MPEG encoder card ONLY anyone?! at DVinfo.net

Lars Siden · August 4th, 2003, 04:33 AM

Hi,

Been doing some research around the net and some local stores.... and it looks like there are no MPEG Encoder cards on the market. I'm not talking about a complete edit soloution like the DVStorm etc etc... I'd just like a card that helps my computer process AVI -> MPEG(1&2) taking the load off the CPU...

Having a 2.53ghz machine with 1.5gb memory and still feeling that creating MPEG files takes way to long time isn't fun... say I'd get a 4.5ghz machine next year(?), that would only decrease creation time by 40%.... I want more ;-)

It shouldn't have to be so expensive, just a PCI card with a dedicated MPEG chip and some s/w working with it ( could be a standalone program )... that could create MPEG 1/2/4 lightning fast.... maybe a dream that will come true?!

// Lazze

Darrell Sullivan · August 4th, 2003, 07:42 AM

There are some PCI cards and USB devices that will do this in real time in the consumer market. The results are not as good as software based time consuming methods, but they are out there. I have one that I use for recording television. If you pump up the bitrate it may be acceptable for SOME jobs. It is the hauppauge PVR250. It's specified use is for television recording in MPEGI & II, but there are third party items available for it that will allow you to encode other items. You will probably have to demux and remux in order to create a useable DVD but the time will be much less than software encoding.

You may want to take a look at http://www.dvdrhelp.com for lots of information on DVD making.

Scott Osborne · August 4th, 2003, 09:59 PM

If you are looking at something focused towards high quality realtime Mpeg 2 encoding. I suggest you take a look at the Sonic SD-500
http://www.sonic.com/products/sdseri...00/default.htm

Its a little pricey for a home use item but if you were in a market that was right it probably wouldn't be that hard to farm it out. I have never seen fottage from the SD-500 but I had a prject encoding using a SD-2000 and it was second to none in quality. It had the same crisp look as a Major studio prduced DVD...Probably because thats the hardware that some of them use.

Also Canopus has 2 units that will do this a PCI based card and a external USB device. Its called the Mpeg2 EMR.
http://www.canopus.us/US/products/MP...PEGPRO_EMR.asp
Its a little easier to swallow at $500...as opposed to the $5k for the Sonic SD-500

As for good quality items that are below $300 I have not seen anything thats around

Hope this is of some help,

Lars Siden · August 5th, 2003, 12:58 AM

Hello Scott,

First of all, thanks for the info!

The PCI based Canopus card surely looks interesting. One question though: Is the input source limited to SVHS in? No way to pass my AVI files from the HDD through the card internally? The best would be I it installed it self as a driver that you could chose to render to from any program....

500$ isn't cheap, but it is reasonable... haven't seen it for sale here in sweden... but it is always easier to find something when you know what to look for!

Best regards from a sunny Sweden,

Lazze

Lars Siden · August 5th, 2003, 04:06 AM

one more thought....I wonder when they are going to support MPEG 1/2/4(DivX) as well...

There are new standalone home DVD players now that support both DVD and DivX...

// Lazze \\

Scott Osborne · August 5th, 2003, 08:18 PM

Well according to Canopus the card does that. I am sure that since it is compatabile with Adobe premiere it uses one of Canopus high quality codecs that is Canopus hardware enabled. In fact their Software Encoder (Procoder) does it that way. If you are interested in a solution I suggest procoder. I used to use Discreet. After trying Procoder I was hooked. Its the best in my opinion. As far as sales I am sure that there are plenty of online shops that will ship to Sweden.

Regards from Rochester..Land of no sun

Rob Lohman · August 11th, 2003, 07:26 AM

Forget about mpeg4 for now. Way too little devices support it
and I doubt you can find a realtime encoding card for that.

I'm curious as to what you are using to encode your mpeg2 files
now. If you render out to something like DV, how much time does
that save you? [because sometimes rendering effects and things
can take a long time as well while mpeg2 encoding can be quite
fast].

What time for how many minutes of video would you find
acceptable to wait for?

