Falcon to replace Marvel?

[Jkun]

In the AVS home theatre / HTPC forums, people are constantly looking for BT878 based cards, to use with their Dscaler software.

Their experiences with WinTV and other TV cards is that these are way too noisy for video grabbing.

A little while ago, someone there found this card called the Falcon. It's expensive at around $230, for just a basic BT878 card, but its design and build quality seems to be much better. In any case people who had it were pretty enthusiastic, for use with Dscaler.

I was thinking of replacing my Matrox card with such a Falcon PCI card.

Has anyone had experience with this card for NLE?

See http://www.ids-imaging.de/

J-kun

[AndrewDV]

It seems like what the Osprey line of cards is like (www.paradise.com).

I have to say the latest WinTV's equipped with the 878A Fusion and the Philips tuner are great. Captures turn out great and it works in almost any OS and application. The latest downloads are also a big improvement.

There is also a video card called "Cybermail AV" people over at vcdhelp have been using successfully. When you can find it, it costs about $15. The card is purely a capture card.

IMHO, I'm keeping the Marvel purely for its DVDMax ability. I may upgrade to the G550 to make connections to the tape deck less clutered (no BOB). The WinTV is a great partner card for its YUY2 ability.

[Jkun]

Yes, the comparison with Osprey cards was made, however these are NOT teh same as the Ospreys.

The Ospreys were also tested by the AVS folks and rejected.

Andrew, are you in NTSC or PAL land? WinTV has been a bitter disappointment for PAL for me. The Falcon is a European design and is therefor made with PAL in mind.

BTW, the Falcon has no tuner (a plus in my mind - less interference from there)

J-kun

[Brian Ellis]

The Falcon is not a capture card, as I see it. It is a frame grabber, as used in security systems. This is not at all the same thing. Although there are no details, the Piranha from the same guys may be closer to what you need. OTOH, the Osprey series are capture cards, with the 2000 series going straight to MPEG-1/2.

[Jkun]

Hi Brian,

yes it is listed as a "frame grabber" but basically, it's just another BT878 card, i.e. it works fine as a capture card!

They just use "framegrabber" because that's what their customers expect it to be called.

The Piranha is much much more expensive ^^;;

J-kun