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Electronics => Microcontrollers => Topic started by: Citizen on August 01, 2013, 06:53:04 am

Title: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: Citizen on August 01, 2013, 06:53:04 am
Hi. I wasn't sure where to place this topic, but i think it suits here better then in the beginner lounge.
I am currently doing FPGA Video tutorials.The EEV-community  showed  big interest in  this topic,so i decided to put my videos here. The videos are in my own style,so don't expect Dave-like content ;).
Since i am going to do more tutorials,  i will keep them in this thread.
Constructive feedback is appreciated.


Enjoy:)

Tutorial 1. LED counter,Introduction in VHDL (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9VbBI3foGQ#ws)


Tutorial 2. Functions and Procedures in VHDL+cool counter (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2lAPIjpF1w#ws)


 FPGA Tutorial 3. UART in VHDL on Altera DE1 Board (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMmcSpgOtJ4#ws)


FPGA Tutorial 4: VGA interface in VHDL on DE1 Altera Board. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS0VZwnZssA#)
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: mrflibble on August 01, 2013, 07:27:43 am
Three suggestions:

1 - add audio. Currently this is just like reading a static web page, only worse. On the static web page I can absorb information faster, have a search function and the fonts are not lossy
2 - you might want to make sure your video codec settings are optimized for text. As it is things are a bit blurry.
3 - add audio, because see 1)

Oh yeah, and provide a link to the source code. That way if someone want to try out your examples then they don't have to retype everything while staring at a poorly rendered font. ;)
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: sci4me on August 01, 2013, 07:45:40 am
If I may ask, why VHDL over Verilog?
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: Hardcorefs on August 01, 2013, 09:01:13 am
Sorry but I have to say this is a big fail.....

This is not how you develop for an FPGA.

Nothing about simulation..........,
Even with a very simple project there is not really any way you can continually fix bugs and rebuild the  code ready to be loaded into an FPGA.


Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: jeroen74 on August 01, 2013, 11:09:33 am
If I may ask, why VHDL over Verilog?

You can easily ask the reverse, why Verilog over VHDL? ;)
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: poorchava on August 01, 2013, 02:05:04 pm
I kind of like it. And loading straight into FPGA is not a bad idea either for small projects. Writing a testbench is quite an art in itself.

And VHDL vs Verilog is a flame war same as old as AVR vs PIC
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: mrflibble on August 01, 2013, 02:15:16 pm
And loading straight into FPGA is not a bad idea either for small projects. Writing a testbench is quite an art in itself.

Actually it is a bad idea that will bite you in the ass real fast. The real trouble is when it seems to work, but is failing in subtle ways.
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: Citizen on August 01, 2013, 02:51:01 pm
ok. I think i will answer every question one after another.


1.Why no voiceover?:
English is not my native language,. Since i have seen  LOTS of video tutorials, where really bad  pronunciation can ruin it all.  And those official tutorials are from big companies like xilinix, altera, cypress etc. I always question myself why did they let this chinese/indian/korean girl/boy  lead a tutorial.
That is why i decided to caption version.
 Caption have also some advantages: you can place syntax there, write small examples, and overall you can always press space bar  to pause the video, read what i "say" then read compare to my program.
 Moreover if the viewer is also not native English speaker(which happens on youtube quite often), he/she  will understand these tutorials much better.


2. Why VHDL?
 I live in Germany. Everyone say that verilog  is more common for USA/Australia, but in the rest of the world VHDL is more used.
As for me, i just like VHDL more, it si more self evident then verilog with his wires, always, etc...

3. Why no simulation?
  In my tutorials I used simple codes like a few CASE and IF statements.  You don't need a simulation for such easy stuff. Moreover i didn't want to overload the tutorial  with  simulations. The goal of my video were to  show  basics or how does procedure/function works. Sure more complex programs must be simulated, but  for now it wasn't necessary.



Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: jancumps on August 01, 2013, 03:00:07 pm
Quote
English is not my native language,. Since i have seen  LOTS of video tutorials, where really bad  pronunciation can ruin it all.  And those official tutorials are from big companies like xilinix, altera, cypress etc. I always question myself why did they let this chinese/indian/korean girl/boy  lead a tutorial.
Don't worry. I bet that no one that comments on English skills would be able to do a better yob speakin an Indian language or Korean or German. If you know your native language well and get by in a second language, you are already ahead of the majority of youtube users.

I don't give a damn, as can be experienced in this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlvENQdvHGc) video :)

Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: Citizen on August 01, 2013, 03:12:06 pm
I agree, but i want to make my videos international friendly, so everyone can understand it.


