video capture cards

sde · 12-24-2004, 09:21 AM

i know i've asked something like this before, but i'm finally gonna do it so i want the latest input.

i'm going to work on a video surveylence project and i want some advice on what video cards to use that will play well with debian / linux.

so far someone from screaming electron suggested this one: http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduc...100-103&depa=0

i need a way to get multiple video feeds in the computer ( maybe 4 ) and it would be nice to have one card take multiple feeds.

technobard · 12-26-2004, 07:08 PM

A couple of questions come to mind:
1) Are you going to actually capture video from your surveillance cameras or simply switch between live feeds? If you're going to capture the various feeds, you'll want to consider cards that handle hardware encoding. They're more expensive, but they take the bulk of the load off of the CPU. I use a Hauppauge WINTV PVR-350. That's probably overkill for what you want (it does hardware encoding and decoding as well as having an FM tuner). The PVR-250 is cheaper (still not cheap) and supports hardware encoding.

2) Are you writing all of the software from scratch down to the drivers or are you looking for something existing that you can build on? Check out The IVTV Project. Their driver supports the PVR-250/350 and other cards. There is also a bttv(?) driver out there for cards based on a different chipset, but I don't know much about it.

I use my card with MythTV (open source TIVO substitute). The video quality is very good.

Good luck!

technobard · 12-26-2004, 07:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sde

i need a way to get multiple video feeds in the computer ( maybe 4 ) and it would be nice to have one card take multiple feeds.

I almost forgot, Hauppauge does have a PVR-500MCE card available with dual tuners. It was designed specifically for Windows Media Center Edition (MCE). I don't know if any one has gotten around to providing Linux support for it yet.

sde · 12-26-2004, 10:03 PM

thanks. i'm more monitoring the video. i think there is software that will capture pictures when motion is detected. i want a card with multiple inputs.

i found this: http://store.grandtec.com/xguard4port.html .. i might order that one tomorrow. i'm gonna do some more research.

also, the software i was thinking of using is this: http://www.zoneminder.com/

again, i need to do more research. i'll check out the specs of that card tomorrow too. thanks a lot for the input!

fp_unit · 01-27-2005, 08:30 PM

Just thought I'd throw this in - for Linux I'd definately go for the Haupage card. Those ATI cards and stuff aren't nearly as good, they do software encoding and to encode to a nice resolution in MPEG-4 or something requires alot of CPU cycles. Also for a really sweet interface to your recording take a look at MythTV for linux ( www.mythtv.org ) its quite the piece of software! One day I plan on buying a PVR as well and setting it up to record all my programs, etc... just dont have the $$ right now.

Kernel_Killer · 01-30-2005, 09:14 AM

I use an ATI AIW on NetBSD, and was previously on RHEL3. They are the least supported card ever. You can use all your inputs, record, and use your remote, but since the drivers are 3rd party they lack the ability to be coded easily into other apps. The only apps you can use to view it are XawTV, and AVView.

Haupage, and Brooktrees are the best to go with. MythTV is nice to have. Excellent interface once you get it going. TVTime is another good one. Of course the best resource ......