NVIDIA Corporation
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Frame Synchronization User’s Guide
– Version 3.0
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NVIDIA Frame Synchronization
Frame Synchronization Principles
NVIDIA Frame Synchronizing actually involves two main processes:
•
Genlock—
Synchronizing the displays to an external sync source
•
Frame Lock and Swap Sync—
Synchronizing applications across multiple systems.
Genlock
Genlock is the process of synchronizing the pixel scanning of one or more displays to an
external synchronization source. NVIDIA genlock requires the external signal to be either
TTL or composite, such as used for NTSC, PAL, or HDTV.
Frame Lock (with Swap Sync)
Proper synchronization of an application running on multiple displays involves the
following two processes:
• Frame Lock
Frame lock involves the use of hardware to synchronize the frames on each display in a
connected system.
When an application is displayed across multiple monitors, frame locked systems help
maintain image continuity to create a virtual canvas. Frame lock is especially critical for
stereo viewing, where the left and right fields must be in sync across all displays.
• Swap Sync
Swap sync refers to the synchronization of buffer swaps of multiple application
windows. By means of swap sync, applications running on multiple systems can
synchronize the application buffer swaps between all the systems. Swap sync requires
that the systems are frame locked.
Frame Lock + Genlock
Genlock can also be combined with frame lock. When several systems are connected
together, a sync signal is fed from a master system to the other systems in the network and
the displays are synchronized with each other.
