DataVideo CG-200 User manual

CG-200

FREE

CHARACTER

GENERATOR SOFTWARE

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Table of Contents

FCC COMPLIANCE STATEMENT ............................................................................... 5

WARNINGS AND PRECAUTIONS ............................................................................. 5

WARRANTY ........................................................................................................... 6

STANDARD WARRANTY ................................................................................................... 6

THREE YEAR WARRANTY ................................................................................................. 7

DISPOSAL .............................................................................................................. 8

INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 9

FEATURES .................................................................................................................... 9

MINIMUM COMPUTER REQUIREMENTS: ........................................................................... 10

IMPORTANT NOTES: ..................................................................................................... 10

EXAMPLE CG-200 SET UP WITH TC-200 ................................................................ 12

SOFTWARE INSTALLATION ................................................................................... 12

OVERVIEW - USER INTERFACE .............................................................................. 15

SWITCHING THE PREVIEW PANE ON ................................................................................. 16

SWITCHING THE HDMI OUTPUT ON ................................................................................ 17

SETTINGS > PREFERENCES ............................................................................................. 17

Mode ................................................................................................................. 19

HDMI Connection .............................................................................................. 19

Do not restore monitor configuration on exit .................................................... 19

Alternative vertical sync method ....................................................................... 19

Pages / Projects Folder location ........................................................................ 19

Use large icons in toolbars ................................................................................. 19

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Setting a safety Margin ..................................................................................... 19

ADDING A SIMPLE CG OBJECT .............................................................................. 20

OBJECT PROPERTIES DIALOGUE BOX .................................................................... 21

BACKGROUND ............................................................................................................ 22

TEXT ......................................................................................................................... 22

TEXT SOURCE ............................................................................................................. 22

PRESENTATION ............................................................................................................ 22

CREATING A SIMPLE LOWER THIRD OVERLAY ....................................................... 23

ADDING A CLOCK ................................................................................................. 28

ADDING A STATIC LOGO ....................................................................................... 30

DISPLAYING AN IMAGE SEQUENCE ....................................................................... 36

GROUPING .......................................................................................................... 38

HOTKEYS ............................................................................................................. 45

SCRIPTS ............................................................................................................... 47

INTRODUCTION OF THE SCRIPT EDITOR ............................................................................ 48

THE EXAMPLE OF THE SCRIPT EDITOR OPERATION .............................................................. 51

HOW TO CREATE A SCRIPT FILE ...................................................................................... 51

AUTOMATION ..................................................................................................... 59

THE EXAMPLE OF THE AUTOMATION OPERATION ............................................................... 62

PLAY ON SPECIFIC TIME ................................................................................................ 62

PLAY ON HOTKEY ......................................................................................................... 68

THE OBJECT NAVIGATOR ...................................................................................... 72

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INTRODUCTION OF THE OBJECT NAVIGATOR...................................................................... 72

DISPLAYING THE CG-200 USER INTERFACE IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES .................. 76

ADVANCED – USING VARIABLES INSTEAD OF TEXT ............................................... 78

FRAME TEXT ............................................................................................................... 78

CLOCK VARIABLES ........................................................................................................ 78

FORMAT STRING OPTIONS ARE: ...................................................................................... 78

CSV FILE ................................................................................................................... 79

SERVICE AND SUPPORT ....................................................................................... 80

Disclaimer of Product & Services

The information offered in this instruction manual is intended as a guide only. At all times, Datavideo

Technologies will try to give correct, complete and suitable information. However, Datavideo Technologies

cannot exclude that some information in this manual, from time to time, may not be correct or may be

incomplete. This manual may contain typing errors, omissions or incorrect information. Datavideo

Technologies always recommend that you double check the information in this document for accuracy

before making any purchase decision or using the product. Datavideo Technologies is not responsible for

any omissions or errors, or for any subsequent loss or damage caused by using the information contained

within this manual. Further advice on the content of this manual or on the product can be obtained by

contacting your local Datavideo Office or dealer.

