DFG/1394-1e video converter

[Gavin Bray]

Hello

I have a Mallincam analog video camera which I use for live astronomy viewing and recording. The camera is connected by S-video to a Canopus ADVC-55 converter which is then connected by firewire to my Vista PC where I use VirtualDub.

This works well but I have no control over brightness, contrast, gamma etc settings.

My questions:

1. If I were to replace the Canopus converter with the DFG/1394-1e would this then give me control over these settings?

2. Exactly what settings are supported by the DFG/1394-1e (brightness, contrast, hue, saturation, sharpness, white balance, gamma, backlight comp etc)?

3. Does the DFG/1394-1e have support for automatic gain control?

4. I have both firewire and USB ports. What advantage does the DFG/1394-1e have over the DFG/USB2-lt?

I appreciate any information you can provide.

Regards
Gavin Bray

[Stefan Geissler]

Hi Gavin,

I would likt to say, that you have no control on the camera properties like gain, exposure or backlight compensation through a grabber board. These are camera properties.
The supported properties are:
- Hue
- Satruation
- VCR Compatibility
- Signal Detected
- Brightness
- Contrast
- Sharpness

[Gavin Bray]

Hello Stefan

Thanks for the information.

Could you tell me what advantage the DFG/1394-1e has have over the DFG/USB2-lt (I have both firewire and USB ports on my PC)?

Are the same settings (brightness, contrast etc) supported by both converters?

Is the faster transfer rate of firewire necessary?

Would USB be sufficient to handle PAL and NTSC frame rates?

Thanks
Gavin

[Stefan Geissler]

Hi Gavin,

Both of these converters are nearly the same. They have different A/D changers in, thus they differ a little bit in the property ranges.
The advantage of the USB converter is, that it is powered by the USB 2.0 port. The FireWire converter would have to be powered extern if a laptop is in use.
The advantage of the FireWire converter is, that FireWire is a little bit more reliable than USB 2.0. It also works on Windows 2000 and not only on Windows XP and higher.

Both of them are sufficient to handle PAL and NTSC frame rates at 25 / 29 fps in full resolution.

[Gavin Bray]

Using my PC though and a 6 pin firewire cable am I correct in assuming I wouldn't need external power?

And, just to confirm, these converters don't include automatic gain control?

Regards
Gavin

[Stefan Geissler]

Hi Gavin,

Using a PC the FireWire converter is powered by the PC and no external power supply is necessary.

The converters do not include automatic gain control. They even have no manual gain control. This is a feature of the camera.

[Gavin Bray]

Thanks Stefan.