BITS++ video modes

Three video modes are provided, which are optimised to support different types of visual displays. All three modes are available for both PC and Macintosh and can be easily used with the Psychtoolbox.

BITS++ basic

This mode remaps the standard 3x8 bit video signal into a 3x14 bit signal using individual RGB look-up tables (LUTs or CLUTs). This allows you to place the available bits where you need them, substantially increasing the usable luminance dynamic range. For example, displaying a low contrast/low spatial frequency luminance or chromatic grating without banding artefacts. In this mode, look-up tables can either be loaded using a USB computer interface, or our unique T-Lock frame-by-frame system. In this new technique, the actual LUTs are encoded in each displayed image. This provides high-speed LUT manipulation, which is guaranteed synchronous with the stimulus display.

BITS++ mono

Mono++. This mode uses the 3x8 bit pixel information that usually specifies the individual RGB colours to form a 14 bit monochrome image with a palletised 8 bit colour overlay. This is ideal for psychophysical applications where only a luminance display is needed. The colour overlay is ideal for implementing fixation markers, masks etc.

BITS++ color

Using our latest Pixel Doubling technology, this mode gives a true 3x14 bit true colour output. By sacrificing horizontal resolution, adjacent pixels in the framebuffer are used to encode 14 bit true colour. This halves the horizontal resolution, but makes displaying wide dynamic range colour images a reality. Color++ is ideal for HDR Natural Scenes and colour psychophysics.

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