Video Recording Laboratory Setup
Here is a diagram of the lab setup:
The hardware we use consists of:
- Four PCs, custom built by Vision1. Each PC has a 500MHz Pentium
processor, 256MB memory and 64GB of hard drive storage.
- Four Kodak ES310 cameras. Each camera is connected to one
PC. Three of the cameras give grey scale output, and one camera gives
color output.
- A sync source, that is used to synchronize the cameras
together. The sync source is connected to each PC and to each
camera. It can be set so that capturing is done in 30, 60, or 85
frames per second.
- An Ethernet switch, that allows the four PCs to communicate with
each other.
For frame grabbing, the PCs use the Bitflow RoadRunner software. For
synchronized vide capturing by all PCs, we use IO Industries'
VideoSavant
software. One of the machines is designated as the "master" machine,
and the other three are designated as "slaves". In order to capture a
video sequence, we have to start the appropriate program on the
"master" machine, and the appropriate client programs on the "slave"
machines. Then, using the master machine we can specify how many
frames we want to capture, and start the recording. The captured
frames are stored on the hard drives in real time. With 64GB of hard
drive storage available, we can record continuously for 60 minutes, at
60 frames per second, in all four machines simultaneously, at an image
resolution of 648x484 (width x height).
Currently the four cameras are configured in the following way:
- Two cameras make a stereo pair, facing towards the signer, and
covering the upper half of the signer's body.
- One camera, the color one, faces towards the signer and zooms in
on the head of the signer.
- One camera is placed on the side of the viewer, and covers the
upper half of the signer's body.
Click here to see some pictures from the lab.