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Modul8 Video Capture Compatibilty List

Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 4:52 am
by lotech
This list is an attempt to help others find a Modul8 (and most other VJ apps) compatible capture device. Feel free to post any updates/corrections, I'll try to keep this updated as new options come along. This list is for Modul8 v2.5.8+ on as previous versions only support DV capture.

UPDATE 2 - As of Modul8 2.9A Modul8 has native Blackmagic Drivers builtin making it the reliable and low latency input option. They offer a great range of PCI, USB3 & Thunderbolt HD capture options for as low as $US145.

WORKING - HD/SD
- Thunderbolt/USB3.0 Blackmagic Design Units - Full 1080P HDMI capture (and SDI on high end models) with only a few frames of delay. Current downside is that only 2 Mac models have 2 Thunderbolt ports (Retina MBP, 27" iMac) which is a major issue as it is usually your main output also. Recommended. $US145-995+.
- Blackmagic Design PCIe Cards (ALL Blackmagic cards will work as they use the same drivers) - HD/PAL/NTSC capture depending on the model. Downside is the requirement of a MacPro, Thunderbolt PCI Enclosure or custom Hackintosh with spare PCIe slots. $US145-995.
- Blackmagic 1M/E/2M/E Switchers USB3.0 Capture has been added to the new 6.1.1 drivers and give PGM output via USB3.0.
- Matrox MXO2 - HD/SD Capture for MacPro & MacBook Pro's with Expresscard slots (or Thunderbolt w/ Expresscard adaptors). $US1400
- Matrox MXO2 Mini - HD/SD Capture for MacPro & MacBook Pro's with Expresscard slots (or Thunderbolt w/ Expresscard adaptors). $US449.
- AJA Range of Devices - Io XT,Express & HD / Kona PCIe cards. UNCONFIRMED. These should work but no one has confirmed this. Please post if you've had success. Io XT is particularly interesting as its currently the only capture box that has 2 Thunderbolt ports - useful for those of use with a single port and still needing to output an image.

WORKING - SD
- Any USB Capture device compatible with VideoGlide - The a long and very random list. Check the VideoGlide page for a full rundown. Of those the single best option is the -
- EasyCap DC60+ v.3.1B. [thanks vanakaru] - 720x576 Pal, 720x480 NTSC. (not the DC60 v.2.1C - make sure it has a + sign after the DC60) This is cheaply available on eBay for roughly $US10-20. Here is a great article on identifying a DC60+ from all the others
Other compatible and relatively common products -
- Pinnacle Dazzle DVC-90 and DVC-100.
- XLR8 ProView - 640x480 PAL & NTSC .
- XLR8 InterView 3.0 - Half Res 352x240 NTSC,352x288 PAL.
- DFG 1394 [thanks renaud]. $US330.
- Playstation Eye Camera - Requires free Macam drivers to work. Low latency (2 frames or so). Cheap!

WORKS - WITH RESOLUTION/FRAMERATE LOSS
Epiphan vga2usb 640×480 @ 28fps, 800×600 @ 20.6fps, 1024×768 @ 10.0fps.

WORKS - WITH LATENCY
Why the latency? Almost all cameras with firewire ports spit out a standard called DV, as this footage comes in it needs to be decompressed before Modul8 can receive and display video, which causes the delay. Unfortunately DV was never designed to be used in realtime situations like modul8.
- ALL DV based Cameras with firewire port - PAL/NTSC.
- DV Bridge/Converters - these are boxes with analogue inputs/outputs that encode on the fly DV feeds. Models include:
- Edirol VMC-1 Video Converter Out of production.
- Dazzle Hollywood DV FW Bridge [thanks vanakaru]. Out of production.
- Grass Valley Canopus ADVC-55, Canopus Twinpact 100
- Miglia Director's Cut 'Take 2' [thanks wygiwys]
- Grass Valley ADVC-HD50 - HDMI to HDV Converter [thanks HaiJak]

DOESN'T WORK
- Hauppauge HVR-900H USB DVB-T TV Tuner w/ The Tube installed (the only way to use the card - so no extra drivers)
- Pinnacle PCTV Hybrid Pro 330E - With or without EyeTV installed.
- Genius DV120 [thanks VJnutcracker]
- Elgato Devices this is any products that use Eyetv.
- Many USB3.0 Capture devices Generally USB3 capture devices have patchy OS-X support. Unless its explicitly listed to support Mac, chances are it won't.
- Blackmagic TV Studio Switcher Does not support Quicktime capture/streaming. Recording only.


Modul8 2.6+ 4 Input Capability
The best/cheapest solution to have multiple inputs is to mix your input devices - One VideoGlide based device, a DV Input, Playstation Eye etc.. If you use multiple inputs based on the same bus (say all on USB) you will probably run out of throughput speed and be forced to lower your input resolution/framerate. Thanks VJnutcracker - viewtopic.php?p=15598

Only one Thunderbolt port?
Are you using an older pre-Retina MacbookPro and only have one thunderbolt port? You've no doubt realised that that you quickly use this as you output to the switcher/LED/projector. The only way around this problem is using a thunderbolt dock such as the Belkin Thunderbolt 2 Express Dock HD or the Caldigit Thunderbolt Station as they will give you HDMI/DVI output and another thunderbolt port for capture. Some even add USB3.0 support which may allow another capture option.

