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http://www.macnn.com/articles/01/03/21/usb.device/

USB device supports realtime MPEG-2 encoding

updated 01:35 pm EST, Wed March 21, 2001

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Pixela Corp has announced the "world's first" hardware-encoder that captures video via USB and supports realtime MPEG-2 encoding and playback.

Capty, which currently supports analog video capture in MPEG-1 format in real-time, will also bring support for realtime MPEG-2 encoding (via hardware) and software-based MPEG-2 playback via its AltiVec-enabled software decoder. The updated device will also bring image quality options for compression as well as control over the image bitrate (1-6Mbps), resolution capture area (up to 720x480), and sound bitrate (192-384k).

It is bundled with a MPEG Cutter utility that can read the MPEG-2 image data and remove unwanted frames without re-encoding, conversion of an MPEG-2 file to video stream and audio stream as a source for DVD Video authoring, and support for outputing streams in video CD format.

All operations are supported under Mac OS X Classic environment. The MPEG-2 enabled version of the device will ship at end of April.

by MacNN Staff

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03/21, 04:23pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
Some things...

I wonder if this also supports stereo or mono audio? That's an awful lot of data to be going over a USB port.

Interesting that it will work within classic - this could be an interesting product.

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03/21, 04:25pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
Checking website ...

It is a stereo audio feed with video. Interesting indeed.

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03/21, 04:26pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
Capty, yeah right...

No way this thing encodes mpeg-2 in real time via USB. First off, USB is way too slow to capture high quality video, but they claim it encdes mpeg-2 at the same time? Yeah right, I'll believe it when I see it... BTW- What is the price for this peice of.....

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03/21, 04:40pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
Obvious embedded solution

Combine this 1x MPEG encoder with a 1x CDRW or DVD-RAM drive and you will have a CD writing TIVO.

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03/21, 04:44pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
very possible

Considering it talks about a bit rate of 6-7Mbps max (audio and video) and that USB supports two modes (the more common 1.2Mbps and the higher 12Mbps, both supported by both ports on all Apple computers with USB built in) it seems perfectly reasonable that the unit could (assuming it is truthful about realtime encoding) take the high-bandwidth analog input, encode into this 6-7Mbps MPEG2 and transfer over the 12Mbps USB. Of course, you would likely sacrifice a port on your computer for this as I would doubt a majority of the cheap USB hubs support the higher rate. Then again, I may be talking out of my a** here and not know what I'm talking about!

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03/21, 04:55pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
No way...

MPEG-1 (352x240 @ 30 FPS) video is ~150k/sec. That is slightly above USB's theoretical limit of 12Mb/sec. Now they're trying to tell us that they're able to transfer MPEG-2 over USB? Not likely unless it's USB 2.0.

-Aaron-

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03/21, 05:08pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
Re: No way...

150 kB/s is about 1200 kb/s, which is about 1.2 Mb/s, which is WELL under the 12 Mb/s limit of USB. Also, DVD authoring specifies a max data rate of 10 Mb/s for the total bandwidth (video, audio (including possible multiple languages), and subtitling tracks), so doing mpeg2 over USB is very doable. According to what I've read, this devices maxes out at 6 Mb/s which is above average for standard hollywood dvd's so the quality should be quite decent for most content.

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03/21, 05:12pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
But how much?

Anyone know how much thing might cost?

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03/21, 06:45pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
Re:Re:No Way

Sorry but 12Mb/s of USB is 12 MegaBITS not bytes...Divide it by 8 bits per byte and that's only 1.5 MB/s...way below MPEG-2.

Probably gonna be real low quality MPEG2 imhop...

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03/21, 07:06pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
MPEG-1 has been done

Just a data point -- there already is a USB MPEG-1 encoder available, just not for the Mac:

http://www.dazzle.com/products/vidcr.html

MPEG-2 over USB? Well, if you did half-frame video, but using MPEG-2 encoding, with a very low bitrate, maybe.

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03/21, 07:12pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
What if....

They said this was a HARDWARE encoding solution.

Knowing that, if the little box outside your Mac does the hardware encoding, then the data going into your Mac may already be compressed down, rather than being done by the G3/G4 CPU. This would conceivably lower the bandwidth going through the USB port. So in theory, it is possible that this could work, provided the interface does more than just pass the video through. Remember that the average rates most people think of are the RAW rates, which would be how video would normally work if your Mac was doing all the encoding and just using the ports as a means for video-in. Already compressed video takes a lot less.

