On Thu, 2003-02-06 at 16:32, Steven Boswell wrote: > >>I'm planning to upgrade to either an LML-33 or a Canopus ADVC-100. > >>[...] > >>Does anyone here have experience with both styles of video capturing? > > > >I have used both LML33 and Canopus ADVC-100. If this is indication of > >what I thought of it, I sent my LML33 back to Linux Media Labs. > > Wow! That's pretty depressing. I really wanted to support any company > dedicated to doing video under Linux. Can you recall any of the nasty > details of what made you dislike the card so much?
My biggest problem with the LML33 was that Linux Media Labs had this awesome card with killer specs on paper, it looked like exactly what I needed to do DVD quality captures. Only problem is that they did not write any drivers for Linux. All the drivers for the card to work under Linux were written by somebody else. First tracking down the drivers was a pain in the ass, the card shipped with no drivers. They said they ran out of CDees and they went ahead and shipped me a card with no drivers or actually, no software at all. A card in a box, in a static bag is all I got. They had some crufty drivers on their website that didn't work at all. I'm not sure how they worked at any point in time well enough for them to post them on their site with a straight face. I ended up searching out some open-source project to get a semi-working driver. Their support was useless in trying to get somebody else's driver to work for me. I was re-installing OSes, re-compiling kernels, troubleshooting broken driver compiles, running in circles for WEEKS. That's right, weeks. I don't consider myself a rookie or a newbie to video capture or Linux. When I finally got the card to do anything, I had field order problems, picture was in black and white, captured files wouldn't work in any software I had and probably a few other problems I can't remember. I posted most of the issues on their public forum, I'll try to scare up some URLs. Some of the issues though were 1 to 1 emails with some clowns in support (with 2-3 day turnaround, I might add). Once I got my Canopus, I kid you not, I had it doing DVD quality captures (actually, that's all it does) in about 10 minutes. I didn't have to screw with a dozen command line options like lavrec uses either. There is basically on one capture qaulity setting. No audio mixer crap to muck with either. Basically the Canopus was just a better fit for what I was trying to do. Dangit, I just checked the support forums on LML's website and they have been taken down. They say due to spam and they are going to switch to NNTP (as if that will get less spam). I wouldn't doubt if unhappy posts such as my entire collection were a proponent of the take down though. I'd like to hear from ANYONE else who has an LML33 and has used the Canopus and dvgrab. Tell me what YOU think of the two products as compared to each other. Also, the Canopus is cheaper by at least $100 plus you don't need a sound card or have as many problems with whacky motherboard chipsets (look for posts to this list with VIA problems) or bus timing issues. Anyway, that's my 2 cents. I'd like to hear comments from others though. Thanks, Aaron Newsome ------------------------------------------------------- This SF.NET email is sponsored by: SourceForge Enterprise Edition + IBM + LinuxWorld = Something 2 See! http://www.vasoftware.com _______________________________________________ Mjpeg-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/mjpeg-users
