Xixax Film Forum

Creative Corner => Filmmakers' Workshop => Topic started by: Xixax on January 09, 2003, 08:11:18 PM

Title: Hardware Suggestions
Post by: Xixax on January 09, 2003, 08:11:18 PM
I'm looking at a couple of low-end digital with analog capture boards. I wondered if anyone here had any thoughts regarding the comparisons of the Matrox Rx.10 and the Pinnacle AVDV Capture Card (packaged with Pinnacle Studio Deluxe).

It's my understanding that the Pinnacle board will not work with Premiere for capture, but I believe you can edit in Premiere after you capture in another proprietary Pinnacle utility.

The downside to the Matrox board is that it comes bundled with Premiere 6.5 (which I already own) - a waste. And, it's about $300 more than the Pinnacle board. Oh, and it uses a lot of CPU power, and I am afraid that my Athlon 750 won't be enough horsepower for it.

I need one Premiere 6.5 compatible capture board with both firewire and analog inputs that's not a CPU hog. Any suggestions?

I am currently using a Miro DC30 Plus, which Pinnacle crapped out on supporting a few years ago.
Title: Hardware Suggestions
Post by: picolas on January 09, 2003, 08:20:56 PM
hmmm...not sure if this is the answer, but here's the thingy (http://mirror.ati.com/products/pc/aiwve/index.html) i've been using...it works pretty well...
Title: Hardware Suggestions
Post by: Xixax on January 09, 2003, 08:24:51 PM
Unfortunately, that's an analog only capture board.  :(
Title: Hardware Suggestions
Post by: picolas on January 09, 2003, 08:27:06 PM
really? weird...mine came with a purple box that had a firewire port...maybe i got a deal of some kind...
Title: Hardware Suggestions
Post by: sphinx on January 09, 2003, 09:01:33 PM
Quote from: picolasreally? weird...mine came with a purple box that had a firewire port...maybe i got a deal of some kind...

you have a separate firewire card in your computer.  the box you mentioned merely runs through the inside of your computer and connects to the ATI card (analog), the firewire card, and whatever else you have.  it's basically so you just don't have to go messing around the back of your computer.  i have yet to find a decent video card that houses both analog and firewire, it just ain't.
Title: Hardware Suggestions
Post by: aclockworkjj on January 12, 2003, 01:18:47 PM
Mr. Admin

I am currently running Premiere 6.5 .....and when it comes to capturing ....I have found it much easier to use the bulit in Device Control 2.0 (I think that is what it's called), usually it will allow you to by-pass any 3rd party plug-ins.  I am not totally familiar with your cards in question....but I have had a lot of luck with the built in device capture versus the Premiere plug-ins that came with my hardware.  I could just be feeding you rubbish, but that is one thing that has worked wonders for me as far actually capturing something right into Premiere.
Title: Hardware Suggestions
Post by: sphinx on January 12, 2003, 01:30:09 PM
Quote from: aclockworkjjMr. Admin

I am currently running Premiere 6.5 .....and when it comes to capturing ....I have found it much easier to use the bulit in Device Control 2.0 (I think that is what it's called), usually it will allow you to by-pass any 3rd party plug-ins.  I am not totally familiar with your cards in question....but I have had a lot of luck with the built in device capture versus the Premiere plug-ins that came with my hardware.  I could just be feeding you rubbish, but that is one thing that has worked wonders for me as far actually capturing something right into Premiere.

good point, but we're talking about the actual cards that the camera plugs into which enables premiere or whatever program you're using to capture.  (xixax was talking about hardware, not software)
Title: Hardware Suggestions
Post by: aclockworkjj on January 12, 2003, 04:01:34 PM
Yeah ....I realized that...but if he found a card that works for him....but doesn't come with a Premiere Plug-in.....that doesn't always mean you can't use it to directly input into Premiere....that was the only point I was making.  For instance....My Sony Vaio....has a DvGate plug-in to premiere....DvGate is a piece of shit....as soon as I diabled the plug-in and went to the generic Device Control....smooth sailing!  So, if you found a card that works well for your needs don't get discouraged cause it doesn't come with a Premiere plug-in....there are ways around it.
Title: Hardware Suggestions
Post by: Xixax on January 15, 2003, 04:56:34 PM
Well, I just bought some new gear for better video action...