Are you from Switzerland:)
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: jancumps on August 01, 2013, 03:33:14 pm

Are you from Switzerland:)
hey, the flag of my country is next to my avatar. Learn your geography ;)
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: Citizen on August 01, 2013, 03:36:32 pm
ah, didnt notice the flag:)
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: mswhin63 on August 02, 2013, 02:30:11 am
1.Why no voiceover?:
English is not my native language,. Since i have seen  LOTS of video tutorials, where really bad  pronunciation can ruin it all.  And those official tutorials are from big companies like xilinix, altera, cypress etc. I always question myself why did they let this chinese/indian/korean girl/boy  lead a tutorial.
That is why i decided to caption version.
 Caption have also some advantages: you can place syntax there, write small examples, and overall you can always press space bar  to pause the video, read what i "say" then read compare to my program.
 Moreover if the viewer is also not native English speaker(which happens on youtube quite often), he/she  will understand these tutorials much better.


2. Why VHDL?
 I live in Germany. Everyone say that verilog  is more common for USA/Australia, but in the rest of the world VHDL is more used.
As for me, i just like VHDL more, it si more self evident then verilog with his wires, always, etc...

3. Why no simulation?
  In my tutorials I used simple codes like a few CASE and IF statements.  You don't need a simulation for such easy stuff. Moreover i didn't want to overload the tutorial  with  simulations. The goal of my video were to  show  basics or how does procedure/function works. Sure more complex programs must be simulated, but  for now it wasn't necessary.

1. Also assists people that are Deaf and Hard of Hearing  :-+

2. My University in Australia teaches VHDL so it possible some US based engineering firms have brought along Verilog and is now considered Australian. I wont really know until I finish Uni.

3. Simulation are good engineering practice now-a-days, it is taught even in the simplest configurations.
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: amyk on August 02, 2013, 03:19:02 am
You can use a text-to-speech program to add a voice, even if it's not yours.
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: mikeselectricstuff on August 02, 2013, 08:41:40 am
Sorry but I have to say this is a big fail.....

This is not how you develop for an FPGA.

Nothing about simulation..........,
Even with a very simple project there is not really any way you can continually fix bugs and rebuild the  code ready to be loaded into an FPGA.
Rubbish. It is entirely feasible (and sometimes even quicker) to write and debug FPGA designs without going near a simulator.
Most FPGA projects will be interacting with external devices and interfaces, which will be difficult and/or time-consuming to emulate in the simulator, and prone to errors in translation.
It gets harder on larger projects due to compile time, but even then, by including plenty of debug functionality you can implement and test multiple incremental steps on each compile cycle.
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: jahonen on August 02, 2013, 10:34:18 am
Sorry but I have to say this is a big fail.....

This is not how you develop for an FPGA.

Nothing about simulation..........,
Even with a very simple project there is not really any way you can continually fix bugs and rebuild the  code ready to be loaded into an FPGA.
Rubbish. It is entirely feasible (and sometimes even quicker) to write and debug FPGA designs without going near a simulator.
Most FPGA projects will be interacting with external devices and interfaces, which will be difficult and/or time-consuming to emulate in the simulator, and prone to errors in translation.
It gets harder on larger projects due to compile time, but even then, by including plenty of debug functionality you can implement and test multiple incremental steps on each compile cycle.

Although I generally like using ModelSim whenever possible, I can understand this point of view perfectly. Quartus has a very good SignalTap logic analyzer which lets one to look inside the FPGA in real time. It uses some logic and block RAM to perform its task and communicates via JTAG. Sometimes one needs to put some attributes to signals to prevent optimizations so one can more easily look at things, but that is relatively minor thing.

There are cases where using simulator is simply not feasible. For example I have worked on frequency estimation algorithm which ran at modest 80 MHz and processed input data at rate of 80 kHz. As settling time was in order of seconds when input frequency was low (<10 Hz), using a simulator was out of the question as it would have taken a very long time to simulate. Only practical way to test that was to use a real FPGA with real data. The input data was non-trivial also, so using simulation would have needed to first capture the input data in some way (not trivial either).

Regards,
Janne
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: metalphreak on August 02, 2013, 01:59:08 pm
+1 for VHDL at university in Australia.

