Intel Indeo(tm) Video R3.2 Update -- V3.24.01.01 Microsoft Video for Windows 1.1e April 14, 1995 This software update is provided to enhance your existing Indeo(R) Video drivers to the latest video technology for compressing, editing and playing back video on your Intel microprocessor-based desktop computer, using Microsoft's Video for Windows* Version 1.1e. Indeo Video technology gives you the capability to capture and compress video in a single step using Intel's Smart Video Recorder Pro card. It also allows you to offline compress and play back video using only software on your computer. The ISVR Pro works with camcorders, VCRs and laser disks to capture Indeo Video. It immediately compresses NTSC or PAL format files at 320x240, 240x180, and 160x120 pixel resolutions at up to 30 frames per second. In addition, the built-in scalability of Indeo technology, automatically adjusts the playback frame rate depending on your computer's performance capabilities. This allows you to play Indeo video files on any Intel Pentium(R) or Intel486(TM) processor-based computer. Readme.txt Topics: ------------------ * Improvements * Indeo Video Drivers * Differences from Microsoft's VfW 1.1e Update * System.ini Entries * AVI File Editors * Active Palette and DCI Support * Known Operating Characteristics * Software Requirements * Optimum System Recomendation * Technical Support and Updates Improvements: ------------- Indeo Video R3.2 is an update to Indeo Video R3.1 and Video for Windows V1.1. It provides: * Support for the Display Control Interface (DCI). * Support for active palette. * Improved visual quality. There is significantly more foreground and background detail for most sequences, particularly at 15fps with data rates of 135KB/sec or higher. * Improved video playback performance at low data rates. * Improved 16-bit image quality and playback performance. * Improved audio playback at low data rates. * Compression and decompression of images up to 640x480 size in 4-pixel increments. Note: 640x480x10 video with a 240KB/sec transfer rate, has been measured to play back at close to 10 frames per second. * Improved software encoder performance (2 to 5 sec/frame on a Pentium processor system). * Faster initialization. Improvements in V3.24.01.01 over V3.23.01.01: 1. Diamond Viper Pro cards will no longer fail during DCI profiling. 2. The offline compressor is better at reaching targeted data rates. Improvements in V3.23.01.01 over V3.22.01.44: 1. Less memory is allocated during playback. 2. More tolerant of errors in the video bit stream. Not as likely to GPF if a bit stream error is encountered during playback. 3. Subsampling changed to minimize color bleeding. Improvements in V3.22.01.44 over v3.22.01.43: 1. Fixes a potential problem with the floating point library not being exited correctly while compressing a file. Improvements in V3.22.01.43 over V3.22.01.30: 1. Fixes color shift when using Active Palette support. 2. Fixes sustained palette flash when video is placed in the background. 3. Correctly rejects AVI files with odd size images. 4. Fixed a possible GPF when insufficient memory was available. 5. The new Raw driver displays correctly under Adobe Premiere*. Indeo Video Drivers: -------------------- Indeo(TM) Video R3.2 -- V3.24.01.01 incorporates the new Indeo Video R3.2 software codec that produces the highest quality video for software playback on Intel microprocessor based desktop computers. [filename: ir32.dll] Indeo(TM) Video Raw -- V1.10.1.6 incorporates the raw/YVU9 codec. [filename: iyvu9.dll] Indeo(TM) Video R2.1 -- V2.17.003 incorporates a decompressor only. It plays back files created with the older R2.1 codec. [filename: ir21.dll] Differences from Microsoft's VfW 1.1e Update: --------------------------------------------- The Setup utility used to install this update is a modified version of the Setup utility Microsoft provides with their runtime package. It is possible to make further changes to this program. Microsoft used to supply a Setup Toolkit with V3.1 of the Windows SDK. The Setup Toolkit can now be obtained from Microsoft's Download Service (MSDL) at 206-936-6735. Look for a file called CP0982.EXE in the C/C++ section. All of the Intel and non-Intel codecs are installed by this update. Listed below are the differences between this update and the one supplied by Microsoft: 1. Installs R3.2 V3.24.01.01 driver rather than V3.22.1.43. 2. The Raw driver (iyvu9.dll) is updated. 3. A file called ir30.dll is installed. See the following section for details. 4. The R2.1 driver is renamed to ir21.dll. 5. The readme.txt and copyrite.txt files are added. This readme.txt file may be deleted prior to distribution. 