Help on digital video project
Help on digital video project
(OP)
Hi you all, I'm new here. I'm working in a project where I need to convert an analog video signal (PAL or NTSC) to MPEG and JPEG, to either display it in a graphic screen or store files in a SD flash card.
This might sound much like those digital cameras, though there's no need for CCD/CMOS camera input as many video ICs expect.
I'm not a digital video expert, so I'd really appreciate any guidance on custom ICs or design approaches.
The client is reluctant to using CPUs or hiring programmers, so I'm willing to get a fully hardware solution, with minimal need for firmware.
Thanks in advance,
Gonzalo
This might sound much like those digital cameras, though there's no need for CCD/CMOS camera input as many video ICs expect.
I'm not a digital video expert, so I'd really appreciate any guidance on custom ICs or design approaches.
The client is reluctant to using CPUs or hiring programmers, so I'm willing to get a fully hardware solution, with minimal need for firmware.
Thanks in advance,
Gonzalo





RE: Help on digital video project
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RE: Help on digital video project
Keith Cress
Flamin Systems, Inc.- http://www.flaminsystems.com
RE: Help on digital video project
IRstuff: Nice devices. From the block diagram, looks like I need some NTSC/CCIR converter beside the chip. I'm reading further to have a clearer picture of it.
Keith: Agreed I'm closing to something like a PC TV capture board, and the need of lower bitrates in case the client wanted a sort of video logger (a punishment for a flash, anyway).
The client wants a 12V powered box with much of the commerce digital cameras: some push buttons, connectors for external LCD screen and analog video input. Also, he wants a SD memory socket and some GUI menu. Expected production is 100-200 units.
I suggested an ARM processor but he doesn't like paying for firmware, so I'm leaning for something like this: www.zoran.com/COACH-10
Unfortunately, these guys doesn't pick the phone for orders of less than 100,000 pcs :(
Further guidance is highly appreciated!
Regards,
Gonzalo
RE: Help on digital video project
I knew a medical company that took an off-the-shelf camcorder, gutted it, and made it into an arthroscope unit.
For only a few hundred you might consider a similar scheme. You do have to be careful and if you consider this route there are several gotchas that we should discuss.
Perhaps you can use a small single board PC that you can just sort-of batchfile standard SW with.
Keith Cress
Flamin Systems, Inc.- http://www.flaminsystems.com
RE: Help on digital video project
RE: Help on digital video project
VE1BLL: A laptop based it's a very logical approach, as any TV capture or surveillance software has almost all the customer wants: video capture, flash card backup, GUI, etc. In fact, The customer originally wanted a s/w solution, and I pushed for something on board, obviously to get the job.
I'm a PCB designer, so suggesting ready-made solutions puts me off the business. I thought I could handle this by designing a board from scratch, but now I'm re-thinking this.
Thanks for your help!
Regards,
Gonzalo
RE: Help on digital video project
As far as I know, most camera controllers expect a digitized 12 to 14 bit signal from the CCD/CMOS sensor. As the client needs to process NTSC video signals instead of a webcam-like output, I thought we must add some video decoder stage and some analog front-end stages.
This would mean doing some 'surgery' an the camera board. Isn't it too risky?
Regards,
Gonzalo
RE: Help on digital video project
How about those mini boards that stack. I forget the name of them. It's an industry standard. Use one that runs WinCE or Linux and you can plug in a USB video capture unit like V suggests.
You are really limited by your customer's proscription of much coding.
Keith Cress
Flamin Systems, Inc.- http://www.flaminsystems.com
RE: Help on digital video project
RE: Help on digital video project
Regards,
Keith Cress
Flamin Systems, Inc.- http://www.flaminsystems.com
RE: Help on digital video project
I will post here how is it going.
Regards,
Gonzalo
RE: Help on digital video project
The only one problem I've got is a netowork traffic from 12 cameras - it was more than 100 mbits/second so I was need to switch to 1 GBit network.
For such cases I found a really excellent bandwidth estimation software - from http://www.jvsg.com
So for next projects I calculate traffic at first and then purchase network switches. :)
RE: Help on digital video project
RE: Help on digital video project
I agree that over certain speed, it's much better switching to some networked approach. There are also plenty of IP-cameras and networking solutions off-the-shelf.