I bought one of those basic Cyclone II breakout boards (basically breaks out all pins, has a few leds, the eprom, and clock source) and an altera MAX II clpd board. I have been meaning to learn a bit more about FPGAs so I'll check out your videos :)

(also thanks to mike for those ipod lcd videos, reminded me to look at fpgas again :) )
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: Citizen on August 02, 2013, 11:16:12 pm
Ok, i  gave it a try, and  put my voiceover on the second tutorial.
It  took me much more time then expected since i was hearing the right pronunciation of every third word in wiktionary.
Well, the result is better then i thought.
I think i still have to work on pronunciation and intonation, right now my voiceover is pretty influenced through HowDoesItWorks Discovery series, but i will work on it:)

FPGA TUTORIAL 2. Functions and procedures in VHDL (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2lAPIjpF1w#ws)
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: MacAttak on August 03, 2013, 02:45:06 am
Much better :)

I didn't have much trouble with understanding you. The few times I had any problems, a quick look down at the caption was all it took. But with the voiceover I was able to follow what you were actually doing much more closely, and the video was much more enjoyable that way.
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: Citizen on August 10, 2013, 05:48:55 am
New video released! :D
FPGA Tutorial 3. UART in VHDL on Altera DE1 Board (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMmcSpgOtJ4#ws)
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: mswhin63 on August 11, 2013, 02:39:40 am
Nice tutes, but i find the music distracting. I couldn't watch it towards the end.
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: mrflibble on August 12, 2013, 02:34:46 pm
Still not my favorite tutorial style for this kind of subject, but an improvement over the previous ones.  :-+ Lose the distracting music and you just made another improvement. ;)
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: Citizen on August 12, 2013, 05:40:01 pm
Hm, i don't find this music distracting. I actually coding while hearing such kind of music....=)
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: mrflibble on August 12, 2013, 06:51:20 pm
Hm, i don't find this music distracting. I actually coding while hearing such kind of music....=)

Oh if only you were the target audience of your own videos. ;)

I found it distracting, but maybe other people find the music helpful. Only more feedback will tell. :)
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: Hardcorefs on August 16, 2013, 12:18:46 pm
Sorry but I have to say this is a big fail.....

This is not how you develop for an FPGA.

Nothing about simulation..........,
Even with a very simple project there is not really any way you can continually fix bugs and rebuild the  code ready to be loaded into an FPGA.
Rubbish. It is entirely feasible (and sometimes even quicker) to write and debug FPGA designs without going near a simulator.
Most FPGA projects will be interacting with external devices and interfaces, which will be difficult and/or time-consuming to emulate in the simulator, and prone to errors in translation.
It gets harder on larger projects due to compile time, but even then, by including plenty of debug functionality you can implement and test multiple incremental steps on each compile cycle.

Sorry complete nonsense. Compile times for even a fairly small design can be upward of 30 minutes.
your method is clearly unprofessional BECAUSE you would not have any test benches or methods to PROVE the logic, what exactly WOULD your testing method be..... oh wait.... realtime non- traceable and non-reproducible.

Good luck on 'real time' testing of a USB or  GMII,RGMII design. just love to see you get that bandwidth over a JTAG connection.

go READ up on WHY VHDL was designed, also go read up on Software, logic testing for reliability.

Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: marshallh on August 16, 2013, 09:29:38 pm
I'm writing a USB 3.0 5gbps IP core right now. Minimal simulation.

Really, how do you simulate extremely complex and non deterministic behavior of a 5gbit PHY? You don't. I use embedded logic analyzer and my brain.

There is a small amount of internal logic I did verification against. But even then you're only verifying against what your brain can come up with, not reality, which is always nastier.


Now if all you're doing is plugging together various bits of licensed IP and maybe doing some internal logic, sure simulation might work there if the vendor provide a functional equivalent. But it's right out of the question many times.
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: jeroen74 on August 17, 2013, 09:55:27 am
Gospel is that you write a testbench... I just read a book about it ("Writing testbenches - Function verification of HDL models" by Janick Bergeron - ISBN 0-7923-7766-4). If you can stare at hundreds of waveforms all day long and (hope to) find problems that way, you probably can also come up with a way to describe that functionality and capture it in a function model. VHDL and Verilog provide loads of non-synthesizable constructs to aid in that. You don't write RTL in a testbench of course.

I think ASIC companies won't commit a design to silicon without extensive testbenches that completely test a design and that allow regression testing. You simply can't test a complex design by staring at (captured) waveforms. And can you remember how they need to look like? Isn't there a specification document to which you can test your widget against? List of use-cases? Expected behaviour?

And what if there is no hardware available at all? ;)
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: jancumps on August 17, 2013, 10:39:42 am
Hm, i don't find this music distracting. I actually coding while hearing such kind of music....=)
A tad too commercial? ;)
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: LtDrogo on August 19, 2013, 08:56:44 pm
Gospel is that you write a testbench... I just read a book about it ("Writing testbenches - Function verification of HDL models" by Janick Bergeron - ISBN 0-7923-7766-4). If you can stare at hundreds of waveforms all day long and (hope to) find problems that way, you probably can also come up with a way to describe that functionality and capture it in a function model. VHDL and Verilog provide loads of non-synthesizable constructs to aid in that. You don't write RTL in a testbench of course.

