Cost effective video signal analysis

[Troy]

Is it possible to get LabView to perform analysis on a video signal (NTSC) and if so, what devices (DAQ cards, video capture cards, etc.) do I need to look at. We are looking at options to improve our video quality testing at our factory and are looking for a cost effective soultion. There are video signal analyzers out there, but I would like a PC based soultion since the factory is beginning to use LabView for other testing. Any advice would be helpful.

[Kyle_V]

Troy. National Instruments has an entire line of machine vision and image processing hardware and software. If you're processing an NTSC signal, I recommend an NI-1411 color frame grabber. From there, you can use the NI-Vision software for LabVIEW to analyze your NTSC signal. Along with NI-Vision for LabVIEW, I recommend using a product called Vision Builder, which is a prototyping environment that lets you play with most of the Vision fuctions before even openning LabVIEW. Then once you're done prototyping, Vision Builder will create your LabVIEW VI for you!

Please respond if you have any further questions.

Kyle V
Applications Engineer
National Instruments

[Troy]

So with this board and the VisionBuilder, I could set up to measure things like sync level, bar level, color burst frequency, etc. in the video signal? If so, that is exactly what I need and I will definately look at it. Thanks to you and Jack Arnold for all of the help.

[Jack_A.]

Yes, this is very possible. The PCI-1411 is our color analog framegrabber which will work with NTSC signals. Also, we have a toolkit for LabVIEW called Vision which has lots of different image processing algorithms. Check out this website for some more information:

http://sine.ni.com/apps/we/nioc.vp?cid=1286〈=US

Or if you have more specific questions, feel free to respond to this message.

Jack Arnold
Application Engineer
National Instruments

[KennyO]

Troy, Have you been able to successfully accomplish this task with the PXI board and VisionBuilder? Can you contact me via email and give me a synopsis of what you did to achieve the desired results? My email address is oyamak@masirv.com. I am trying to evaluate video waveforms for entertaiment systems on airplanes. Thanks ...