Nvidia Quadro G-Sync User's Guide

ForceWare Graphics Drivers

Frame Synchronization User’s Guide

Version 3.0

NVIDIA Corporation August 14, 2006

NVIDIA ForceWare Graphics Drivers Frame Synchronization User’s Guide v3.0

Published by NVIDIA Corporation 2701 San Tomas Expressway Santa Clara, CA 95050

Notice

ALL NVIDIA DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS, REFERENCE BOARDS, FILES, DRAWINGS, DIAGNOSTICS, LISTS, AND OTHER DOCUMENTS (TOGETHER AND SEPARATELY, “MATERIALS”) ARE BEING PROVIDED “AS IS.” NVIDIA MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESSED, IMPLIED, STATUTORY, OR OTHERWISE WITH RESPECT TO THE MATERIALS, AND EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF NONINFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY, AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Information furnished is believed to be accurate and reliable. However, NVIDIA Corporation assumes no responsibility for the consequences of use of such information or for any infringement of patents or other rights of third parties that may result from its use. No license is granted by implication or otherwise under any patent or patent rights of NVIDIA Corporation. Specifications mentioned in this publication are subject to change without notice. This publication supersedes and replaces all information previously supplied. NVIDIA Corporation products are not authorized for use as critical components in life support devices or systems without express written approval of NVIDIA Corporation.

Trademark s

NVIDIA, the NVIDIA logo, 3DFX, 3DFX INTERACTIVE, the 3dfx Logo, STB, STB Systems and Design, the STB Logo, the StarBox Logo, NVIDIA nForce, GeForce, NVIDIA Quadro, NVDVD, NVIDIA Personal Cinema, NVIDIA Soundstorm, Vanta, TNT2, TNT, RIVA, RIVA TNT, VOODOO, VOODOO GRAPHICS, WAVEBAY, Accuview Antialiasing, the Audio & Nth Superscript Design Logo, CineFX, the Communications & Nth Superscript Design Logo, Detonator, Digital Vibrance Control, DualNet, FlowFX, ForceWare, GIGADUDE, Glide, GOFORCE, the Graphics & Nth Superscript Design Logo, Intellisample, M-BUFFER, nfiniteFX, NV, NVChess, nView, NVKeystone, NVOptimizer, NVPinball, NVRotate, NVSensor, NVSync, the Platform & Nth Superscript Design Logo, PowerMizer, Quincunx Antialiasing, Sceneshare, See What You've Been Missing, StreamThru, SuperStability, T-BUFFER, The Way It's Meant to be Played Logo, TwinBank, TwinView and the Video & Nth Superscript Design Logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Other company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of the respective owners with which they are associated.

Intel, Indeo, and Pentium are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation. Microsoft, Windows, Windows NT, Direct3D, DirectDraw, and DirectX are trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. OpenGL is a registered trademark of Silicon Graphics Inc.

Other company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of the respective owners with which they are associated.

NVIDIA Corporation

NVIDIA Drivers Frame Synchronization User’s Guide Version 3.0

Table of Contents

1.About NVIDIA Frame Synchronization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

2.NVIDIA Frame Synchronization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Frame Synchronization Principles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Genlock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Frame Lock (with Swap Sync) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Frame Lock + Genlock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Before You Begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

How To Set Up Genlock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Genlock Quick Start Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Detailed Setup Instructions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Additional Setup Instructions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

How To Set Up Frame Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

Frame Lock Quick Start Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

Detailed Setup Instructions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

Testing the Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

Swap Sync . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

Setting Up Genlock + Frame Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

3.Using the OpenGL Extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Frame Synchronization Using the OpenGL Extensions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

About Buffer Swaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

Enabling and Configuring Genlock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

Configuring for Swap Sync. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26

OpenGL Extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28

Exported WGL_I3D_genlock Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28

Exported WGL_NV_swap_group Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34

NVIDIA Corporation i

NVIDIA Drivers Frame Synchronization User’s Guide Version 3.0

NVIDIA Corporation

HAPTER 1

About NVIDIA Frame Synchronization

C HAPTER

BOUT

When presenting applications across multiple displays or projection systems, it is important that the displays operate in unison to create the appearance of a single display. Seamless presentation requires the following processes:

NVIDIA F

RAME

YNCHRONIZATION

• Synchronizing the rendering of frames across all displays

• Synchronizing the swapping of front and back buffers

About This Document

This document explains how to use NVIDIA Frame Lock hardware and software to enable you to create one large virtual canvas using multiple displays. It contains the following main sections::

• “NVIDIA Frame Synchronization” on page 3

explains how to set up the hardware and software on multiple systems for frame synchronization.

• “Using the OpenGL Extensions” on page 22

explains how to use the OpenGL extensions supported by NVIDIA for synchronizing the display of frames among multiple displays as well as synchronizing buffer swaps among multiple application windows.

NVIDIA Frame Synchronization

C HAPTER

NVIDIA F

Visual computing applications that involve multiple displays, or even multiple windows within a display, can require special signal processing and application controls in order to function properly.

For example, in order to produce quality video recording of animated graphics, the display graphics must be synchronized with the video camera. As another example, applications presented on multiple displays must be synchronized in order to complete the illusion of a larger, virtual canvas.