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FCC Compliance Statement

This device complies with part 15 of the FCC rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions:

(1) This device may not cause harmful interference, and

(2) This device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired

operation.

Warnings and Precautions

1. Read all of these warnings and save them for later reference.

2. Follow all warnings and instructions marked on this unit.

3. Unplug this unit from the wall outlet before cleaning. Do not use liquid or aerosol cleaners. Use a damp

cloth for cleaning.

4. Do not use this unit in or near water.

5. Do not place this unit on an unstable cart, stand, or table. The unit may fall, causing serious damage.

6. Slots and openings on the cabinet top, back, and bottom are provided for ventilation. To ensure safe

and reliable operation of this unit, and to protect it from overheating, do not block or cover these

openings. Do not place this unit on a bed, sofa, rug, or similar surface, as the ventilation openings on

the bottom of the cabinet will be blocked. This unit should never be placed near or over a heat register

or radiator. This unit should not be placed in a built-in installation unless proper ventilation is provided.

7. This product should only be operated from the type of power source indicated on the marking label of

the AC adapter. If you are not sure of the type of power available, consult your Datavideo dealer or

your local power company.

8. Do not allow anything to rest on the power cord. Do not locate this unit where the power cord will be

walked on, rolled over, or otherwise stressed.

9. If an extension cord must be used with this unit, make sure that the total of the ampere ratings on the

products plugged into the extension cord do not exceed the extension cord rating.

10. Make sure that the total amperes of all the units that are plugged into a single wall outlet do not exceed

15 amperes.

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11. Never push objects of any kind into this unit through the cabinet ventilation slots, as they may touch

dangerous voltage points or short out parts that could result in risk of fire or electric shock. Never spill

liquid of any kind onto or into this unit.

12. Except as specifically explained elsewhere in this manual, do not attempt to service this product

yourself. Opening or removing covers that are marked “Do Not Remove” may expose you to dangerous

voltage points or other risks, and will void your warranty. Refer all service issues to qualified service

personnel.

13. Unplug this product from the wall outlet and refer to qualified service personnel under the following

conditions:

a. When the power cord is damaged or frayed;

b. When liquid has spilled into the unit;

c. When the product has been exposed to rain or water;

d. When the product does not operate normally under normal operating conditions. Adjust only

those controls that are covered by the operating instructions in this manual; improper

adjustment of other controls may result in damage to the unit and may often require extensive

work by a qualified technician to restore the unit to normal operation;

e. When the product has been dropped or the cabinet has been damaged;

f. When the product exhibits a distinct change in performance, indicating a need for service.

Warranty

Standard Warranty

 Datavideo equipment are guaranteed against any manufacturing defects for one year from the date of

purchase.

 The original purchase invoice or other documentary evidence should be supplied at the time of any

request for repair under warranty.

 The product warranty period beings on the purchase date. If the purchase date is unknown, the

product warranty period begins on the thirtieth day after shipment from a Datavideo office.

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 All non-Datavideo manufactured products (product without Datavideo logo) have only one year

warranty from the date of purchase.

 Damage caused by accident, misuse, unauthorized repairs, sand, grit or water is not covered under

warranty.

 Viruses and malware infections on the computer systems are not covered under warranty.

 Any errors that are caused by unauthorized third-party software installations, which are not required

by our computer systems, are not covered under warranty.

 All mail or transportation costs including insurance are at the expense of the owner.

 All other claims of any nature are not covered.

 All accessories including headphones, cables, and batteries are not covered under warranty.

 Warranty only valid in the country or region of purchase.

 Your statutory rights are not affected.

Three Year Warranty

 All Datavideo products purchased after July 1st, 2017 are qualified for

a free two years extension to the standard warranty, providing the

product is registered with Datavideo within 30 days of purchase.

 Certain parts with limited lifetime expectancy such as LCD panels, DVD drives, Hard Drive, Solid

State Drive, SD Card, USB Thumb Drive, Lighting, Camera module, PCIe Card are covered for 1

year.

