Re: Canvassing for Linux support for Startech PEXHDCAP
On 16/09/2013 19:09, Devin Heitmueller wrote: To be clear, this card is a *raw* capture card. It does not have any hardware compression for H.264. It's done entirely in software. Ok, well I misunderstood that. And, in addition, I also thought that hardware encoding *reduced* latency, something you seem to indicate is not true. If this is stored in a file, somehow it needs to be encoded, I just imagined that metal was faster than code. Aside from the Mstar video decoder (for which there is no public documentation), you would also need a driver for the saa7160 chip, which there have been various half-baked drivers floating around but nothing upstream, and none of them currently support HD capture (AFAIK). Well the chip thing is confusing me. 1) I don't understand the difference between the MST3367CMK-LF-170 and the saa7160. Is one analogue and one digital? Or do they perform different steps in the process (like one does encoding and one does the DMA thing? 2) If you look here, http://katocctv.en.alibaba.com/product/594834688-213880911/1080p_PCIe_Video_Grabber_Video_Capture_Card.html You'll see a very similar card with an extra chip. You can just see that it is produced by Gennum (but I can't see the number). There is also another chip on the underside, maybe this is the saa7160? And maybe it's on the underside of the PEXHDCAP too. This is actually the one I saw working. As I say it was very fast and high quality, but under windows. Scroll down and you see this: Operation System: WINDOWS XP /VISTA/ 7 Linux 2.6. 14 or higher (32-bit and 64-bit) Drilling into this, it appeared the statement was more aspirational than actual, but that it *had* been compatible, but there was not yet an available driver. They would need to recompile something to include the latest linux libraries before it would be possible to write the drivers. I've no idea what this could mean. Although 2 clients had indeed written gstreamer drivers, one was Cisco systems, but had kept the code to themselves. and none of them currently support HD capture (AFAIK). What does this mean? No saa7160 drivers, or no drivers period? I have the Intensity Pro doing full-screen 1080i capture with minimal latency, but I hate the decklinksrc module. It just does nearly nothing. Maybe it could be re-written for v4l2src, but anyway it only accepts YPbPr, as I said before. As always, a driver *can* be written, but it would be a rather large project (probably several weeks of an engineer working full time on it, assuming the engineer has experience in this area). In this case it's worse because a significant amount of reverse engineering would be required. Kato Vision agreed with you. They were saying a few months (maybe two or three). They didn't offer to write it, but they offered technical support with the driver-writing. Thanks for your input. Regards Steve -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line unsubscribe linux-media in the body of a message to majord...@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Re: Canvassing for Linux support for Startech PEXHDCAP
On 17/09/2013 12:38, Devin Heitmueller wrote: Nope, the opposite. In order to compress the video you need to store enough context to look for repetition. Ok, quite intuitive, once you know what to look for. Yup. We've been through the exercise several times with various HD capture boards. Adjust the multiplier based on the level of experience of the developer doing the work. So it is do-able. That's good to know. If I want to capture 480i/576i and 1080i analogue my alternatives seem to be: - Something like Dazzle, $50 (480i/576i only - s-video and composite), - Intensity Pro, $200 (480i in s-video and composite, plus, 480i/576i 1080i in Component but YPbPr only). S-Video and Component in 480i/576i seem to have very similar picture quality. Which leaves me with how to capture RGBS 1080i composite synch. What do you think of Epiphan VGA2USB (with the internal PCIe mounting kit)? The basic model at $299 doesn't cover RGBS, but it does do 1080i. Maybe I could use a sync splitter and inverter, like the LS1881n, to make the RGBS composite synch fit the VGA H+V pins. The LR at $799 doesn't seem to capture 1080i. I thought it did, but now I look at the website again, I can't see it. Have you used it? If not those then there is only the HR at $1,600 :( But Epiphan appears to support v4l2 and gstreamer. Is it fast? I guess it doesn't do S-Video and Composite. If not Epiphan then what? The Epixinc PIXCI® A310? It seems quite a hard problem. Regards Steve. -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line unsubscribe linux-media in the body of a message to majord...@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Canvassing for Linux support for Startech PEXHDCAP
Hi People, I just wrote an email to this group about the Hauppauge 01381. Really it was a fall-back choice. If I can't get anything else then that might be my only option left. But here is my preferred choice. The Startech PEXHDCAP. It costs about $100 here: http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-Express-Video-Capture-1080p/dp/B007U5MGBE/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top Here is a review of it: http://www.videogameperfection.com/av-gear/startech-pexhdcap-hdmirgbvgacomponent-capture-card-review/ Here is the spec: http://www.startech.com/AV/Converters/Video/PCI-Express-HD-Video-Capture-Card-1080p-HDMI-DVI-VGA-Component~PEXHDCAP#tchspcs But the main spec points (for me at least) are - It's based on the Mstar MST3367CMK chip as are many similar cards, - It's PCIe connection - It has inputs of: --- Component Video (YPbPr) --- DVI-I (plus a vga adaptor) --- HDMI --- Stereo Audio - Maximum Digital Resolution: 1080p30 - TV input resolution: 1080i/p, 720p, 576i/p, 480i/p - PC input resolution: 1920x1080, 1440x900, 1280x1024, 1280x960, 1280x720, 1024x768, 800x600 - MPEG4/H.264 hardware compression. But: - OS Compatibility Windows® There are already a number of positive reviews for this card around the place together with it's twin the Micomsoft SC-500N1. I would like to ask for expressions of interest for putting together a group of like-minded interested people to build an open source v4l2 driver and associated gstreamer bits and pieces, together with specifying any hardware that might be required. I'd like to identify or specify any (cheap) converters, sync splitters and the like which would make it work for the full range of signals (eg Composite and S-video - that s-video-like mini-port in the picture is actually a YPbPr Component input). I would be great for gaming, medical image capture, university and research purposes. Please let me know what you think. Regards Steve. -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line unsubscribe linux-media in the body of a message to majord...@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Re: Canvassing for Linux support for Startech PEXHDCAP
On Mon, Sep 16, 2013 at 4:27 PM, Steve Cookson i...@sca-uk.com wrote: Here is the spec: http://www.startech.com/AV/Converters/Video/PCI-Express-HD-Video-Capture-Card-1080p-HDMI-DVI-VGA-Component~PEXHDCAP#tchspcs But the main spec points (for me at least) are - It's based on the Mstar MST3367CMK chip as are many similar cards, - It's PCIe connection - It has inputs of: --- Component Video (YPbPr) --- DVI-I (plus a vga adaptor) --- HDMI --- Stereo Audio - Maximum Digital Resolution: 1080p30 - TV input resolution: 1080i/p, 720p, 576i/p, 480i/p - PC input resolution: 1920x1080, 1440x900, 1280x1024, 1280x960, 1280x720, 1024x768, 800x600 - MPEG4/H.264 hardware compression. To be clear, this card is a *raw* capture card. It does not have any hardware compression for H.264. It's done entirely in software. Aside from the mstar video decoder (for which there is no public documentation), you would also need a driver for the saa7160 chip, which there have been various half-baked drivers floating around but nothing upstream, and none of them currently support HD capture (AFAIK). As always, a driver *can* be written, but it would be a rather large project (probably several weeks of an engineer working full time on it, assuming the engineer has experience in this area). In this case it's worse because a significant amount of reverse engineering would be required. Devin -- Devin J. Heitmueller - Kernel Labs http://www.kernellabs.com -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line unsubscribe linux-media in the body of a message to majord...@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
