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Alpha Blending Mixer without NIOS?

Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
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Hello, 

 

I've the following problem, I think about how to solve the best way: 

CVI -> downscale -> Place downscaled stream in one corner -> CVO 

 

The downscaled video stream should be displayed in one corner of the CVO. But CVI an CVO must have the same resolution. 

 

I think it is possible to place the downscaled stream in one corner of the output video stream using the Alpha Blending Mixer. But this component requires a control master. Is there any other possibility to do this comfortably? Because I don't want to use a NIOS only for this task, for configuring the Alpha Blending Mixer... 

 

Thanks and best regards, 

dbdeset
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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
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I think the easiest option would be to use the Alpha Blending Mixer as you have suggested with a NIOS processor. 

 

Is there a significant reason you don't want to use NIOS? The Nios II/e core is now free. If you trim down your BSP to a minimum, you can run all the code out of a few block rams. 

 

Some other alternatives: 

 

1. Create a custom component which is an Avalon Master which contains a state machine to configure the Alpha Blending Mixer. 

 

2. Create your own custom VIP component to "place downscaled stream in one corner". This could be quite a bit more efficient than using the Alpha Blending Mixer if resources are tight. If you don't know how to create your own custom VIP component, the learning curve on this option could be a bit steep.
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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
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Ok, thanks for your suggestions! Now I used NIOS and I'm very satisfied with this solution... :-)

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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
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Hey dbdeset, 

I'm also trying to implement the same system like you and i trying to avoid using the nios but i think this isnt possible. do you have some hints for me? maybe a basic design example? are there any tutorials how to control the VIP Megacores with c code written for the NIOS?
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