This chapter explains how the NVIDIA Frame Lock graphics cards and Frame Synchronization software lets you synchronize windows and displays for various visual computing applications. It contains the following sections:

• “Frame Synchronization Principles” on page 4

• “Before You Begin” on page 5

• “How To Set Up Genlock” on page 6

• “How To Set Up Frame Lock” on page 13

• “Setting Up Genlock + Frame Lock” on page 20

RAME

YNCHRONIZATION

NVIDIA Corporation Frame Synchronization User’s Guide – Version 3.0 3

HAPTER 2

C NVIDIA Frame Synchronization

Frame Synchronization Principles

NVIDIA Frame Synchronizing actually involves two main processes:

• Genlock—Synchronizing the displays to an external sync source

• Frame Lock and Swap Sync—Synchronizing applications across multiple systems.

Genlock

Genlock is the process of synchronizing the pixel scanning of one or more displays to an external synchronization source. NVIDIA genlock requires the external signal to be either TTL or composite, such as used for NTSC, PAL, or HDTV.

Frame Lock (with Swap Sync)

Proper synchronization of an application running on multiple displays involves the following two processes:

• Frame Lock

Frame lock involves the use of hardware to synchronize the frames on each display in a connected system.

When an application is displayed across multiple monitors, frame locked systems help maintain image continuity to create a virtual canvas. Frame lock is especially critical for stereo viewing, where the left and right fields must be in sync across all displays.

• Swap Sync

Swap sync refers to the synchronization of buffer swaps of multiple application windows. By means of swap sync, applications running on multiple systems can synchronize the application buffer swaps between all the systems. Swap sync requires that the systems are frame locked.

Frame Lock + Genlock

Genlock can also be combined with frame lock. When several systems are connected together, a sync signal is fed from a master system to the other systems in the network and the displays are synchronized with each other.

4 Frame Synchronization User’s Guide– Version 3.0

NVIDIA Corporation

Before You Begin

• Make sure that the graphics card and NVIDIA drivers are correctly installed. Refer to the instructions that came with your graphics card or drivers.

• The following is additional information concerning installation of the NVIDIA Quadro G-Sync card:

• The NVIDIA Quadro G-Sync card must be used in conjunction with an NVIDIA

Quadro FX 4400, 4500, or 5500 graphics card.

• Install the NVIDIA Quadro G-Sync card into any available expansion slot within six

inches of the G-Sync connector on the appropriate Quadro FX graphics card.

• Use the cable that comes with your Quadro G-Sync card to connect the primary G-

Sync connector to the Quadro FX graphics card G-Sync connector as shown in

Figure 2.1.

HAPTER 2

NVIDIA Frame Synchronization

Connect Quadro G-Sync to the

G-Sync connector on the Quadro FX card.

Quadro G-Sync Quadro FX 4400, 4500, or 5500

Quadro G-Sync connected to the Quadro FX graphics card

Figure 2.1

NVIDIA Corporation Frame Synchronization User’s Guide – Version 3.0 5

Connecting the NVIDIA Quadro G-Sync Card

HAPTER 2

C NVIDIA Frame Synchronization

How To Set Up Genlock

Genlock Quick Start Guide

The following are the basic steps to genlocking a system. Detailed instructions are provided in the section “Detailed Setup Instructions” on page 7.

1 Set Up the Hardware

Connect the external sync source to the BNC connector on the graphics card.

2 Set Up the Software

Use the Frame Synchronization property page to establish the system as the server, to choose the sync source, and configure the sync pulse.

6 Frame Synchronization User’s Guide– Version 3.0

NVIDIA Corporation

Detailed Setup Instructions

Set Up the Hardware

1 Start the system, then connect the external source signal to the House Sync connector

(BNC) of the graphics card.

2 Check the LED on the connector panel.

• A green LED means the hardware has detected the timing signal, and you can

proceed to the next step.

An occasional red flash is OK.

• A red LED means the hardware can’t detect the timing signal.

Check the signal source and correct the problem before proceeding.

Figure 2.2 illustrates a system that is connected to an external sync source.

HAPTER 2

NVIDIA Frame Synchronization

Server

Sync Source

Figure 2.2

Example of Genlock Hardware Connections

Quadro FX 3000G

Quadro G-Sync

Connector Bracket

NVIDIA Corporation Frame Synchronization User’s Guide – Version 3.0 7

HAPTER 2

C NVIDIA Frame Synchronization

Set Up the Software

Using the NVIDIA Classic Control Panel

1 Open the Windows Display Properties control panel and click Settings>Advanced to

navigate to the NVIDIA graphics display properties page.

2 Click the Frame Synchronization tree item from the slide-out tray.

Figure 2.3

Frame Synchronization Page

3 Click the Treat this system as list arrow and then click Server.

4 Click the Use house sync check box.

5 If the external signal is an interlaced signal—such as used to drive a 1080i60 display—

then click the Sync to field 1 check box.

For example, when the Sync to field 1 check box is checked, then only the first field of a 60Hz interlaced signal is used to synchronize the display. In this way the effective 120Hz field sync is converted to a 60Hz frame sync.

6 Click the Refresh rate (Hz) list arrow and choose a refresh rate that matches the

external sync frequency.

If you do not know the external sync frequency, then pick a reasonable frequency from the list.

8 Frame Synchronization User’s Guide– Version 3.0

NVIDIA Corporation

+ 27 hidden pages

Nvidia Quadro G-Sync User's Guide

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

About NVIDIA Frame Synchronization

NVIDIA Frame Synchronization

Frame Synchronization Principles

Genlock

Frame Lock (with Swap Sync)

Frame Lock + Genlock

Before You Begin

How To Set Up Genlock

Genlock Quick Start Guide

Detailed Setup Instructions

Set Up the Hardware

Set Up the Software