NETmc Marine videoTXT User Manual

USER GUIDE FOR

NETmc MARINE

videoTXT

Rev 7. Firmware version 5.00

January 2008

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Contents

Section Description Page

1 Introduction 3
2 Rear Connections 4
3 Serial Command Index 5
4 Keyboard Command Index 7
5 Menu Structure 10

- Time and Date 11

- Text Size 14

- Text Shade 15

- Channel Title Settings 17

- Serial Text Offset Settings 19

- GPS Data Input Settings 20
6 Overlay Manager 22
7 Troubleshooting 23

NETmc Marine Ltd

Dunann Cottage, New Deer, Turriff, Aberdeenshire

AB53 6TN

Scotland
TEL. [phone]
FAX. [phone]

EMAIL. [e-mail]

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1 Introduction

NETmc Marine’s videoTXT is a robust solid state overlay unit – capable of overlaying text
onto PAL or NTSC video signals. The videoTXT will detect which type of signal is present
automatically. Note that if no signal is detected, the videoTXT will default to PAL settings.

Housed in a 1U rack mount case – the videoTXT is capable of placing text on up to 3
separate unsynchronised video signals. Data can be input via PS2 keyboard or either of the
dual serial ports.

Up to 1656 characters* can be displayed on the screen in 4 selectable font sizes and 9
selectable font shades. (*small font 1656 PAL, 1380 NTSC)

The videoTXT has an internal real time clock (RTC) – which allows time and date to be
displayed on the screen without being fed from an external source.

The firmware can be updated in situ via serial port 2. Please contact NETmc Marine Support
for more details.

Available models / options:
Single Video channel unit

Dual Video channel unit

Triple Video channel unit

Upon powering-up the videoTXT the following screen is displayed, confirming which model is
present (single, dual or triple channel) and which firmware version the unit is using.

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2. Rear connections

No matter which model has been purchased, the back panel will always be populated with 3
sets of BNC connectors. This enables easier upgrading of the unit. Looking at the rear of
the unit - the 3 sets of video inputs and outs can be clearly identified:

External data feeds from a navigation or inspection package (e.g. NaviPac / Coabis) can be
connected to Serial 1 or Serial 2. The serial inputs are 100% independent – so a “clear
screen” command sent on Serial 2 will not delete any text being fed from Serial 1.

NOTE: The keyboard and internal clock output to the same overlay layer as Serial 2:
therefore if the keyboard and/or internal clock are to be used, avoid any external inputs to
Serial 2.

When making a cable to link between videoTXT and a PC – this should be a cross over (null
modem) configured as:

PC videoTXT
2 3
3 2
5 5

Data should be sent to the videoTXT as:
9600 Baud
8 bit
No parity
1 stop bit

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3 Serial Command Index - for input via the serial port.

The videoTXT command structure follows the established industry standards. A summary of
the commands follows:

Compatibility with Taylor Lann / C-Systems

Function Hex Code Dec Code Key Code
Clear Screen 10 16 ^P
Cursor Right 11 17 ^Q
Cursor Up 12 18 ^R
Cursor Down 13 19 ^S
Cursor Left 14 20 ^T
Home Cursor 15 21 ^U
Line Feed 0A 10 ^J
Carriage return 0D 13 ^M

Where different channels are in use:

- The default setting is: All channels on.

- To send to channel 1 only: Send 07 followed by 01.

- To send to channel 1 and 2 only: Send 07 followed by 03.

- To send to channels 1, 2 and 3: Send 07 followed by 07.

- To send to channel 1 and 3 only: Send 07 followed by 05.

- To send to channel 2 and 3 only: Send 07 followed by 06.

- To disable all channels: Send 07 followed by 00.

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Compatibility with Oceantools Systems

Function Subfunction Hex Code Dec Code Key

Code
Clear Screen n/a 10 16 ^P
Cursor Right n/a 11 17 ^Q
Cursor Up n/a 12 18 ^R
Cursor Down n/a 13 19 ^S
Cursor Left n/a 14 20 ^T
Home Cursor n/a 15 21 ^U
Line Feed n/a 0A 10 ^J
Carriage return n/a 0D 13 ^M

00 0

Set time to Top Centre 01 1

Set time to Bottom Centre 02 2

Set time to Top Left 03 3

Set time to Top Right 04 4

Set time to Bottom Left 05 5

Set time to Bottom Right 06 6

Time *

(2 bytes must be sent –
e.g. 00 followed by
parameter)

Set time to Off 00 0

01 1

Set date to Top Centre 01 1

Set date to Bottom Centre 02 2

Set date to Top Left 03 3

Set date to Top Right 04 4

Set date to Bottom Left 05 5

Set date to Bottom Right 06 6

Date *

(2 bytes must be sent –
e.g. 01 followed by
parameter)

Set date to Off 00 0

09 9 ^I

Set font to small 01 1 ^A

Set font to medium 02 2 ^B

Font

(2 bytes must be sent –
e.g. 09 followed by
parameter)

Set font to large 03 3 ^C

* Serial port 2 only

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4 Keyboard Command Index

The keyboard must be connected to the front of the videoTXT prior to power-up.
The videoTXT is designed to work with any PS2 keyboard. A USB keyboard used via a

PS2 adapter should also work but this has not been tested.
Text can be drawn on the screen by typing on the keyboard in the regular manner.