I think ASIC companies won't commit a design to silicon without extensive testbenches that completely test a design and that allow regression testing. You simply can't test a complex design by staring at (captured) waveforms. And can you remember how they need to look like? Isn't there a specification document to which you can test your widget against? List of use-cases? Expected behaviour?

And what if there is no hardware available at all? ;)

Absolutely correct. I have worked as an RTL design / verification engineer for major microprocessor companies throughout my career, and you can be absolutely sure that no chip; no matter how small; ever gets manufactured without a very extensive verification effort. Verification is the longest step in the design process of any modern SoC. Verifying a modern, state of the art x86 microprocessor is typically a two-year effort involving regressions with testbenches, random code generators and directed tests. There are usually 2-4 verification engineers (testbench writers/debuggers) per RTL design engineer (who writes the Verilog/VHDL logic); and design verification is usually the first career step for architects or RTL designers.

And there is a huge industry around this; as well as dedicated languages such as System Verilog, Specman etc. to write testbenches and checkers.

Even the smallest designs in the industry are verified in this manner through dedicated verification code (testbenches, checkers and random stimulus generators, etc.) It blows my mind that any FPGA/ASIC engineer can claim that a complex ASIC or FPGA implementation can be released to production without a well-planned verification effort through testbenches.

Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: marshallh on August 20, 2013, 07:37:02 pm
It blows my mind that any FPGA/ASIC engineer can claim that a complex ASIC or FPGA implementation can be released to production without a well-planned verification effort through testbenches.
You are absolutely right, however the circumstances under which I'm doing this are:
1. One man operation
2. Produced under gubbmint R&D funding on a shoestring budget
3. Experimental and research driven
Verification IP ain't in the cards, so I'm doing what I can with unit tests and live protocol analysis.
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: LtDrogo on August 21, 2013, 04:28:31 am
You are absolutely right, however the circumstances under which I'm doing this are:
...
My comment was not specifically directed at you, sorry if it sounded like that. I just took a peek at your Web site and was thoroughly impressed, I have little doubt that you figured out a way to do a sufficient baseline level of verification through your unit tests.
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: EEVblog on August 21, 2013, 05:47:14 am
I found it distracting, but maybe other people find the music helpful. Only more feedback will tell. :)

+1 for distracting
Unless I'm absolutely desperate I will stop watching any such video with background music.
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: Citizen on August 27, 2013, 11:41:29 am
FPGA Tutorial 4: VGA interface in VHDL on DE1 Altera Board. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS0VZwnZssA#)


New video! VGA interface in Vhdl+simple game!
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: deephaven on August 27, 2013, 11:53:47 am
PLEASE stop the music - you're spoiling an otherwise good tutorial.
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: jancumps on August 27, 2013, 11:55:41 am
<duckingforcover>
the music is louder than the talk. Is it the theme music from LSL1?
</duckingforcover>
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: dr.diesel on August 27, 2013, 12:10:14 pm
Yup, due to the music I couldn't make it past the first minute.
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: Citizen on August 27, 2013, 12:28:43 pm
Lol, the intro music dissapear after 40sec. Then it gets not so loud and almost disappear when i speak. Otherwise the video will get lots of silence...which is really stupid.
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: jancumps on August 27, 2013, 12:38:54 pm
I know the music goes smoother after half a minute, but by that time I had to subdue three impulses to close my browser. It seems that the frequency of the music you are using resonates with my flimsy computer speakers and with my skull. I'm still recovering.
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: rastro on August 27, 2013, 12:54:11 pm
Is it possible to only use one channel Left/Right to add background music and voice narration on both channels.  Wouldn't this leave your audience the option to listen to voice only - granted in only one speaker.
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: dr.diesel on August 27, 2013, 12:54:50 pm
Lol, the intro music dissapear after 40sec.

By then you're too late.  As a viewer I have no way to know how long I'll have to endure the horrid music, so I just close the browser.

Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: Citizen on August 27, 2013, 01:09:58 pm
As a real interested viewer you  will certanly stay longer, because you would really want to know how to program vga in vhdl. ..and you wouldnt give up so fast:)
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: envisionelec on August 27, 2013, 01:44:27 pm
As the others, I didn't like the intro music. But I'm a fan of ambient music and the video kept my attention because I know nothing about VHDL. It seems simpler than C??
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: Citizen on August 27, 2013, 01:56:52 pm
Yes, i admit, the intro music in all my videos i a bit funky, but i think should drag viewes attention. At the beginning a wanted to use " Röyksopp - In Space" as background music, but they wanted  about 1000 euro for no-commercial usage in youtube:(
Yes, i also find vhdl easier then C, especialy the syntax and all those pointers....
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: mrflibble on August 27, 2013, 07:03:33 pm
As a real interested viewer you  will certanly stay longer, because you would really want to know how to program vga in vhdl. ..and you wouldnt give up so fast:)

Keep telling yourself that. The rest of the world judges a vid real quick, closes it when annoying, and hops on to the next one that doesn't suck. Welcome to the internet. ;)

Why watch annoying vids when the people at Doulos have VHDL and other HDL material that is not annoying (https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=doulos+vhdl). ;)
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: jahonen on August 27, 2013, 07:16:11 pm
Just watched it, besides the background music, I wonder why did you use Qsys to generate the PLL function instead of just using MegaWizard Plug-In manager to generate variation of PLL megafunction? Same result and input dialogs but I think that MegaWizard is recommended by Altera. Unless of course if one wants to instantiate the whole Qsys component.

Regards,
Janne
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: Citizen on August 27, 2013, 07:28:53 pm
Oh, cmon, as I did my first steps in FPGA/VHDL  i searched LOTS of websites and videos  for clear, undestandable, practical tutorial from scratch (like my videos for example).
Most of youtube "tutorials" should be called " demos" , because  they  don't teach you anything.Also Doulos hasn't  got any real tutorials for VHDL/FPGA. Just  naked theory.

My videos are more educative then entertaining (unlike Dave's blog, which became more entertaining then educative  with time, but this is another story).
That is why i am concerned, if anyone  has found my video , then he surely want to learn something, and not just spend 10-15 Min  watching  random interesting video while eating.
In this case he will see that my video is long, the thumnail is showing the real result,  there is source code=> everything is pointing that he will find what he looked for.So he would stay or at least rewind the intro.

"he rest of the world judges a vid real quick, closes it when annoying"-- that behaviour is more likely for someone, who dont search for anything in particular..more like cats video or fail compilation...





Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: Citizen on August 27, 2013, 07:31:37 pm
Just watched it, besides the background music, I wonder why did you use Qsys to generate the PLL function instead of just using MegaWizard Plug-In manager to generate variation of PLL megafunction? Same result and input dialogs but I think that MegaWizard is recommended by Altera. Unless of course if one wants to instantiate the whole Qsys component.

Regards,
Janne

I heard that megawizard  was replaced by Qsys, but i am not sure. Anyway it will lead you to the  same result;)
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: jancumps on August 27, 2013, 07:47:46 pm
Oh, cmon, ...

In the end they are your video's. You can make them as you please. If we think we can do better, we should proove that. And as viewers, we'll make up for ourselves if we watch them or not.
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: jahonen on August 27, 2013, 07:54:54 pm
I heard that megawizard  was replaced by Qsys, but i am not sure. Anyway it will lead you to the  same result;)

I think it was SOPC builder which was replaced by Qsys, MegaWizard is a quite different thing (and also used internally by Qsys).

Regards,
Janne
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: Citizen on August 27, 2013, 08:00:12 pm
Yes, it was SOPC:)
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: mrflibble on August 27, 2013, 08:36:09 pm
"he rest of the world judges a vid real quick, closes it when annoying"-- that behaviour is more likely for someone, who dont search for anything in particular..more like cats video or fail compilation...

Or you know, the other possibility, which is it being the behavior of someone looking for a few good ones in the huge heap of mediocrity that is the internet.

Don't worry, I do the exact same thing while shopping. What, no easy to find pricing info? E-mail for a quote? *boot* neeeext shop that has learned this lesson last century. So same with shopping for information. First minute of the presentation sucks? It's likely to continue doing so. *boot* neeeext. Sometimes I do a few quick skips to some random points to see if accidentally it does get better. But most of the time the first impression actually was correct, imagine that. ;)

Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: mrflibble on August 27, 2013, 08:43:01 pm
Case in point: I just checked it around 10:00+, with the PLL bit.

At 720p (highest resolution I could find) I cannot even easily read the text in the GUI. I think I mentioned that before ... if you this style of tutorial vid, please make sure that stuff is actually readable. Not being able to read it makes it .... well ... what do you think yourself?

