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ChevronTango
11 Oct 2009, 10:07
Now I'm working on getting my system together and will be applying for the funding from the mighty ones soon. My main concern is that at the moment, no one on here really has come to any definitive descision on the best capture card for the price. Now the Osprey I've heard mised reviews about but some people have their reservations, and I was leaning towards the NV5000 but people have said as a security system, it doesn't do what I want. I am just after an answer to the age of old question.

My system will be XP for speed and simplicity and as a high end system I'm leaning towards x64 but again people keep telling me that x32 is better because the cards support it. This does limit my system a bit from what I've heard but If I get my cameras all working together I'm not bothered.

I'm looking to have 8 inputs but i'll settle with 4 for now providing I can expand later. I just need someone to say "these are good, these are bad" and give some reasoning. I apreciate that alot of people on here no more about all this than I ever could so I defer to you with great hope.

I suppose I should add in that I'm not after audio support, purely video. I am looking to save money where I can but cannot truly give a price range yet.

ChevronTango
JakobR
11 Oct 2009, 16:08
Will you use audio at all in your system?
If so, audio should really be one of your focuses since sync between video and audio is one of the problems people are having using different video cards.
ChevronTango
11 Oct 2009, 21:02
nah. I have the benefit of a nicely mic'ed hall so the sound will come from an external mixing desk straight to an external recording device. I can delay my video/resync it later if needs be. No audio will be fed into the PC, only the cameras. i think I mentioned I'm looking for 4 to 8 inputs (BNC/composite preferable).

Having said this, and still wanting an answer to My question I am also aware that others with different requirements maybe listening in to this post so if you have some opinions on cards with sound input aswell, whilst I won't look at them, others may find it useful.
ChevronTango
06 Nov 2009, 21:55
Okay guys, with the VPS 400 now out I was wondering if we had settled on the best video capture card? What does it use, is it the best one for the system? My situation hasn't changed so if anyone has anything further to say in response to my query I welcome the help.

Thanks
JakobR
07 Nov 2009, 00:51
We use the Osprey 450e. 4 Composite inputs on one card. $1.200.
More info here: http://www.viewcast.com/products/osprey-450e.

Should be no problem to add one more card to get 8 inputs.

Pictures is really good. Much better quality than compared with our DVD-recorder.

No 32-bit drivers.

We have a small problem with audio sync. Hope this will be fixed in VB v1.9.

JAKOB
lill
07 Nov 2009, 10:08
No 32-bit drivers.

JAKOB


I think Jakob meant No 64-bit drivers
abouvette
07 Nov 2009, 10:38
We use the Osprey 450e. 4 Composite inputs on one card. $1.200.
More info here: http://www.viewcast.com/products/osprey-450e.

Should be no problem to add one more card to get 8 inputs.

Pictures is really good. Much better quality than compared with our DVD-recorder.

No 32-bit drivers.

We have a small problem with audio sync. Hope this will be fixed in VB v1.9.

JAKOB


We have an Osprey 450e card as well. Love it except for the price. We overcame the audio/video sync issues by connecting our audio mixer directly into one of the Osprey's 4 audio channels (with the provided breakout cable) and selecting the Osprey audio channel as the audio device in VidBlaster. Never had a sync issue since.
We have 2 Sony camcorders + 1 Canon camcorder + 1 Polycom VSX7000s videoconferencing camera plugged into the Osprey card. We have 7-8 xlr microphones connected to an older Behringer MX 1604A mixer plugging into one of the Osprey's audio channels. We stream at 320x240 @30fps and our flash settings are basically 300kbps video + 32kbps audio so obviously, this doesn't reflect the overall quality that the Osprey card can deliver. See for yourself: http://www.hydeinquiry.ca/hyde_inquiry_archives_page.html
Hope this helps,
Alain
JakobR
07 Nov 2009, 11:22
Yes sorry: No 64bit drivers.
JakobR
07 Nov 2009, 11:24
As been discussed elseware our sync issue is not while streaming. We have a 5 frame off sync between video and audio when we save as wmv. I donīt think this is due to the video-card.
ChevronTango
08 Nov 2009, 17:57
Everyone's seems to be saying the osprey cards 440+ but what of the picolo cards or the AverMedia cards? how do they compare? Do all these cards support multiple inputs and if so how many simultaneously? The help thus far has been great. I'm leaning towards the Osprey cards now though I'm curious as to wether it has the ability to be expanded to take 8 inputs? Any help on this particular issue would be appreciated. I've emailed the Osprey manafacturers to ask their opinions aswell.