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03/21, 07:13pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
bit rates

iDVD encodes at a bite rate of 1.3MB/s or 10 Mb/s this is within USB's range but tight and it should be noted that iDVD's rate is fairly high to maximize encoding speed. it should be more than possible to have good VHS quality video at a 6-7 Mb/s rate. Now the question is how cheap can they put together a real time MPEG 1 encoder. My guess $200 to $400

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03/21, 09:12pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
any other products?

if this product isn't any good cause of the usb, does anyone know of any other products that would capture video, encode and decode mpeg-2? i'll settle for a mpeg-2 software player if anyone knows of any. trying to watch music videos encoded in mpeg-2 by windoze people.

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03/21, 10:15pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
Bits and bytes...

MPEG 1 and MPEG 2 video can be at a variety of bit rates. MPEG 1 is often encoded at 1.5 million bits per second. (Mbps). MPEG 2 is often encoded at around 6 or 7 million bits per second, but can often go higher.

USB has a theoretical transfer rate of 12 million bits per second, although the effective rate is a bit lower.

So, in theory it's no problem to put MPEG 1or MPEG 2 compressed video over USB. The trick is putting a good quality MPEG2 encoder on the device that isn't too expensive.

Divide the above numbers by 8 to get millions of bytes per second. (MBps).

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03/22, 11:00am | report spam | close Reply | delete
720X480

Does anyone know what the industry standard MPEG-2 resolution is? This thing says 720X480 at 30 fps and I get that resolution is too low. I am almost positive that DVD is usually encoded for MUCH higher resolutions than that (well, I haven't actually counted the pixels but it has to be). That resolution would look ok on a 17-inch monitor at best. After that, it would look terrible. Also, this is hardware encoding which tends to not be too great (but be faster, like Steve said). I bet that this would be a nice product but not a professional tool. If this thing can encode at up to 6 Mbps, I wonder what commercial DVDs are encoded at.

But this is not my area of expertise by any means,
~/indigo

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03/22, 12:44pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
Not even close...

Most High quality DVD's are encoded to use about 8 to 9 Mega BYTES per second. This mean that you when need at LEAST 64 Mega Bits per second to get anything even close to DVD quality. It can be encoded at less, but quality will suffer.

The max bandwidth of USB is 12 Mega Bits. That over 5 times to slow to hand DVD quality.

iDVD does do 1.3MB to 10MB, but keep in mind that the it is Mega BYTES, USB can only do 1.5 MEGA BYTES (MAX) (which is 12 Mega Bits)

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03/22, 12:50pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
Wrong

DVDs are encoded using VBR (variable bit rate). The maximum bandwidth of DVD video is 10mbps (that's megabits, not megabytes). USB's bandwidth is 12mbps (again, megabits). It can be done.

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03/22, 12:52pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
yep

Yep he's right...

This device will only be able to handle video of lowest quality setting on iDVD, which will suck.

USB = 1.5 Mega BYTES (MAX!)
MPEG2 = 1.3 Mega BYTES (Lowest); 10 Mega BYTES (Highest)

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03/22, 12:54pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
Very close

High quality DVD's are encoded at about 8 to 9 MegaBITS per second, not megaBYTES.
8-9 Megabytes/sec would mean it would only be about half the datarate of uncompressed SDI video..not much of a compression would that be then..

So if USB does 12 MegaBITS/sec, it could be very well possible

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03/22, 12:55pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
Get a clue

"DVDs are encoded using VBR (variable bit rate). The maximum bandwidth of DVD video is 10mbps (that's megabits, not megabytes). USB's bandwidth is 12mbps (again, megabits). It can be done"

get a clue dude. the max limit for DVD is 10MB WICH IS MEGA BYTES!!!!!!!!!!

USB it 12 Mega BITS (1.5 Mega BYTES) Learn to count!

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03/22, 12:56pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
Here is the DVD spec...

Last post was mine...if you still don't believe me, check this out: http://www.mpeg.org/MPEG/DVD/General/Breakdown.html

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03/22, 12:59pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
quality has to suck!

It will not be possible with even remotely good quality.

DVD's max is 10 MB meaning each second of video takes up 10 MB of HD (Max). The max through put of USB is 1.5MB.

Come on People

I've seen a the same device on PC and all it is really any good for is for a web cam.

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03/22, 01:00pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
I got a clue

Now it is time for YOU to look at the spec.

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03/22, 01:03pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
Think about it

Here's something for you to think about...there now exist 8X DVD-ROM drives for computers...if DVD bitrate was 10 MEGABYTES per second, 8X DVD-ROMS would be able to transfer data at 80 MEGABYTES per second!! 15,000 RPM single hard drives can't even achieve that much less a DVD-ROM on an ATA/66 IDE bus!

