General Tools and Instruments DCS1600 - Manual (Page 3)

INTRODUCTION
Thank you for purchasing General Tools & Instruments’ (General’s) DCS1600 High-Performance
Recording Video Borescope System. Please read this user’s manual carefully and thoroughly before
using the instrument.
The DCS1600 is a complete system that combines an H16 Handheld Recording Video Borescope
Console with a P16181SR-M flexible-obedient probe, which is 1m (39 in.) long and has a diameter of
5.5mm (0.22 in.). This user's manual refers to the H16, rather than to the DCS1600; both units are
functionally identical. A list of all probes compatible with the H16 console can be found on p. 14.
The H16 has a 3.5-inch (diagonal) color LCD. A thumbwheel on the left side of the console allows you
to adjust the brightness of the LEDs illuminating the camera at the end of the included probe or any
compatible probe.
The console has three operating modes: Preview, Playback and Menu:
• In Preview mode, video framed by the camera’s field of view is displayed in real time on the
console’s LCD. The H16 automatically enters this mode when powered on. A front-panel button
allows you to enlarge (zoom in on) a target by 50% (a zoom level of 1.5X). The same button
allows you to “mirror” video, making it possible to read serial numbers seen and “reversed” by
an attached probe with a mirrored viewing tip. In Preview mode, real-time video also can be
exported through an included video cable to any NTSC- or PAL-format TV with RCA input jacks.
Operating in Preview mode, the H16 also allows you to record inspection videos (at 320 x 240
pixel resolution) and photos (at 640 x 480 pixel resolution) on an included SD memory card by
pressing icon-labeled buttons on the console’s front panel. The remaining front-panel buttons
enable access to Playback and Menu modes.
• In Playback mode, you can browse the SD card for saved video and picture files and view the
media on the console’s LCD or a larger TV monitor. Video clips and photos also can be viewed on
a PC in either of two ways: 1) by removing the SD card and plugging it into the computer directly
or through a card reader; or 2) by using a supplied cable to connect the H16 to the PC through
one of its USB ports. Because videos are saved as .asf files and photos as .jpg files, applications
found on most PCs (Microsoft Windows Media Player and Microsoft Office Picture Manager) can
open the files. The 2GB SD memory card included with the H16 can store at least 5 hours of
video, recorded at an average of 6 Mbytes/minute, in addition to hundreds of photos.
• In Menu mode, you use familiar scrolling motions and responses to dialog boxes to navigate a
main menu with six submenus. When selected, submenu items execute “housekeeping”
functions such as deleting files, setting the date and time, enabling or disabling date and time
stamps, choosing any of 14 languages for display indications, selecting a Video Out format and
adjusting the console’s Auto Power Off trigger. One of the submenus has a sub-submenu that
allows you to adjust four attributes (brightness, contrast, hue and saturation) of video viewed on
the console or an external monitor.
3