[Colmino]

Tons of capture cards around, fewer which are supported by Dscaler, fewer still which have a component input.


Svideo is okay, but component is better. Since it's all analog, the better I can have it, the less I'll worry about the inevitable degradation.


Dscaler compatibility is extremely important. Basically what I intend to do is capture NTSC video (from all sorts of sources: gaming consoles, VCR, DirecTV), deinterlace it with Dscaler, scale it with (heck if I know; still researching), and then output it with a Radeon (something) via its DVI-out. The reason I mention all of this is on the off-chance that somebody has a better solution (for example, maybe there is a capture card with component-in AND DVI-out).


I know about the IgniterRT. Not sure if it's Dscaler-compatible, but the price (thousands of dollars) makes it moot. I've found plenty of cards with everything I need _except_ component-in, for $400 or less.


This doesn't seem to be common knowledge. Does anyone know of a Dscaler-compatible capture card with component input, which will be able to function in a PC with a Radeon? Thanks in advance.

 

[Colmino]

I forgot to mention that I'm going to be scaling the video to 1365x1024 (or 1368x1024, or 1366x1024, depending on which resolution turns out to be the valid one). Shouldn't make a difference. Just thought I'd mention it in advance.

 

[Tony Lai]

There are no component Brooktrees. You must remember that the Brooktree is a very old, very basic budget chipset. I'm sure it dates back to 1997/1998. As such it is usually used only on cheap cards.


Just find a cheap card on the Dscaler list with s-video input. You use the basic WDM and Dscaler. That is it.


T.

 

[Colmino]

> There are no component Brooktrees. You must remember that the Brooktree is a very old, very basic budget chipset. I'm sure it dates back to 1997/1998. As such it is usually used only on cheap cards.


This seems to be saying that Dscaler only works with this specific chipset. I was under the impression that it worked with a variety of chipsets.


Okay, different possibility. There are component-to-VGA converters out there, and they are supposed to be basically lossless, supposedly because component and VGA are not dissimilar.


So, how about using a VGA capture card, deinterlacing that with Dscaler, scaling with whatever, and outputting DVI? Does a VGA capture card even exist? Would Dscaler work with such video?

 

[dschmelzer]

Colmino: There aren't any analog component input cards that are compatible with DScaler, at least not yet (might change in a couple of months, but it's tough to say). Digital component is available through SDI, but this is another kettle of fish and takes a different connector.


Tony: Actually, the Brooktree is a very nice chipset, and not really that basic. It includes both a video decoder and video bridge in one chip. I think you'll find that the Philips video bridge was a lot more basic, for instance, and they came in at similar prices. There is/was nothing stopping people from implementing the Brooktree with an analog component video decoder at very high quality.


The new Conexant chip is even less basic (it adds worldwide audio decoding, 10-bit video decoding and a VIP port), but comes in at an even lower price than its predecessors. It should be a real blockbuster on these forums.

 

[Colmino]

> Colmino: There aren't any analog component input cards that are compatible with DScaler, at least not yet (might change in a couple of months, but it's tough to say). Digital component is available through SDI, but this is another kettle of fish and takes a different connector.


Okay. May I ask what card(s) have SDI and are compatible with Dscaler? Since this sounds like the method for getting the best possible quality out of a HTPC and still be able to use Dscaler, this is what I'll pursue.


I am taking it for granted that there will be some way to convert analog component to digital component. The names of these formats imply some similarities.

 

[bonfigleo]

What you need is an SDI Silk card. AVS sells them as a custom add on to systems. I ordered mine from Cellar Cinemas. You will also need a dvd player that has been modified for SDI output. Immersive sells these and they even have a pre-modified unit that they sell.


For attempting to do this yourself (not recommended unless you have some serious soldering skills) check out this thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...threadid=47128


Not sure why more people aren't catching onto this as it seems, in theory at least, to be the best possible solution.


Thanks,

Matt

 

[Colmino]

> You will also need a dvd player that has been modified for SDI output.

> Not sure why more people aren't catching onto this as it seems, in theory at least, to be the best possible solution.


Well, I wasn't really after a method for going from DVD to HTPC via SDI, but it does make sense; a real DVD player is certainly easier to use and less of a bulky kludge. Although I don't imagine this solution would give a better image than using the HTPC itself to play the DVDs.