Thursday, December 23, 2010

Getting the Smoothest Teleprompter Scrolling

This article will tell you how to  use TeleScript AVtm in a dual VGA monitor configuration to be sure your client sees the smoothest scroll on the teleprompter monitor. This discussion is a fairly advanced, technically – but if you’re a teleprompting professional, these are things you really need to know!

Artifacts – what are they?

Video artifacts are, basically, anything in the display that is not intended. Artifacts may include hum bars, ghosting, and other periodic glitches.

HUM BARS are periodic “stripes” that move from top to bottom or vice versa. They are caused by “hum” induced into the video by interference from the power supply causing a “beat” with the vertical sweep in the display monitor. Common sources of hum bars are poor grounding, inadequate or broken shielding on coax cables, and running power cables in parallel and too close to signal cables. Hum bars can be hard to track down, but are generally the easiest artifact to diagnose and understand.

GHOSTING is a shadow of the primary image appearing usually to the right or left (or both). Ghosting is usually caused by poor cables, impedance mismatch, or cable runs that are too long. The problem can usually be solved by replacing cables, or reducing their length. Often times, a line driver or distribution amp can solve ghosting problems.

The Artifact unique to teleprompting – Frame Sync Compression Bars

Even with the demise of CRT monitors, one powerful commonality remains: the manner in which each frame is synchronized with the display. A compression bar is an artifact that is caused by lack of synchronization between the computer and the display monitor is, while not completely unique to teleprompting, is still most troublesome and clearly viewable with a clearly delineated, steadily moving text display.

The computer maintains a “frame buffer” which is generally an area of physical memory (RAM) provided in the user’s video card.  The frame buffer is where the visual display is created by the system. The application programmer uses whatever tools are available to create the desired visual image in the memory provided. The video card then converts the frame buffer to signals that are meaningful to the display device where the digital signal become an image -- and our eyes do the rest.

The images created in the frame buffer are released at a steady rate – generally 60 fps (frames per second) or 70 fps. Today’s monitors actually “converse” with the computer system and can operate at a variety of frame rates. For teleprompting it has been common to adhere to the established NTSC frame rate of 60 fps to maintain compatibility, though this is NOT required in VGA (non-composite) systems.

Frame sync compression bars occur when partially formed frame buffer are displayed – we see the top part of one frame, and the bottom part of another. When this process is repeated, the “break” point generally moves toward the top or bottom. The visual effect to our eyes is similar to a hum bar – a line which moves up or down the screen. Frame sync compression bars are possibly the hardest artifact to understand, and certainly the hardest to tame in the world of teleprompting.

In the paragraphs that follow, I’ll explain how the computer using vertical and horizontal scan to refresh pixels in the display. I’ll also describe how the computer’s VBI (vertical blanking interrupt) is used by the video card to prevent frame sync issues. Finally, I’ll tell how to set up TeleScript AV in a way that will totally avoid frame sync compression bars.

How the computer establish sync with the display – the basics

Just as we were saddled with the low resolution of NTSC TV for many years because of compatibility issues, we’ve also inherited some baggage from early CRT (cathode ray tube) computer displays. CRTs create a display with a single moving electron beam emission which moves in a very systematic path across the face of the picture tube. There, the electrons strike a “phosphor” coating which glows from the electron bombardment.

Composite Video as described by the National Television System Committee in 1953, consists of a single modulated signal which combines not only the value for the intensity of the moving electron beam, but also several signals to synchronize the end users display to the originating device. The display is divided into 30 Frames Per Second – each frame consisting of 2 interlaced fields of 262.5 each. In actual practice, the frame rate is very slightly below 60 fps – about 59.9 fps. (This explain why 60Hz power signals cause predictable moving hum bars in NTSC CRTs.)

Interlacing fields make small text harder to read. Thus, computer systems flatten the interlaced pattern and generally display every vertical line on every field which makes them, effectively, 60 FPS.

