Digitize video from an external source Use the jit.grab object to digitize video from any video digitizer and decompress the signal into a Jitter matrix. On OSX, QuickTime is used; on Windows, DirectX is used. jit.grab also offers a grab-to-disk mode. Although numerous parameters for control are offered, not all features are supported by all digitizers. Cycling '74 Jitter camera bang, messages in TEXT_HERE bang, messages in TEXT_HERE out TEXT_HERE dumpout TEXT_HERE char Adapt output matrix dimensions to native device dimensions. Adapt output matrix dimensions to native device dimensions. Enabled by default if no dim specified. Enable automatic matrix output. Enable automatic matrix output when bound to jit.world. Sound digitizer bit depth The sound digitizer bit depth (default = digitizer-specific). 32 bit only.
8 = digitize sound at 8-bit resolution
16 = digitize sound at 16-bit resolution Video digitizer black level The video digitizer black level (default = digitizer-specific). 32 bit only. Video digitizer brightness level The video digitizer brightness level (default = digitizer-specific). 32 bit only. Sound digitizer channel select The sound digitizer channel selection (default = digitizer-specific). 32 bit only.
1 = digitize sound in mono
2 = digitize sound in stereo Video codecs available on the system The valid video codecs available on the system
Sending the message getcodeclist will cause a list of all valid codecs (that is, those with a functioning compressor component) to be reported from the dumpout. This list is guaranteed to contain only working codecs, and should be used in preference to the old, static codec list. 32 bit only. Video digitizer codec quality The video digitizer codec quality. This is only active in vmode 2 (default = 4/max). 32 bit only.
0 or min = minimum
1 or low = low
2 or normal = normal
3 or high = high
4 or max = maximum
5 or lossless = lossless

