[mpeg2] Re: Opinions of the Kfir board

[Faye Pearson <faye@clara.net>]

Sorry Torsten, you will have a couple of copies of this, I forgot to CC
the list.

Torsten Howard [torsten@inetw.net] wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I have recorded PAL at 720x576 no problem (4.5Mbps).
> I don't know the max bitrate - I have recorded at 8Mbps
> for fun, but usually I record 4.5Mbps.  I'm generally
> impressed with the image quality.

Fantastic.
 
> It samples 60fps.

I only need 50 :)

> The analog video quality has been my limiting factor -
> I don't have an SVHS VCR.  The mpegs replicate the
> image very well.

I'm using a couple of sources, unfortunately neither do
SVideo output.

> Don't bother with a VIA motherboard if you want USB.

Hmm, I have an athlon processor so you can't really avoid
VIA.  Although I can't see a need to be using usb at the
same time as using the kfir - is that feasible?

> No post-processing needed - this card encodes in real-
> time.  If you want to professional editing or DVD video,
> you may want to look elsewhere.  I think linuxmediaarts
> or linuxmedialabs or someone has some professional
> stuff ($25k USD) for linux.

OK, I have a Pioneer A03 DVDRW drive.  It doesn't do CSS
but in order to play the files on a DVD player they will
need to meet the DVD specification - specific GOP
configuration, picture size and sound format.

Basically I want to be able to play my home-movies on DVD
- mine only does DVD and not VCD or SVCD.  I have a windows
tool that came with the drive that can add menus and
chapter stops etc.

Have you tried direct-from-tv capture?  any framesync
problems?

Can I tell the kfir that the source is 16:9 anamorphic?
(actually I expect that's a small change to the program
header once output)

Sorry, lots of questions, but I'm quite keen to play with
one of these!

BTW will the windows driver mentioned on the linuxtv page
work with the card or is it just a way of getting the firmware?

Thanks again for your help,


Faye

-- 
Faye Pearson,
Software Development Manager,
ClaraNET Ltd.       Tel 020 7903 3000

You will engage in a profitable business activity.