[ale] WARNING - beware if you buy a "device" with "software"

[Ron Frazier (ALE)]

Hi Boris,

The product generated an mpg file which looked pretty good on playback and the file properties say it has an 8 Mbps data rate.  I THINK they're encoding straight to MPEG 2 with on chip dsp right in the usb stick.  I could be wrong.  VLC says the video codec in the file is MPEG 1/2 mpgv, whatever that means.  As I recall, the CPU (dual core 1.7 GHz) was being driven to about 50 - 70% during the capture.  Since USB has a max bandwidth of 480 Mbps (more than the firewire 400), it should be able to handle a good bit of raw unencoded video, up to a point.  I've seen USB hard drives transfer around 35 M bytes / sec.  That works out to about 350 M bits / second of real world speed.  That's a lot of bits.  I guess testing the device is the ultimate proof.

Sincerely,

Ron


Boris Borisov <bugyatl at gmail.com> wrote:

>Just my opinion.
>
>When I look around for similar devices ( USB capture cards or TV
>tuners) you can easily see on the box what the hardware requirements
>are. If you see something like CPU more that 1 GHz there we are
>talking about video compression handled by CPU not by the
>tuner/capture card itself. The same situation years ago - hardware vs.
>software modems. Since USB traffic is handled by CPU as well I really
>doubt it how this device would work with desired quality. I've been in
>video producing business in 1990-1994 .Back then We had big video
>machine something like small size server rack and small capture card
>PCI but with Phillips/Zoran video chipset. This card required 200 Mhz
>CPU + SCSI HDD to be able to capture full size PAL signal 5 Mbit/s
>video rate. That is the reason to doubt today's USB capture cards - go
>to have faster bus PCI or PCIe or hardware video chipset.
>
>On Tue, Oct 16, 2012 at 8:16 PM, Ron Frazier (ALE)
><atllinuxenthinfo at techstarship.com> wrote:
>> Hi all,
>>
>> Warning, RANT ON
>>
>> I just had a rather unfun experience at Frys and thought I'd share to
>possibly save others the trouble.  As I've been discussing in another
>thread on video conversion, I bought a video digitizer package which is
>designed to import video from an analog source and produce dvd's.  It
>includes a digitizer device.  It also includes a device driver, and
>some rather limited application software.  My needs are modest, so I
>thought it would work.  Well, it doesn't meet my needs.  The quality of
>the digitized file is somewhat lower than I wanted and the application
>software doesn't have the features I need although it does work at a
>basic level.  You CANNOT tell this by reading the box.  When I tried to
>return it, they tried to tell me I couldn't do so because I had
>activated the software key.  I tried to tell the supervisor there that
>this is a device, that I have to test it to determine if it meets my
>needs, and that I cannot do that without the software.  I suppose it's
>possible !
> I !
>>  could use the software on another device, but I'm going to delete
>it.  I virtually had to get into a verbal fight to get my money back. 
>I eventually got my refund.  They slapped a return to vendor sticker on
>the product, which I brought back in pristine shape.  I told him just
>sell the thing again.  He said he couldn't because the software had
>been activated.  I just said whatever and left.  If they took a loss on
>the product, I'm truly sorry, and I hope the supervisor doesn't get in
>trouble for making an exception for me.  But I don't think I should be
>held responsible because a bunch of other people are software pirates,
>which I am not.  I have no problem paying for legitimate useful
>software if I have to.  Developing it can take thousands of man hours. 
>I do have a problem paying for software that doesn't meet my needs that
>I don't want to keep and will not use.
>>
>> RANT OFF
>>
>> So, the moral of the story is, if you buy a "device" with "software"
>and you activate a product key, you may own it permanently whether you
>ultimately want it or not.  In this situation, you pretty much have to
>install the device driver.  However, do not enter any product keys or
>break any magic seals.  Try to find another application to test your
>"device".
>>
>> Sincerely,
>>
>> Ron
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>> Sent from my Android Acer A500 tablet with bluetooth keyboard and K-9
>Mail.
>> Please excuse my potential brevity.
>>
>> (To whom it may concern.  My email address has changed.  Replying to
>former
>> messages prior to 03/31/12 with my personal address will go to the
>wrong
>> address.  Please send all personal correspondence to the new
>address.)
>>
>> (PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want
>to
>> call on the phone.  I get about 300 emails per day from alternate
>energy
>> mailing lists and such.  I don't always see new email messages very
>quickly.)
>>
>> Ron Frazier
>> 770-205-9422 (O)   Leave a message.
>> linuxdude AT techstarship.com
>>
>>
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--

Sent from my Android Acer A500 tablet with bluetooth keyboard and K-9 Mail.
Please excuse my potential brevity.

(To whom it may concern.  My email address has changed.  Replying to former
messages prior to 03/31/12 with my personal address will go to the wrong
address.  Please send all personal correspondence to the new address.)

(PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
call on the phone.  I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy
mailing lists and such.  I don't always see new email messages very quickly.)

Ron Frazier
770-205-9422 (O)   Leave a message.
linuxdude AT techstarship.com