From: "Bill Dirks" <bill_...@winnov.com>
Subject: Winnov Videum PCI (commercial)
Date: 1998/04/02
Message-ID: <01bd5de0$ac205720$6603cbd0@gusto.winnov.com>#1/1
X-Deja-AN: 340043764
Organization: Winnov L.P.
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.videoconf


This is a short commercial announcement. I post it because some people have
asked for this information in this newsgroup.

As of April 1, 1998 (no fooling!) the long-anticipated PCI bus versions of
the Winnov Videum AV and Videum VO products are available, if you order
directly from Winnov. The PCI products will be shipped with the newest
Videum software release, Version 2.5.

Videum AV PCI  -  US$199   Video capture + Audio capture card
Videum VO PCI  -  US$149   Video capture card

These products work on Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows NT 4.0.

Toll-free in the US: 1-888-4WINNOV (494-6668)
Or: 408-744-9777 8:00am to 5:00pm PST
Fax: 408-744-0174

There is a backlog right now on the PCI products, so allow at least 2 to 3
weeks for delivery. There is no announcement on the Winnov website
(http://www.winnov.com) yet. Prices do not include shipping.
-- 
Bill
Senior Software Engineer
Winnov

From: mike...@snip.net (Michael)
Subject: Re: Winnov Videum PCI (commercial)
Date: 1998/04/06
Message-ID: <35295277.1557757@news.snip.net>#1/1
X-Deja-AN: 341608940
References: <01bd5de0$ac205720$6603cbd0@gusto.winnov.com> 
<352844C0.26C718CB@earthlink.net>
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.videoconf



>> This is a short commercial announcement. I post it because some people have
>> asked for this information in this newsgroup.
>>
>> As of April 1, 1998 (no fooling!) the long-anticipated PCI bus versions of
>> the Winnov Videum AV and Videum VO products are available, if you order
>> directly from Winnov. The PCI products will be shipped with the newest
>> Videum software release, Version 2.5.
>>
>> Videum AV PCI  -  US$199   Video capture + Audio capture card
>> Videum VO PCI  -  US$149   Video capture card
>>
>> These products work on Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows NT 4.0.
>>
>> Toll-free in the US: 1-888-4WINNOV (494-6668)
>> Or: 408-744-9777 8:00am to 5:00pm PST
>> Fax: 408-744-0174
>>
>> There is a backlog right now on the PCI products, so allow at least 2 to 3
>> weeks for delivery. There is no announcement on the Winnov website
>> (http://www.winnov.com) yet. Prices do not include shipping.
>> --
>> Bill
>> Senior Software Engineer
>> Winnov
>
What is the trade off here in PCI capture cards:  your product, and
Digital Visions use a PCI bus and just capture.  The TV cards do this
plus utilize the new win98 convergence of capture and TV on the PC. 

Since it seems to me to be a simple matter to add a TV tuner, and
companies are not plainly dumb, there must be a trade off you guys
make between capture boards and TV/capture boards.  Can you enlighten
us why we should buy a product like Winnov instead of a combo product?

Thanks.

Mike
>

From: "Bill Dirks" <bill_...@winnov.com>
Subject: Re: Winnov Videum PCI (commercial)
Date: 1998/04/08
Message-ID: <01bd628f$2dfde020$6603cbd0@gusto.winnov.com>#1/1
X-Deja-AN: 341901250
References: <01bd5de0$ac205720$6603cbd0@gusto.winnov.com> 
<352844C0.26C718CB@earthlink.net> <35295277.1557757@news.snip.net>
Organization: Winnov L.P.
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.videoconf


Michael <mike...@snip.net> wrote in article
<35295277...@news.snip.net>...
>> [..stuff about Winnov PCI capture card posted by Bill Dirks..]
>
> What is the trade off here in PCI capture cards:  your product, and
> Digital Visions use a PCI bus and just capture.  The TV cards do this
> plus utilize the new win98 convergence of capture and TV on the PC. 
> 
> Since it seems to me to be a simple matter to add a TV tuner, and
> companies are not plainly dumb, there must be a trade off you guys
> make between capture boards and TV/capture boards.  Can you enlighten
> us why we should buy a product like Winnov instead of a combo product?

The TV stuff adds development and manufacturing costs for the vendor, and
most customers don't care about TV on their computers. TVs are cheap and
ubiquitous, and we really don't need computers to help us watch more TV. We
had a TV tuner add-on product, but we recently discontinued it. There was
never much interest.

Choose the product that suits your desires, by all means. If you are
interested in TV and a TV card does what you want for video capture, then
that is what you should get.

TV isn't the only differentiating factor:

Be aware that products with similar-looking specs can potentially vary
greatly regarding quality and reliability of drivers and software,
compatibility, technical support, and real-world performance. A board might
be really good at video display, but be painfully slow in NetMeeting, or
the NT drivers crash (or don't exist), or it doesn't work with some apps,
or you are constantly fiddling with control panels to get it to work, or
you can't get a reply from their tech support, or it drops a lot of frames
capturing an AVI file, or any number of other gotchas.

It pays to try to find reviews or get opinions of users of a product before
you buy. Ask users of the apps you want to use what capture cards work well
with them.

Winnov has made a name for itself by supplying a product with a solid
software component, trouble-free installation, good tech support (if
needed), and therefore good overall user experience. We have quality,
reliable drivers, compatible with a wide variety of VfW applications
including conferencing, Internet broadcast, WebCam, AVI capture; and useful
free bundled applications. We have additional software features like a
easy-to-use ActiveX-based SDK, electronic pan/zoom control, and you can put
a personal insignia or logo on your video image. We have solutions for ISA,
PCMCIA, and PCI; Windows 95/98 and NT, which appeals to organizations which
have a variety of systems and want to standardize on a single video capture
vendor.
http://www.winnov.com/

(He asked! <g>)
-- 
Bill
Senior Software Engineer
Winnov