Micomsoft SC-500N1 RGB Capture Card

[NightSprinter]

I need to order an adapter for the old mac-styled socket on my NEC monitor and fire up my linux arcade box again. I need to test to see how well the Advantech driver handles those really oddball resplution/framerate combos for some arcade games (pre-testing for future supergun purchase).

[NightSprinter]

Ok, tested my arcade PC out finally. Unfortunately, I cannot capture the boards that were problematic with the XRGB units using the Advantech drivers.

[Thrill]

http://www.thethrillness.com/2014/11/ne ... users.html

New drivers. Mostly for XCAPTURE-1 users but the internal cards get some love to.

[Sixfortyfive]

Cool stuff.

I need to give this a whirl and probably eventually update my XCAPTURE-1 page. That thing still gets linked here and there and I should clean up and correct a few things on it.

[Pasky]

Sorry if there's another topic for this already and the thread is rather large, but is this the XCapture-1 the equivelent of a SC500n1 in external form?

http://solarisjapan.com/collections/mic ... pture-unit

Does it have issues with 240P? Can it to do 720P/1080P?

[eightbitminiboss]

Sorry if there's another topic for this already and the thread is rather large, but is this the XCapture-1 the equivelent of a SC500n1 in external form?

http://solarisjapan.com/collections/mic ... pture-unit

Does it have issues with 240P? Can it to do 720P/1080P?

Yes, it's actually a step above since it can record at 1080p60. 240p is no issue.

[blizzz]

It's more like the SC-512N1-L/DVI (the successor of the SC-500N1) in USB form.

[alamone]

New driver is available now:
SC5xxN1: http://www.micomsoft.co.jp/sc-512n1_download.htm
XCAPTURE-1: http://www.micomsoft.co.jp/xcapture-1_download.htm

[eightbitminiboss]

No mention of 100% CPU fix.

Edit: Also, holy crap it's been a year since the last update.

[NightSprinter]

Hmm.. I wonder if this allows capture of IREM M72 boards now? Also, with that 'psuedo-RGB" thing, I may see if RGB colorspace can be captured finally.

[Thrill]

Not much I found different besides the inclusion of EQ and Color range being modified. Blogged about it here: http://www.thethrillness.com/2014/11/mi ... -2014.html

From my testing, the Bypass option works perfectly when dealing with a 16-235 source. However, with a Full range source the colors become much more vibrant and thus incorrect. In order to get proper Full range capture you must apply the Shrink option. I don't currently have the means to test VGA capture but I quickly checked Component capture. It seems correct to choose Bypass. Shrink made blacks look grey (as expected) and Expand looks like Bypass but no reason to pick it.

I also mirrored the download here as the Micomsoft site was really slow for me: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B77Wil ... FvUHM/view

And ofcourse RGB capture is still botched beyond belief.

[Pasky]

Not exactly SC-500N1 related, but anyone having issues with the PEXHDCap in Windows 7 where the damn capture card is saying the capture pin is unavailable? I've tried everything from changing the output (component to hdmi) and changing the Video Decoder. It just seems to happen randomly that the card cannot be used after a while. Only thing I can find that fixes it is rebooting. Any ideas?

[Kadano]

Never had that problem, but a similar one. Sometimes, the device will not show up after a boot. On my old mainboard (ASRock Z68 Pro3 Gen3) that happened every third time booting up or so. Restarting fixed it, but sometimes I had to do it two or three times. It felt like they built an RNG into the card that had a 30% chance of saying “nope, I’m gonna sleep this time” or something, haha.

I recently broke my mainboard’s CPU pins, so I had to buy a new one (ASRock Z77 Pro4). The problem hardly happened on this one, and since I changed something in my PCI and PCIe configuration (swapping cards to other slots), it didn’t happen again.

So, it might be PCIe-related for you as well. Have you tried it in all of your slots?

[Ed Oscuro]

I wonder if this is an area where going for a more "professional spec" motherboard with an i7 CPU, and therefore the full number of PCI-E lanes, would make a difference. I also wonder if it's not similar to the situation with the early USB3 or SATA6 motherboards having that support not entirely given by the first-party chipset, leaving to "errata" like waking or initialization not being entirely reliable.

[pupin]

Hello,

I recently bought the PEXHDCAP.

However, the new revision is not identical to the SC500N1, but apparently to the SC502N1.
Details about this card: http://www.yuan.com.tw/en/products/capt ... 1_spec.htm
Or for a better photo: http://img02.taobaocdn.com/bao/uploaded ... em_pic.jpg

It has "Rev: 3.6" printed on it, and is equipped with a PCI gen 2.x chip (PI7C9X2G), just like you can see in the links above.
The PCB is 1:1 identical with the one showed at yuan's site for SC502N1, with the exclusion of the SDI chip and connector.

