IMAQ and IMAQdx (the recurring question)

[wbadry]

To use Interface or not to use Interface, that's the problem (said by Nationalier)

The reason of that post is that many answers in regard to when to be able to use Interface or not has been issued. One of the most concised and yet very valuable is that by Bruce here:

IMAQ or IMAQdx

I personally got confused from other enquiries. Perhaps these questions may resolve this misunderstanding (at least for a geek like me) :

1. Does All National Instrauments Framegrabbers (Like NI PCI 8252 and GigE cards,  NI xxxx Framegrabber) is considered "Interfaces".
2. What's the advantage of buying NI firewire framegrabbers if they shall be accessed in the same way like third party framegrabbers (via IMAQdx). For instance, many Laptops comes with built in Firewire Interface. Also many vendors offeres Framegrabbers with competetive prices. 
3. Is there any list that can be accessed to know whether this card or that one is supported by IMAQ interface?

 IMAQdx was built with great flexibilty and perfect architecture that makes be ablt to grab your image in 3 or 4 lines of code (I'm a VB man after all, so it means for LABVIEW men 3 or 4 VIs, isn't it). Also attributes can either be set in MAX or programmatically using rich set of functions.

If it is possible to get a complete clarification from IMAQ vision team, I'll be more than happy.

[BruceAmmons]

IMAQ only works with NI framegrabbers.  These are framegrabbers designed to acquire and process signals from cameras that output in specific formats.  NI framegrabbers require IMAQ to work, and other companies' framegrabbers will not work with IMAQ.

IMAQdx works with firewire and ethernet connections.  Since these are generic connections, you can use any manufacturer's card with the NI drivers.  You can use that built in firewire (or ethernet) port on your laptop, as long as it meets the requirements.  Sometimes it is difficult to find compatible firewire or ethernet cards, which is why NI provides cards that are guaranteed to work with their drivers.  They cost a little more, but it saves you the effort of figuring out if the card will work or not.

Bruce

[wbadry]

Hi Bruce and thanks for your response. The objective behind asking was that "I Do have NI 8252 PCI Firewire framegrabber,however, it doesn't appear in IMAQ interface combobox. I haver been informed by one of NI Team that I must work using IMAQdx API. I already did that, but my question is, If it is "NI" card like you mentioned, why using it like if it came from third party?

Dilemma, isn't it?

[BruceAmmons]

Because the firewire interface is generic.  The computer doesn't even realize it is an NI card.  The NI software only cares if it is a firewire card with a firewire camera attached.

Like I said, buying a firewire or ethernet card from NI doesn't get you a special, designed by NI card.  It just gets you a card that you know will work with the NI software with no glitches.

Bruce