Meg boards
2 messages in this thread
Hi, I am looking for any information and/or recommendation of an Mpeg, Meg
I or Meg II encoding and playback board.
My first experience was with the "Mpeg Video Producer" put out by Visual
Circuits. The quality of the output was less than the ad had offered (truecolor
30fps.) The output I was receiving was muddy and washed out. I felt FLC.
playback was giving me better results. Thankfully the company offered a
generous "No-risk trial: Moneyback guarantee."
I have just recently seen (at Siggraph) the Mars-Mpeg Recording System
(booth# 2605). I was very impressed with the quality of the images they had
produced. But, unfortunately when the guys at the booth tried to give me a demo
of the actual encoding process and subsequent playback the system would fail to
playback.
If anyone has any info or experience with this system or others I'd like
to hear your comments.
Thanks,
Ron
Hi, Ron…MARS 2 is supposed to be available about now. It has
FCC approval and Daewoo is working out some software bugs. It
supposedly will list for $1495 and will work with your computer's
existing hard-drive. It doesn't require an outboard hard-drive.
Depending on how much changes in each frame, you could possibly
store 1 minute in 40 megabytes! More likely average would be 60
Meg and maybe a bit higher for lotsa movement.
One report I got from Siggraph said it was comparable to the original
PAR in quality. Pretty good when you compare price and data storage
ability.
Right now MARS 2 only will work through an IPAS in 3D Studio. Don't
know if one will be released that will work with anything else. You
should definitely try for an MPEG-2 card if that's the route you're
going. MPEG-2 has so-called "broadcast" resolution of 720×480 and
can do 60 fields. I would stay away from MPEG 1 because of the lower
resolution.
Heard a report from one 3D Studio dealer that other MPEG-2 cards will
be coming out, especially since the new and cheaper IBM encode/decode
chips are available. Don't know if MARS 2 uses them or the Intel ones.
The new PVR is visually superior, but for use of existing equipment,
lower data storage needs, lower cost and decent output, MPEG-2 can't
be beat, especially if you're just outputting to VHS.
Kevin