trevlac
21st July 2004, 05:38
How much do you wanna spend?
I did some testing of DV device captures, and wanted to share the results. I basicly tested for resolution, noise, and color. There are more things to consider (like ease of use, macrovision, audio sync, TBC, etc.) but I didn't look at those.
The round up:[list=1]
Laird LTM-5000FS - A professional YC DV device ~ $1800
Sony TRV900 - 3CCD minDV cam ~ $1500
Sony TRV520 - D8 cam ~ $1000
Sharp VL-NZ105 low end minDV cam ~ $300
AverMedia BT878a based PCI card ~ $30
MSI TV@nywhere Master CX23883 based card ~ $50
[/list=1]
The prices are around what the devices cost new (for comparison). You can get them about 50% cheaper used.
The Test
I used a really cheap apex pd-450 dvd player. From it (s-video out), I played test images from the Avia test DVD. The Sharp does not have s-video. So I used composite. Each device digitized the signal. For all of the DV devices, I used winDV to capture the test images. All but the TRV900 have passthru. I had to record to tape 1st for the TRV900. For the Aver and MSI, I used amcap and captured YUY2 uncompressed. BTWincap and MSI drivers respectively. I grabbed the images in virtualdub and made the compares in Photoshop. The images here are compressed, but they faithfully show the results. For the base DVD images, I grabbed the frames from the VOBs with vdubMod.
Resolution
http://trevlac.us/pics/Res.jpg
For this we want to look at the circle, the H rez chart at the top, the background, and the 6.75 text.
The Laird has the highest resolution. The detail in the circle is mostly there. It also has quite a bit of noise. I'm not sure if this is comming from the DVD player, or the Laird. Look around the 6.75 text. The grey is also a bit dark.
The D8 looks to have better rez than the TRV900. I like the D8 image the best. It has very little noise (actually, the unit has a DNR option. I had it off.)
The Sharp suffers from the composite signal. This pic is B&W for compression purposes, but the sharp produced all kinds of color noise. The other images were ony grey scale.
The BT878 has a lower rez and is a bit dark. I'd rank it above the Sharp.
The CX is very dark. I used the MSI drivers defaluts. Unlike the laird, the entire picture is dark (look a the bars below). This should be easy to correct by upping the brightness a tad. It's resolution is just below the laird. There is also not as much noise. Somehow it looks a little 'oversharp' to me. Again, this could be the drivers which is a general problem with the CX cards.
Color
http://trevlac.us/pics/Bars.jpg
These color bars are 75% on the top and 100% on the bottom. Look for noise and bleed.
The Laird is the worst here. I'd guess it needs to be serviced. The Red, Magenta, Blue appear 10-15% too low. If you zoom, you can also see a bit of noise.
The sony's are about the same. Very little noise. Maybe a bit dark on the chroma colors. The TRV900 may be better on the edges between colors.
The Sharp has poor edges between colors. Look between red and blue.
I like the BT878 the best here. Could be due to 4:2:2 vs 4:1:1.
The CX is again dark. This should be correctable with a driver setting. It looks no better than the BT to me.
An Extra test
For kicks, I also did a test with a cheapo Recoton switch I have. This switch excepts s-video and RCA inputs and sends it to both RCA and s-video out. Well, I compared straight s-video to the Laird; with s-video into the switch and s-video out of the switch to the Laird. Let me repeat, I was not trying to use composite, just s-video on the switch.
http://trevlac.us/pics/Colors.jpg
The switch does a ton of damage to the signal. Needless to say, I don't want it in my capture path.
Some conclusions?
S-video makes a big difference. The luma resolution on the DV devices is better than the BT. The CX has a higher res than everything but the laird. This of course may not matter depending on the source signal. The colors on the BT are better. On real moving images ... I'd doubt I could pick out anything but the low colors and the s-video/composite resolution.
:D
Edit Added the CX test.
I did some testing of DV device captures, and wanted to share the results. I basicly tested for resolution, noise, and color. There are more things to consider (like ease of use, macrovision, audio sync, TBC, etc.) but I didn't look at those.
The round up:[list=1]
Laird LTM-5000FS - A professional YC DV device ~ $1800
Sony TRV900 - 3CCD minDV cam ~ $1500
Sony TRV520 - D8 cam ~ $1000
Sharp VL-NZ105 low end minDV cam ~ $300
AverMedia BT878a based PCI card ~ $30
MSI TV@nywhere Master CX23883 based card ~ $50
[/list=1]
The prices are around what the devices cost new (for comparison). You can get them about 50% cheaper used.
The Test
I used a really cheap apex pd-450 dvd player. From it (s-video out), I played test images from the Avia test DVD. The Sharp does not have s-video. So I used composite. Each device digitized the signal. For all of the DV devices, I used winDV to capture the test images. All but the TRV900 have passthru. I had to record to tape 1st for the TRV900. For the Aver and MSI, I used amcap and captured YUY2 uncompressed. BTWincap and MSI drivers respectively. I grabbed the images in virtualdub and made the compares in Photoshop. The images here are compressed, but they faithfully show the results. For the base DVD images, I grabbed the frames from the VOBs with vdubMod.
Resolution
http://trevlac.us/pics/Res.jpg
For this we want to look at the circle, the H rez chart at the top, the background, and the 6.75 text.
The Laird has the highest resolution. The detail in the circle is mostly there. It also has quite a bit of noise. I'm not sure if this is comming from the DVD player, or the Laird. Look around the 6.75 text. The grey is also a bit dark.
The D8 looks to have better rez than the TRV900. I like the D8 image the best. It has very little noise (actually, the unit has a DNR option. I had it off.)
The Sharp suffers from the composite signal. This pic is B&W for compression purposes, but the sharp produced all kinds of color noise. The other images were ony grey scale.
The BT878 has a lower rez and is a bit dark. I'd rank it above the Sharp.
The CX is very dark. I used the MSI drivers defaluts. Unlike the laird, the entire picture is dark (look a the bars below). This should be easy to correct by upping the brightness a tad. It's resolution is just below the laird. There is also not as much noise. Somehow it looks a little 'oversharp' to me. Again, this could be the drivers which is a general problem with the CX cards.
Color
http://trevlac.us/pics/Bars.jpg
These color bars are 75% on the top and 100% on the bottom. Look for noise and bleed.
The Laird is the worst here. I'd guess it needs to be serviced. The Red, Magenta, Blue appear 10-15% too low. If you zoom, you can also see a bit of noise.
The sony's are about the same. Very little noise. Maybe a bit dark on the chroma colors. The TRV900 may be better on the edges between colors.
The Sharp has poor edges between colors. Look between red and blue.
I like the BT878 the best here. Could be due to 4:2:2 vs 4:1:1.
The CX is again dark. This should be correctable with a driver setting. It looks no better than the BT to me.
An Extra test
For kicks, I also did a test with a cheapo Recoton switch I have. This switch excepts s-video and RCA inputs and sends it to both RCA and s-video out. Well, I compared straight s-video to the Laird; with s-video into the switch and s-video out of the switch to the Laird. Let me repeat, I was not trying to use composite, just s-video on the switch.
http://trevlac.us/pics/Colors.jpg
The switch does a ton of damage to the signal. Needless to say, I don't want it in my capture path.
Some conclusions?
S-video makes a big difference. The luma resolution on the DV devices is better than the BT. The CX has a higher res than everything but the laird. This of course may not matter depending on the source signal. The colors on the BT are better. On real moving images ... I'd doubt I could pick out anything but the low colors and the s-video/composite resolution.
:D
Edit Added the CX test.