Specifications

Video Cards for Multimedia
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Table 15.24 Multimedia Device Comparison
Device Type Pros Cons
Graphics card with built-in Convenience; single-slot solution Upgrading requires card replacement.
TV tuner and capture
TV-tuner card Allows upgrade to existing graphics Might not work with all current chipsets.
cards; might be movable to newer
models
Parallel port attachment Universal usage on desktop or Frame rate limited by speed of port;
notebook computer; inexpensive best for still-image capture.
USB port attachment Easy installation on late-model Might not work on Windows 95B OSR
USB-equipped computers with 2.x with USB; requires active USB port;
Windows 98/Me and Windows not all devices may be compatible with
2000/XP Windows 2000/XP; low bandwidth with
USB 1.1–compatible devices; not
suitable for high-res or full-motion
applications unless Hi-Speed USB (USB)
is specifically supported.
Dedicated PCI interface card Fast frame rate for realistic video; High resource requirements (IRQ and
works with any graphics card so on) on some models; requires internal
installation.
IEEE 1394 (FireWire) No conversion from analog to digital Requires IEEE 1394 port, IEEE 1394
connection to digital video needed; all-digital image is very digital video source; card requires
high quality without compression internal installation; some cards don’t
artifacts (blocky areas) in video; include capture/editing software;
fast throughput verify that editing software purchased
separately works with card.
Troubleshooting Video Capture Devices
Table 15.25 provides some advice for troubleshooting problems with video capture devices. Note that
IRQ conflicts can be an issue with both parallel port and add-on card devices and that low-bandwidth
devices such as parallel port or USB devices might not be capable of supporting full-motion video cap-
ture except in a small window.
Table 15.25 Troubleshooting Video Capture Devices
Device Type Problem Solutions
Parallel port Can’t detect device, but Check port settings; device might require
attachment printers work okay. IEEE 1284 settings (EPP and ECP); change in BIOS;
ensure device is connected directly to port; avoid
daisy-chaining devices unless device specifically
allows it; check Windows Device Manager for IRQ
conflicts.
TV tuners (built-in No picture. Check cabling; set signal source correctly in
graphics card software; update software.
or add-on)
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