Multiple Capture Cards

[Judas65]

I have an ATI All-In-Wonder video card and a Hauppauge WinTv PCI video capture card. I was using IVista to stream from the ATI card and using your plug-in for security.

With the new version, I cannot run IVista or else I will get the Runtime 380 error.

Is there anyway to have the PlugIn only look at the Hauppauge card?

[bmms]

I'm fixing that right now as I type. It will be in 3.1.0. I found the problem with multiple cards. I don't have more than one capture devices so I can't really test it. I guess I need a guinnea pig.

3.1.0 also has a function built in for controlling the FireCracker interface - I'm using it already to control my VCR with an X10 VCR commander. Works pretty good and fast.

Bryan
(Config is in my profile)

[hec1152]

Craig P.

Am I understanding your configuration right in that you have an ATI AIW card that your using both as a display adapter and a TV tuner PLUS a Hauppauge WinTV card that you are also using as a TV tuner? Are they working simultaneously or do you run either one or the other (Tuner)? I'm wanting to do something similar but was concerned about the compatibility of these two tuners (and their respective drivers & apps) in the same system. Could you tell me a little more about specific ATI AIW and WinTV card models/versions and confirm my understanding of how your configuration works?

Thanks,

Harry

[hec1152]

Bryan,

Did your fix work (for multiple capture cards) per Craig P's post? I assume that by now you must have it posted in updater and that you found guinnea pig (Craig P?).

Harry

[bmms]

I haven't had any way to test this yet until yesterday. I do have a spare ATI All-in-wonder card and a spare Hauppauge ImpactVCB card. My plan is to put these into a Win98 machine (yuck) and see if they will live together. I have read on other message baords that you can have multiple capture cards (tv cards) installed and behave properly. Yesterday I received my Hauppauge PVR-250(MCE) with hardware MPEG encoding. My plan is to add hardware encoded MPEG capture into the plugin in a future version.

The plugin v3.1.3 is in final testing now ... everything appears to be working pretty good but it's memory (RAM) requirements are pretty high (~50MB - depending on the color format(image bit depth)), but the image quality is terrific.

Bryan
(Config is in my profile)

[JimBob]

Bryan,

Does the current version support multiple capture cards? Or at least allow a second capture card to be present in the PC without being used by the plugin. The reason I ask is that I am considering buying a nebula digitv card but want to still use my old Hauppauge WinTV card for your plugin.

I've searched other threads but can't see if it is ok.

Regards,
JimBob

[bmms]

Yes it is suppose to support multiple capture cards and you specify which one the plugin should use. I haven't tested it but other users have told me by email that is has worked for them. If it doesn't work for you, I make it work

[JimBob]

Thanks Bryan.

I'll let you know how I get on if I go for the digitv card.

JimBob

[JimBob]

Bryan,

Resurrecting this thread again concerning multiple cards.

I did get a DigiTV card in the end but it is part of my PVR machine. However, I have a second BT878 based card I have put into my main HS machine. I'm still struggling trying to get drivers loaded properly for it (and I seem to have upset the operation of the Hauppauge plugin - I won't report any more than that yet until I have driver issues resolved).

But I'd like to ask a question - does the Hauppauge plugin (V4.1) support using 2 capture cards or will it just co-exist with another capture card?

What I would like to be able to do is specify different capture cards for different cameras.

Thanks

[bmms]

Right now 4.1.1 will support the co-existance with another capture card. Getting it configured can be a bit tricky but I have done it. It is possible to have the plugin support different capture cards for different camera's with a bunch of re-development in the plugin. I'll take a look at it to see what it would take.

[JimBob]

Bryan,

Thanks for the reply. That would explain why the "Video Source" dropdown box didn't show anything when I had the 2 cards installed. I couldn't get the plugin going, so I took out the second card I had just added.

I would really appreciate the ability for the plugin to use multiple cards. I don't know how useful other users would find it. I would be willing to help test a new software version if you do decide to add support for multiple cards.

Regards

[lschweiss]

Multiple capture sources, yet?

It's now 2008, and this thread is several years old. Is there support for multiple video sources yet?

I would like to integrate an 8 camera system with HomeSeer, has anyone done this many cameras with this plugin? What capture devices were used?

My first choice of capture hardware would be the Plextor PX-M402U since is has it's own MPEG1/2/4 & DivX encoder and 8 channels of video encoding will slam just about any PC. Has anyone used the Plextor PX-M402U with this plugin?

[bmms]

Some people have gotten the plugin to work with multiple capture cards installed in a PC but the way the plugin works, only one capture device is used as the capture source device.

In other words, the plugin does not ,and likely never will support, multiple active cards to switch video sources between multiple cards on the fly.