DVI Conversion to Firewire?
by Charles Smith
on
Feb 6, 2008 at 7:21:46 pm
I have a project that requires me to take a real-time display DVI output and record to a camcorder or vtr. I would like to record in HDV on a camcorder firewire input. Does anyone know of any converter box that will allow for this? What about HDMI to firewire? I know I can get a DVI to HDMI adapter. The only other thought I have is to get one of the HDMI in/out HDV camcorders from Sony (which I don't have...I have a Canon HV20).
Re: DVI Conversion to Firewire? by Douglas Spotted Eagle on Feb 6, 2008 at 7:52:20 pm
I don't know of a DVI to firewire, but do know of an SVGA to firewire, from Canopus. We used to use the TwinPac years ago for our training DVDs, and it works very well.
Can you use a screen capture utility?
Douglas Spotted Eagle
VASST
Certified Sony Vegas Trainer
Aerial Camera/Instructor
Re: DVI Conversion to Firewire? by Charles Smith on Feb 6, 2008 at 8:05:16 pm
Thanks for your response. Actually can't use a screen cap utility as this is being done in "real time" with the presenter going through the motions and explaining as he goes. Therefore have to grab an output either from the PC card or the display loop. I was thinking SVGA but client only provided me with DVI as an option.
Re: DVI Conversion to Firewire? by Zane Barker on Feb 6, 2008 at 11:31:16 pm
[Charles Smith]"Actually can't use a screen cap utility as this is being done in "real time" with the presenter going through the motions and explaining as he goes."
Many screen capture programs allow you to do that. You can record audio along with the screen as you record.
Re: DVI Conversion to Firewire? by Charles Smith on Feb 7, 2008 at 4:15:29 am
Since this is a medical workstation, it is highly unlikely the hospital IT administrator will allow for a 3rd party screen cap utility software to be loaded into their PC's. There's a host of issues, proprietary operating software, technical liability, potential SW conflict.... hospital communications culture....etc.
So while it is technically possible, it's just not practical and so taking a display feed may be the only realistic solution. But thanks for your input... it's much appreciated
Re: DVI Conversion to Firewire? by ken hon on Feb 7, 2008 at 6:31:04 pm
Aloha Charles,
You realize that all of the advice is for capturing your presentation to DV not HDV. There are no cheap HDV encoders out there, only decoders. Another route you might take though is to get a DV to HDMI converter and bring in a computer with a HDMI capture like a Black Magic card or an AJA io HD
http://www.aja.com/html/products_Io_IoHD.html.
The AJA will cost you an arm and a leg, but you can encode Apple Pro Res 422 to a MacPro laptop with it and you'll have a great capture device afterwards. Black Magic is a lot cheaper, but you need to bring a full computer box. If these guys are showing catscans and stuff, you'll probably need the higher resolution to make them happy.
I can just see some doctor after watching the video and operating going, now where was that fuzzy green ball I'm supposed to remove... :-)
Re: DVI Conversion to Firewire? by Charles Smith on Feb 7, 2008 at 7:04:41 pm
Thanks for your input. Yep...higher resolution is waay important. I may have found a solution however from Gefen products as I see they actually make a 80GB HD Recorder that takes all sorts of interfaces including HDMI. My thought would be to get a simple DVI-HDMI adapter and input to this recorder. The cost is listed at around $900 and I could justify this as it could be used as a fileshare drive or backup recorder onlocation.
Bringing in a PC with all the necessary peripherals might be an option but it's portability would be a pain on/off airlines, etc. The Gefen HD Recorder may be a viable option.
Re: DVI Conversion to Firewire? by ken hon on Feb 7, 2008 at 11:03:01 pm
Aloha Charles,
That's an interesting box, but it doesn't say what format it records in and if you can in fact get to the video files at all. It is also fully HDCP compliant, which generally isn't good for what you are trying to do. I would definitely ask a lot of questions before I got this box to make sure it will work.
Convergent Design is working on a similar device for cameras, but it is not available yet. Cineform and Wafian have an HDSDI recorder, but it would require yet another converter.
Also don't forget that you need a DVI-HDMI converter/scaler, not just a cable adapter. Computer DVI is RGB at some variable resolution that needs to be converted to video colorspace and scaled to the correct resolution. The scaler inputs will need to match the output of the presentation computer too. Complicated and tough to do from a distance. Capture software looks better all the time, might not hurt to ask them.
Re: DVI Conversion to Firewire? by Charles Smith on Feb 8, 2008 at 12:54:17 am
I think I will ask about cap software but I still have doubts that they will go for it. Another issue to consider is that this is a multi-monitor setup, meaning that there are at least 3 other monitors (4 possibly) that I will need to record. My original thought was/is to tap into the output of each monitor card and go through a simple router/switch when each monitor comes up in the demo.
But DSE's suggestion of doing the Canopus route may be a good choice. I'm talking with their tech folks tomorrow...hopefully they'll be approachable on a variety of possibilities.
Re: DVI Conversion to Firewire? by Lesley Sterling on Feb 24, 2008 at 6:11:51 pm
I'm pretty novice at this but I'm looking for a video converter that takes HD video and has an output to firewire so I can input to Final Cut.
I already have a Canopus ADVC-100 for analog to digital conversion. If I could dream up something, I'd like the same box to have a HDMI IN and firewire OUT.
Purpose: Take HD movies on, say, HD TiVO or Apple TV, and play them out, through this device, and into my MBP.
