NI Video Measurement Suite

Supported Video Signal Info Reports

  • Updated2023-08-17
  • 7 minute(s) read

Supported Video Signal Info Reports

You can select one or more signal groups, infoframes, or packets in Video Signal Info for NI VMS to measure and report. By default, no Video Signal Info reports are selected.

NI VMS supports the following Video Signal Info reports:

Audio Infoframe

The audio infoframe describes characteristics of the active audio stream.

The byte layout of the audio infoframe is specified in the following two tables.

The audio infoframe packet header:

Byte No Definition (Value)
HB0 Packet Type (0x84)
HB1 Version (0x01)
HB2 Length (0x0A)

The audio infoframe packet contents:

Byte No Definition (Value)
PB1 <Coding Type:4> | 0 | <Channel Count:3>
PB2 0 | 0 | 0 | <Sample Frequency:3> | <Sample Size:2>
PB3 <Format:8>
PB4 <Channel Allocation:8>
PB5 Downmix Inhibit | <Level Shift value:4> | 0 | <Playback level:2>
PB6 0
PB7 0
PB8 0
PB9 0
PB10 0
PB11-27 0

The content of the audio infoframe can be reported as low level results or high level results, selected by a switch.

Low level reporting consists of one result line for each byte in the infoframe in the order specified in the two tables above.

High level reporting consists of the results specified in the table below:

Measurement Parameter Definition Range
Coding Type Coding Type 0-15
Channel Count Channel Count 0-7
Sample Frequency Sample Frequency 0-7
Sample Size Sample Size 0-7
Format Format 0-255
Channel Allocation Channel Allocation 0-255
Downmix Inhibit Downmix Inhibit 0-1
Level Shift Value Level Shift Value 0-15
Playback Level Playback Level 0-7

HDMI Infoframe

The HDMI Infoframe is a CEA-861 vendor-specific Infoframe containing a 24-bit IEEE Registration Identifier of 0x000C03, and describes the HDMI video that is formatted and transmitted.

The byte layout of the HDMI infoframe is specified in the following two tables.

The HDMI infoframe packet header:

Byte No Definition (Value)
HB0 Packet Type (0x81)
HB1 Version (0x01)
HB2 Length (max 31)

The HDMI infoframe packet contents:

Byte No Definition (Value)
PB1 ID#1 (24 bit 0x000C03) ID#2
PB2 ID#2
PB3 ID#3
PB4 HDMI Video Format | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0
PB5 HDMI VIC or 3d Structure or empty
PB6 <3D Ext Data> or <empty>
PB7-Length (0)

The content of the HDMI infoframe can be reported as low level results or high level results, selected by a switch.

Low level reporting consists of one result line for each byte in the infoframe in the order specified in the two tables above.

High level reporting consists of the results specified in the table below:

Measurement Definition Range
Registration ID 24 bit registration id
HDMI VIC Present HDMI VIC Present? 0-1
3D Structure Present 3D Structure Present? 0-1
3D Ext Data Present 3D Ext Data Present? 0-1
HDMI VIC HDMI VIC 0-255
3D Structure 3D Structure 0-255
3D Ext Data 3D Ext Data 0-1

AVI Infoframe

The bytestring representation of the AVI Infoframe is expected to conform to AVI Infoframe Version 2 specified in standard CEA-861 E, page 36:

The byte layout of the AVI Infoframe is specified in the following two tables.

The AVI infoframe packet header:

Byte No Definition (Value)
HB0 Packet Type (0x82)
HB1 Version (0x02)
HB2 Length (0x0D)

The AVI infoframe packet contents:

Byte No Definition (Value)
PB1 0 | Y1 | Y0 | A0 | B1 | B0 | S1 | S0
PB2 C1 | C0 | M1 | M0 | R3-0
PB3 ITC | EC2-0 | Q1 | Q0 | SC1 | SC0
PB4 F47 | VIC6-0
PB5 YQ1 | YQ0 |CN1 |CN0 | PR3-0
PB6 Line Number of End of Top Bar (lower 8 bits)
PB7 Line Number of End of Top Bar (upper 8 bits)
PB8 Line Number of Start of Bottom Bar (lower 8 bits)
PB9 Line Number of Start of Bottom Bar (upper 8 bits)
PB10 Pixel Number of End of Left Bar (lower 8 bits)
PB11 Pixel Number of End of Left Bar (upper 8 bits)
PB12 Pixel Number of End of Right Bar (lower 8 bits)
PB13 Pixel Number of End of Right Bar (upper 8 bits)

The content of the AVI infoframe can be reported as low level results or high level results, selected by a switch.

Low level reporting consists of one result line for each byte in the infoframe in the order specified in the two tables above.

High level reporting consists of the results specified in the table below:

Measurement Definition Range
Color Format RGB or YCbCr indicator 0-3
Active Format Data Valid Active Format Aspect Ratio valid? 0-1
Bar Data Bar Info data valid? 0-3
Scan Information Scan Information. See CEA-861-D for details 0-255
Coded Frame Aspect Ratio Coded Frame Aspect Ratio 0-255
Colorimetry 0-255
Active Portion Aspect Ratio Active Format Aspect Ratio 0-255
IT Content Valid IT Content Valid 0-1
Extended Colorimetry Extended Colorimetry 0-7
Active Portion Aspect Ratio Active Portion Aspect Ratio 0-255
RGB Quantization Range Quantization range 0-3
Non-Uniform Picture Scaling Non-Uniform Picture Scaling 0-3
VIC Video Format Identification code 0-127
Pixel repetition Field Pixel repetition factor 0-15
Photo Content Photo Content 0-3
YCC Quantization Range YCC Quantization Range 0-3
End Of Top Bar Line number of End of Top Bar 0-65535
Start Of Bottom Bar Line number of Start of Bottom Bar 0-65535
End Of Left Bar Line number of End of Left Bar 0-65535
Start Of Right Bar Line Number of Start of Right bar 0-65535

SPD Infoframe

The bytestring representation of the SPD Infoframe is expected to conform to SPD Infoframe Version 1 specified in standard CEA-861 E, page 45:

The byte layout of the SPD Infoframe is specified in the following two tables.