Intensity Shuttle for Thunderbolt & UltraStudio Mini Recorder combo Works perfectly as 2 separate SD/HD inputs - via a Retina MacBook Pro allows some great opportunities [thanks HaiJak]
Blackmagic Intensity Pro have been reported to be compatible with having two installed to get HD/DVI inputs into Modul8 simultaneously and latency free. Thanks bIRDS - viewtopic.php?t=4631. These are cheap but high end PCIe cards - recommended.
Blackmagic DeckLink Quad untested but should appear as 4 capture sources. If anyone has done this, please confirm.

I have Blackmagic DeckLink HD Extreme, and doesnt work

Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2009 3:45 am
by posh9000
i want to know if the black magic DeckLink HD Extreme its compatible with modul8.

http://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/hd/

Re: I have Blackmagic DeckLink HD Extreme, and doesnt work

Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2009 10:33 am
by bratch
posh9000 wrote:i want to know if the black magic DeckLink HD Extreme its compatible with modul8.

http://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/hd/


Yes, i have one, it works...and...it's written in the post of Lotech just above :wink: "ALL Blackmagic cards will work as they use the same drivers"

Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2009 1:42 am
by lotech
Indeed, it should work.
Please do post any other experiences as its all a good resource.

Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2009 5:20 pm
by renaud
DFG 1394 from imaging source

http://www.theimagingsource.com/fr_FR/p ... dfg13941e/

Firewire converter ... tested with MacbookPro and MacPro

Posted: Mon May 25, 2009 10:41 pm
by lotech
Just brought a Pinnacle Hybrid Pro - no dice. Clearly TV tuners cards don't like Modul8 - or the other way round.

Devs - why is it so difficult to get support for these added? The last update (2.5.8) added "Support for video capture (live video feed) at HD resolution."
What support was added? HDV? Some sort of non Firewire based input would be a huge advantage. Maybe something to look forward to with 2.6?

Oh and can we sticky this thread so its easy to find. Its surely a good resource.

Posted: Tue May 26, 2009 8:35 am
by vanakaru
Out of USB dongles with VideoGlide drivers I have good result with EasyCap DC60+ v.3.1B. You can find these on eBay, but you have to be sure you do not get DC60 v.2.1C witch does not work.
This card has live feed latency only about 1fps. That is better than my Pinnacle Hollywood DV FW bridge. Also you get uncompressed video and natively 768x576. On custom size you can choose any number, but this is probably just scaling up.
Some cameras work better than the others. My decent security 1-3 ccd cam gives lots of noise, but tiny russian made cam has excellent(comparing to what?) picture.

There has been suggestions in forums about BlackMagic USB video recorder. This card is useless for live input. It is very specific for recording H.264 from analog source. It works ONLY with supplied software and the coding is done in the card. So the video is rather crap.

Posted: Tue May 26, 2009 9:30 am
by Sonicocr
uncompress video using USB and a composite video input in RCA??? I believe something may be wrong in that description.

I use BlackMagic capture cards on PCI and PCI-X with excelent results and very reduced latency in modul8.

Someone have use AJA products with modul8?

Posted: Thu May 28, 2009 12:23 pm
by vanakaru
Sonicocr wrote:uncompress video using USB and a composite video input in RCA??? I believe something may be wrong in that description.


I don't know if this is not uncompressed when I choose that in compression tab in M8 video preferences.

Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 10:32 am
by vanakaru
merchinax wrote:What is the difference between VGA nad DVI cables? What is the difference between a VGA and a DVI cable. Just bought a computer and it has both and I need to know which one is better to use as the user guide just says pick one.

That's really funny! Or sad.

Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 1:47 pm
by jockety
DVI would be best. DVI is a digital visual interface for digital displays with a maximum resolution of 1915 x 1436 (4:3 ratio) whereas a VGA (video graphics array) only goes up to 800 x 600. Hope this helps.

Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 1:50 pm
by jockety
but, if you dont have a dvi input on your display then i dont think theirs much point using the dvi outputon pooter if you have one of those dvi to vga adapters.

Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 8:14 pm
by vanakaru
Sorry, but we are talking about video capture devices that Modul8 accepts here. All discussion about elementary computer usage is waste of our reading time and thus in wrong place. Person who just bought his first computer and has no understanding about monitor cables is most likely in wrong forum and using Modul8 would be way beyond of him.

Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2009 12:23 am
by jockety
True, but i just thought it would be nice to help him, we all have to start somewhere.

Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2009 3:14 am
by anomad
. i use an XLR8 USB Interview (http://daystartechnology.com/Apple_Mac_ ... SX_PS.html )

. it captures pretty well, but with noticeable (about .5 sec) delay - similar to what you get with the built in webcam on the mac book pro