However, as you can see in Yuan's page, with this card, just as with the SC500N1, 1080p60 is still not supported.
Now I wonder, the reason that SC500N1 didn't have 1080p60 was supposedly the PCI 1.x bandwitdh. So what's stopping the SC502N1 from supporting it?
Or even a better question: perhaps there is a menthod to "unlock" higher resolutions with the SC502N1?

Also, could anyone point out what functional differences does the SC502N1 provide compared to the SC500N1?

Thanks!

[pupin]

Also, noticed there is a newer driver v1.1.0.140.7 from 16 Dec 2014.

Avilable at Yuan's site: http://www.yuan.com.tw/en/market/softwa ... driver.htm

[Thrill]

New drivers: http://www.yuan.com.tw/en/market/softwa ... driver.htm

High data levels from 4:2:2 and 4:4:4 will no longer hiccup at 720p and multiple card support numbering has been fixed.

Edit: Was posted while the guy above required mod to allow the post.

[pupin]

Further perhaps useful information:

We already know that the good old VideoKeeper v1.1.0.108.0 doesn't preview sound with the new drivers.

But after looking a bit into the problem, the reason for that is just that the name of the WaveIn capture device changed between the drivers.
So, I came up with an easy solution: by patching two files from VideoKeeper, we can make it preview sound properly with the latest drivers.

To do this:
- Get XXD from: ftp://ftp.vim.org/pub/vim/pc/gvim74.zip (you need just xxd.exe from that zip file).
- Copy into some folder 3 files: from the zip file above the file "xxd.exe", and from the Video Keeper directory (ex. "C:\Program Files (x86)\Video Keeper") the files "AMESDK.DLL" and "Video Keeper.exe".
- Open a command prompt, cd into that folder where you copied the 3 files, and type in, exactly, the following 2 commands:

Code: Select all

echo "00494D4: 5761 7665 496E 0000 0000 0000 00" | xxd.exe -r - "AMESDK.DLL"
echo "007BAF8: 5761 7665 496E 0000 0000 0000 00" | xxd.exe -r - "Video Keeper.exe"

- Copy back the files "AMESDK.DLL" and "Video Keeper.exe" into the Video Keeper directory. After this, it should preview sound properly with the new drivers.

Alternatively, you can achieve the same with any hex editor (instead of xxd), using the offsets and bytes seen in the xxd commands above.

[pupin]

High data levels from 4:2:2 and 4:4:4 will no longer hiccup at 720p and multiple card support numbering has been fixed.

Thanks for the info Thrill. I was crossing fingers for the CPU bug though

[Thrill]

Based on your find of it being linked to VidBlaster, I created a thread on their forum as the admin there (Mike) seems to have connections with Yuan directly since he got those other bugs fixed. I decided to take it up with him and create a thread about the 100% issue: http://forum.vidblaster.com/showthread.php?t=4818

[pupin]

Based on your find of it being linked to VidBlaster, I created a thread on their forum as the admin there (Mike) seems to have connections with Yuan directly since he got those other bugs fixed. I decided to take it up with him and create a thread about the 100% issue: http://forum.vidblaster.com/showthread.php?t=4818

Great, Thrill!

Now about that CPU bug:

From what I understood, there are two bugs actually:
1. That it disables the power saving states of the CPU (I saw this in your YouTube video), and this is the bug you mention in VidBlaster forum.
2. That, sometimes, even after stopping to use the card, they remain disabled, until we change the power plan to "Power Saver" (I did not see this happening in your Youtube video, nor do you mention it in the VidBlaster forum... Does this bug still exist?).

I am a first time user of these Yuan cards (and if you read my posts above, you might have noticed that I am on a SC-502N1).
But I was following this forum before my purchase, so, I was actually mentioning the CPU bug, just from reading about it in this thread.

However, I cannot reproduce the bug, not even bug #1. That is why I initially thought that latest driver solved it.
But now, after seeing your YouTube video, I can repeat exactly what you are doing there, and it still does not result in 100% load in RealTemp here, and CPU states do not seem to be affected. Neither when I get into the card config, nor when the card is in use.

Some relevant information about my config:
- X58-based motherboard, with i7-950 CPU.
- Windows 10 Preview, latest build (9926).
- SC-502N1 card (newer PEXHDCAP)
- Latest drivers from Yuan's site (which I posted earlier).

Any idea, how come the bug does not happen here? (I believe it is not due to the card being the SC-502N1, as I read it happens on SC-500N1, SC-512N1, and even the recent USB3 version)

[Thrill]

There was some speculation that apparently Windows 8 made this issue go away but then other users said it didn't. Maybe 10 did something.