@10:22
"Here you can see what the PLL declaration should look like" ... uhm, no I can't see shit. ;)

Please consider using a codec that is not so lossy...
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: quantumvolt on August 27, 2013, 08:44:35 pm
Oh, cmon, as I did my first steps in FPGA/VHDL  i searched LOTS of websites and videos  for clear, undestandable, practical tutorial from scratch (like my videos for example).
Most of youtube "tutorials" should be called " demos" , because  they  don't teach you anything.Also Doulos hasn't  got any real tutorials for VHDL/FPGA. Just  naked theory.

My videos are more educative then entertaining (unlike Dave's blog, which became more entertaining then educative  with time, but this is another story).
That is why i am concerned, if anyone  has found my video , then he surely want to learn something, and not just spend 10-15 Min  watching  random interesting video while eating.
In this case he will see that my video is long, the thumnail is showing the real result,  there is source code=> everything is pointing that he will find what he looked for.So he would stay or at least rewind the intro.

"he rest of the world judges a vid real quick, closes it when annoying"-- that behaviour is more likely for someone, who dont search for anything in particular..more like cats video or fail compilation...

My underlining. The thumb voting is disabled. So somebody didn't enjoy the 'outer space virtual sound polluter YT audio overlay'  ;D. Continue to beat the dead horse or change ... Except from that - nice video.
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: Citizen on August 27, 2013, 08:52:47 pm
Quote
Or you know, the other possibility
That is also right. But only if you have  good  selection, like hundreds of internetshops offering the same product.but search for  "FPGA UAR"T tutorial in youtube? Would you find  many  tutorials there? Just a few (my video is 2nd!! yey), the rest is low quality demos...who the hell need demos... :palm: ;)
Quote
I cannot even easily read
Yes, the video quality is a problem,  the blurry image comes if i use ZOOM option in my corel video editor, without zoom everything is sharp, but then again it is small, and you  will not be able to see anything there. Maybe i should switch to other software...or zoom in while filming, and not while editing...hm..that could be a nice idea:)

Quote
The thumb voting is disabled
The voting is disabled, because i had  conflict discussion with Dave here in forum and in his video comments, and his brainless fanboys stormed my channel  and gave all my videos many thumbs downs, even to my only cat video:(
That is why i dont  want other ppl to think my videos sucks because of low rating, the rating dont tell anything about my tutorials in this case.
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: mrflibble on August 27, 2013, 09:18:32 pm
Quote
Or you know, the other possibility
That is also right. But only if you have  good  selection, like hundreds of internetshops offering the same product.but search for  "FPGA UAR"T tutorial in youtube? Would you find  many  tutorials there? Just a few (my video is 2nd!! yey), the rest is low quality demos...who the hell need demos... :palm: ;)
Now why would I want to wade through a pile of useless poorly readable youtube vids with annoying music ;) for "FPGA UART" stuff, when there is a perfectly fine tutorial on fpga4fun (http://www.fpga4fun.com/SerialInterface.html) for that? Complete with working code and all that...

Quote
The voting is disabled, because i had  conflict discussion with Dave here in forum and in his video comments, and his brainless fanboys stormed my channel  and gave all my videos many thumbs downs, even to my only cat video:(
Poor cat. :(
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: Citizen on August 27, 2013, 09:32:45 pm
Those tutorials are in verilog + it is much easier to understand if someone explains things step by step, and showing how to programm things  wisely: like using own components, procedures, packages  and so on.
Why visit  lectures in university, if  you can read everything in books?;)
People often get stuck ( not only in programming, but in almost any subject) just because they dont understand the "evident " fundamental things.

PS
Marcel (the cat) will regain his  appreciation one day....
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: marshallh on August 27, 2013, 10:05:27 pm
Wow fellas, keepin it classy I see.  :palm: :palm: :palm: :palm:


People often get stuck ( not only in programming, but in almost any subject) just because they dont understand the "evident " fundamental things.

Keep doing what you're doing.  :-+
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: rastro on August 27, 2013, 10:35:41 pm
PS
Marcel (the cat) will regain his  appreciation one day....

I just saw your cat video - I'll give you a thumbs up on it.  I'm still laughing...
Thanks for the comic relief.
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: Citizen on August 28, 2013, 02:42:54 pm
Ok, that as my last contribution to the eevblog.

I dont feel comfortable in this community for many resons.Bye
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: MacAttak on August 28, 2013, 03:11:41 pm
Yes, the video quality is a problem,  the blurry image comes if i use ZOOM option in my corel video editor, without zoom everything is sharp, but then again it is small, and you  will not be able to see anything there. Maybe i should switch to other software...or zoom in while filming, and not while editing...hm..that could be a nice idea:)

The best way to fix this problem would simply be to adjust the font settings in the text editor tool you are using. This is very common thing to do in my part of the industry (we have a LOT of recorded software development training material and also do a LOT of in-person code-based presentations).
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: MacAttak on August 28, 2013, 03:17:24 pm
Ok, that as my last contribution to the eevblog.