Asus motherboard with 2.4G Pentium4 CPU and 1 gig ram
120 MB hard drive
Matrox G550 dual-head video card
Matrox RT.X10 capture board

I settled on the RT.x10 because it had both analog and firewire ins, and it can capture analog video directly to DV codec which will make it super easy for transferring VHS to Video CD or DVD.

Look for a big load of junk to hit ebay soon from the old system  :D
Title: Hardware Suggestions
Post by: sphinx on January 15, 2003, 07:24:01 PM
Quote from: Xixax
120 MB hard drive

er?
Title: Hardware Suggestions
Post by: Xixax on January 15, 2003, 07:36:05 PM
Heh. Yeah. That'll get me, what, about 10 seconds of video?

:oops:
Title: Hardware Suggestions
Post by: Xeditor on January 18, 2003, 12:56:29 PM
I recomend Pinnacle's DV 500 capture card.  Comes with analog, s-video, and dv inputs and outputs.  Runs perfect w/ Premiere and has Miro Instant Video meaning no rendering needed.
Title: Hardware Suggestions
Post by: Xixax on January 18, 2003, 01:36:15 PM
I looked closely at the Pinnacle series, but again they're all digital. I wanted something with analog ins so I could work from both analog and digital sources.

Another thing that chaps me about Pinnacle products (I've been using them for about 6 years) is that they are HORRIBLE about supporting their products after they go out of production. If you get Pinnacle hardware that's close to the end of it's selling life, you can forget about driver revisions after it leaves production. That's the main reason I'm upgrading my analog board now, because the Pinnacle drivers are going on 2 years old, never to be supported.

I understand planned obsolescence, but Pinnacle is bad about it.

Matrox has a much better history of supporting hardware that's no longer in production.
Title: Hardware Suggestions
Post by: aclockworkjj on January 19, 2003, 10:53:30 AM
It's always about support.....damn them!!!  You should see what a pain in the ass it has been trying to get Mac OSX drivers for some products....finally most companies are coming around.....too bad it's taken them so long!
Title: Hardware Suggestions
Post by: Xixax on January 29, 2003, 05:40:24 PM
Well, the new system is in and built and installed, and it rocks.

I'm very pleased with the Matrox RT-X.10. It has digital and analog capture, and was only about $490, WITH a full copy of Premiere 6.5!

It even recognized my cheapo Panasonic DV camera without any extra drivers. It has machine control and everything.

Running it on Windows XP, on a 2.4 Ghz Pentium 4, with an ASUS (Intel chipset) mobo.

I'm even using the cheeseball onboard audio and there have been zero compatibility issues.

Major thumbs up on this one!!!
Title: Hardware Suggestions
Post by: aclockworkjj on February 03, 2003, 09:58:55 AM
Xixax...what is your main purpose with the board?  To capture DV from a camera or to capture say VHS footage?  Or both?  Sorry, just curious....
Title: Hardware Suggestions
Post by: Xixax on February 03, 2003, 10:53:26 AM
Quote from: aclockworkjjXixax...what is your main purpose with the board?  To capture DV from a camera or to capture say VHS footage?  Or both?  Sorry, just curious....
Well, my "excuse" for buying it is that we're a multimedia company, and we get source material for internet compression from a lot of different formats. VHS, Super VHS, Mini DV, and file uploads. So, you can see why we'd need analog and digital inputs. My DV deck, unfortunately, is just a camera. If I had an actual deck, I could use it for the A/D conversion, but we haven't invested in one yet.

But more selfishly, I wanted the digital in so I could play with making DV shorts.  :)
Title: Hardware Suggestions
Post by: aclockworkjj on February 03, 2003, 08:38:42 PM
Quote from: Xixax
It even recognized my cheapo Panasonic DV camera without any extra drivers. It has machine control and everything.

Are you using a Premiere plug-in or just the generic device conrol?...again, just curious as to what worked best for ya.  Reguardless, I am glad to see everything seems to be falling into place for you....thus supporting my greatest theory....buy now, worry later!!!
Title: Hardware Suggestions
Post by: Xixax on February 03, 2003, 08:45:50 PM
I just plugged it in and turned it on. Windows XP recognized my Panasonic DV-1000 camera as soon as the firewire was plugged in to the port, and before I knew what was going on, I was controlling the little camera's deck with onscreen controls. Pretty darn nifty.

I wouldn't want to do any real editing with that little thing. It would probably wear out pretty quickly. But, it's great for dumping things straight to the HD and editing from there.