[ale] Video capture cards?

[Geoffrey]

Bob Toxen wrote:
> Can someone recommend a video capture card?  It needs to be PCI and run
> with a Linux 2.4 kernel.
> 
> This is for home security.  I'd really like to find something that will
> compress or not record if the image is unchanging (below a threshold of
> number of pixels changing or similar).

If you use a bt8?8 card with 'motion' on linux you can tweek motion to 
detect and capture based on your requirements.  I use this type of setup 
at my home.  Watching the outside of my house, my dogs...

> 
> If I can get one locally at Micro Center or Fry's that would be great.
> I really don't want to spend a lot of money and may even want two, either
> on the same system or two different systems if necessary.

You can get a single card with three inputs.  Depending on the fps you 
expect, you can get the card with one chipset per input or one that 
handles all inputs.

I've not found anything locally outside of a hauppauge tv card which 
jumps the price up.  Here's some links to a website that sells a couple 
of pci based cards:

I don't see the single input cards on their website though.

3 inputs/ 1 chipset:

http://store.ituner.com/ituner/videopack878.html $99

4 inputs/ 4 separate chipsets:

http://www.ituner.com/spectra.htm $395

-- 
Until later, Geoffrey