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Experience using Epiphan VGA grabber and CourseCast
Has anyone tried using Epiphan's VGA2USB and VGA2USB LR devices with CourseCast? I'd like to use one of these models or something comparable to capture our document camera output in CC recordings along with a primary audio stream (but no video).
There are three things I'd like to find out:
1. Does CourseCast have any difficulty recognizing the output from these devices?
2. What kind of PC resources do these devices require? Is the processing required comparable to that of video from a primary, full-motion stream?
3. I'd also like to know why I should consider the more expensive Epiphan VGA2USB LRs. It seems like the VGA2USB should capture a document camera adequately with its 10fps at 1024x768 resolution. Maybe I'm underestimating the amount of motion and resolution that will be required...
There are three things I'd like to find out:
1. Does CourseCast have any difficulty recognizing the output from these devices?
2. What kind of PC resources do these devices require? Is the processing required comparable to that of video from a primary, full-motion stream?
3. I'd also like to know why I should consider the more expensive Epiphan VGA2USB LRs. It seems like the VGA2USB should capture a document camera adequately with its 10fps at 1024x768 resolution. Maybe I'm underestimating the amount of motion and resolution that will be required...
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Inappropriate?Hi Will,
Both of those Epiphan models are supported and should show up just fine as secondary video output. They both use a moderate amount of CPU usage but we've done recordings with that + a primary video source with no issues.
If you're considering these devices, I would strongly suggest that you go with the LR model. The cheaper unit has very low framerate/quality, high startup latency and overall it degrades the video output.
For capturing a document camera it should work just fine. Also worth mentioned that depending on the model of document camera, we may be able to have that show up as a secondary video device in the recorder. This is largely a driver issue though so it varies. I'm happy to check for you if you post the make/model of your doc camera.
Thanks,
Dave1 Comment
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Thanks Dave. I hadn't thought of grabbing a signal directly from the document camera. I'll look this up and get back to you. -
Inappropriate?Hi Will,
I just used the VGA2USB to capture a conference, so I thought I'd add my 2c.
The device was unusable on my Windows 7 laptop, with a startup latency on the order of a minute. This is probably a driver problem. I was able to use the device with a backup XP machine just fine, with a startup time of a couple seconds.
I did not have control over the resolutions the presenters were using, and the quality of capture varied greatly depending on the resolution chosen. On some talks, there was a distracting screen-like effect, where the image appeared slightly broken up and shimmered. On another, there was a black border about 25% of the image size in width. For resolutions in the "sweet spot", static content looked good, but any motion produced very pronounced interlacing artifacts.
If you capturing static content on XP, and can control the resolution coming into the device, the VGA2USB may be sufficient for your needs. If you need more flexibility and higher quality, the LR may be able to handle higher resolutions, and probably offloads more of the processing burden from the PC.
-Greg2 Comments Add a comment
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Thanks Greg. This is practical and helpful information about how the VGA2USBs actually perform. I've been encouraged by some of the other staff at Panopto to consider getting the VGA2SUB LR instead of the VGA2USB due to performance issues; your comments illustrate what those problems might look like.
Do you have experience with any of the Datapath VGA cards? If so, would you be willing to comment upon their performance? Since we're looking to upgrade 12 or more classrooms for basic lecture capture without primary video we won't likely be able to justify the cost of Datapath cards. However, I'd still like to hear from someone about how well, or poorly, they actually perform.
Will -
Will,
I don't have any experience with the Datapath cards, so I can't comment on their relative performance. Maybe someone else on GetSat can comment. -
Inappropriate?You might be interested to know that we are capturing our Wolfvision visualisers via USB onto the PC screen which then gets screen captured. This negates the need for additional capture hardware but the downside is that the lecturer would need a little extra instruction in how to use the visualiser software rather than switching projector inputs.
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