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Cross-Platform Video Capture Cards And TV Tuners?
ePIsOdEOnline writes "This Christmas reminded me of the times when you were a child and your parents bought that new toy that says on the packaging "Batteries Not Included". Post-Christmas rituals always turn into spending sprees to get other things that will be compatible and complementary to the gifts we recieved. This past Christmas, I recieved a PS2 along with a mini-dv camera set. Well, now I'll need something to view these with since I don't have a television in my apartment. So, I was looking into picking up a TV-tuner card for my computer. What kind of cards has the slashdot crowd been successful with, and which ones should I steer clear of? I'd like to be able to use the card in linux and sometimes windows, to watch and record off of. What kinds of software/hardware should I invest in, and is it an easy, accomplishable task to delve into?"
You can find a reasonable TV set for $15 at the local thrift shop. Make things easy on yourself.
As for my suggestion to the questioner. Get what you're comfortable with, the ATI ALL-IN-WONDER cards are nice, and from what I understand *most* are supported under Linux. (How hard is it to do video overlays in X?)
check out the open source stuff that will compile nicely on OS X
There's some open source stuff out there, but if you're looking for anything for editing -- and you want to do editing that looks good, with a fade in and fade out, and want frame accuracy, you're S.O.L. There's some stuff out there, but a lot of it is not as good as it claims to be, or is hard to work with (Cinelerra), or only works with one file format (Cinelerra), or isn't supported and development seems to have stopped (Jahshaka), or is in very early stages of development (KDEnliven), or is only for simple stuff (like editing out commercials).
Plus, if he goes with an external Firewire tuner, he can use one of the spare ports on his Firewire card to import from the camcorder (zero quality loss).
If he's careful, he'll end up with a solution that not only works under Windows and Linux, but would be moveable to a Mac if he ever decided to make that switch.
Since cross platform compatibility was a major concern for the OP, I'd say PCI cards should be ruled out from the start.
Back in the late <gasp> '80s, I bought a 27" Sony TV, and declared that I wasn't going to do anything but replace broken video gear until HDTV came out. 15 years later, I've finally broken down and replaced the (still functional) altar to the entertainment gods.
Nearly a year ago, we finally fell to the temptation of getting a projector. The thing that finally made this happen was the InFocus X1. This is a Not only is the price of the projector quite reasonable, the operating cost is down from $1 per hour (many projectors have $300 bulbs that last around 300 hours) to under $0.10 per hour (the X1 bulb is still around $300, but it lasts 10 times as long).
So, while it's not a TV tuner card, I just had to provide some feedback. We love the projector, it doesn't take up much space, it's easily portable, it makes a 45" TV seem small.
That said, I've heard good things about the Haupage tuner cards using the Brooktree chipset. I haven't tried any of them in over 5 years, so they've surely changed. However, they seemed to work great using Video 4 Linux drivers.
Sean
PC for creating a video. Nothing is better
That is definitely wrong.
There are only 2 (serious) editing programs: Avid and Final Cut Pro.
Avid runs on PC and Mac. Final Cut Pro only runs on Mac so Apple can sell the hardware (they bought the project from Macromedia, killed the Windows version and made the Mac version into Final Cut Pro).
While I'm not a Mac fan, video editing is certainly the area in which a Mac is perfectly suitable for the job. Besides, since Apple's interest is in selling hardware, FCP can easily be copied. That is not the case with Avid which needs a hardware dongle.
the only problem with them(external usb tv tuners) being that they suck.
:(, but the pc will output anything(almost at least) and the tv card will take in anything(pal/ntsc/60hz/50hz and manipulate too).
and tend to use properiaty stuff for transferring the picture..
there should be literally shitloads of old bt* cards supported by the bttv around though, several of which are from companies that have dropped the support 4-5+ years ago on windows side(but that still work as good as ever, with svideo in & etc, but some of them were made by companies that don't even have websites or even existed outside of that one product based around some reference bt-chip card and drivers).
though, it sounds to me like his wishing two things: firewire port for the dv camera and some crappy enough card to get picture out of the ps2.
however, what he could do is that he could buy a fw card for the dv and a so called VGA BOX for the playstation2(liksang has several models for example).
tv cards are handy i must say though,
i occasionally need to run some dreamcast games through my (now quite old)hauppauge, as my tv can't handle 60hz
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Just get a TV for fifty bucks at a pawn shop. It'll probably either be stolen, or have been hocked by someone in desperate straits, so in a sense you'll be trafficing in human misery, but hey, can't beat the prices. That way you'll be able to surf porn while you're watching Letterman.
Sounds like a DIY challenge to Slashdotters, and the reverse engineers they love.
--
make install -not war
The U.S. are probably more dangerous, if not more so, than Iran. How many countries has the U.S. invaded and interfered in? A whole lot more than Iran, my friend! Which of the following nations have dropped nuclear bombs on innocent civilians?
:) so, you see, Iran is a far more safer country than your "angelic" United States.
1) Iran
2) The United States of America
I think the answer is "2"
So, Anonymous Coward, I have read your article and thought about it, just as you wanted. Unlike yourself, though, I am not afraid to put my name to these comments.
Huh? The poster clearly asked for cross-platform solutions, with a heavy emphasis on linux. As far as I know, ATI does not provide a version of their software suite for linux.
Hauppauge cards are supported by a variety of linux PVR software, as well as various commerical programs under windows. Microsoft Media Center???
Further, most modern external PVRs use a firewire interface, and not USB or serial (yes, I am aware that technically many standards fall under 'serial', but I think it's reasonable to assume that parent meant good old RS232 COM ports. Why would anyone use that for video transfer is beyond me).
Hi
I have had a great success with an AverTV Tuner card from Avermedia (www.aver.com), I can even capture in real time from local TV channels, VCR or any other device with Video and Audio out. This is very cheap, but good card.
The card was recognized by the my Mandrake Linux 9.1 and I can use it in both Linux and Windows, but mainly for real time capture in Windows XP using Virtualdub.
You can use Composite, S-Video or just an aerial Antenna as your video source.
P.S.
Of course, you can use other cards, just make sure that the one you purchase comes with the BT878 chip from conexant.
The G400 eTV is a nice card:
see here
Drawbacks:
The nicest thing about the card is that specs for most of the chips are avaiable if you wish to hack it.
To see more about the linux support:
See here.