#Where is PCI capture??
4 messages in this thread
Curious that there are no PCI video capture devices, at least that I can find.
What gives? Seems a natural for video and audio capture, and, though PCI is
Intel's baby, even the Smart Video Recorder Pro is ISA only. I know Intel folks
won't "comment on unreleased products", but how about some opinion from forum
folks about PCI video capture. Sure would love to auto configure those IRQ's
and memory addresses and get the higher throughput. Thoughts? Regards, Robb.
I agree totally with you concerning the "plug and play" advantages to PCI bus.
I think that you will begin to see many companies entering this arena this
year. PCI seems to be a stable standard now, processors are gaining
workstation speeds, etc. The alternative to this type of thing is something
like a Personal Animation Recorder/TBC-IV combo. The are standard ISA devices
but do not rely on the bus to handle video information. They are processors in
amongst themselves and only use the bus to receive instructions from your
operating system.
752×480, 60 field per second capture is standard with this combo irregardless
of what computer you are running them in. Albiet, this solution is a tad more
expensive than, say, a $500.00 capture card but depending on what quality of
output you wish to attain, it is money well spent. Biggest problem with
standard capture cards (just my opinion) is their compatiblity (or lack
thereof) with whatever video accellerator you happen to have. While there is
supposed to be the VESA 1.2 standard as well as a standard feature connection,
the slightest anomolie an a video card's bios or driver can cause problems.
I use the PAR/TBC combo everyday for everything from 3D animation to
rotoscoping and playing around with the latest video's of my two year old.
Anyway, I think that you will soon see a whole new ere in PCI devices unveiled
at NAB and SIGGRAPH this year. Keep your eyes open!
Dean Oliver
Virtually Real
Robb,
I'll throw this out, as inacurate as it may be. Most of the capture card
makers that I have seen for the PC do everything off the buss except for the
actual HD I/O. Therefore the need for bandwidth is lessened. All of the
"effects" are done through dedicated hardware on the card or offline and
rendered. I am not enough of a hardware guy to tell you even "why" they would
want to do it all in the CPU as oppsoed to using the dedicated card-based
hardware to do the dirty work, but, having seen Amigas do their tricks I can
tell you that there are certainly advantages.
-John
John and Dean,
Thanks for your responses, helpful info. I'll still keep my eyes peeled for
PCI options. Regards, Robb.