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Welcome to the netv2-fpga wiki!
Note: NeTV2 uses torx screws exclusively. To open the case, you need a T5 driver.
netv2-fpga will be considered the master repository for all things NeTV2-related. There are other repositories for the PCB, plastics, production testing software and so forth, but here is where we will put together the summary knowledge across the entire project.
Plugging into a PCIe slot? please note that you should never connect the DC power adapter at the same time as plugging into a PCI-e slot. Doing so can damage the PC, the NeTV2 board, or both!
What is NeTV2? NeTV2 is a flexible, open-source video processing development platform, based on the Xilinx Artix-series FPGA with a gateware codebase largely written in Python using Litex/Migen.
The basic application that NeTV2 ships with is called "NeTV2 classic" mode, which merges web-based information over video feeds. A local Raspberry Pi fetches and renders web-based information using an application called Magic Mirror. The output of this rendering is buffered in local memory, and overlaid on a digital video feed using an FPGA. The FPGA implements the ability to encrypt the overlays as well, so if your video source happens to be a device which applies encryption to the link, you can still perform the video overlay.
Of course, NeTV2 can do much more, but it's up to the developer's imagination to take it new places! The NeTV2 includes a set of jumpers that allow each of the two input and output HDMI ports to operate independently of each other, allowing to be act as a 2x2 video switch. It also includes local Ethernet for fast debugging via Etherbone and an SD card for implementing FPGA-local filesystems. The default configuration of NeTV2 uses the Vexriscv RISC-V CPU.
Non-technical questions or comments about NeTV2? Please feel free to open a thread on the NeTV2 reddit.
New to Litex/Migen? Please refer to Litex for Hardware Engineers if you have a Verilog background and want to avoid stepping in the Python paddies. If you're an experienced Python wonk, you can of course just skip to the source code and learn because Python code is so wonderfully self-documenting (or so I'm told by experienced Python programmers).
It's neat that I could build my own, but I want to buy one. Crowd Supply sells NeTV2 kits and assembled units.