The CRT electronics contain sweep generation circuitry which moves the electron field smoothly from the left to the right, and from top to bottom. Each time the beam has completed on horizontal line, in order to prevent an unsightly retrace line, the signal is blanked. A signal is sent in the composite source which tells the display to shut off the electron beam and to move the electron gun back to screen left. Horizontal Sync tells the display that it’s time to start the beam moving screen right again. (See the diagram below.)

Likewise, when the electron beam has reached the bottom right corner of it’s travel, the signal is blanked and moved back to the upper left of the screen. This is known as vertical retrace. When it’s time for the beam to start its travel again, a Vertical Sync signal is sent. The period time during which the electron beam is blanked while moving back to the top of the screen is called the Vertical Blanking Interval or VBI.

So, what does this have to do with modern displays and teleprompting?

Who knows what system computer engineers might have come up with if not for the constraints of CRTs and NTSC video. But when LCDs displays became commonplace, it was still required to maintain compatibility existing CRT displays. Modern video cards still use the same system… horizontal and vertical retrace, vertical blanking and all.

Particularly of interest is the Vertical Blanking Interval. The designers of video editing equipment learned that all edits would have to be performed during VBI. Otherwise, you’d see part of one scene on the top of the frame, and part of another scene on the bottom of the frame. The resulting glitch is very distracting and is not acceptable to video producers. Vertical Interval Switching is used on all modern video editing and switching equipment.

In teleprompter displays, the scrolling text is the equivalent of scene changes. The illusion of moving text is created by displaying successive frames which are displaced one scan line up or down from the previous frame. This glitch is exacerbated by the fact that it will be repeated with a frequency determined by the scrolling rate and the teleprompter program’s drawing rate. To get the smoothest scrolling, the display of successive frames must be synchronized with the VBI.

So what’s the problem – TeleScript AV is VBI synchronized, isn’t it?

True… all TeleScript software is VBI synchronized. At least, it is if the computer reliably reports the Vertical Retrace. Here’s where problems sneak in.

There’s a scan converter between the computer and the teleprompter display monitor.

In this case, the VGA signal may be resampled before it’s converted to composite form. If the VGA signal is 1024x768, for example, some horizontal lines must be dropped and interpolated. If the VGA is runnin gat 60 Hz, then an occasional frame must be dropped to maintain the required 59.94 NTSC vertical frequency. But must specifically, the VBI of the display device is no longer the same as the VBI reported by the computer’s video card. This is why it is impossible to guarantee that there will be no frame sync compression bars when using a scan converter! Removal of artifacts is entirely in the realm of the scan converter – not the application program!

So… staying away from scan converters in general, what’s source of the problems in VGA mode?

Dual video cards

I recall my early conversations with ATI, nVidia, and other designers such as Paradise who have long since departed from the competitive arena. I asked for laptops that could simultaneously display on an external monitor and the internal screen. The problems involved in this design task are not, by any means, trivial, and the solutions were a long time in coming. However, virtually all notebook, netbook and laptop computers now feature simultaneous display.

End of problems - end of story --  right?

No… not at all. Beginning of new problems.

How portable computers create simultaneous display

Most – I’d say ALL, but that leaves room for error - modern computers that feature simultaneous display have a video with TWO video controllers. These controllers can either share a frame buffer (clone mode) or they can divide video RAM and have their own frame buffer (extended desktop.) Each of the two video controllers is truly independent and the respective VBI of each controller is not related or synchronized. This is GOOD because it allows you to use different manufacturer’s displays, different screen resolutions, etc. If the external video were just an electronically buffered “Y” connection, this would not be the case and no one would be happy with the result.

