Time-compressed video pictures for vision research

An interface is presented that uses time compression to allow static TV pictures (picked up by standard videoprocessing systems or synthesized by software) to be displayed at a rate of about 500 frames/s. Time compression of the video signal is achieved in two steps. The digitized video information is first loaded into the memory buffer or the device, the video memory. After completing a computer-aided loading cycle, the device is switched to the automatic reading mode, in which the video memory is read sequentially at a rate of 8 million words/s. Since the format of the picture is 128*128 pixels, the time compression factor, as compared to standard video signals, is about ten. The values of the device parameters (repetition rate, format, and gray tones number) were chosen to meet the requirements of a specific application in the field of vision research: the presentation of complex figures with high information content as stabilized images or, more generally, in the variable retinal feedback condition.