Snappy Video Snapshot Inner Workings / High Quality Frame Grabs

[acid_burn]

In the mid-to-late 1990s a company named Play Inc. released the Snappy Video Snapshot analog video frame grabber. If you don't know what it is, you can read about it here - though this message is intended for folks who know what the device is. I have been using this device for 10 years now and I absolutely love it! It's the only device that allows me to do high-quality screen grabs from even the poorest of sources (relatively speaking). Image quality is really exceptional, it has a built-in deinterlacer (maybe other filters too), captures motion shots really well, and can capture from 640x480 up to 1500x1125, though I always use 800x600.

Seeing as how I now have a video capture card, I think the Snappy is redundant. Plus, it isn't self-powered: it uses a 9 Volt battery, which needs to be replaced from time-to-time; and it isn't self-contained inside the computer: it connects to the parallel port on the back, and even with an extension cable to make it accessible from the front, it will still "hang around" on my desk while my capture card and it's front panel are nice and snug in the computer case itself. So I'm thinking about getting rid of the Snappy, but I don't want to lose out on the high quality frame grabs. Which brings me to my question...

If anyone knows the Snappy's inner workings, was its high quality due to the hardware, the software, or both? Would it be possible to get frame grabs of the same high quality using a video capture card and some other software?

[Stiiv]

I still have my Snappy, too. I don't know much about its inner workings, except that they always worked. If no one minds, here's my 2 cents:

Snappy & Me

It never gave me a bit of trouble & did a great job...just like the C64 & C128 slumbering in their boxes in the basement... which I also cannot bring myself to throw out.

IMHO, it was a combination of innovative hardware (including a proprietary chip designed by Play) & well-written (except for the very non-intuitive GUI) software written by people that REALLY knew that device inside & out.

I'm still using a Dazzle DVCII PCI card/breakout box to cap video & the occasional still...the Snappy does a much better job. I can't tell you how much better a "modern" cap card would do...but I'd have to assume still capture quality would surpass the Snappy's output. It had better.

[acid_burn]

Thanks for the input Stiiv. I guess when I can find the time the best thing to do is get some videotapes and DVDs and run a battery of tests to do comparisons between the Snappy and my video capture card.

It's a shame that Play didn't stay in business for a few more years because I have no doubt that they would have created an awesome self-powered USB Snappy device.