Note that minimum quality is, in many cases, the codec's default quality. Use "low" quality for consistent results. Color encoding for output matrix The output matrix's color encoding (default = argb) ARGB (alpha, red, green, blue) colormode UYVY (YUV 4:2:2 packed) colormode Video digitizer colorspace mode The video digitizer colorspace mode (default = digitizer-specific). 32 bit only.
0 = grayscale
1 = color Video digitizer contrast level The video digitizer contrast level (default = digitizer-specific). 32 bit only. Render context name A render context name, used when output_texture is enabled. Dropped frames reporting flag Dropped frames reporting flag (default = 0 (disabled))
When this flag is set, the message dropped will be sent from the rightmost outlet of the jit.grab object, followed by the number of dropped frames, whenever frame-dropping is detected. 32 bit only. The portion of the output matrix used for decompressing media to the internal matrix. (default = 0 0 (matrix width) The portion of the output matrix used for decompressing media to the internal matrix. (default = 0 0 (matrix width) (matrix height))
The proportions of the rectangle are expressed in the form left top right bottom. All values are relative to the top left corner of the viewing area of the output matrix. Video engine backend. Video engine backend. This argument can only be set in the max box. If not specified, it is determined by the Video Engine Max preference. As of this writing, possible values include avf (Mac only), qt, and viddll. Video digitizer field select The video digitizer field selection (default = digitizer-specific)
0 = digitizer determines field selection
1 = digitizer uses odd field
2 = digitizer uses even field MAC OSX ONLY WITH DFG/1394-1 digitizer (using ASC-s driver, version 2 or higher) 128 = digitizer uses both fields, alternating 129 = digitizer uses both fields, stacked (upper half is odd, lower half is even). 32 bit only. Video digitizer frame rate The video digitizer frame rate (default = digitizer-specific).
The digitizer has to be closed and re-opened before changes to framerate take effect. Frame reporting flag Frame reporting flag (default = 0)
When enabled, the message framecalc will be sent from the rightmost outlet of the jit.grab object as each frame is processed, followed by the number of milliseconds spent doing so. Sound digitizer gain The sound digitizer gain (default = digitizer-specific) Video digitizer gamma The video digitizer gamma (default = digitizer-specific) Video digitizer hue adjustment The video digitizer hue adjustment (default = digitizer-specific) Current video digitizer input The current video digitizer input (default = digitizer-specific) Image interpolation flag Image interpolation flag (default = 0) Video digitizer's maximum frame rate The video digitizer's maximum frame rate (default = digitizer-specific). 32 bit only. Enable OpenGL texture output Enable OpenGL texture output (default = 0). When enabled an OpenGL texture is output instead of a Jitter matrix. The object's drawto attribute must be set to a valid gl context. An RGBA texture is output using the movie's native dimensions. When enabled, the following attributes have no effect:
adapt
colormode
dim
dstrect
srcrect
usedstrect
usesrcrect Sound digitizer playthrough flag Sound digitizer playthrough flag (default = digitizer-specific). 32 bit only. Phase locked loop The phase locked loop (PLL) type (default = digitizer-specific). 32 bit only.
0 = broadcast mode
1 = VTR mode Sound digitizer sample rate Sound digitizer sample rate (default = digitizer-specific). 32 bit only.
48000 = 48kHz
44100 = 44.1kHz
32000 = 32kHz
22050 = 22.050kHz
22254 = 22kHz
16000 = 16kHz
11127 = 11kHz
11025 = 11.025kHz
8000 = 8000 Hz Video digitizer saturation level Video digitizer saturation level (default = digitizer-specific). 32 bit only. Video digitizer sharpness level Video digitizer sharpness level (default = digitizer-specific). 32 bit only. Single field flag Single field flag (default = 1 (enabled))
When the flag is set, an attempt is made to decompress one field of an interlaced frame at high quality, and then scale the image to the frame size. If the digitizer doesn't provide interlaced frames, this flag does nothing. 32 bit only. Sound digitizer enable flag Sound digitizer enable flag (default = 0). 32 bit only. Sound digitizer codec mode Sound digitizer codec mode (used for recording) (default = digitizer-specific). 32 bit only.
none = no compression
raw = raw compression
big16 = 16-bit big endian
little16 = 16-bit little endian
float32 = 32-bit floating point
float64 = 64-bit floating point
24bit = 24-bit integer
32bit = 32-bit integer
little32 = 32-bit little endian
mace3 = MACE 3:1
mace6 = MACE 6:1
cdxa4 = CD/XA 4:1
cdxa2 = CD/XA 2:1
ima = IMA 4:1
ulaw = uLaw 2:1
alaw = aLaw 2:1
adpcm = Microsoft ADPCM (ACM code 2)
dviima = DVI/Intel IMA ADPCM (ACM code 17)
dvaudio = DV Audio
qdesign = QDesign music
qdesign2 = QDesign2 music
qualcomm = Qualcomm PureVoice
mp3 = MPEG Layer 3 (CBR or VBR) Current sound digitizer The current sound digitizer (default = 0). 32 bit only. Current sound input for the selected sound digitizer The current sound input for the selected sound digitizer (default = 0). 32 bit only. Source rect from digitizer frame Source rect from digitizer frame (default = 0 0 (matrix width) (matrix height)) Video digitizer standard The video digitizer standard selection (default = digitizer-specific). 32 bit only.
ntsc = NTSC
pal = PAL
secam = SECAM
Output texture name Output texture name, when output_texture is enabled. Unique frame filter flag Unique frame filter flag (default = 0 (disabled))
When the flag is set, only new frames from the digitizer are output when the object receives a bang. If no new frame has been received from the digitizer, the jit.grab object will not respond to the bang. Unique camera ID Unique camera ID. 32 bit only. Destination rect flag Destination rect flag (default = 0) When the flag is set, the dstrect attributes are used when copying an input matrix to the internal matrix. Source rect flag Source rect flag (default = 0) When the flag is set, the srcrect attributes are used when copying an input matrix to the internal matrix. Current video digitizer The current video digitizer (default = 0) Video digitizer mode The video digitizer mode (default = 0 (sequence grab)). 32 bit only.
0 = sequence grab mode
1 = vdig mode (necessary/desirable for some digitizers)
2 = DV high quality mode Sound digitizer volume The sound digitizer volume (default = digitizer-specific). 32 bit only. Video digitizer white level The video digitizer white level (default = digitizer-specific). 32 bit only. Window name Window name (default = none) If this attribute is set, the jit.grab object will render directly into the named jit.window object, thus able to use hardware decompression and interpolation as permitted by QuickTime. The window must have noaccel set to 1 in order for this to work.
If no symbol argument is given, the jit.grab object's default behavior of rendering to and outputting a matrix is used. 32 bit only.

