Avermedia DarkCrystal HD Capture SDK Duo (C129)---- 4 port card!

Hi all. Just to let you know that I have successfully installed and used the Avermedia DarkCrystal HD Capture SDK Duo (C129) into my Dell XPS 8500 with VB 2.27.

Full specs on the card can be found here: http://solutions.avermedia.com/en/pr...apture-sdk-duo

I have to compliment Avermedia for their help and support in supplying me with a review unit and for their very responsive support.

So to the nitty gritty. Installing the card was simple. The card itself is quite rigid, thanks to a cover plate which I think acts as a heat sink. The card has simultaneous 4 inputs, 2 HD and 2 SD. Physically that is provided by two HDMI sockets and a DVI connector with a solid breakout loom. (two components sets, 2 S-video and 2 composite. There are 4 audio inputs per cable set. The loom is divided into white and black sets).

I had to download the drivers as the review unit contained only the card and cables. On installing, it caused a blue screen, but after discussion with support we established that the issue was a conflict with another capture card on the PC. Once this was removed all installed correctly. Avermedia claims that up to 8 cards can be installed and operated in one PC. I cannot confirm this at the moment but have seen pictures of VB recognising 2 cards giving a total of 8 inputs.

The camera 1 module seemed to be the best for the HDMI input. My Panasonic outputs interlaced so I needed to use the deinterlacing in that module. However the camera 2 module was fine with SD sources. Interestingly VB recognised the HD input but reports the sources as Composite or S-video. I have seen the same behaviour with other cards. Choosing Composite gives you the component input, and S-video the HDMI.

I was able to change the global resolution of VB from HD to various SD setting without issue, and even more impressive was able to use a mix of camera and mix of input resolutions without issue. I can see a real use for this card for those people who don't have the budget to buy 4 matched HD cameras, or when a SD camera will more than do the job ( ie. a scoreboard or shot clock camera).

I have also done a quick test with vMix. Both video and audio input is recognised straight away with the audio coming in over the HDMI input perfectly as well as the normal RCA inputs.

I have a lot more testing to do in the lab, and then will take it into the field in March when our basketball season kicks off....

I will also try it in a Sonnet enclosure and Thunderbolt. More reports to come...

Meantime, here is a demo video I knocked together. Please ignore the bad commentary and the squished formatting of some of the footage....I messed up in post! Enjoy...http://www.mindittv.net/cms1/

Andrew thanks for this post very informative for anyone looking to get a capture card.

Additional testing with multiple cameras, VidBlaster and vMix....http://www.mindittv.net/cms1/

How much is this card?

The expected RRP in OZ is $599.00 AUD. You will need to check with the dist. in your part of the world for local prices.

This is really interesting. I would also be interested in pricing :)

Update on the Sonnet thunderbolt solution in combination with the aVermedia DUO card C129. Thunderbolt cable arrived today so was able to plug in to a Lenovo Laptop running win8 pro. Having dowloaded the latest drivers from the aVermedia website the Duo card was recognised immediately and both VidBlaster and vMix had no issue in seeing all inputs and bringing in a full HD stream at 1080p 30fps. Interestingly this also seemed to be very kind on the CPU with the single stream only working to approx 30% on the monitor.

thanks Andrew for the update.

Hi all. I continue to be impressed with the Avermedia Dark Crystal Duo (c129) cards. They are performing really well in the live environment. Unfortunately I have had to return my loan/test card so I am just running the two C129s in my production Dell XPS.

I attended an Avermedia seminar last night and in the accompanying paperwork it appears that they are going to release a 4 port SDI card. Dark Crystal HD-SDI quad (c997) with embeded audio. I don't know much more about this card at the moment and I don't have any SDI cameras to test them but it may be a good alternative for those who do.