🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <7867@killer.Dallas.TX.US> jls@killer.Dallas.TX.US (Jerome Schneider) writes:
>                        Does anyone know of video-overlay systems that
>allow I.V. under such windowing systems as X or the Miceysoft PM?  Are
>things like video "windows" imbedded in graphics windows available?
>-- 
>Jerome Schneider              UUCP: killer.DALLAS.TX.US!jls (guest account)
>Aspen Technology Group        Ft. Collins, CO    Voice: (303) 484-8466

Here at Project Athena there are a number of projects underway that use
a system with the X Window System version 11 on VAXstation II's with a
Parallax graphics/video display board.  The video capabilities available
from the X server are somewhat primitive, taking the form of an extension to
the core X11 protocol.  Display of incoming video may be turned on on any
X window by using an Xlib request.  The video display options allow live
video of a fixed size (640x482) pixels, still video of the same size (doesn't
go away when the video source changes, but the last video frame digitized
remains on screen until a X expose event happens), and a scaled mode, which
allows a still portion of the incoming video frame to be displayed in a window
of arbitrary size, with automatic scaling as desired.

For people using the X Toolkit, there are several versions of a video widget
floating around that handles these modes and X exposes automatically.
Straight XLib programmers have to do it the hard way.

With X11, you can also draw on top of the video windows in all video modes,
although I don't know of any projects around here that use that capability.
The whole setup is still a bit flakey, unfortunately, but getting better all
the time.  Unstable input video signals tend to become badly garbled when
put into a window, so a direct feed from the videodisc player is best, although
live cable TV works well. (We distribute images from a single videodisc player
source using the campus cable network)

-Russell Williams			warsh@athena.mit.edu [ @mitvma.bitnet ]
Boston Videodisc Project		Rotch Visual Collection, MIT