GSG: Running the DVEVM Demos

This page explains how to run the software demos provided with the DVEVM kit.

Default Boot Configuration

Out of the box, the EVM boots from flash and starts the demo automatically after a few seconds when you power up the board. To review the hardware configuration needed to run the stand alone demo please see the respective platforms "Hardware Setup" section.

Note: It does not require an NFS mount or a TFTP server to run the standard demo.

Note: The default U-Boot bootargs definition sets "ip=off", which disables the Ethernet connection.

Note: It is best to power down the board cleanly in order to reboot, rather than using the reset button or power switch. We recommend that you use the shutdown command to shut down the operating system and unmount the file system before removing power from the board. This will help prevent corruption of the flash-based root file system.

Starting the Standalone Demo on DM365

With the DM365 EVM boards when you connect the EVM hardware, a pre-loaded example runs automatically on your video display. This example captures 720p component video and displays it as-is (i.e. without processing) to the connected HD display. The example runs automatically with no connection to a workstation in the default boot configuration. The DM365 EVM does not run the DVSDK demo out of flash out of the box.

Starting the DVSDK Demo

Once you have connected the EVM to a workstation and installed the necessary software from the LSP SDK included in the kit and the DVSDK software downloaded from myRegisteredSoftware (as described in Registering the Software and Downloading Updates), you can run DVSDK demos from the board's Linux command line as follows after logging into the board with root:

Target $ cd /opt/dvsdk/dm##
Target $ ./loadmodules.sh 
Target $ ./interface 

Note: ./loadmodules_hd.sh need to be executed instead of ./loadmodules.sh for dm365 platform

TMX320DM365 DVEVM Getting Started Guide 18.jpg

Once the EVM board has booted, your video display should show a picture of the remote control. You use the IR remote to control the demos.

The order of the buttons on the actual remote may be different from the picture; if your remote looks different, find the buttons with the same labels on your remote.

To use the demos in standalone mode, follow these steps:

1. Check to make sure the batteries are installed in your IR remote.
2. The initial screen shows a diagram of the IR remote, which you use to run the standalone demos. Take a minute to look at the functions of the various buttons.
3. Since this is a universal remote, you may need to set it to use the codes necessary to run the DVEVM demos. To do this, hold down the "Code Search" button until the red light on the remote stays lit. Then press the "DVD" button and enter "0020" as the code.
4. If you accidentally put the remote in TV or some other mode, press "DVD" to return the remote to the correct mode.
5. If the remote does not accept the DVD+0020 code, do a full reset by removing the batteries, pressing the Power button for at least a minute, then reinserting the batteries. Then program the remote as in Step 3.

Running the DVSDK Demos

1. Press "Play" or "OK" on the remote to move from the remote control diagram to the main menu screen, which looks like this:
   
2. The Encode + Decode demo allows you to record and playback video. The Encode demo records audio/speech and video in the formats you select. The Decode demo plays audio/speech and video files you select.
3. Use the up and down arrows to change which demo is selected. Then, press "OK" or "Play" to move to the selected demo.
4. Within a demo, you start at the settings screen, where you see the controls you can use to run the demo at the bottom of the screen and the current settings in the upper-right.
5. Use the up and down arrows to move to a setting you want to change.
6. Use the left and right arrows to cycle through the options until the setting you want is shown.
7. Press "Play" to begin the Encode+Decode and Decode demos. Press "Rec" (record) twice to begin the Encode demo.
8. While the demo runs, data about the settings, processor load, and rates are shown. Static settings are on the right. Dynamic data reporting is on the left.
   
9. This information overlays the video; as a result the video you see is darker than the actual video. To hide the information display so that you can better see the video, press the "Info/Select" button on the IR remote. You can change the transparency of the OSD (overlay) while running a demo by using the left and right arrows on the remote.
   
10. Press "Stop" or "Pause" when you want to end or pause a demo. The first time you press "Stop", you return to the settings screen. Press "Stop" from the settings screen to go back to the main menu.

For information about running the individual demos, see About the Demos.

The demos use the Codec Engine to allow applications to run algorithms.

Shutting Down the Demos

You can quit out of the demos completely while at the main menu screen by pressing "Power" on the remote.

Note: It is best to power down the board cleanly in order to reboot rather than using the reset button or power switch. We recommend that you use the shutdown command to shut down the operating system and unmount the file system before removing power from the board. This will help prevent corruption of the flash-based root file system.

To restart the demos, you can reboot the board or run the demos from the command line as described in Running the Demos from the Command Line.

About the Demos

For information about running the individual demos, see:

• About the Encode + Decode demo
• About the Encode demo
• About the Decode demo

The demos use the Codec Engine to allow applications to run algorithms.

For a platform-specific list of supported algorithms for each demo, see Supported Algorithms by Platform.

About the Encode + Decode Demo

The Encode + Decode demo allows you to record and playback video. Video input comes from a source connected to the component input, it is encoded, then decoded, and sent to the video display connected to the component output.

The Encode + Decode does only video processing; it does not encode and decode audio or speech.

Table 3–1 IR Remote Buttons for Encode / Decode Demo

IR Remote Button	Mode	Action Performed
Left/Right	Setup	Select video codec (H.264 or MPEG4)
Play or OK	Setup	Begin demo
Record	---	- no action -
Info/Select	Setup	Show / hide block diagram for demo
Info/Select	Run	Toggle information display
Left/Right	Run	Change information transparency level
Pause	Run	Pause demo (press Play to resume)
Stop	Setup / Run	Return to previous screen

The video signal is passed to video encoders and decoders by the Codec Engine.

For a platform-specific list of the supported algorithms, see Supported Algorithms by Platform. To use this demo from the command line, see Running the Demos from the Command Line.

About the Encode Demo

Like the Encode / Decode demo, the Encode demo also encodes video. Video input comes from a source connected to the component input. In addition, it also encodes audio or speech. The audio/speech source is line-in.

The encoded data is written to files on the EVM's file system (NAND flash, NFS, SD Card, etc.). Older versions of files are overwritten as needed.

Output is not decoded and sent to your video display or speakers other than to show the settings and dynamic data collected about the load and rates.

Note that you can use only a speech encoder, not an audio encoder.

Table 3–2 IR Remote Buttons for Encode Demo

IR Remote Button	Mode	Action Performed
Up/Down	Setup	Select an option to change (video or bit rate)
Left/Right	Setup	Change setting of selected option (for video, set to H.264 or MPEG4; for bit rate, set speed)
Play	Setup	Switch to decode demo
Record (twice) or OK	Setup / Run	Begin encode demo, send captured data to display
Info/Select	Setup	Show / hide block diagram for demo
Info/Select	Run	Toggle information display
Left/Right	Run	Change information transparency level (There is no display for encode demo behind the information.)
Pause	Run	Pause demo (press Record to resume)
Stop	Setup / Run	Return to previous screen

The application runs on the ARM using Linux. The video and audio signals are passed to encoders by the Codec Engine.

For a platform-specific list of the supported algorithms, see Supported Algorithms by Platform. To use this demo from the command line, see Running the Demos from the Command Line.

About the Decode Demo

Note: You must run the Encode demo before you can run the Decode demo. If you see a message that says "File Not Found", please run the Encode demo.

The Decode demo plays audio/speech and video files you select. You can select a source video file and a source audio or speech file. Use the left and right arrow buttons to choose from the demo files and the files created by the Encode demo, which are stored on the EVM's NAND flash. The decoded signals are sent to your video display and speakers.

Table 3–3 IR Remote Buttons for Decode Demo

IR Remote Button	Mode	Action Performed
Up/Down		- no action -
Left/Right	Setup	Select a different file combination
Play or OK	Setup	Begin decode demo
Record		- no action -
Info/Select	Setup	Show / hide block diagram for demo
Info/Select	Run	Toggle information display
Left/Right	Run	Change information transparency level
Pause	Run	Pause demo (press Play to resume)
Stop	Setup / Run	Return to previous screen

The application runs on the ARM using Linux. The video and audio signals are passed to hardware accelerators by the Codec Engine.

For a platform-specific list of the supported algorithms, see Supported Algorithms by Platform. To use this demo from the command line, see Running the Demos from the Command Line.

Supported Algorithms by DVSDK Demo Applications

Note: This table represents the supported capabilities of the DVSDK demo applications. For the actual capabilities consult respective codec/codec server documentation.

Note: Please refer to DVSDK release notes of any known limitations.

Platform	Encode+Decode	Encode	Decode
DM355	Video: MPEG4 (upto D1 30fps)	Video: MPEG4 (upto D1 30fps) Speech: G.711	Video: MPEG4 (upto D1 30fps) Speech: G.711
DM365	Video: MPEG4 and H.264 (upto 480P 30fps)	Video: MPEG4 and H.264 (upto 720P 30fps) Speech: G.711	Video: MPEG4 and H.264 (upto 720P 30fps) Speech: G.711
DM6467T	Video: H.264 (upto 720P 30fps)	Video: H.264 (upto 720P 30fps) Speech: G.711	Video: MPEG2 (upto 1080i 30fps) and H.264 (upto 1080p 60fps) Speech: G.711 Audio: AAC

 

Running the Demos from the Command Line

Once you have connected the EVM to a workstation and installed the necessary software, you can run the demo applications from the Linux shell in a terminal window connected to the EVM board's serial port. These are the same demos described in Starting the DVSDK Demo.

Before running demo applications from the command line, the appropriate CMEM and accelerator kernel modules must be loaded, these vary based on the demos you wish to run, you only need to run the loadmodules script.

Please refer to the below ASCII text before running the demos.

  1. decode.txt - for decode demo  
 2. encode.txt - for encode demo
 3. encodedecode.txt - for encodedecode demo

Before running the encode demo or decode demo, use the following commands to load the appropriate modules for these demos:

Target $ cd /opt/dvsdk/dm##
Target $ ./loadmodules.sh

To see the command-line options for the demos, use one of the following commands with the -h or --help option:

Target $ ./encodedecode -h
Target $ ./encode -h
Target $ ./decode -h

You can also find the list of command-line options in encode.txt, decode.txt, and encodedecode.txt in the respective demo directories of the DVSDK package on the host.

Sample U-Boot parameters required for the DVSDK demo

This section provides the sample U-Boot parameters for the DVSDK demo applications for a NFS mounted system.

Note that this parameters might change with different DVSDK releases.

U-Boot parameters for DM6467T

EVM # setenv bootargs 'mem=76M console=ttyS0,115200n8 root=/dev/nfs nfsroot=$(nfshost):$(rootpath),nolock ip=dhcp vpif_display.ch2_numbuffers=0 vpif_display.ch3_numbuffers=0'

U-Boot parameters for DM365

EVM # setenv bootargs 'mem=60M console=ttyS0,115200n8 root=/dev/nfs rw nfsroot=$(nfshost):$(rootpath),nolock ip=dhcp video=davincifb:vid0=OFF:vid1=OFF:osd0=720x576x16,2025K dm365_imp.oper_mode=0'

U-Boot parameters for DM355

EVM # setenv bootargs 'mem=96M console=ttyS0,115200n8 root=/dev/nfs rw nfsroot=$(nfshost):$(rootpath),nolock ip=dhcp video=davincifb:vid0=OFF:vid1=OFF:osd0=720x576x16,2025K'

Steps to setup the U-Boot environment variables

• Power cycle the board
• Wait to get the countdown display and hit enter before you reach to count 0
• Exectute printenv to see what environment variables are already set
• Set/update the below variables

EVM # setenv nfshost <ip address on nfs host> 
EVM # setenv serverip <ip address of the server holding /tftproot>
EVM # setenv bootfile uImage-dm####-evm.bin
EVM # setenv rootpath <path to the root of the filesystem for eg: /home/<useracct>/workdir/filesys> 
EVM # setenv baudrate 115200
EVM # setenv gateway  <ip address of the gateway>
EVM # Set per platform U-Boot parameters described as above
EVM # saveenv
EVM # boot