Video  for  Windows 1.1  -  Supplementary Release Notes  for  Creative
Labs, Inc. Video Blaster FS200


Contents:
=========

1. Creative Video Blaster FS200 VFW Driver

2. Creative Video Blaster FS200 Capture Driver

3. Creative Video Compressor Ver 3.0


======================================================================
Creative Video Blaster FS200 VFW Driver
======================================================================

The  Creative Video Blaster FS200 VFW Driver consists of a  set  of  2
drivers, namely Creative Video Blaster FS200 Video Capture Driver  and
Creative  Video Compressor Ver 3.0, which functionally  perform  video
capture and video compression / decompression (CODEC).

This current driver version number is 3.0.0.0.


Installation procedure
======================

1.   Install the Video Blaster FS200 following the Installation  Guide
     as  provided  by  Creative  Labs, Inc.   Use  the  Creative  Labs
     supplied  "FS200STW.EXE" utility to setup the hardware and  align
     the  overlay  window position.  Verify proper  operation  of  the
     hardware using the Creative Labs supplied "FS200WIN.EXE"  Windows
     application.

2.   Use  the  Control Panel Drivers applet to add the  Video  Blaster
     FS200  captured driver and Video Blaster FS200 CODEC driver  from
     the WINDRV directory.  Use the "Setup..." button to configure the
     playback configuration.  After the installation is complete, your
     "SYSTEM.INI" file should contain the entries:

         [Drivers]
         msvideo=fs200cap.drv
         VIDC.cyuv=fs200cod.drv
         VIDC.aura=fs200cod.drv

     Use  the supplied "FS200ENV.EXE" DOS utility to alter base memory
     address, interrupt or base port address.

3.   Video Blaster FS200 card contains 1Mb of memory. The base address
     of  this  block must be ABOVE all physical extended  memory.   If
     your  system  has  more than 16Mb of memory,  select  the  memory
     address  at Expanded Memory region in the "FS200ENV.EXE".   There
     will not have any performance degradation when you map your Video
     Blaster FS200 memory to Expanded Memory region.


======================================================================
Creative Video Blaster FS200 Video Capture Driver
======================================================================

Creative Video Blaster FS200 Video Capture Driver supports 6 different
capture  formats   -  8-bit RGB palettized, 16-bit  RGB,  24-bit  RGB,
Truncated YUV, Packed YUV and Compressed YUV.

The  YUV  formats  are parts of the Creative YUV DIB Format  Extension
which are proprietary to Creative Labs, Inc.

The  YUV formats play back directly to the Video Blaster hardware  and
give better color resolution at low data rate.  Palette capture is NOT
required  when capturing using the YUV formats.  Truncated YUV  yields
better  image quality while retaining the same data rate as 8-bit  RGB
palettized.   Compressed YUV will yields the  same  image  quality  as
Truncated YUV while having a lesser data rate than Truncated YUV.


=====================================================================
Creative Video Compressor
=====================================================================

Creative   Video   Compressor   is  a  Compression   /   Decompression
(CODEC)driver that supports the playback of Creative YUV AVI file.  It
also  supports the conversion of Creative YUV AVI file to  other  file
formats and vice versa.  Default playback of Creative YUV AVI file  is
through  Video  Blaster Frame Buffer.  On machines not  equipped  with
Video  Blaster, Creative YUV AVI files may be played back through  the
VGA  Display  using the CODEC driver.  Playback configuration  can  be
selected in the Control Panel drivers option.

Both  Video  Capture and Video Playback share the same  Video  Blaster
hardware.  Because of this, there are certain guidelines that need  to
be observed when using both simultaneously.

- At  any  one time, only one Creative YUV AVI video sequence  can  be
  played  back through the hardware.  Multiple copies of Creative  YUV
  AVI video sequence will be played back through VGA.

- Some  conflicts will occur when VidCap.exe is run while Media Player
  or  VidEdit.exe  is  playing Creative YUV AVI  file.   Unpredictable
  results might occur.

- Since  there  is  only one VBFS200 card, at any one time,  only  one
  application  can  access the frame buffer (i.e. the  VBFS200  card).
  Running  multiple  application that access  the  frame  buffer  will
  cause unpredictable results.

- Creative YUV AVI file playback on Video Blaster Frame Buffer  has  a
  fixed  size  and  cannot be stretched.  Zoom by  2  or  Full  Screen
  option  are  also  supported.   When the  playback  window  size  is
  resized, the image will be cropped.

======================  End of FS200AVI.TXT  ========================