Primagraphics Adds Alpha Blending and Cross Mixing to Cobra Quad-Video Windows Solution.Business Editors CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 26, 2004 Primagraphics, the command & control, video and graphics specialist (www.primagraphics.com), has launched a new version of its Cobra quad-video windows solution, which supports alpha blending In computer graphics, the combining of the alpha channel with other layers in an image in order to show translucency. The alpha channel is an additional eight bits used with each pixel in a 32-bit graphics system that can represent 256 levels of translucency. and cross mixing of selected video inputs. Cobra Ax is a high-performance, multi-input, video windows processor that can accept up to 12 video inputs and then simultaneously display up to four as windows on a digital flat panel Digital Flat Panel (DFP) is a video connector for flat panel displays. It features 20 pins and uses the PanelLink protocol. Unlike DVI, DFP never achieved widespread implementation. The connector was used by displays such as the Compaq Presario FP400, FP500 and 5204. or analog display. The key feature of this new card is the ability to alpha blend or cross mix two videos into a single window. Cobra Ax allows a selected input to be alpha blended with a second input. A typical application of this is to combine a scan-converted radar picture with a graphics display. The radar picture may be scaled to fill the graphics window, with the alpha blending providing the mixing of map graphics and radar with the window. Cross mixing is achieved on the card by using software programmable gains to allow two selected videos to be mixed. For example, using Cobra Ax it is possible to combine video from a thermal and optical camera into a single composite display. The input videos may be unsynchronized and may be scaled and cropped to align them in the output window. Dynamic adjustment of the gain controls allows the display to show optical, infrared or some combination. Cobra Ax can scale a selected video source to any position on the screen, or can be zoomed to full-screen. Other display configurations include quad-video, picture-in-picture, side-by-side and overlapping windows. Video inputs can be TV, RS170, RS343, STANAG The NATO term derived from "standardization agreement." See also NATO standardization agreement. Class A or high-resolution video up to 1280 x 1024. In addition to video inputs, a high-resolution graphics signal may be input to the card as a separate digital video interface (DVI (1) (Digital Video Interactive) An earlier compression technique that provided up to 72 minutes of full-screen video on a CD-ROM. Acquired by Intel in 1988 from RCA's Sarnoff Research labs, Princeton, NJ, DVI never caught on. ) or analog RGB (Red Green Blue) The computer's native color space, which is the color system for capturing and displaying images. RGB was derived from our own perception of color because human eyes are sensitive to red, green and blue (see trichromaticity). video to provide an overlay (1) A preprinted, precut form placed over a screen, key or tablet for identification purposes. See keyboard template. (2) A program segment called into memory when required. , or background to the windows. Contact Primagraphics in North America North America, third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. by phone on 434 951 9460, by post to 1000 Research Park Blvd., Suite 106, Charlottesville, VA 22911, USA, or by email to: sales@primagraphics.com. |
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