality available. Unfortunately you would likely have to go through Imaging Source to determine why their DirectShow driver does not appear to support the full resolution. You can confirm that it is not IMAQdx limiting this by trying other DirectShow software such as Windows NetMeeting or AMCAP and see what capture resolutions are listed.

Since the DirectShow interface is handled by the IMAQdx driver, it will not be detected as an IMAQ framegrabber using the IMAQ driver. This is expected since it falls under the same category as firewire and GigE Vision cameras and is supported with the IMAQdx driver instead.

The "Grab and Select Mode" example VI is not really FireWire specific, although it certainly was intended to highlight the various video modes that FireWire cameras typically expose. Since DirectShow devices are similar and have multiple selectable video modes, that is why it is likely working. In any case, IMAQdx generally abstracts the differences between all the supported camera types and typically a single VI can run on all IMAQdx-supported cameras unless you are relying on bus or camera-specific functionality.

With regards to Vision Assistant labeling the camera as "IEEE 1394 or GigE", I think this is just a cosmetic issue (that may already be fixed in newer releases). When IMAQdx first was released, those were the two camera types supported and so Vision Assistant was trying to make it clear which driver was used for which type of device. Now that IMAQdx supports a wealth of new interfaces (including DirectShow and certain IP cameras) that label is inaccurate.

Lastly, looking at the specs for that capture card, it looks like a standard BT878/848 reference design and so you could potentially try replacing your Imaging Source driver with the one here:

http://btwincap.sourceforge.net/

I have used this with a BT878 capture card with IMAQdx and can get it to capture a full-resolution image (but of course, your results may vary...). It goes without saying that this solution using DirectShow is much more limited than using an industrial camera on 1394/firewire or using an IMAQ framegrabber.

Hope this helps,

Eric 

[OCastell]

Hi BlueCheese,

Thank you for the comprehensive response, that gives me a much greater understanding of what is going on. I will follow up on your suggestions today and get follow up to let you know how we get on.  I had already contacted Imaging Source about the problem, including the low resolution when viewing through labview and I don't think this should be the case. I will try the approach you suggested, testing with NetMeeting etc and the alternative chipset drivers.

Thanks 

[OCastell]

Hi Eric, thanks once again for your help.

It appears that the Imaging Source driver does not offer full direct show support, as the resolution was limited to 320x240 using AMCAP also. The Imaging Source labview 'drivers' enable some degree of functionality in labview, by scripting their own IC Capture software/IC Imaging elements and feeding back into the labview environment, which is OK. However, I tried the universal driver as suggested (http://btwincap.sourceforge.net/), the Imaging Source card uses a "Conexant Fusion 878a" chipset, which although not listed on pre-set options on driver install, selecting one of the alternate Conexant cards works perfectly, including full resolution capture within labview.

Once again many thanks for the guidance with this Eric, hopefully this will help others too.

[mostafanfs]

I have the same problem too

I have a capture card named by "snazzi av dv" and based on "7131" chipset (from philips)

Using application other than LabVIEW (IMAQdx) there is different resolution such as 340 & 640 & 720 , ....

But by using IMAQdx there is just 340*480 in different fps (I have checked this out in MAX too) but I need 640 *480 resolution

And there is not my card's name in  http://btwincap.sourceforge.net/    list (or chipset. I'va tried some items in list but no result)

What should I do ?  

Product page :

http://www.snazzi.com/Snazzi%20AV%20DV_Spec.asp