Adaptec hardware MPEG2 encoder, can it be used for things other than capture?

[tart666]

Question about this product (Adaptec VideOh! PCI)

I understand it can encode full 720x480 MPEG2 realtime during capture. This seems very useful, rivaling the $1000 Matrox card, while costing under $140.

Now for the question -- can you use the hardware encoder while exporting from other software titles? I read through the FAQ, and apparently you can use the included software to import all sorts of file types, but they don't say whether the encoding will be done in the hardware or not. Does anyone know?

 

[rbV5]

Judging from the system requirements, this is a software solution, not a hardware encoder.

 

[tart666]

600MHz for a 1:1 (realtime) 720x480 MPEG2 encoding? This is all hardware, you'd need a 10GHz P4 to do that in software, no?

 

[rbV5]

This is all hardware, you'd need a 10GHz P4 to do that in software, no?

No, AIW cards and Matrox eTV cards are software encoders with similar system requirements (the new AIW 9700 does use the coba engine for a 10-20% hardware assist however). The fact that it lists different system requirements based on the format you are encoding to is a giveaway as well. Those system specs are likely as suspect as those given for the cards I mentioned also.

 

[pulse8]

With PowerVCR II you can capture in full-frame DVD compliant mpeg2 without any hardware encoders and you can do it in real-time.

The downfall is that the quality is pretty bad. It's not useful for anything other than recording a cable TV signal.

 

[MrPhelps]

You need to capture at full AVI resolution then encode usind a lossless codec like huffy.

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