Tim ODriscoll wrote:
I've also been looking at USB solutions. The framerate is abysmal (about
8 FPS) but there seems to be a few which use a Philips chip and a OV511
chip that are well supported. Have a look here:
http://alpha.dyndns.org/ov511/cameras.html
I semi-decided on the 'LifeView CapView',
That model has apparently been discontinued in favor of the USB Life TV,
which includes a TV tuner and an (optional) FM tuner. The TV tuner is
now supported with the NTSC and PAL D/K+B/G versions. I'll probably have
the FM tuner working soon as well.
Right now the PAL models are only supported at 320x240, although it
should be possible to get them working at ~640x480.
but can't find their European
distributor (they don't reply to my emails)
You can probably find it more easily (and cheaper) on eBay or with a
Pricewatch type of search engine.
and the 8 FPS isn't very
appealing.
8 FPS is without compression. The ov511 driver supports compression,
which will give you 30 FPS at 320x240.
The best way I can see to do it is to use the Hauppauge PVR USB device.
This has the advantage of using an onboard mpeg encoder (only in the 'pvr'
model) to achieve realtime framerates. The tuner isn't supported, but I
believe video capture works. Here's the project:
http://pvrusb.sourceforge.net/
Doesn't look like it's been updated for a while though.
I don't know whether it is being actively worked on. You could try
asking the author.
Lifeview also has a USB 2.0 model of the LifeTV that appears to support
MPEG, but it probably won't be in stores for a while, and I wouldn't
expect to see Linux support for it anytime soon.
--
Mark McClelland
mark@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
