Messages in this thread |  | | Date | Wed, 4 Dec 1996 13:59:05 -0800 (PST) | From | Eric Hoeltzel <> | Subject | Re: Linux VCR driver? |
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On Wed, 4 Dec 1996, Magnus Hiie wrote:
> I have been using an ISA card (its name is Arvid) that does such > thing. I'm completely happy with it. It stores about 2GB data on a > 240min VHS cassette. Its speed is about 150KB/s. I have found no > errors in data restored from the cassettes (not including one which > got wet). Compared to my (quite old) HP 2GB DDS tape drive, I find > them quite competitive. > > > Problems with these video beasts: > > - No read-after-write, therefore no decent error control. > > Correct, but as I said, I have encountered no errors. Maybe it stores > data with a lot of error control (parity) extra data. > > > - The additional conversion to an analog video signal means that the > > speed > > is nothing to speak of. > > I'm satisfied. > > > - No filemarks, i.e. one backup per tape. > > Wrong, I have more than 10 backup sets on each tape. > > > - How do you push the rewind/play/record buttons with the computer? > > It has a remote control connected to a wire connected to the card > (actually a simple infra-red LED) > > > - Timing of the signal (usually, parallel-port) is likely to be > > rather > > critical -> writing a Linux driver is difficult at best. > > It is an ISA card as I mentioned. > > BTW, it costs only about $50! And it works with about every VCR there > is on the market.
Are you running this Avrid card under linux? If not, any idea how much trouble it would be to write a driver for it? Where can I get in contact with the company if I wished to purchase one?
If nothing else, the gee-whiz factor alone would prompt me to buy one of these cards. I can just imagine setting up my vcr and my commodore 64 monitor here at work and running the whole show from a C=64 plugged into the serial port of a linux box. (Mostly pentium 166 machines here)
If I did my math correctly, this beast will do about 9MB per minute or about 540 MB per hour? That's pretty acceptable for quite a few different tasks.
Thanks, Eric
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