Supacon
I'm looking into getting a video capture device so that I can use the VDJ5 camera plugin with a real CCTV camera, as I haven't had a lot of luck with things I've already tried, like the USB Dazzle DVD Creation Station 200 (which is supported under Vista, but doesn't work with VDJ).
At my favorite PC retailer, this product is the cheapest thing that kinda pops up, a USB to composite/s-video adapter:
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=23374
Any ideas as to whether this would work? What should I look for?
I like that I could get this working fairly easily with my laptop, if I had to... but barring that,
I could also buy a PCI or PCI-E card.
My next option (about $20 more expensive) is probably this Hauppage unit here:
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=24925
At my favorite PC retailer, this product is the cheapest thing that kinda pops up, a USB to composite/s-video adapter:
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=23374
Any ideas as to whether this would work? What should I look for?
I like that I could get this working fairly easily with my laptop, if I had to... but barring that,
I could also buy a PCI or PCI-E card.
My next option (about $20 more expensive) is probably this Hauppage unit here:
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=24925
geposted Tue 13 Nov 07 @ 5:12 am
tayla
supacon
been using "cameramate" on different software now for sometime to show realtime pictures on screens, it works great for me (including vdj) and i'm just using a lappy and cpu is average, check it out here see if its any use to you http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=316015 its round about $70, not bad for something you know thats gonna work, but don't forget all systems have there own quirks so check your system out first... hope it helps
Tayla
been using "cameramate" on different software now for sometime to show realtime pictures on screens, it works great for me (including vdj) and i'm just using a lappy and cpu is average, check it out here see if its any use to you http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=316015 its round about $70, not bad for something you know thats gonna work, but don't forget all systems have there own quirks so check your system out first... hope it helps
Tayla
geposted Tue 13 Nov 07 @ 4:39 pm
tayla
forgot to mention its sold by an american company so its readily available...
Tayla
Tayla
geposted Tue 13 Nov 07 @ 4:42 pm
Supacon
Thanks mate! I can order that product for abut $60 CAD from my supplier, which isn't too crazy. I was hoping I could score something for under $50, but that'd work well.
geposted Wed 14 Nov 07 @ 1:57 am
fatkatzdj
Hey Tayla, is this a simple as load, plug and play. hook up camera and turn on. hit plugin and view the action...
geposted Thu 15 Nov 07 @ 12:00 am
Supacon
On the downside, I notice that the revews of this thing are pretty bad... it looks like the quality leaves a lot to be desired...
geposted Thu 15 Nov 07 @ 3:11 am
fatkatzdj
I agree, I saw that myself. That's what i'm kinda hoping Tayla can define for us since he uses it.
geposted Thu 15 Nov 07 @ 3:34 am
tayla
hi lads
sorry for late response been laid up last couple of days one of those 24hr bugs that stayed 48, yeah i saw the write ups, was quite surprised myself to see how low they rated cameramate for me initially when loading the software it took me two goes at getting it right but i put that down to my impatience and not following the instructions to the letter but works fine for me now, picture quality is all depended on type of camera you will use and of course lighting conditions. why not go down to your local store and see if you can get a test demo with the equipment you will be using you could even ask for a comparison against other makes, sounds a good way for the store to make a "good sale" where they know the customer is happy with what they bought.
once you've got your software sorted and your happy you then gotta think what you want to do with your camera "fixed or movable" or more than one, switchable or quad (4 n 1 picture) i'm lucky enough to have quite a few options that i can select from i even adapted an old scanner light took the lamp off mounted a camera and hey presto a panning camera made for pennies, looks good when scanning the room.
if none of the software suits your needs you can still use cameas without the effects of vdj just get one of the choices above and feed it into your venues screens...hope that helps
Tayla
sorry for late response been laid up last couple of days one of those 24hr bugs that stayed 48, yeah i saw the write ups, was quite surprised myself to see how low they rated cameramate for me initially when loading the software it took me two goes at getting it right but i put that down to my impatience and not following the instructions to the letter but works fine for me now, picture quality is all depended on type of camera you will use and of course lighting conditions. why not go down to your local store and see if you can get a test demo with the equipment you will be using you could even ask for a comparison against other makes, sounds a good way for the store to make a "good sale" where they know the customer is happy with what they bought.
once you've got your software sorted and your happy you then gotta think what you want to do with your camera "fixed or movable" or more than one, switchable or quad (4 n 1 picture) i'm lucky enough to have quite a few options that i can select from i even adapted an old scanner light took the lamp off mounted a camera and hey presto a panning camera made for pennies, looks good when scanning the room.
if none of the software suits your needs you can still use cameas without the effects of vdj just get one of the choices above and feed it into your venues screens...hope that helps
Tayla
geposted Thu 15 Nov 07 @ 11:10 am
djpetemk
Hi all
I've just bought one of these from a PC World shop in the UK:
http://www.adstech.com/products/USBAV-191-EF/intro/USBAV_191_intro.asp?pid=USBAV-191-EF
It's currently on special offer, and cost just 20 pounds. USB 2 connection, and comes with both composite and s-video inputs, as well as stereo audio.
It does work with the VDJ camera plugin too. I managed to connect a dvd player and a camcorder, and both of these came up in the camera plugin, the only problem is that when you're using the camera's software, it's possible to select the frame rate and resolution of the capture, but these settings are not available in VDJ, so the default resolution seems to be used, which is quite high (640*480*25fps I think), thereby making the CPU usage very high in VDJ. When you click the Source and Format buttons in the plugin, you just get a window which confirms the name of the capture driver, there's no settings to change.
It was possible to play and mix videos with the camera plugged in, but when the camera picture is actually being displayed, the loading time for another video or song in the unused player is very slow, and the CPU is maxed out at all times (This is with a Shuttle with 128mb video card, pentium 4 2.8ghz and 1gb ram)
I only bought it yesterday, so I haven't been able to mess around with it much, like looking in the registry to see if I can force it to lower resolution capture, and I haven't tried it on my gig laptop yet either, but I though I'd let you know that at least you can get a picture using it!
Cheers
Pete
I've just bought one of these from a PC World shop in the UK:
http://www.adstech.com/products/USBAV-191-EF/intro/USBAV_191_intro.asp?pid=USBAV-191-EF
It's currently on special offer, and cost just 20 pounds. USB 2 connection, and comes with both composite and s-video inputs, as well as stereo audio.
It does work with the VDJ camera plugin too. I managed to connect a dvd player and a camcorder, and both of these came up in the camera plugin, the only problem is that when you're using the camera's software, it's possible to select the frame rate and resolution of the capture, but these settings are not available in VDJ, so the default resolution seems to be used, which is quite high (640*480*25fps I think), thereby making the CPU usage very high in VDJ. When you click the Source and Format buttons in the plugin, you just get a window which confirms the name of the capture driver, there's no settings to change.
It was possible to play and mix videos with the camera plugged in, but when the camera picture is actually being displayed, the loading time for another video or song in the unused player is very slow, and the CPU is maxed out at all times (This is with a Shuttle with 128mb video card, pentium 4 2.8ghz and 1gb ram)
I only bought it yesterday, so I haven't been able to mess around with it much, like looking in the registry to see if I can force it to lower resolution capture, and I haven't tried it on my gig laptop yet either, but I though I'd let you know that at least you can get a picture using it!
Cheers
Pete
geposted Fri 16 Nov 07 @ 11:38 am