Caps Lock and Shift keys are supported for capital letters and punctuation characters.
Select the position on the screen where the text should appear by using the arrow keys.

Backspace is used to erase text

F keys: shortcut keys (see summary below)

ESC takes the user out of the menu system.

Scratch mode

Upon first powering up the unit, “scratch” mode is entered. Text will be displayed on the
screen as typed into the keyboard. This text is lost if any other command is carried out (for
example entering the menu system) or if the videoTXT is switched off.

The font size and shade can be altered using the menu system (via F1) – see below.
The default setting upon power up is that this text is displayed on all channels. Text can be

disabled from any one or more channels by using shortcut key commands (see below).
NOTE: In scratch mode (and in this mode only) the “Insert” function on the keyboard has had

to be disabled.

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Stored text

Four different pages of text can be stored for future use. These are activated by the use of
the F5, F6, F7 and F8 shortcut keys.

To set up your stored text:
1: select the text size required using the Control Menu option 3.
2: select the required shortcut key (F5 or F6 or F7 or F8)
3: type in the text required.
The text is recorded automatically and is displayed every time the same shortcut key is
pressed. Even if the videoTXT is powered off, the text is stored.

It is possible to have different text shades and sizes on each page. These are chosen
through the menu system. (Select F4 to return to scratch mode and then F1 to enter the
menu system – see below for more details.)

NOTE: changing the text size on a stored page also deletes the text on that page. Changing
the text shade can be carried out at any time (before or after the text has been created).

Channel titles:

A short title can be set up for display on each screen in use. For example, when a triple
channel videoTXT is in use, the user could display “Diver 1” on the first screen, “Diver 2” on
the second screen and “Diver 3” on the third screen. Channel titles are also retained if the
videoTXT is powered off.

NOTE: On a single channel overlay only the first title is displayed.
To set up channel titles use option 5 of the Control menu. (See below for more details).

Cursor position:

The cursor flashes at its current position to facilitate keyboard use. This may be on top of
time/date (as in the example below) or some text. If the keyboard is not used, the flashing
cursor will disappear after approximately 10 seconds.

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Summary of shortcut key commands:
F1: Brings up the Control Menu (see below for more details). Note: This key only

functions when in scratch mode.

F2: Clears the display; if on a stored page, the page memory will also be cleared.
F4: Selects scratch page (freestyle, volatile text)
F5: Selects stored page 1
F6: Selects stored page 2
F7: Selects stored page 3
F8: Selects stored page 4
Ctrl-F5: Clears stored page 1 (Note: This and the next 3 key commands can be used

whichever page the user is currently on.)

Ctrl-F6: Clears stored page 2
Ctrl-F7: Clears stored page 3
Ctrl-F8: Clears stored page 4
Ctrl-1: Enables/disables the display of keyboard input on video channel 1
Ctrl-2: Enables/disables the display of keyboard input on video channel 2
Ctrl-3: Enables/disables the display of keyboard input on video channel 3
Ctrl-I: Inserts an empty row at the current cursor position
Ctrl-D: Deletes the row at the current cursor position
Insert: Toggles between overstrike and insert modes (only available when on a stored

page)

Delete: Deletes the character underneath the cursor (only available when on a stored

page) and moves the remainder of the row to the left.

Backspace: Deletes the character to the left of the cursor; if on a stored page, this key

moves the remainder of the row to the left

Return: Begins a new line on the display
Cursor keys: Move the cursor in the direction of the arrows.
Page up: Moves the cursor to the upper left of the screen
Page down: Moves the cursor to the lower right of the screen
Home: Moves the cursor to the start of the current row
End: Moves the cursor to the end of the current row

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5 Menu Structure

The user can enter the menu system by pressing F1, whilst in scratch mode.

NOTE: The example shows a screen where no input signal is connected. If a signal is
connected the menu will be displayed over this signal.

In each menu, type the appropriate number to select that option. Press the Escape key to
return to normal display.

The menu options are described below, with screen shots of the pages the user can expect
to see.

1: Help – contains some basic operational and setup tips

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2: Time / Date Settings – Use this menu to change the time on the internal clock, or to
change the position of the time and date on screen. It is also possible to select either UK or
US date format and synchronise the time with GPS:

Option 1: Check current time setting. (An example screen is shown here)

Option 2: Set current time and date

Option 3: Select date format

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Once a format has been selected, the user will see a screen similar to the one below:

Option 4: Select current time zone.
This will be necessary if you wish to synchronise the time with a GPS signal. Examples are
shown below.