 The three-year warranty must be registered on Datavideo's official website or with your local

Datavideo office or one of its authorized distributors within 30 days of purchase.

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Disposal

For EU Customers only - WEEE Marking

This symbol on the product or on its packaging indicates that this product must

not be disposed of with your other household waste. Instead, it is your

responsibility to dispose of your waste equipment by handing it over to a

designated collection point for the recycling of waste electrical and electronic

equipment. The separate collection and recycling of your waste equipment at

the time of disposal will help to conserve natural resources and ensure that it is recycled in a manner that

protects human health and the environment. For more information about where you can drop off your waste

equipment for recycling, please contact your local city office, your household waste disposal service or the

shop where you purchased the product.

CE Marking is the symbol as shown on the left of this page. The letters "CE" are

the abbreviation of French phrase "Conformité Européene" which literally

means "European Conformity". The term initially used was "EC Mark" and it was

officially replaced by "CE Marking" in the Directive 93/68/EEC in 1993. "CE

Marking" is now used in all EU official documents.

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Introduction

Thank you for purchasing Datavideo CG-200, Character Generator software.

CG-200 is designed to be easy to learn and quick to use as well as offering lots of

professional features. It allows producers to create professional overlays in the field

with a Windows laptop instead of having to transport a high end desktop PC with PCIe

cards fitted.

CG-200 outputs a computer generated video stream from a conventional laptop or PC

running Windows via HDMI connection. Instead of RGB the output video format is

4:2:2 YCbCr+Alpha. Special hardware is required to separate picture and alpha

channels such as Datavideo’s TC-200 overlay box or a Datavideo Switcher such as the

SE-2200, SE-2800, SE-2850 and the upcoming TC-100 box.

This manual will cover the CG-200 software only, a separate manual is provided with

the TC-200 overlay box and SE-2200 switcher.

Features

 PAL, NTSC and HD video resolutions up to 1080 supported

 HDMI / DVI / Display Port CG overlay output*.

 Supports Windows based TrueType / OpenType Fonts.

 Clock Function HH:MM or HH:MM:SS.

 Count down timer HH:MM:SS.

 Count up timer HH:MM:SS.

 Import images with alpha channel PNG, TGA and GIF

 Import text from a file CSV, RTF, TXT.

 Horizontal text crawls

 Vertical text rolls

 Simple object animations

 Text and Object transparency

 Timed and manually started transitions

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Minimum computer requirements:

* Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 10

* DirectX 9.0c June 2010 or later

* DirectX 9 compatible graphics adapter with two outputs,

HDMI or DVI connector on second output,

at least 256 MB of video memory

Important notes:

* CG-200 uses Windows DirectX technology. To ensure that up-to-date version

of DirectX is present on the user’s system, CG-200 installer runs DirectX

WebSetup.

Alternatively download full DirectX end-user redistributable:

https://download.cnet.com/Microsoft-DirectX-Redistributable-June-2010/3000-

2121_4-10176490.html

Please download the DirectX 9.0c offline installer from the above-mentioned

website. Please double-click the downloaded file and then unzip the file to a

temporary folder. Please double-click “DXSETUP.exe” from this folder for starting the

installation of the Direct X 9.0c.

* Since internal Windows components are used to render CG text, CG-200

requires that ClearType technology (that is used by Windows to smooth text

on LCD monitors) is turned off. CG-200 automatically turns it off

on startup and restores user settings on exit. This may result in slightly

deteriorated look of Windows user interface while running CG-200.

* As CG-200 uses Windows RTF component for rendering text, it depends

on Windows DPI settings. If file was saved on a PC with different DPI setting,

the text could appear larger or smallers. CG-200 warns user if such

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a mismatch is detected.

* CG-200 is a real-time application that should update HDMI output

50 or 60 times each second. This requirement means that precious computer

resources should not be consumed by other applications. Please try not to

start any other foreground tasks when CG-200 is running.

