Decoding Digital Video Signal (LVCMOS)

[dave914]

Hello,

I have a digital video camera which I am hoping to display video from.  Since we have a current license of several LabVIEW and NI Vision products, I thought I would start here.  Details are few but I am willing to try trial & error or investigate further to determine specs in order to display this video.

The camera is using a TI serializer to send video over FPD-LINK-III with power over coax (it's an automotive application).  I have the matching deserializer evaluation board which outputs LVCMOS to a 30-pin header.  Half of the pins are VSS and the other half signals: HSYNC, VSYNC, primary clock and 12 pins for the video image.

At this point I am trying to determine what type of devices may be able to interface directly with this 30-pin signal to display video.  Does NI provide a signal processor which could be used for this?  I read that frame grabbers are designed for specific digital video sources (Camera Link, CoaXPress, DVI, GigEVision, LVDS, RS-422, SDI, etc) — since this signal is output as LVCMOS would that categorize it as LVDS?

Any help, guidance or pointers would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you.

[samazing · Accepted solution]

Hello,

Unfortunately, LVDS (parallel digital) cameras are no longer supported by NI; infact, you are unable to purchase these framegrabbers any more (1424, 1422). With that said, you will likely not be able to use NI Vision SW with these signals without getting some sort of converter; however, you still may be able to acquire the raw data using our TTL or HSDIO cards depending on the signal range of your device.

Best,

Sam K

[dave914]

Thanks for the response Sam.  It helps to know that LVDS is known as parallel digital— that has led me to a few new sites that I hadn't found yet.

Do you have any recommendations on where to look for devices that could simply display the LVDS signal?  It's not clear to me yet if different LVDS video cameras use similar formats or if I would need to know specific configuration details.  A resource which explains LVDS / parallel digital video would be useful too, if you happen to know of one.

Thanks again and Happy New Year.

[dave914]

Searching for LVDS DVI Converter and LVDS VGA Converter, I've found a few different boards that look like they should do the job.  I have a 12-bit signal and the ones I've found thus far are for higher bit ranges (one I just looked at explicitly said 18/24 bit to VGA, so I'm not sure if there's a way to input a 12-bit signal).  Instead of asking more questions here I'll just ask if anyone knows of a popular site where digital video is discussed (or if it's fine to continue asking here on NI's forum)?

Thanks again.