I dont feel comfortable in this community for many resons.Bye

People are just trying to give you constructive feedback (which I think is what you asked for?). You took the advice and added voiceover to your videos - which IMO made a huge improvement in their usability. I also agree with those who say your videos would be easier to watch if they didn't have the distracting music in the background. I realize it isn't distracting to *you*, but it is to many other people.

And if the point is to get people to watch your video, then common sense says that any such roadblocks should be removed.

But it's still your video and you can do it however you want - heeding advice from others or not. I use Verilog and not VHDL but still find your content to be interesting, so I've been watching them.


Not sure what this other conversation is that you refer to - that caused people to hatefully thumbs-down your videos? That doesn't sound like something typical members here would do?
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: mrflibble on August 28, 2013, 05:25:49 pm
I also didn't quite follow the logical progression, but maybe this thread from today (https://www.eevblog.com/forum/blog/eevblog-511-rigol-dp832-power-supply-teardown/) has something to do with his decision.  :-//

At any rate, should he get over the drama in a few days and recheck this thread in an effort to improve his videos ... here's the todo list ;)

[x] add voiceover
[  ] make sure text is readable, at least at 720p/1080p
[  ] get over it, and just remove the distracting music :P
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: jeroen74 on August 29, 2013, 06:44:18 pm
Actually I don't find the music all that distracting (in the last video).

If you're looking for royalty free music, try http://incompetech.com/ (http://incompetech.com/)
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: mswhin63 on August 29, 2013, 11:16:27 pm
I think if Citizen has truly left the forum, then a lot of comments will be ignored, but if by any chance he is still reading them then fix the attitude and listen to the public that would like to listen.

The majority of people that want to view the tutorials do not want the music and if you are trying to get some attention in listen to the voting public. In any business listening to the viewing public is going to get you the hits that some people will give if the video is good. Don't ignore the masses. I am sure the other people will not look away if there is no music.

It is the sole reason I cannot look at the tutorial video any more. I like video but I am aging and have a very slight CAPD (not ADHD) which make it moderately difficult for me to concentrate on more than one sound at a time. Music has a complex signal and continue signals which flows into the voice and make it difficult to concentrate. Learning is the key and not all of us are young any more.

CAPD (Central Auditory Processing Disorder) not deafness
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: EEVblog on August 30, 2013, 03:13:13 am
Not sure what this other conversation is that you refer to - that caused people to hatefully thumbs-down your videos? That doesn't sound like something typical members here would do?

They wouldn't. It's genuine feedback that they didn't like the video (for whatever reason).
He just doesn't think that's possible, so assumes they are going on some sort of hate attack against him.  ::)
Title: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: WarSim on August 30, 2013, 04:11:38 am
Didn't find this thread until now, though I missed something but my thread scan says I didn't. 
I have been viewing a lot of Verilog / VHDL videos for pointers, make the leap from GALs many moons ago to the new age. 

I may have viewed the first 10 seconds of these videos. 
If there is background music I turn it off, this goes for all videos, except music videos. 
I like the music I like, I don't like to have someone to dictate what I listen too. 
I even turn off all background music in video games. 
Background music in a technical video is applying a condition of viewing, and I say no. 
I also support anyone's right to refuse to watch such videos for this reason. 

Yes I do realize the elevator music syndrome is rampant on youtube, and I still do not like it.
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: EEVblog on August 30, 2013, 05:10:26 am
Background music in a technical video is applying a condition of viewing, and I say no. 

I also have the same feeling for intros, which is one of the reasons why I simply dropped the intro, and the music from the outro went too.
Title: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: WarSim on August 30, 2013, 01:40:29 pm

Background music in a technical video is applying a condition of viewing, and I say no. 

I also have the same feeling for intros, which is one of the reasons why I simply dropped the intro, and the music from the outro went too.
I thought "Hi welcome to EEVBLOG" was your intro. :)
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: MacAttak on August 30, 2013, 03:36:03 pm
I thought "Hi welcome to EEVBLOG" was your intro. :)

It's more like

Quote
HIII! Welcome to EEV Blawg!
Right.
I'm your host, David Jones!
Ta-day we are talking about....

