External Monitor - Snazzi III USB2.0

blastique wrote on 8/13/2003, 2:10 AM

Hi guys, how's it going?

I just wanted to check with you guys on the support of video capture devices in Sonic Foundry Vegas (4.0).

I am considering buying a Snazzi III USB2.0 capture device (which has VIVO) and was wondering if I will be able to use the "External Monitor" feature found in Vegas, such that I can output the video from the preview window straight to the Snazzi device which will then come out on the TV.

I guess it all comes down to whether or not Snazzi III is fully supported by Vegas products.

I hope to hear from any of you soon!

Thanks for your time!

Regards,
Reuben
http://www.blastique.net

Comments

Grazie wrote on 8/13/2003, 2:17 AM

Can't help - but I'll be reading this thread with much interest . . .hmmmmm . .. .

Grazie

HeeHee wrote on 8/13/2003, 2:18 AM

Although SF people monitor this Forum, you may be better off asking support directly.

Personally, I have not used any USB 2.0 capture devices for video. I just don't trust the USB 2.0 theroretical 480mbps claim. However, I have heard from others that they have had no problems with dropped frames and newer cameras are now coming standard with both 1394 and USB 2.0 ports.

RBartlett wrote on 8/13/2003, 3:25 AM

Snazzi being MPEG-2 based would have to expose a standard VfW interface for Vegas to capture into a windows codec (or uncompressed) format. So no dice AFAIK for acquiring the MPEG in Vegas Capture. You could possibly substitute the capture application (MovieMill) in Vegas4 preferences - replacing Vegas Capture 4.

The MPEG-1-layer2 or PCM audio the Snazzi captures wouldn't be an obstacle either.

Preview and playback of rendered media on Vegas needs an OHCI presentation on the driver. I don't imaging that V-One have that for you even for a minute.

It seems that Sonic Foundry are considering using the same video-out functions that TV-out cards hook into for Vegas external monitor WYSIWYG. An overlay surface instead of a fly-DV-render. I suspect that Snazzi won't serve this either.

Snazzi PCI - AV.DV appears to be a bit like a StudioPlus/ADVC-1394 in that it has an OHCI function aswell as MPEG. Same issue on capture as the USB2 external device.

I think it would also be frustrating not to be able to do software encodings aided by the custom chips. Although possibly you could frame serve the uncompressed output of Vegas into the software provided by V-One.

A LeadTek WinTV2000XP (720x480, 720x576 and 640x480) SVIDEO capture card (or one of the older WinTV cards from Hauppauge with solid 8 bit YUV drivers Conexant Fusion 878 and an SVIDEO capability) - would be a starting point to acquiring footage if DV capture isn't your thing. Preview still requiring an OHCI display for the time being.

MPEG-2 is best remaining a target format for as long as the technology to do otherwise is available on acquisition.

Custom chips normally have a specific life that seems to get shorter and you can usually be achieve the same functionality on your CPU the following year if not before.

blastique wrote on 8/13/2003, 3:03 PM

Thanks guys for all your help, especially RBartlett! You saved me from a potentially embarassing situation (i.e. purchasing 2 of these for the company and NOT being able to preview even!)

I have looked into ADS solutions, and I think that I will go with the following if it is an option...

ADS Pyro 1394 Port
ADS Pyro A/V Link (DV to Analog Convertor)

This should work well under vegas 4.0 being OHCI compliant?

If not, please let me know. Thanks!

Regards,

Reuben
http://www.blastique.net

RBartlett wrote on 8/14/2003, 9:09 AM

2 lots of these should be ideal instead of 2 Snazzi III USB2.0s.
It might not be the cheapest combination (you could do this with a single PCI card from Canopus or (sput) Pinnacle), but it will be quite flexible/re-usable.