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03/22, 01:07pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
why is it realtime?

Just a rant, but I DOWNLOAD my megapixel digital pictures over USB to great satisfaction. When will a product support DOWNLOADING digital video without sacrifice to frame-rate or pixel resolution? Technical reasons against this, or rumors of such products will be greatly appreciated. Cheers

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03/22, 01:11pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
lets do the Math

Single Layer DVD = 4.5 Gigs (4,500 MB)

DVD max quality = 10 Meg BITS (like in his link)
10 Mbs = 1.25MB (Mega BYTES)
USB = 1.5 (MAX Mega BYTES)

1.25 x 60 = 75 (75MB for 1 Min of video)
75 x 60 = 4500 (4,500MB of space) ie 4.5Gigs

Single Layer DVD can hold 1 hour of Highest quality video.

Case closed

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03/22, 02:27pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
No kidding

Using common sense, if DVD was 10 MegaBytes/s, and a DVD single layer holds 4.5 GB:

4500MB / 10MB/s = 450 seconds of playback.

That's 7.5 minutes! Hello!

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03/22, 03:57pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
Re: Not even close...

Some people here really don't know the difference between Mbps and MBps.

We've just had someone say that most high quality DVDs are encoded at around 8 to 9 megabytes per second. If that were the case, then a minute of video on a DVD would take up at least 480 megabytes, and an average 2-hour film would require 57 600 MB. Now, how many DVDs do you know that have a capacity in excess of 50 gigabytes!?

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03/22, 04:01pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
MP3s

I wonder... do the people that think DVDs are encoded at 9 megabytes a second think MP3s are encoded at 128, 160, 192 kilobytes a second.

Has the digital multimedia revolution passed you guys by!?

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03/22, 04:03pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
It's about time that...

..everyone in the world would start counting in Bytes..kilobytes..megabytes..gigabytes

I'm starting to get really pissed off by all manufacturers of stupid products that measure in bits just because the numbers look higher...
And, for the same reason, they round off a megabyte as being 1000 kilobyte..and a gigabyte as 1000 megabyte...'hey, this harddisk is 30 gigabyte,but you can only use 28 gigabyte of it because we don't understand the number 1024.'

This was al written on my powerbook with 1610612736 bits of ram and a 51539607552 bit Harddisk.

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03/22, 04:18pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
720*480, to indigo

To answer indigo's question:
MPEG-2 for dvd is encoded at 720*480 resolution,30 fps for NTSC, and 720*576, 25 fps for PAL.
This is the maximum resolution your telly can display, so encoding at higher resolutions wouldn't be useful. (this also goes for widescreen, which is still 720 pixels wide, but the pixels itself are wider.(bummer isn't it)
So in theory a higher resolution than 800*600 if you're playing a dvd on your computer shouldn't increase the picture quality...but I don't know exactly what video cards do with smoothing and anti-aliasing etc.

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03/22, 08:59pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
only in Japan

I just got an email back from Pixera. Here's what they have to say:

Thank you for your interest in our product, Capty.
However, this product has made for Japanese environment only and it
is not
compatible with other environment yet.
Although we're not sure the date of shipping, but hoping that the
availability in other countries to come soon.
Also, we don't have online store system.
We are sorry for your inconvenience.

Sincerely,

Kyoko Takahashi

Pixela Corporation

KAKiYA Bld.8F
2-7-17 ShinYokohama, Kohoku-ku
Yokohama, Kanagawa
222-0033 JAPAN

Tel:+81-45-477-4666
Fax:+81-45-477-4667
E-mail:takahashi@pixela.co.jp
WebSite:www.pixela.co.jp

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03/22, 10:39pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
dvd rez + fps

Someone said:

"To answer indigo's question:
MPEG-2 for dvd is encoded at 720*480 resolution,30 fps for NTSC, and 720*576, 25 fps for PAL."

Actually most film based ntsc dvd's are encoded at 24fps(the same as the film). They are later translated by the player to 30fps(29.9blahblahblah fps) using a process called 3:2 pulldown. Not sure how that works....

Material originating at 30fps of course would be encoded at that rate.

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03/22, 11:30pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
Math skills lacking?

Are you all dumb? USB is 12 megabits per second. That is also 1.5 megabytes per second. MPEG-1 is usually 150 kilobytes per second, or 1200 kilobits, 1.2 megabits per second. MPEG-2 is variable bit rate, and is anywhere from 1 megabit per second, on up. 6 megabits is the max for this device which will provide very good video, exceeding most of what you will buy on a DVD. For comparison, iDVD uses 8 megabits per second (for encoding speed), but can only put 1 hour on a single layer of a DVD.

