ELTEC introduces 16-channel PCI Express frame grabber with special security features

Boasting state-of-the-art MPEG-4 compression for the most exacting demands

Mainz, 23 March 2006  –  At the Intertraffic (April 4 through 7 in Amsterdam) ELTEC will be introducing its new frame grabber PC_EYE/SEC, designed to meet the highest standards of security and monitoring tasks. Typical applications for this powerful image data recording card are those that involve instant switches between multiple standard video cameras. These fast camera switches ensure a virtually interruption-free view of all areas monitored by the camera. The new frame grabber offers JPEG compression hardware for 16 channels, MPEG-4 on-board compression, on-board scaling (1:1 to 1:8) and fast PCI Express Bus with a bandwidth of 250 Mbytes/s. The frame grabber records analog color camera data via 16 parallel inputs, all of which contain a separate fast AD converter. As a result, images can be recorded in real time and archived in the PC’s central memory. A total of 40 DMA controllers ensure quick data flow processing (4 for video, 16 for JPEG, 4 for MPEG and 16 for audio input data). The optional JPEG encoder has the capability to encode 16 color video streams in real time. JPEG is ideal for multiplexed camera data applications. The MPEG-4 encoder (also available as an option) can process four color video data streams in real time at full frame rate and a resolution of 720 x 576 pixels. MPEG is the most powerful compression scheme for video data that has to be continually transferred from camera to memory. The grabber’s hardware design is FPGA-based. Thanks to the utilization of these high-performance programmable logic components for recording and DMA control flexible specifications can be implemented depending on the respective application. As a result, various solutions ranging from special image formats to JPEG compression can be compiled in real time and reloaded when the grabber is started. The concept uses 16 AD converters to make the fast camera switches possible. Another benefit is that NTSC and PAL format cameras can be operated simultaneously. The converter settings, such as image size, brightness and contrast, can be adjusted individually. Software support in the form of a security library, optimized for fast switch and multiple camera operation, is available for the PC_EYE/SEC. This library is available for Linux and as a DLL for Windows 2000/XP.