[mythtv-users] WOT: Moving video around in a PC without using overlay

[Simon Hobson]

Jay Ashworth wrote:

>But yes, I'll need *much* better
>resolution than 320x240; I'll be focusing cameras through this thing.

Then I'd suggest you'll need to be displaying the image at it's 
native resolution then - at least when focusing. Any scaling (whether 
up or down in resolution) is most likely going to lose definition and 
blur the image. Some forms of resampling may work (those that 
selectively drop or duplicate lines) will leave the sharpness - but 
introduce their own visual effects (san you imagine the effect of 
(say) dropping every 10th line in each field ?).

Would you have the option of using a separate display for the 
focusing bit, switching it to the required feed ? If you take that 
requirement out then you may find it removes some complications from 
your system. My feeling is that unless you can find someone (ideally 
locally) who understands how the video handling stuff in GNU/Linux 
works and can program this for you, then you'll have a big enough 
challenge just getting a basic montage working - without introducing 
constraints such as keeping the signal good enough for camera 
focusing.

I can see why you shouldn't be able to do what you are asking for - 
but I think you'll stand a better chance of getting a system working 
if you keep it as simple as possible to start with. Once you've shown 
it can be done, expanding/enhancing it later should be easier.
If you try and do too mush in the first version, there's a risk that 
you won't get anything acceptable and both you and the technology you 
are promoting will lose face - making it much harder to try again 
later.

-- 
Simon Hobson

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