It does make great sense that maybe some users with the newer Rev 2 chip didn't realize they had the newer PCI chip and thus it's fixed. It wouldn't be fixed on the 512 or the XCAPTURE because the 512 doesn't have another revision and the XCAPTURE is a modified Yuan product without other revisions, based on the older architecture.

Where did you order from? If it was Amazon I'll try some swippy swappy and try to get a 3.6 board.

Edit: As for 2 yeah I just missed that out. I wanna see what he says about 1 first.

[pupin]

It does make great sense that maybe some users with the newer Rev 2 chip didn't realize they had the newer PCI chip and thus it's fixed. It wouldn't be fixed on the 512 or the XCAPTURE because the 512 doesn't have another revision and the XCAPTURE is a modified Yuan product without other revisions, based on the older architecture.

To which PCI chip are you referring? If you meant the PCI Express 2.0 GEN2 packet switch (the PI7C9X2G), then the 512 has a PCI 2.x chip though, just like the 502; it's not a PCI 1.x card like the 500.
To better see the card, I made a photo of my actual card: http://i.imgur.com/1gANY5Q.jpg, if you wish to compare the chips.

Any chance you, or someone else, can provide similar photos of your 500 and 512 for comparison? (where you can actually read what's on the chips, its not easy to find that on the net)

By the way, I saw you tested at some point also the Startech USB3HDCAP. Did that one have the issue as well?

Where did you order from? If it was Amazon I'll try some swippy swappy and try to get a 3.6 board.

I ordered it from a local store in Europe, I do not live in the USA.

[blizzz]

Any chance you, or someone else, can provide similar photos of your 500 and 512 for comparison? (where you can actually read what's on the chips, its not easy to find that on the net)

I made this photo a while ago of the original Micomsoft SC-500N1. DSCN4173.JPG

[Thrill]

When my PEX got damaged, I returned it last year and the new one looks identical to what blizzz posted. Mines says 3.5 though. This obviously means 3.6 was when they changed it all around.

[pupin]

I made this photo a while ago of the original Micomsoft SC-500N1. DSCN4173.JPG

Thanks!

When my PEX got damaged, I returned it last year and the new one looks identical to what blizzz posted. Mines says 3.5 though. This obviously means 3.6 was when they changed it all around.

Seems that with 3.6 StarTech started shipping the SC502N1, whereas up to 3.5 it was SC500N1.


Edit: I found some photos of the SC512N1 on SolarisJapan site, and I see that the SC512N1 is equipped with 2 SAA7160 chips, whereas the SC500N1/SC502N1 have just one. Maybe that's how the SC512N1 handles 1080P60.
Front: http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0318/2 ... 4x1024.jpg
Back: http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0318/2 ... 4x1024.jpg
But more detailed photos from the SC512N1 would still be nice (preferably front and back).

Here, I also made a better photo, for reference, of the SC502N1 (front and back): http://i.imgur.com/yL1qacG.jpg

What would be even more interesting are photos of the SC510N1 card (http://www.yuan.com.tw/en/products/capt ... 1_spec.htm), of which I can't find any good photos anywhere (that card is a PCIe x4 card).
Speaking of which, does anyone know the functional differences between the SC510N1 and the SC512N1? I'm considering to purchase one of them, and having a hard time to decide which.
Both can handle 1080p60.
SC510N1 has more inputs (HDMI and SDI, which the SC512N1 doesn't have) and a PCIe x4 interface, but doesn't have the passthrough that the SC512N1 has.
Any other differences?

[Thrill]

Well, just got the 3.6 and it changed nothing.

Either it's OS related or some REALLY obscure motherboard setting. Tried virtually everything a human being could try to fix this.

[pupin]

Well, just got the 3.6 and it changed nothing.

Either it's OS related or some REALLY obscure motherboard setting. Tried virtually everything a human being could try to fix this.

Well if you wish me to test something, let me know (as long as it doesn't involve reinstalling another OS)

Do you see any functional differences between the 3.5- and the 3.6?

[Thrill]

You should look around in your BIOS and see if any of the C0 states being active or not active have any difference.

Also if anyone can hook me up with obtaining Windows 8 for free I'll happily reinstall my OS again and check this out completely.

[pupin]

You can obtain Windows 10 preview for free, from Microsoft's site. Same I am using.

Edit: nothing I change in the BIOS seems to trigger the problem here.
One thought: the i7-950 has only C1/C3/C6. Perhaps the problem is platform specific? Does anyone else have x58 platform for a reference?