Sorry, I can't even read that without hearing it in my mind in Dave's voice :)
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: hans on August 31, 2013, 09:59:51 pm
He quite possibly could have left, or just simply logged out so his profile doesn't update 'last active time' and is still reading. Sorry for the awful conspiracy theory, must be contagious somehow. :-X

I guess without any background music the videos will quickly 'feel' empty. Because at that moment it's basically an annotated screen capture of someone typing out a bunch of code. However, I agree that I like to have my own choice of music and very often turn music off in any utility, game or whatever I play.

Additionally I wonder if video is the best way of communication for code tutorials. I've been programming since I was 12 years old and never watched coding tutorials. Personally I think coding is best learned from text unless there is a continuous flow in the video for the viewer to experience, and even at that time it's very hard to follow.
Look at mythbusters. Count the number of computer myths they have done. That's like 1: pilot episode "Exploding CD's". Everything related to electronics and computers is hard to visualize for the mainstream. I think in this case it's similar, as code is just a bunch of text without much meaning from a large scale, unless you read line by line.

Then again, very often video is not the optimal way of communication so in that sense it's just a preference.
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: MacAttak on September 01, 2013, 12:14:50 am
Many people would disagree with that. High-density presentation of development content is hugely popular. The key things are

Part of our business happens to be in the area of online software development educational content. This is a booming industry - triple-digit annual growth - far stronger than we ever thought likely. We too weren't really sold on the idea of video delivery of development content... but the sales and subscription numbers don't lie.
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: hans on September 01, 2013, 09:07:56 pm
Maybe trends are changing and video content is becoming more popular. There are also more content distribution platforms erupting, with tons of bandwith, supporting this trend.

The 'high density presentation' sounds a bit like how the Ben Heck show is done. There is no coughing, everything is in fast synchronization and it's almost clinical and unpersonal to watch. I guess that's a 5th element: style & esthetics , but maybe for companies that's less important than for individual person channels.



Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: MacAttak on September 01, 2013, 11:07:48 pm
Yes, I think that is the main distinction. It's OK to show personality and not edit out all of the mistakes in something like a teardown or review video or even a "how-to" video. But something that is purely a tutorial or instructional video should be as focused and clear as possible.

Our videos are part of a paid subscription service, so obviously there is a higher expectation there about the presentation of the content.
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: mswhin63 on September 02, 2013, 12:20:10 pm
Just saw the latest update with no music - Great start and obviously listened, May not want to share it with this community but it is out there - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WK5FT5RD1sU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WK5FT5RD1sU)
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: FrankBuss on September 02, 2013, 12:46:57 pm
Just saw the latest update with no music - Great start and obviously listened, May not want to share it with this community but it is out there - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WK5FT5RD1sU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WK5FT5RD1sU)
I don't like it. Voice over and the captions together is distracting. Maybe he should use the Youtube captions feature, then people can turn it on or off as they like.

And for the video itself: it doesn't make much sense to watch a guy typing, correcting and indenting source code for half an hour (I felt asleep after the first 3 minutes). See this example how to present source code: http://youtu.be/BUvFGTxZBG8?t=13m53s (http://youtu.be/BUvFGTxZBG8?t=13m53s).

But he explained some interesting things for beginners how VGA works and how you can generate it with VHDL. If the video were more dense, it would be good.
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: MacAttak on September 02, 2013, 05:19:13 pm
I had watched it with the music already, and yep the one without music is much easier to watch. I don't mind the captioning text as long as it doesn't cover up the part of the video that you are trying to see.
Title: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: WarSim on September 02, 2013, 06:26:59 pm

Just saw the latest update with no music - Great start and obviously listened, May not want to share it with this community but it is out there - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WK5FT5RD1sU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WK5FT5RD1sU)

Definitely watchable. 
The video showed some interesting methods to achieve the subject goal.
The video style is defiantly appealing to what I have interpreted to be his intended target audience. 

Yes it isn't a high density technical brief, that would be appealing to some.  Ergo a white paper. 
Nor was it a high speed advertisement for the tools he was using.  Ergo a Promo video.
I thought it was made to show others that such a task is achievable without a lot of effort.  Ergo a tutorial. 

A tech brief nor a clip mash up would be able to show how easy the task can be.  I think he is on the right track and the format will improve over time. 

One thing I will critique is, at times he was typing behind his head at times.
Title: Re: My FPGA tutorials
Post by: BravoV on September 04, 2013, 05:37:42 am
Ok, that as my last contribution to the eevblog.

I dont feel comfortable in this community for many resons.Bye

Looks like he is stuck here forever and probably will never leave.  :-DD

Suggesting to change to new nick here and also at youtube, and with more nick at yt you can add more thumb down.  ;)

Captured screen on latest Dave's video.