Clone Mode is problematic, as far as Vertical Interval Sync to the external display. Clone mode is established by a means that’s dependent on the manufacturer and the creator of the driver software. In some schemes, the video card itself uses the two controllers and frame buffers independently. It “clones” the display by “blitting” (quickly copying) the contents of primary display’s frame buffer into the frame buffer of the secondary display. In other schemes, the video controllers are allowed to share the frame buffer, scanning at an independent rate. The “blitting” scheme actually is capable of fewer artifacts – because a wise hardware/driver designer can be specify that the blitting is performed and displayed with Vertical Interval Sync… from both controllers. However, this is not frequently the case. Though individual manufacturer’s schemes are seldom public information, it would appear the virtually all either use the shared memory concept, or use a non-synchronized blitting scheme.

In clone mode, frame sync compression bars appear on the external monitor because the video is READ by the secondary video controller. However, it’s WRITTEN and synchronized to the VBI of the primary controller. Consequently, the secondary controller displays the frame buffer as it is being refreshed, resulting in a frame sync compression bar on the display.

Finally, the best bet for avoiding frame sync compression bars: use the Extended Desktop mode with TeleScript AV.  The application senses which video controller is servicing the external display and synchronizes with that VBI. This inquiry is done each time you move the window, so it’s generally transparent to the user. In extended desktop mode, using a VGA-DA to feed the prompter, and with a confidence monitor, the display will be synced with the external video controller’s VBI. Use the primary display for Runlist, auxiliary on-screen dialog controller, timer, Find-Replace dialog – whatever will help you to be the best operator.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

My Dirty Little Secret

I actually have two dirty little secrets:

1. I'm a professional musician and I write computer programs; and,
2. I'm a professional computer programmer and I play the guitar professionally.

There... thank gawd I've got that off my chest.

In our right brain, left brain society, few people consider that there can be hideous hybrids among us who actually use both lobes of the brain, sometimes... gasp... AT THE SAME TIME!!! In my case, it's exacerbated by occasionally writing assembly code and dabbling in hillbilly music... dang ol' microprocessors anyway.

I don't even remember which activities are supposedly consigned to which brain half. I do know that, whether this is fair or not, a certain amount of distrust is created in others when they learn that you're not like them. The art students learn their faithful, former friend took a business class! The accountant's client realizes his once reliable reckoner writes poetry! Ah... the betrayal is beyond belief.

With a passion that I've only seen elsewhere in Canadians who discover other famous Canadians, I have collected a small, but representative group of these left/right brained mutants who threaten the fabric of society. Ready to name names?

Leonardo Di Vinci -- painter, sculptor, mathematician, scientist; so diverse in his activities that the term, Renaissance Man, is virtually synonymous with his name. Don't you just wonder what sort of music he might gravitate towards in today's world... I'm guessin' Hillbilly.

Robert Persig -- though maybe a little inclined toward the technical side, his Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is the primer on the pathology of Bilobalism. (Note: I just made up this word and I claim common law copyright as of this moment!)

Charles Ives -- American modernist composer and pioneer in (gasp) life insurance and estate planning. If this weren't shameful enough, Ives was also a standout athlete at Yale. He was fond of Stephen Foster's music, which was certainly the hillbilly of its time.

Brian May -- writer of "Fat Bottomed Girl" and "We Will Rock You", former Queen guitarist, astrophysicist and current Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University. "Betrayer of purity... we will rock you, indeed! Let us begin the gathering of the stones!", shouts the rabble in Monty Python voices. "Thing Called Love" is arguably akin to hillbilly.

Hedy Lamarr - Paragon of beauty and major contract star during MGM's "Golden Age". She was a math whiz and developed the basis for spread-spectrum communications technology used in WiFi and Bluetooth. Lamarr co-starred with Bob Cummings, who was born in Joplin, MO, Gateway to the Ozarks... you can't get more hillbilly than that!

And here's a good collection of Musicians with PhDs.

Thok Have Mammoth on Face -- Stone Age Programming

Welcome to my computer programming blog. I'm a first -- maybe second, depending on definitions -- generation programmer. If the "art" of programming were, say, visual art, my entry time would be about the equivalent of the point where prehistoric humans began to create images with dyes derived from plants, rather than just to chisel images on rocks using harder rocks.