* Desktop enhancements (like Windows Aero) are also consuming a lot of

graphics adapter resources, that’s why CG-200 turns it off on startup

and restores user settings on exit.

* Exact pixel-to-pixel output is required on HDMI channel, otherwise separation

of picture and alpha channels wouldn’t work properly. Unfortunately some

graphic adapter drivers enable overscan or underscan mode by default. This

leads to either black borders at the edges of the picture or zoomed picture

with parts of it not visible at all. It’s not possible to turn this feature

off programmatically so overscan/underscan should be disabled manually.

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Example CG-200 Set Up with TC-200

Software Installation

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Step1: Please click the icon to install CG-200

Software.

Step2: Follow the step by step install wizard.

Step3: When finished, please double click the desktop icon to launch

the software.

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Initial Set Up Wizard

Setting the required video mode on first use is straight forward.

Click the drop down and choose your preferred mode then click Next.

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Note : The chosen resolution should match the output of your TC-200 overlay box

and or the video equipment being used.

Overview - User Interface

1. Menus and Tool bars

2. Page / Projects Pane

3. Project Thumbnail Preview

4. Preview Pane.

5. Editing Pane.

6. Properties Pane.

The CG-200 User Interface panes 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 can be resized to suit your needs.

Simply click and drag the pane edge using the mouse pointer.

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Switching the Preview pane on

The Preview pane (4) is useful for playing back a CG project when editing or creating a

CG project. It allows you to see how one or all elements in the project will be displayed

when live on the HDMI output.

Press function key F9 to toggle the Preview pane (4) on or off. Alternatively click the

Eye button on the top toolbar.

Short descriptions are shown when the mouse pointer is held over a selected

toolbar button.

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Switching the HDMI output on

This will allow the current CG project to be played out of the laptop to the TC-200

unit or a compatible video switcher such as the SE-2200.

Press function key F10 to toggle the CG HDMI output on or off. Alternatively click the

Display button on the top toolbar.

Settings > Preferences

Preferences can be set from the drop down menu Settings.

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Mode

Choose the video mode to be used in the project. Preview and HDMI outputs may

need to be toggled off first see page 17~19.

HDMI Connection

The laptop HDMI output can be set to on automatically as soon as CG-200 is

launched. If no HDMI device connection is detected an error may be displayed. This

reminds you to have the HDMI cable connected to the TC-200 unit or video switcher

from the laptop.

Do not restore monitor configuration on exit

This tick option refers to the laptop monitor and Windows display mode. The laptop

monitor mode is changed whilst CG-200 is running to allow for best performance on

the HDMI output. It is best left not ticked in most cases.

Alternative vertical sync method

This setting is used in special circumstances where the external equipment needs a

different sync reference. It is best left not ticked in most cases. If you experience video

tearing or shattered CG movement, try to tick this option to improve above-mentioned

situations.

Pages / Projects Folder location

Clicking on the configure button you can have CG-200 automatically navigate to the

required folder on the laptop where your CG-200 pages and projects are stored. A

folder and file tree is then displayed at start up in the Pages pane, see page 15 pane

(2).

Use large icons in toolbars

If ticked then CG-200 must be restarted for the larger toolbar icons to be displayed.

Setting a safety Margin

A percentage of the overall display area can be designated as an outside edge safety

margin for CG objects. This allows you to judge and avoid where CG text, shapes or

images may be too close to the edge of the video area and so avoid objects being

displayed incorrectly.

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Adding a simple CG object

Click on the Add simple object toolbar button to create a CG object that can be defined

as a text object.

Alternatively use the right mouse button to click the checkered background area of

this Editing pane. A menu box will appear, click Add simple object.

An empty CG object box will appear.

This CG object box can be moved to the

required location and resized using the

handles on its outside edge.

Once correctly located and sized use the

right hand mouse button to click on the

same object and choose Properties.

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DataVideo CG-200 User manual

DataVideo CG-200 User manual

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