MPEG-2 coders from lower price ranges

By Andrey Ryahin

Several years ago the hardware MPEG-2 coders executing capture and compression of video in real-time, pertained to expensive products, oriented on professional use only. Today they have alterred in range of the standard computer periphery, which is available at mass market of the home users. Physically they can be executed in the manner of PCI-cards or external USB 2.0device. Herewith all of these are offered with simple in mastering and use, but there are enough efficient programs for editing, during capture allowing to realize the analysis of the pictures and automatic partition on clips, and in process of the following editing to add the effects/transitions/subtitles, but hereinafter save the ready projects in format, suitable to record on VCD, SVCD and DVD, for transmission in Internet or output on TV. It is necessary to acknowledge that since editing is carrying out by programme way, that any serious change captured MPEG-2 video requires the significant computing resource. So while the main destination these devices as finished decisions is digital video archiving and creation of home (corporative) DVD.

Dazzle DVC 150

Apartly it is necessary to note the appearance of hardware MPEG-4coders. So, Provideo Multimedia company, earlier known to Russian users by PCI-cards of PV-256 coders/decoders series (hardware MPEG-2, supporting as analogue composite/S-Video and audio input/output, so and digital DV input), now offers PV-240coders, allowing parallel to write on hard disk up to four MPEG-4audiovideostreams. Taking into consideration that in computer it is possible to install up to 4 such cards, we can get 16-channel system!

The special interest presents the possibility of the creation on their basis of the unique systems under concrete tasks. The majority of producers comply their own products by the libraries from developer (SDK — System Development Kit), hereunder offering to Russian programmers and system integrators to introduce the ready hardware products in their own developments. Some positive experience already is and stretched from author’s capture utilities (more efficient in contrast with regular utilities, proposed in supply sets) up to creation of multi-channel systems for recording and playback of video.

DV Win Plus 3070 card	External Hollywood USB 2 MPEG coder

Material is provided by Stoic Company