Multi-Input Hardware MPEG4-H.264 Video & Audio Encoder

The Powamaxx PV26 is a highly-customizable professional-quality Multi-Input Hardware MPEG4/H.264 Video Encoder PCI card with on-board DSP (Digital Signal Processing) and on-board H.264 hardware compression, which can be used in various high-quality and demanding real-time video & audio capture applications.

Designed around the high-performance/low-heat-generating Texas-Instruments DSP chipset and on-board firmware programming, PV26X uses the H.264/AVC/MPEG4- Part10 encoding algorithm to compress incoming video and audio in real-time on board the capture card, achieving high-quality video simultaneously from all of its 4, 8 or 16 video input ports, while consuming minimal host PC resources.

Multiple cards (up to 8-per-PC if enough slots available) can be used on the same PC, allowing a maximum of 64 simultaneous main video channels (plus sub- channels, see below), to be captured on one PC, all with synchronized audio.

Advanced features of PV26X include:

--    High-quality multi-channel video preview on PC screen: with moderate PC hardware, dozens of high-quality smooth-playing video windows can be opened on one PC's screen, with no jittering or jerking in any of the windows at any time. Single window full-screen or different numbers of video windows can all be easily user- defined. 

--    Real-time synchronized video display completely in sync with the incoming video and audio signal:  PV26X allows synchronized video preview all the time on all of its video channels simultaneously on PC's screen: no visually noticeable delays between the actual incoming video and the PC's video display. One channel's audio (user selectable) can also be heard in perfect synchronization with its video.

--    Audio/Video Synchronization is guaranteed: A/V out of sync is a chronically haunting problem for most video capturing systems, in particular real-time video streaming, conferencing and encoding. PV26X delivers perfect A/V sync on both its on-screen video preview and recorded video files, regardless of the video bit rate and quality. In client-server video distribution systems, PV26X software delivers highly synchronized audio/video display at the remote client side, in real-time, even when hardware MPEG4 decoding is not available.

--    High-quality video in low bit rate: using advanced H.264 MPEG4-Profile- 10(AVC) algorithm, which has emerged as the leading new codec for future multimedia encoding mechanism in wide range of video capture applications, PV26X can achieve the same or better quality video, using less than half or a-third of the bit rate of MPEG2 hardware encoding devices, simultaneously on its multiple video channels. 

--    Dynamic adjusting of fundamental encoding parameters during capture: unlike MPEG 1 or MPEG2 hardware encoding chipset or ASIC-based surveillance video capture cards, PV26X allows real-time dynamic change of crucial encoding parameters during the video capture process: video frame sizes, frame rates, bit rates, GOP structures, key-frame intervals, motion-detection sensitivity, etc, even video formats (PAL or NTSC), can all be changed in real-time without stopping video capture or opening new video files. This makes it possible, for example, to increase in real-time (manually or automatically) the video capture quality (e.g. on a zoomed-in camera) without disturbing the continuous video recording, which is impossible on other video capture devices. The PV26X video playback software will automatically adapt to any of these changed parameters without stopping or pausing the playback process.

-- Yes, with PV26X, your application can capture single video files or streams that have mixed bigger or smaller frame sizes, higher or lower bit rates, PAL or NTSC interchanged with the results perfectly played back continuously by the H.264 decoding software or hardware, locally on the same PC, or remotely over networking. 

--    Seamless Quality Adaptation against Delivery Bandwidth Fluctuation. As a highly adaptable video encoding algorithm, PV26X dynamically seamlessly adjusts the encoded video's quality against possible fluctuation of the delivering media   --- Internet, Intranet, Wireless, or whatever media's inevitable bandwidth changes are met with PV26X's orderly quality adjustment without the abrupt quality drops that other encoding schemes such as MPEG2 or WMV etc. produce. Typical examples can be examined as encoding bit rate reduces, video delivered by PV26X only gradually blurs the objects edges slowly --- they will become clearer again when the bandwidth increases. Similar effects occur with regard to audio sync with video --- network fluctuation-induced a/v out-of-sync will be quickly replaced by perfect a/v re-sync after the fluctuation ceases. All these are crucial in building remote video streaming and delivering applications that other inflexible video encoding devices simply cannot cope with.

Sub-channel encoding allows video from each camera to be encoded in multiple formats: because of its powerful and flexible DSP processing, each incoming video channel can be encoded in several different methods, into different video files, simultaneously in real-time: extremely useful for multi-format playback applications.

--    Flexible text and graphics overlay allows any text or graphics to be put on any position of the captured or previewed video in real-time with no disturbance of the video recording at all.

--    Advanced Water-mark Integrity Checking mechanism built-in: videos recorded can be checked against hidden water-marks (embedded throughout the recorded video) to prove their originality: any section changed or cut out will be notified --- highly useful in anti-tampering applications.

--    Multi-channel in dynamic multiple configuration: every video channel on PV26X can be configured differently in real-time, to create a super flexible video surveillance system.

--    Arbitrary manipulation of the recorded video files. Unlike MPEG1 or MPEG2 encoding, the PV26X -recorded MPEG4 video streams can be easily manipulated on the fly, allowing real-time video cut/paste/join etc editing operation to be accomplished without affecting the recorded video quality and audio/video synchronization. Special requirements such as pausing then re-starting the capture into the same video file, masking out video noise around frame edges, etc, can all be achieved through software programming, while other capture devices, without the encoding chipset's hardware support, this cannot be done. 

PV26X also has an optional companion hardware MPEG4 decoder card that can simultaneously output multiple-channel MPEG4/H.264 video/audio to multiple TVs/VCRs --- very useful in building a video matrix environment for video surveillance centers, etc. and making it possible for customers to build a complete hardware MPEG4/H.264 video encoder and decoder system. Separate software is available for the decoder card.

Compared with traditional multi-port video capture cards, PV26X offers significant advantages in its high-quality, flexibility, power and extensibility, making it ideal in many mission-critical application fields where most other products find difficult or impossible to satisfy the requirement. 

PV26X can be used on MS Windows 2000/XP operating systems.

PV26X Specifications: