Why does the "To Video Display" block require more memory in the Video and Image Processing Blockset 2.5 (R2008a) than in previous versions?

I have a Simulink model with many "To Video Display" blocks. This model works fine in MATLAB 7.4 (R2007a). However, when I run it in MATLAB 7.6 (R2008a), I run out of memory.

Answer 1

[MathWorks Support Team]

This enhancement has been incorporated in Video and Image Processing Blockset 2.7 (R2009a). For previous product releases, read below for possible workarounds:

The behavior of the "To Video Display" block has been modified in the Video and Image Processing Blockset 2.5 (R2008a). The block has been optimized for performance instead of memory usage.

A patch has been created by the development team to allow selection between performance and memory usage.

To install the patch, follow these steps:

1. Download and extract the attached .zip file.

2. Replace files in the MATLAB R2008a installation folder by the ones provided in the archive file. Note that the files in the .zip file have different destination directories.

3. Restart MATLAB

4. Execute the command “rehash toolbox”

Here is additional information about an unsupported feature. In the included vipToVideoDisplayPanel.m file, there is a setting that allows the selection of different renderers.

The file ($MATLABROOT\toolbox\vipblks\vipblks\vipToVideoDisplayPanel.m) has the following function:

   % Return a bitmask indicating the default renderer type.

   function default = getRendererType() %#ok<DEFNU>

       RENDER_SAFE = 1;

       RENDER_VMR7 = 2; %#ok<NASGU>

       RENDER_VMR9 = 4; %#ok<NASGU>

       default = RENDER_SAFE;

   end

It is possible to try the VMR9 or VMR7 renderers, by changing the setting for "default" in the code above. These choices use more memory, but they give better graphic performance.

Remember to execute “rehash toolbox” after any modification made to this file.

VMR7 and VMR9 are names used by Microsoft for DirectX rendering components that take advantage of graphics hardware acceleration. By using RENDER_SAFE, hardware acceleration is disabled and memory resources necessary for running many viewers is available.