The SPD infoframe packet header:

Byte No Definition (Value)
HB0 Packet Type (0x83)
HB1 Version (0x01)
HB2 Length (0x019)

The SPD infoframe packet contents:

Byte No Definition (Value)
PB1-8 Vendor name (8 characters)
PB9-24 Product Specification (16 characters)
PB25 Source Information

The content of the SPD infoframe can be reported as low level results or high level results, selected by a switch.

Low level reporting consists of one result line for each byte in the infoframe in the order specified in the two tables above.

High level reporting consists of the results specified in the table below:

Byte No Definition (Value)
HB0 Packet Type = 0x83
HB1 Version = 0x01
HB2 Length = 0x019
PB0 Vendor name Character 1
PB1 Vendor name Character 2
PB2 Vendor name Character 3
PB3 Vendor name Character 4
PB4 Vendor name Character 5
PB5 Vendor name Character 6
PB6 Vendor name Character 7
PB7 Vendor name Character 8
PB8 Product Description Character 1
PB9 Product Description Character 2
PB10 Product Description Character 3
PB11 Product Description Character 4
PB12 Product Description Character 5
PB13 Product Description Character 6
PB14 Product Description Character 7
PB15 Product Description Character 8
PB16 Product Description Character 9
PB17 Product Description Character 10
PB18 Product Description Character 11
PB19 Product Description Character 12
PB20 Product Description Character 13
PB21 Product Description Character 14
PB22 Product Description Character 15
PB23 Product Description Character 16
PB24 Source Information

MPEG Infoframe

The bytestring representation of the SPD Infoframe is expected to conform to SPD Infoframe Version 1 specified in standard CEA-861 E, page 45:

The byte layout of the MPEG Infoframe is specified in the following two tables.

The MPEG infoframe packet header:

Byte No Definition (Value)
HB0 Packet Type (0x85)
HB1 Version (0x01)
HB2 Length (0x0A)

The MPEG infoframe packet contents:

Byte No Definition (Value)
PB0 MB#0
PB1 MB#1
PB2 MB#2
PB3 MB#3
PB4 0 | 0 | 0 | FR0 | 0 | 0 | VIC6-0
PB5 YQ1 | YQ0 |CN1 |CN0 | MF11 | MF0
PB6 0
PB7 0
PB8 0
PB9 0

The content of the MPEG infoframe can be reported as low level results or high level results, selected by a switch.

Low level reporting consists of one result line for each byte in the infoframe in the order specified in the two tables above.

High level reporting consists of the results specified in the table below:

Measurement Parameter Definition Range
Bit Rate Bit Rate 0-15
Field Repeat Field Repeat 0-15
Frame Frame 0-15

General Parameters

The General Parameters report provides general measurement information that does not belong to a specific packet group. Parameters in this report are bundled into groups, where each group starts with a line indicating the name of the group, followed by a number of parameter lines, then terminated by a blank line.

At present, NI VMS only supports the Measurement Time parameter group, which records the time at which NI VMS performs the Video Signal Info measurement. This parameter group is intended for time-stamping purposes.

Measurement Definition Range
Meas Year Year in which NI VMS performed the measurement YYYY
Meas Month Month in which NI VMS performed the measurement 1-12
Meas Day of Month Day on which NI VMS performed the measurement 1-31
Meas Hour Hour at which NI VMS performed the measurement 0-23
Meas Minutes Minute at which NI VMS performed the measurement 0-59
Meas Seconds Second at which NI VMS performed the measurement 0-59
Meas DST? Indicates whether NI VMS performed the measurement during Daylight Savings Time, indicated by 1, or not, indicated by 0 0-1

General Timing

The general timing parameters provide timing measurement information that is not reported in the standard infoframes.

Measurement Definition Units
Total Line Length Total length of a video line in Pixels (and µs) Pixels, µs
Total Lines Total number of lines Lines
Length of all lines µs
Active Line Length Length of active video part of a line in Pixels (and µs) Pixels, µs
Active Lines Number of Active Lines Lines
HSYNC Width Horizontal sync pulse width in Pixels (and µs) Pixels, µs
H Front Porch Horizontal Front Porch width in Pixels (and µs) Pixels, µs
V Front porch Vertical Front Porch width in Lines Lines
VSYNC to Active Video Number of lines from VSYNC pulse to start of Active Video Lines

Backward Compatible

In order to maintain backward compatibility, a "Backward Compatible" report is available. This report produces the same results as the "Video Signal Info" measurement in earlier NI VMS releases.

Measurement Definition Units
Frame rate The frame rate of the acquired digital video signal Hz
Total Width Total length of a video line in Pixels Pixels
Total Height Total number of lines Lines
 
Active Width Length of active video part of a line in Pixels Pixels
Active Height Number of Active Lines Lines
 
Interlaced Interlaced (True) or progressive (False) digital video acquired Boolean
Bits pr Sample Number of bits pr sample in acquired video signal
RGB Format RGB (True) or YUV (False) Boolean
4:2:2 Format 4:2:2 format (True) or 4:4:4 format (False) Boolean
Encrypted Encrypted (True) or unencrypted (False) Boolean

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