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VGA capture

NeXT

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Joined
Oct 22, 2008
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Kamloops, BC, Canada
I swear we talked about this more recently....:unsure:

I'm getting fed up with my rebadged Epiphan VGA2USB pod because being the original version it can only capture in interlaced and at 20 or less frames a second.
I know there are a few more modern and low-cost options available now but I'm under the assumption they might be arguably better.

Take this for example. If you don't shop around you can get them for $100 to $150. Off the Aliexpress boat I've seen them for $40 + shipping.

VGA passthrough, stereo audio input and USB (3.0?) out that is driverless so it appears in most common recorders like OBS. It's a standalone deice so you have no control over the signal input, so likely it will be fixed to a selection of standard resolutions and refresh rates, presumably not including 15khz? Likely also only supports H/V sync and not RGBS or Sync on Green. It's also a bit vague on the framerate capabilities. It would be cool if it just worked with my Sony DKC-5000 but even the Epiphan doesn't like that. The only thing I got to compare it to though is those super cheap USB 2.0/3.0 HDMI capture dongles which actually perform at 720p and below, so I'm assuming bandwidth is no longer an issue for these things.

Need input because the price bracket between these and more professional devices from Epiphan, Elgato and the likes is very steep and at about $50 each after shipping that's about as much as I paid for the VGA2USB.
 
So far as I'm aware the main complaint with those things is they'll often work fine with more modern GUI OSes that will output standard VESA resolutions at 60hz, but trying to capture DOS text or games using the 70hz 400 line VGA modes is a no go. But I haven't tried one myself.
 
So far as I'm aware the main complaint with those things is they'll often work fine with more modern GUI OSes that will output standard VESA resolutions at 60hz, but trying to capture DOS text or games using the 70hz 400 line VGA modes is a no go. But I haven't tried one myself. happy wheels game
I am wanting to try it. Thanks for the information you provided.
 
VGA capture is a real pain...

So far I've tried it a few ways:
1: Converting first with a Gefen VGA to DVI Scaler Plus, selecting a resolution I like, then passively converting to HDMI. After that, capture is done by a cheap generic HDMI to USB 2.0 device, and the results look pretty spectacular. The one thing it doesn't handle well is resolution changes. If that happens, then the Gefen displays the source resolution over top of the video (but maybe I missed a setting). I like this one enough that I'm considering buying a second. I can't recall how it performs in 70Hz modes. One extra bonus of this one is that it also tolerates the input of an MCA2VGA, so I can convert all the way from EGA or MDA to HDMI and get a good capture.
2: Converting VGA to composite via a Kramer VP-501XL or other such adapter, then capturing with a cheapo device like an iGrabber, or converting again from composite to SDI and capturing that. Decent for really low-res stuff like 70Hz modes, and tolerant of alot, but quality leaves much to be desired.
3: Avermedia native VGA capture card recommended by a friend, which doesn't seem to play nice with OBS under Windows 7. Maybe I've got the wrong drivers, but it's been sidelined for now.
4: (this one sadly never worked) Converting with a Gefen HD & VGA to 3GSDI Scaler / Converter, then capturing via SDI. I never could get the USB control software to work right, and that's the main way to configure the device. I had better luck with this model at my last job, but I was also using far more common VGA resolutions at work, rather than the esoteric low-res DOS stuff I was trying at home.

These days I use method 1, and occasionally method 2 for fun stuff where quality doesn't matter. I'd like to take another crack at method 3 some time though. At my old job, I had access to this supposedly fancy multi-standard scaler/converter that was incredibly obtuse to configure and was known for intermittent faults. I can't recall the brand or model, but it drove me up the wall whenever someone brought me a VGA-only laptop and wanted it converted to broadcast-grade SDI, because this thing never worked right.

I'm still chasing a better solution for good quality, flexible VGA capture.
 
I got a Epiphan DVI2PCIe for dirt cheap on ebay. Those cards along with the popular Datapath VisionRGB series pop up fairly regularly for reasonable prices, although usually bracketless (ex: https://www.ebay.com/itm/325232137678). What I like about the card is that it allows for total control of capture parameters and can handle out-of-spec video fairly well. This class of devices are usually referred to as "frame grabbers" as opposed to video capture.

No, its not USB, but the DVI2PCIe does have DirectShow drivers and works in OBS. Also the current USB grabbers from Epiphan (DVI2USB 3.0, AV.io) don't handle out of spec video signals nearly as well as the PCIe cards.
 
The card was available as PCIe 1.1 x1 and x4. Don't expect to do super duper HD capturing with the x1 versions.
 
I use an INOGENI VGA2USB3. It works pretty much with anything without drivers including this Fedora 37 POWER9 Raptor Talos II, and you can see some example grabs from it here, retouched only for aspect ratio (first three: http://www.floodgap.com/retrobits/ans/shots/ ). I'm generally happy with it and the image quality, but it has two big drawbacks: first, $$$, and second, doesn't like refresh rates other than 60Hz. But it will capture 1080p 60Hz.
 
So the capture box I linked to at the top finally arrived. It has USB 3.0 but I don't trust it. Indeed though it works out of the box with OBS. Just give it a VGA signal.

CGS_11887.JPG


warpOK.png

1080ok.png


Okay easy enough, but lets try something else. Previously I tried to make the Epiphan see the Lisa's video out using Compu_85's adapter but it would not display a single frame without an Extron scan converter.
The new capture box performs worse. It doesn't like the raw Lisa feed OR the converted signal out of the Extron.

CGS_11886.JPG

CGS_11888.JPG

CGS_11889.JPG


Okay I was expecting a bit much, lets try my Sony DKC-5000 which has RGB+HV out.

dkcpink.png

dkcbw.png


So this is unexpected. The capture device supports Sync on Green. Also, I didn't know the DKC is RGsB+HV out. This would be fantastic for my other SOG machines like Sun, SGI or NeXT but because this is a "driverless" capture box there are no controls, so you have no way to tell it to ignore the sync signal on the color green and this you are either missing a color, or you remove red and blue and you get a nice monochrome video.

I didn't bother trying 15khz video.
 
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