Video Editing Cards

[Nator]

Anytime I've tried doing a search, I end up with Video capturing cards and the like.

Am I loony in thinking that there are cards that you could install that will enhance system performance for editing videos that are already captured, or would that be part of a video capture card?

I'm aware that the editing capabilities would be dependent on what the card supports (ie, MPeg 1, 2 or 4), but the overall idea is post capturing, not only while capturing.

If a capture card does the same thing, then I either have just missed the obvious "in your face" point or it's just assumed to be a known fact. Being that I have learned to never assume stuff, I need to hear it one way or the other.

Thanks in advance.

[jman98]

I wouldn't say that you loony just because you don't know something, but you are wrong in your assumption about how video cards work. Editing actually has nothing to do with your capture card. Yes, some capture cards come with editors, but they don't necessarily have to. Your editing capabilities depend on what software editors you have and have nothing to do with your card. The only way to enhance system performance for editing videos is to just generally enhance system performance - faster CPUs, more memory and so on.

To give you a quick example, my Hauppauge PVR-350 can only capture MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 video However, if I was to somehow get an AVI file on my PC (maybe I encoded a DVD I own to Divx), I could edit that AVI file with something like VirtualDub, even though my capture card can't capture AVI video.

[Nator]

Yes, I'm aware of that. I just thought that there may be cards that are more dedicated to that task, therefore either speeding it up or giving better results. I've seen references to "hardware encoding", for example, when not referring to doing captures. I considered that perhaps there were cards that would perform some of the tasks that a software editor could do, just be able to do it faster. I'm sure you can understand my confusion.

I've fiddled around some with video editing, just for fun but never as a hobby, so I know a little bit about the programs to use and such (and the quirks for some of them too). I've already ordered a Hauppauge PVR-150 MCE, since the description says it will run on XP Pro SP2, despite the MCE meaning "Media Center Edition". Originally I was looking at a Pinnacle card, but after glancing around, I've seen Hauppauge overall getting better reviews, and since I'm getting a new one for under $50 (free shipping), it's a deal that fits me since, as I said before, I just fiddle in it for fun, not as a hobby or anything.

Since you mentioned having the 350, I would hope that I can conclude that you're happy with it and would recommend it for others. From what I've been able to see, the 350 has a decoder as well as an encoder, so I'm sure you're loving that when you play it to a TV.

[thecoalman]

Matrox, Avid and Canopus make them. those are the ones I'm aware of. they are not cheap though.

[redwudz]

Good luck with the Hauppauge PVR-150 MCE running on a non-MCE OS. I couldn't get one to work, and finally exchanged it for a regular PVR-150. But it was mostly driver issues. The MCE drivers wouldn't work with XP and the XP drivers wouldn't work with the MCE card. They may have changed the drivers around since then, this was last year.

You might check with Hauppauge and save all your paperwork and packing, just in case. Hopefully, I'm wrong.

[BJ_M]

Leitch dpsVelocity, dpsVelocityQ HD, dpsReality and dpsQuattrus

now part of thr harris group -- expensive and high quality //

even so they use the mainconcept mpeg2 codec for mpeg2 output

[jman98]

Matrox, Avid and Canopus make them. those are the ones I'm aware of. they are not cheap though.

I didn't know such cards existed, so I got an education too. I got curious and looked at the Canopus website. It appears to be one of those "If you have to ask how much it costs, you aren't going to buy it" kind of things. Looks like these cards are for professional use and not for home enthusiasts, unless maybe they have a lot of money.

[thecoalman]

They are not completely out of reach, this one from Matrox can be purchased from B&H for $700 Certainly not a purchase for your average home user but for the advanced enthusiast.... Or even someone doing it as side work. Huge time saver.

http://www.matrox.com/video/products/rtx100xtremepro/home.cfm

B&H Photo Video

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=9224&A=details&Q=&sku=327787&is=REG&...goryNavigation

Note that it's listed as without Premiere, not sure if it can be used with other editors.

[edDV]

These cards are built to specific needs. What are your needs?

Most things can be done in software if you have the time. These cards do a few things quickly for those who make a living doing those things.

[BJ_M]

They are not completely out of reach, this one from Matrox can be purchased from B&H for $700 Certainly not a purchase for your average home user but for the advanced enthusiast.... Or even someone doing it as side work. Huge time saver.

http://www.matrox.com/video/products/rtx100xtremepro/home.cfm

B&H Photo Video

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=9224&A=details&Q=&sku=327787&is=REG&...goryNavigation

Note that it's listed as without Premiere, not sure if it can be used with other editors.

Premiere only

[edDV]

Take the Matrox rtx100xtremepro. If your job is to turn out 10's of 1987 style used car commercials per day with overlay layer of animated zooming titles and/or a shrunk frame in a bordered box for inserts then this card is a bargain. It does the few things needed for that format in hardware. It won't be be best quality but it won't cost $20k either.

To do real time, you need three to four real time feeds to/from the RAID. You need the A roll feed for background. You need a foreground to zoom around held back by an alpha. Then you need a B roll feed to mix to.

4th stream? You need that to record it right? Four real time streams.

[Nator]

Matrox, Avid and Canopus make them. those are the ones I'm aware of. they are not cheap though.

So then the Canopus MPegPro MVR card does this even when it's a precaptured video (ie, not just MPeg encoding during capture)? That one is listed as being about $500, which isn't too terribly bad, although enough that I won't buy it because I don't have that much laying around waiting to be spent, nor a need for it for the little amount that I toy with it.

Matrox, Avid and Canopus make them. those are the ones I'm aware of. they are not cheap though.

I didn't know such cards existed, so I got an education too. I got curious and looked at the Canopus website. It appears to be one of those "If you have to ask how much it costs, you aren't going to buy it" kind of things. Looks like these cards are for professional use and not for home enthusiasts, unless maybe they have a lot of money.

Hey, you gave an honest answer, so I appreciate that. I will admit I was starting to feel like I was losing my mind when I wouldn't find anything that would directly say that there are cards to handle pre-captured video editing, without building a physical studio to do it.

I think the reason for my renewed interest (this time) is coming across Kworld's 4-channel and 8-channel DVR's for Surveillance systems. While I'll admit that it'd be wonderful to have the funds to set up 8 cameras to spy on everyone surrounding me from one spot, I have neither the funds nor the time to do that. Would be fun though (and the other benefit would be to catch people who walk their dogs and don't pick up after their 'pit stops', and proving that some neighbors are either totally clueless or just intentionally rude when they park in front of the house when there always seems to be spaces everywhere else that they could park.. But that's a bit of a story in itself.. ).