Tutorials

How to Make a Choice Among DVI Capture Cards

Users may need to capture video from devices according to multiple reasons. It will take a long time just to name all possible application fields: security (e.g. CCTV, IP network), medicine (e.g. ultrasound and X-Ray imagery), education, engineering, a plenty of scientific applications… As long as a device features a DVI or VGA port, the output signal can be captured by a DVI or VGA capture card and processed in different ways depending on its capabilities. You can save it to a computer and archive, print the grabbed images, broadcast it to the Internet, upload on an FTP server or make the data accessible for a remote user. A frame grabber allowing DVI input capture is an essential and popular market offering. There are no determined standards for this kind of products, therefore a customer looking for a DVI capture card should analyze them and make a right choice.

DVI capture cards

Internal DVI Capture Cards

In order to provide video capture DVI solutions are used in internal and external formats. When you surf the Web and collect information about current frame grabber offerings, your first thought will be to surprise: almost all DVI capturing solutions are internal ones. Without doubt there are situations when internal solutions may suit your needs well. Using such capture card DVI signal will be grabbed and processed. For instance, if you permanently use the same working station, usually work in the same environment and do not need additional functionalities provided by the advanced frame grabbers, this card will do the job. Just install it and immediately benefit from grabbing images. The internal DVI frame grabbers are offered by different manufacturers: Unigraf, Ncast, PixelSmart, EMS Imaging, Foresight Imaging. Most of the solutions are PCI-based and can be used only in PCs but not the laptops. If the capture resolution quality provided by the internal frame grabbers is suitable for you, choose among UFG-05 1E from Unigraf, Datapath’s VisionRGB-X2, etc. to perform DVI capture. Frame grabbers providing maximal available capture resolution are available as external solutions.

DVI capture cards

High Resolution and Portability

Very often users deal with situations when it is more comfortable to capture images using an external solution, due to security/size constraints, or when you need to move the frame grabber between some locations or devices. You will hardly find several manufacturers offering standalone DVI capture cards. If the capture resolution quality is not critical, then choose Aplica’s Screen Recorder that is capable of grabbing images at resolution of 1080x720. After video capturing, the DVI signal is compressed and transmitted over an IP network. In case you deal with high precision applications and need to get maximum high quality of the image, take a look at a wide range of the external frame grabbers provided by Epiphan System. This is currently the only manufacturer on the market offering external frame grabbers for all needs. DVI2USB (available also in a dual-link modification) allows for saving the captured images and video on the computer via USB port with unbelievable resolution of up to 2048x1536. VGA2Ethernet captures DVI/VGA data and sends it to the Internet with resolution of up to 1920x1200. It is worthy of note that each of them is compatible with Windows, Mac OS X and Linux, does not require additional power supply and features a USB output for PC and laptop connection.

video capture DVI

Choosing Appropriate Device

Before making final choice the customers obviously explore different solutions and take into account its characteristics. What speaks well for Epiphan DVI frame grabbers? Their portability, really competitive capture resolution quality ideally suitable for any high-precision applications, possibility to work with both PC and non-PC sources and a range of solutions ensuring every demanding customer will find a product for his needs.