3rd Party Video Capture & Playback Cards?

[K-Wolf]

I'm reviewing options for a video capture and playback card for a 002 Rack unit on the Mac PPC G52.0GHz DP. What are the cheapest vs. most reliable options?

[K-Wolf]

Even the Digi product specialists don't really know which Quicktime cards work and which don't, which is kind of suprising considering that previously Canopus ADVC or Igniter cards used to work. Of course, its not frame accurate but all I need is a guide for Voice overs and corporate video post work.

anyone out there using a working system with basic video? a rather expensive option is using Gallery's Virtual VTR but that would sit on another Mac and budget is of essence.

anyone?

[K-Wolf]

doesn't anyone have this configuration? anyway, does the canopus advc100 work to output quicktime video from Protools Le?

[Craig F]

only .dv

[Gaurang Arora]

For playback:

You are fortunate to have a G5. All G5's have either one or two DVI monitor outputs. If you are not using a Dual Monitor system for your protools, then you can buy a DVI to Composite Adapter from any Apple reseller. Once protools detects a dual monitor/TV in place, it will have the facility of giving a full screen output to the second monitor.
The best part is, the QuickTime file can be in any Codec of your choice(even mpeg 1 & 2, mpeg4, H.263, H.264(the latest one) are compatible.

For Record:

Buy a Canopus ADVC 110 or any Analog to DV Convertor. Try Pinnacle AV/DV its about one-third the price of Canopus. You can chhose the Codec of your choice while capturing. Apple MJPEGA should be the best with minimum or zero frame skipping.

I have been doing this on my G4 1.25 Dual from past 4 years and deal with the best of clients. I am satisfied with such a set-up.
Try your luck

[K-Wolf]

I checked the specifications of Pinnacle's Studio AV/DV. Apparently its PC only so that won't do. I'm going to try working the ADVC110 from Canopus but am not sure if it'll allow playback of video from ProTools timeline. Any ideas?

[Starcrash]

I'm going to try working the ADVC110 from Canopus but am not sure if it'll allow playback of video from ProTools timeline. Any ideas?

It does play from the timeline. You import the Quicktime movie as usual and from the Options menu choose "Play DV Quicktime out firewire port."

Before you decide to go that route, do a search for "Canopus" in the Post & Surround part of this forum. There are literally hundreds of posts about this device pro and con. The biggest drawback is the latency which is about 5-6 frames and has to be compensated for using the "Quicktime movie offset" in Pro Tools. Unless you need your two displays for Soundminer or whatever, the Apple DVI-Video adaptor works just as well, doesn't have any noticeable latency (as far as I know), and only costs about $20 USD. Also note that when using the Canopus device, the floating Quicktime window that plays from the timeline will be blacked out with a message that says "Quicktime movie is playing out the firewire port" or something to that effect.

The way that I like to work is the simplest. I use the extended desktop feature in Mac OS with two computer displays. On the second (video) display I set the screen resolution to 640x480 (don't do this with Pro Tools open or you will crash it). Pro Tools automatically blows the picture up to full screen if the movie resolution is either 320x240 or 640x480. I always ask the picture editor to export at this setting. With most other resolutions you will see the window border but the picture will at least appear magnified because of the resolution setting on the display. At the facility where I do post-production film work, this is how all of the editing stations are set up and it works great. If you need multiple monitor displays for ADR/ foley, then you might have to do some more homework. Maybe look into the Aurora FuseX which is a PCI card. Good luck.

[Lydonius]

I have been having a hard time getting my mac to spit out video .I had a aurora igniter,but with a dual 867 G4 It sceamed distortion out my mbox outputs, when i added a few plugins. I thought about canopus.
all it does is convert the DV signal out of the mac to video. I thought maybe my digital camera would work.I bought a cannon zr45 a few years ago because you could digitize in your old analogue tapes into you computer using a firewire connection.
I plugged it in, and wow it works great. protools doesn't care its not a canopus.Its just spitting video out the dv port.I paid $300 for the camera years ago.the canopus is less, but hey I already had the camera.I bet they are really cheap used.
Pat Lydon
Playboy TV
Post Production Audio

[Starcrash]

That's right. A DV camcorder with a firewire port works, too. Pro Tools doesn't know the difference. However, the latency is equivalent or even worse than the Canopus (usually about 22 quarter-frames). And, unless things have changed recently, even with the video offset in PT the scrub function is still out of sync. This is not a very reliable or professional solution. The $20 Apple DVI-video adapter is still a better bet unless you don't have a second DVI out.

[froyo]

Hello. I have mentioned this on other related threads. A lot of computer monitors nowadays have an 'Out' or 'Thru' port. Whether that's VGA, DVI or Video port, etc. that enables us to pass on what's on the computer screen to a TV monitor or projector. Another way to do it is to split the signal coming out of the computer and send one signal to the computer monitor and the other to the TV monitor. You can spend $40 or so on simple splitters, DA's, etc or go for hundreds of dollars on full fledged video racks. Good luck.