August 4th, 2003, 04:33 AM	#1
Lars Siden Major Player Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Sweden, Stockholm Posts: 469	MPEG encoder card ONLY anyone?! Hi, Been doing some research around the net and some local stores.... and it looks like there are no MPEG Encoder cards on the market. I'm not talking about a complete edit soloution like the DVStorm etc etc... I'd just like a card that helps my computer process AVI -> MPEG(1&2) taking the load off the CPU... Having a 2.53ghz machine with 1.5gb memory and still feeling that creating MPEG files takes way to long time isn't fun... say I'd get a 4.5ghz machine next year(?), that would only decrease creation time by 40%.... I want more ;-) It shouldn't have to be so expensive, just a PCI card with a dedicated MPEG chip and some s/w working with it ( could be a standalone program )... that could create MPEG 1/2/4 lightning fast.... maybe a dream that will come true?! // Lazze __________________ Sony HDR-CX130,Canon 5DMKII,i7 930@4.0, 12gb memory, 3x SSD + 2x1Tb(stripe), Geforce 480, Dual 24", Win 7 x64

August 4th, 2003, 07:42 AM	#2
Darrell Sullivan Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 42	There are some There are some PCI cards and USB devices that will do this in real time in the consumer market. The results are not as good as software based time consuming methods, but they are out there. I have one that I use for recording television. If you pump up the bitrate it may be acceptable for SOME jobs. It is the hauppauge PVR250. It's specified use is for television recording in MPEGI & II, but there are third party items available for it that will allow you to encode other items. You will probably have to demux and remux in order to create a useable DVD but the time will be much less than software encoding. You may want to take a look at http://www.dvdrhelp.com for lots of information on DVD making.

August 4th, 2003, 09:59 PM	#3
Scott Osborne Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Rochester NY Posts: 116	If you are looking at something focused towards high quality realtime Mpeg 2 encoding. I suggest you take a look at the Sonic SD-500 http://www.sonic.com/products/sdseri...00/default.htm Its a little pricey for a home use item but if you were in a market that was right it probably wouldn't be that hard to farm it out. I have never seen fottage from the SD-500 but I had a prject encoding using a SD-2000 and it was second to none in quality. It had the same crisp look as a Major studio prduced DVD...Probably because thats the hardware that some of them use. Also Canopus has 2 units that will do this a PCI based card and a external USB device. Its called the Mpeg2 EMR. http://www.canopus.us/US/products/MP...PEGPRO_EMR.asp Its a little easier to swallow at $500...as opposed to the $5k for the Sonic SD-500 As for good quality items that are below $300 I have not seen anything thats around Hope this is of some help, __________________ Scott Osborne Infinite Video Productions

August 5th, 2003, 12:58 AM	#4
Lars Siden Major Player Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Sweden, Stockholm Posts: 469	Hello Scott, First of all, thanks for the info! The PCI based Canopus card surely looks interesting. One question though: Is the input source limited to SVHS in? No way to pass my AVI files from the HDD through the card internally? The best would be I it installed it self as a driver that you could chose to render to from any program.... 500$ isn't cheap, but it is reasonable... haven't seen it for sale here in sweden... but it is always easier to find something when you know what to look for! Best regards from a sunny Sweden, Lazze __________________ Sony HDR-CX130,Canon 5DMKII,i7 930@4.0, 12gb memory, 3x SSD + 2x1Tb(stripe), Geforce 480, Dual 24", Win 7 x64

August 5th, 2003, 04:06 AM	#5
Lars Siden Major Player Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Sweden, Stockholm Posts: 469	one more thought....I wonder when they are going to support MPEG 1/2/4(DivX) as well... There are new standalone home DVD players now that support both DVD and DivX... // Lazze \\ __________________ Sony HDR-CX130,Canon 5DMKII,i7 930@4.0, 12gb memory, 3x SSD + 2x1Tb(stripe), Geforce 480, Dual 24", Win 7 x64

August 5th, 2003, 08:18 PM	#6
Scott Osborne Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Rochester NY Posts: 116	Well according to Canopus the card does that. I am sure that since it is compatabile with Adobe premiere it uses one of Canopus high quality codecs that is Canopus hardware enabled. In fact their Software Encoder (Procoder) does it that way. If you are interested in a solution I suggest procoder. I used to use Discreet. After trying Procoder I was hooked. Its the best in my opinion. As far as sales I am sure that there are plenty of online shops that will ship to Sweden. Regards from Rochester..Land of no sun __________________ Scott Osborne Infinite Video Productions

August 11th, 2003, 07:26 AM	#7
Rob Lohman RED Code Chef Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Holland Posts: 12,514	Forget about mpeg4 for now. Way too little devices support it and I doubt you can find a realtime encoding card for that. I'm curious as to what you are using to encode your mpeg2 files now. If you render out to something like DV, how much time does that save you? [because sometimes rendering effects and things can take a long time as well while mpeg2 encoding can be quite fast]. What time for how many minutes of video would you find acceptable to wait for? __________________ Rob Lohman, visuar@iname.com DV Info Wrangler & RED Code Chef Join the DV Challenge \| Lady X Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Buy from the best: DVinfo.net sponsors