Option5: Sync time with GPS (GPGGA)
Option6: Sync time with GPS (GPRMA)

Notes on the 2 GPS systems: the GGA signal is available almost everywhere but the signal
carries only the time and not the date therefore the date may need to be correctly manually.
The RMC signal carries both the date and the time, but depending on the location of the
vessel, may not be available.

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NOTE: Before synchronising the time with the GPS signal, the GPS data input must be
enabled. Therefore if the following message appears, return to Option 7 of the Control Menu.

Once correctly selected, either of the following screens appears showing that synchronisation
with GPS is in progress:

or

Once synchronisation is in place, a screen similar to the ones below will appear:

or

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Option 7: Time and date display settings
Time and date can be displayed in different positions on the scratch and on each of the four
stored pages.

3. Text size settings

It is possible to set different text sizes for the scratch page and for each of the four stored
pages:

NOTE: Changing the text size on a stored page also deletes the text on that page. Therefore
it is important to choose the text size first and then set up the page with the required text.

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Choose which page you wish to set the text size for, then select the size required from the
options below: If you are using an NTSC signal the appropriate sizes will be displayed for this
signal.)

For reference, the four sizes available are:
PAL NTSC
Small font: 69 columns 24 rows 20 rows
Default font: 52 columns 19 rows 16 rows
Medium font: 34 columns 19 rows 16 rows
Large font: 32 columns 7 rows 6 rows

4: Text shade settings. Again, separate shades can be selected for the scratch and each of
the four stored pages.

Examples of the 9 text shades available are shown below:

Note: the example shown is on a striped background to best
display the range of shades in this printed manual.

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When the number corresponding to each text shade is typed, the relevant font shade is
immediately shown on screen. Some examples of these fonts shown over a video signal are
as follows:

1. Normal white text 4. Bold black

5. White on black background 6. Black on white background

7. Outlined white text 8. Outlined black text

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9. White on transparent

5: Channel title settings
This option enables brief titles to be set up which will be displayed on each separate screen.

NOTE: All 3 titles will only be displayed when a triple channel overlay is in use. With a single
channel overlay, only the first title (text one) will be displayed; with a dual channel overlay
only texts one and two are displayed.

Option 1: Enter text for titles
Simply type in the text required.

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The following screen shows an example where the text for each channel has been entered:

Channel titles are displayed on all screens. To delete the title on any screen, simply delete
the text for the relevant channel on the above menu screen. In the example below no title
has been set for Screen 1:

Option2: Set title positioning

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The following screen shows an example of a scratch page with the channel title enabled.

6: Serial text offset settings

This option enables the user to position the text being sent to the videoTXT via either of the
serial ports. This is useful if you cannot change how your serial string device outputs its
data.

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Examples of this screen where the positioning has been changed are shown below:

7: GPS data input settings

If you have a GGA compliant GPS signal available, it can be input to serial 2 and enabled
using this menu, to display latitude and longitude on screen.

NOTE: GPS data should be 4800,8,N,1)

An example of a GPS display is shown below:

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NOTE: Should the GPS signal disappear for 4 seconds or more the following warning
message will appear:

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6 Overlay Manager

The videoTXT is shipped with NETmc Marine’s Overlay Manager software, which can be
used to control the overlay remotely from a PC connected to the overlay’s serial port. The
software is also available as a download from our website www.netmcmarine.co.uk. This
software can be installed on any PC with a serial port.

Overlay Manager allows the time/date to be generated from the PC – which may make it
easier to synchronise clocks. It also allows the user to type-set his page of text before
actually seeing it displayed on the video screen which can be very useful if the video is being
recorded live.

Overlay manager also allows multiple screens of data to be configured and toggled between
– e.g. header pages and normal running page. Additionally, all the pages can be saved to
disk – so operators can have sequences of custom pages saved on disk for each client –
saving editing or retyping between jobs.

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7 Troubleshooting

Symptom: Text not stable / appearing to move up and down screen.
Cause: Poor video input signal

Some element of the video signal must be out-of-spec, e.g. peak-peak voltage,
DC offset, sync pulse etc.

VCR footage

Stablility can also be an issue if trying to apply overlay to footage acquired on a

VCR.

Cure: Clean up the signal – check for bad connections, double terminations. If

possible use a time base corrector.

An isolation transformer may be desirable – especially Seaeye ROVs benefit

greatly from an in-line isolation transformer.

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Note:

This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class A digital
device, pursuant to part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide
reasonable protection against harmful interference when the equipment is operated in a
commercial environment. This equipment generates, uses, and can radiate radio frequency
energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instruction manual, may cause
harmful interference to radio communications. Operation of this equipment in a residential
area is likely to cause harmful interference in which case the user will be required to correct
the interference at his own expense.

End of Document

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