Audio track write flag Audio track write flag (default = 0) When the flag is set, an audio track is written when grabbing images to disc. 32 bit only. Disk grab limit (in frames) The length (in frames) to limit write operations to (default = 0 (inactive)) When non-zero, limits the disk grab to the specified number of frames. The write operation will stop automatically. If you are grabbing sound only, write_length has no effect. 32 bit only. Image preview flag Image preview flag (default = 0) When the flag is set, images can be previewed when grabbing images to disc. 32 bit only. Split file write flag Split file write flag (default = 0) When the flag is set, separate disk files for audio and video are written when grabbing images to disc. Otherwise, a single file containing both is written. 32 bit only. Video track write flag Video track write flag (default = 1) When the flag is set, a video track is written when grabbing images to disc. 32 bit only. Close an open sequence grab component Closes an open sequence grab component. The component is automatically closed when the object is freed. Restore digitizer image control defaults Restores digitizer image control defaults. 32 bit only. Export the current frame as an image file Export the current frame as an image file with the name specified by the first argument. The second argument sets the file type (default = png). Available file types are png, tiff, and jpeg.
You can use the Max Preferences to specify a default image resolution for png image types. Report all available IIDC features (Mac OSX only) MAC OSX ONLY, requires open IIDC device. Reports a list of available IIDC features for the open IIDC component from the jit.grab object's dump outlet, preceded by the symbol iidclist. 32 bit only. Report the capabilities of an IIDC feature (Mac OSX only) MAC OSX ONLY, requires open IIDC device. Reports a list of capabilities for a specific IIDC feature (see the getiidclist message for information on getting IIDC features) from the jit.grab object's dump outlet. These capabilities are used to set the state of the IIDC feature. Since every IIDC device might support different features, and each feature might support different capabilities, the capabilities list provides a means of knowing which symbols are valid to set the state (using the iidc_state message) for any particular feature of a specific device. The capabilities list typically is formatted as follows: iidc_state feature-name variable capabilities data. 32 bit only. Report the state of an IIDC feature (Mac OSX only) MAC OSX ONLY, requires open IIDC device. Reports the current state of a specific IIDC feature (see the getiidclist message for information on getting IIDC features) from the jit.grab object's dump outlet. The state list typically is formatted as follows: iidc_state feature-name val feature-value variable additional data. 32 bit only. Report all video digitizer inputs Reports the list of available inputs to the video digitizer from the object's right outlet, preceded by the word inputlist. Note that the digitizer must be open in order for this method to function. Report all available sound digitizers Reports the list of available sound digitizers from the object's right outlet, preceded by the word snddevlist. 32 bit only. Report all sound digitizer inputs Reports the list of available inputs for the current sound digitizer from the object's right outlet, preceded by the word sndinputlist. Note that the digitizer must be open in order for this method to function. 32 bit only. Report all available video digitizers Reports the list of available video digitizers from the object's right outlet, preceded by the word vdevlist. Set the current state of an IIDC feature (Mac OSX only) MAC OSX ONLY, requires open IIDC device. Sets the current state of a specific IIDC feature (see the getiidclist message for information on getting IIDC features). Typically, to set the numeric value of a particular feature, the symbol val followed by a number is used. For other data (on/off, auto/manual, etc.), valid symbols used to set the state can be acquired using the getiidc_caps message. 32 bit only. Report the value of an IIDC register (Mac OSX only) MAC OSX ONLY, requires open IIDC device. Reports the current value of an IIDC register from the jit.grab object's dump outlet, preceded by the symbol iidc_csr. The offset argument specifies the byte offset to read from. The second argument, if present and 1, specifies that the byte offset is relative to the initial unit space (FFFF Fxxx xxxx). Otherwise, the byte offset is relative to the initial register space (FFFF F000 0000). 32 bit only. Set the state of an IIDC register (Mac OSX only) MAC OSX ONLY, requires open IIDC device. Directly sets the state of an IIDC register. The data argument specifies the new value for the register. The offset argument, if present, specifies the byte offset to set (if absent, the byte offset is assumed to be 0). The third argument, if present and 1, specifies that the byte offset is relative to the initial unit space (FFFF Fxxx xxxx). Otherwise, the byte offset is relative to the initial register space (FFFF F000 0000). 32 bit only. Open a sequence grab component Opens a sequence grab component. A component must be explicitly opened before the jit.grab object will began digitizing. Open the standard video digitizer settings dialog box Opens the standard video digitizer settings dialog box. 32 bit only. Open the standard sound digitizer settings dialog box Opens the standard sound digitizer settings dialog box. 32 bit only. Stop grabbing to disk Stops grabbing to disk. Write the grab to disk

Starts grabbing to disk. If the write_split attribute is disabled, only one filename argument is required; Otherwise, the video and audio filenames are required. If no filename arguments are supplied, a file dialog box will open.

The default FPS is 30. frames/sec.

The default codec is raw. The following list of codecs is deprecated (retained for reference). See codeclist for the preferred method to list valid system codecs.
Supported codecs are raw, cinepak, graphics, animation, video, componentvideo, jpeg, mjpega, mjpegb, sgi, planarrgb, macpaint, gif, photocd, qdgx, avrjpeg, opendmljpeg, bmp, winraw, vector, qd, h261, h263, dvntsc, dvpal, dvpropal, flc, targa, png, tiff, componentvideosigned, componentvideounsigned, cmyk, microsoft, sorenson, indeo4, argb64, rgb48, alphagrey32, grey16, mpegyuv420, yuv420, sorensonyuv9 and mpeg4.

The default spatialquality and temporalquality values are max. Supported quality settings are lossless, max, min, low, normal, and high.

Note that minimum quality is, in many cases, the codec's default quality. Use "low" quality for consistent results.

The default keyframes is 0, which will cause keyframes to be inserted automatically, as necessary.