My first programming language was FORTRAN IV. This sounds like it might be quite a ways up the generational ladder, and, in computer life terms where a second is like an eon, it is. However, in human years, the interval between the initial introduction of FORTRAN (IBM's Mathematical Formula Translation System) and the arrival of FORTRAN IV was only a blink -- less than the elapsed time between the introduction of the iPod and the iPad. In fact, when I was diligently creating programs in FORTRAN IV, it had already been replaced by FORTRAN 66, though this was primarily a standardized version of FORTRAN IV.

FORTRAN IV or FORTRAN Googol -- it didn't matter to me... I quickly moved on to much cooler computer concepts -- but more about that later. For now, let me assert that I discovered not only did the computer do things for me that I really hated to do for myself -- like long division -- but that I was really good at writing programs. This awakening was akin to something I'd experienced earlier when I first played an electric guitar. It just clicked. My set of genes was custom tailored to the task.

To appreciate how big a difference the computer made in the life of scientists, engineers, and, most importantly to me, college students, you have to consider the timeline. The first affordable personal desktop calculators were not available until the early seventies. My first one (which I still have, by the way) was a Radio Shack EC-375... nice big buttons, with several simple scientific-like capabilities such as Square Root. By this time, however, my years of cranking out the solutions to dreaded "word problems", was a hideous memory. Take your typical basic physics word problem (PLEASE, in Henny Youngman voice). It might require a few seconds to see how to get to the answer... but another 10 minutes to grind through to the ten digit number which represented the continuation of your student deferment. If you don't know what I'm talking about, just consider yourself lucky -- both about the ten digit number and the student deferment.

To me, it was fascinating that a means existed of describing to a machine how to work a problem, and then the machine would do the heavy lifting and spit out the answer in a millisecond or two. But how did the machine do this? All I knew at the outset was that I could type my program on a keypunch, give a stack of cards to a acne scarred sociopath with B.O. (called a sysop), and only a day or two later, get a ten pound sheaf of paper which somewhere within contained information about the errors that, if corrected by repeating the keypunch/submission process, would provide the very answer that I requested.

There were issues here that I very soon caused a hypersensitivity for me. The keypunch was like the Godzilla of Typewriters. The user would insert a bunch of IBM style punch cards into a hopper, and the machine would punch holes (in Hollerith Code, named for Herman Hollerith, the founder of the company that became IBM) that could be read by the computer's card reader. The sound created by the keypunch for each keypress was similar to the sound of a bad snare drum struck way too hard by an inexperienced drummer. I was already well acquainted with this noise by dint of a decade of participation in garage bands. An entire room of keypunches operating simultaneously was the drum corp nightmare that only became reality in the hands of Fleetwood Mac years later. Oh yeah... and the machines were always busy, requiring at least an hour of waiting time.

The noise and wait were a simple necessity. However, nothing could have prepared me for the anxiety produced in anticipation of potential damage to the deck of cards, sometimes numbering in the thousands, that could be inflicted by rain, wind, beer (always beer), or, gawd forbid, dropping the deck, particularly when said dropping was accompanied by rain, wind or beer. After one dropping in beer episode (a DIBE), I learned to insert sequence numbers on the cards. There was a card sorter that could read sequence number and re-order the deck after the damaged cards were retyped. Yikes... do you appreciate your Netbook a little more now?

The big mystery to me, though, was what did the computer do? How the hell did it make sense of those little punches, do the arithmetic, store the data, and print error diagnostics (usually) and answers (occasionally.) For my life, this was a jumping off point -- much like the reaction to the sound of the electric guitar's E-string that I first heard in 1957. This jumping off point, surprisingly, led me back in time, not forward, for a certain period. From that point, I could move forward with the foundation of the knowledge of basics.

In future blog articles, I hope to give non-technical readers an idea of what goes on in the computer, and just what manifestation of the mental malady called computer programming has led to writing this blog.