Now for those who don't understand math: 1.2 (MPEG-1) is less than 12 (USB). 6 (MPEG-2) is ALSO less than 12 (USB). SO, the conclusion is that you CAN send MPEG-2 video over USB!!! Yeahhh... now do you understand? Not only can you, but you'll get good quality.

For another comparison, at 8 megabits/sec, you can only put 2 hours on one side of a DVD. Most of the movies you see will have about 3 hours on one side. This puts you in the range of 6 megabits/sec so you'll do just fine capturing over USB.

You can put as much processing power you want in a device whether or not its connected by USB. The device is what is compressing the video, not your computer or the USB.

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03/23, 08:01am | report spam | close Reply | delete
cost

Their web site says "about $300"

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03/23, 09:33am | report spam | close Reply | delete
RE: It's about time tha

Data transfer speeds are always measured in bits. This is the standard. Make more sence when you think of bits being transfered. It's just the way things always have been. Data storage amounts are in bytes, but data isn't being moved along a pipeline, which must send data in 0 and 1's.

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03/23, 09:14pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
For $300... & my 2 bps

For a little over $300 (about $350 on eBay) one can buy a Sony DVMC-DA2,
which does _both_ D - A and A - D video conversion from any analog source
into a firewire port.

This is a *much* more flexible option for anybody who wants to capture video,
edit video, and/or output video back to tape.

It seems possible that a device like this could get you reasonable quality, but a
lot depends on what you want to do with the video after you capture it. If your
desired end-product is an MPEG file, then perhaps this is the straightest line,
but I want the option to push video back out to tape.

Assuming that one has a firewire port, I think that Sony's encoder (or a low-end
miniDV/D8 camcorder) is the way to go.

If there are reasons why a box like this would be better for certain applications
than a DV-via-firewire solution, I'd like to hear them (besides the "I bought a
non-Firewire iMac and I want to do Digital Video..." which seems like a limited
market for a $300 gadget)

As for bits-vs-bytes, measuring data rates in bits made sense when the fastest
modem you could buy was 300bps. These days it is pointless and needlessly
confusing (see the previous 20+ posts for evidence). Nobody quotes SCSI xfer
rates in bits per second - it was the fact that USB was so slow that they needed
to hype it by a factor of 8 to make it look faster.

Techies can live with either bps or Bps, while non-techies find the bps numbers
to be totally confusing. Some traditions deserve to die. Bits-per-second is one of
them.

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03/27, 12:24am | report spam | close Reply | delete
MPEG is much smaller

Sony DVMC-DA2 is DV format capturing. It�s ideal for iMovie source, but only one second takes 3.6 Mega Bytes! So, capturing one hour requires 12 Giga Bytes!!!
This device is MPEG-1 or 2 format capturing, so captured data won�t be as much as capturing in DV format. For example, one hour capturing requires 2 Giga Bytes, which is one sixth of the captured DV data size. Also, you can�t forget that MPEG-2 is the format used for DVD Video.
Also, your encoded MPEG-2 file can be used as a source for DVD Studio Pro.
So, you can make a DVD Video from capturing analog if you want. I think this device is a great solution. yoshiaki

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03/27, 01:33am | report spam | close Reply | delete
It's a hardware encoding

They said it�s a hardware encoding. So it�s no problem sending MPEG compressed video over USB. Their release page said it�s encoded at 720*480 resolution, 30 fps and real-time capturing.

Think about 6Mbps max. (MPEG-2) Transferring over USB (12Mbps max) is no problem at all. If the quality is great as they said, I bet they�ve done something technical to it.

The average bit rate of DVD Video is around 4-6Mbps. So, the quality should be decent if the original have good quality.

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USB device supports realtime MPEG-2 encoding

updated 01:35 pm EST, Wed March 21, 2001

Related Articles

Recent Articles

Some things...

Checking website ...

Capty, yeah right...

Obvious embedded solution

very possible

No way...

Re: No way...

But how much?

Re:Re:No Way

MPEG-1 has been done

What if....

bit rates

any other products?

Bits and bytes...

720X480

Not even close...

Wrong

yep

Very close

Get a clue

Here is the DVD spec...

quality has to suck!

I got a clue

Think about it

why is it realtime?

lets do the Math

No kidding

Re: Not even close...

MP3s

It's about time that...

720*480, to indigo

only in Japan

dvd rez + fps

Math skills lacking?

cost

RE: It's about time tha

For $300... & my 2 bps

MPEG is much smaller

It's a hardware encoding

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