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Video Capture Card
For: Mepis 7 Betas by: je.saist One of my goals of MepisGuides is to do everything inside of Linux. From the webpage design to the layout of each guide, to the content of the Guides, everything needs to be done inside of Linux. For this reason I have avoided video capture. While I have several cards that will work under Windows, I have not had any card that would successfully work under Linux. However, an existing client was kind enough when junking a few personal computers to grant salvage rights. While I have little interest in collecting more Pentium III processors, I was quite interested in one of the PCI cards, a Leadtek WinFast TV 2000 XP Deluxe edition card.  The tech specs of the card place it below the existing capture cards I have, such as the Plextor ConvertX, or the ATi Theater 550 Pro. However, the ATi Theater 550 Pro isn't supported at all under Linux, and while the ConvertX driver is under GPLv2, nobody has bothered to include it. The Leadtek, however, is recognized under Linux. 1: Kinfocenter Kinfocenter shows that the card is using Brooktree Corporation components.  2: kdetv I've already run through the kdetv setup and there isn't anything connected. However, there is a static picture.  3: kdetv settings Under settings we can see that kdetv sees the BT878 video input.  4: Which is also shown by clicking on Video.  While I am lacking the composite / S-video adapter, the NTSC cable input function still works, originally tested with an N64. From Radioshack then I picked up an RF-Modulator that converts S-Video and RCA Composite into NTSC Broadcast.  There, however, is a significant problem with doing so. Most capture cards have a maximum capture of 640*480. The lowest usable resolution in Mepis is about 800*600. In previous captures on ATi All-In-Wonders it was noted that there was some image degradation due to the image size conversion. The RadioShack Modulator outputs at about 320*240. The result is that pictures captured through the Modulator have issues with color balance and fuzziness. 4 test guides were created using the current capture solution. Indirectly, the capture session also generated an issue with my Playstation Portable. Take me back to the guides. |