6. The files in this update do not all fit on one 3.5" diskette. System.ini Entries: ------------------- The Setup program installs the Indeo video drivers along with the latest Video for Windows runtime. It places the following entries in the system.ini file for the Indeo video drivers: [drivers] VIDC.RT21=ir21.dll VIDC.YVU9=iyvu9.dll VIDC.IV31=ir32.dll VIDC.IV32=ir32.dll Previously, the recommended system.ini entries for Indeo video R3.1 looked as follows: [drivers] VIDC.RT21=indeov.drv VIDC.YVU9=indeov.drv VIDC.IV31=indeov.drv Indeov.drv was an "umbrella" driver that used a text file called indeo.ini to point to the various Indeo video drivers. The indeo.ini file had the following entries: [GLOBAL] DRIVERS=IV31,RT21,YVU9 [IV31] DEC=ir30.dll [RT21] DEC=ir21_r.dll [YVU9] DEC=ir21_r.dll Indeov.drv and indeo.ini are no longer used and may be deleted if desired. However, older applications, which install the Indeo video drivers, may still use indeov.drv and indeo.ini. Since the name of the latest Indeo video driver has changed from ir30.dll to ir32.dll, this would prevent IV31 files from accessing the latest driver. To avoid this problem, an exact copy of the latest ir32.dll file, named ir30.dll, is also installed by this setup program. It is hoped the ir30.dll file will not be used. But if another setup program should change the system.ini entries to point to indeov.drv, then the correct driver will still be accessed through ir30.dll. In the future, this precaution should not need to be taken. AVI File Editors: ----------------- This is a recommendation for developers of AVI file editors. To avoid unnecessary recompression, it is recommended the IV31 and IV32 video formats be treated as the same video format. This speeds up editing operations and improves video quality. When a video editor saves an edited AVI file, the video formats of the source video frames are compared to the video format chosen for the target file. Typically, any frames not in the target format are recompressed. If a clip contains a mixture of IV31 and IV32 frames, and the output format is IV32, it is not necessary to recompress the IV31 frames. The Indeo video R3.2 codec will play back both video formats. Active Palette and DCI Support: ------------------------------- Video for Windows now allows applications to properly handle an external palette for playback on 8-bit displays. Previously, the Indeo video driver could only dither to its own internal palette. Video for Windows would further dither the video to a requested external palette. This caused external palettes to be dithered twice which reduced video quality. This problem was fixed by Video for Windows 1.1d along with an updated Indeo video driver. Indeo video is now able to decompress directly to an external palette. Indeo video can be requested to use an external palette with either of the following MCI (Media Control Interface) commands: SETVIDEO PALETTE HANDLE TO REALIZE BACKGROUND These commands and the MCI Interface are described in Microsoft's Video for Windows 1.1 Developer's Kit. DCI provides for faster and smoother playback of video on DCI-enabled graphics cards. Three components are needed to enable DCI support: 1. Video for Windows V1.1d or newer 2. The Indeo video v3.22.01.043 driver or newer 3. DCI-enabled graphics card and drivers The first two components are provided with this update. Contact your graphics card vendor to obtain DCI-enabled drivers for your graphics card. Known Operating Characteristics: -------------------------------- 1. The new Indeo Video R3.2 driver can play back AVI files compressed using the older R3.0 and R3.1 drivers. However, AVI files created by the R3.2 software encoder cannot be played back using the Indeo video R3.0 or R3.1 drivers. Microsoft's Media Player will report the error "Video not available, cannot find 'vids.iv32' decompressor." 2. The R2.1 driver does not display a setup dialog box from the Control Panel. 3. Digital Video Arts, Ltd. has an Indeo video R3.2 driver that supports hardware playback. Call 215-576-7920 to inquire about their NewWorld Operating Environment. 4. The Setup utility could fail unexpectedly at the end of installation. If this occurs, it is usually due to low memory conditions. Close all other applications before running the installation. Software Requirements: ----------------------- * Video for Windows V1.1d or newer * Windows 3.1 or newer Optimum System Recomendation: ----------------------------- For the highest image quality and playback, the following system requirements are recommended: * Intel Pentium processor * System RAM: 12+ MB * PCI bus graphics controller with DCI-enabled drivers * SCSI or Enhanced IDE hard drive For best frame rate performance, put the graphics card in 8-bit color mode. For best image quality, use 24-bit color mode. Technical Support and Updates: ------------------------------ For technical assistance, post a message on the IntelArch forum of CompuServe in Indeo(R) Video library #9. As new Indeo video drivers are released, they will be made available on CompuServe INTELARCH forum and Intel's Application Support BBS at 916-356-3600. Updates are also available on Internet at ftp://ftp.intel.com/pub/IAL/multimedia and at http://www.intel.com/IAL/index.html. _____________________________________________________________________ * Other brands and names are the property of their respective owners.