I don't know how this thing escaped my attention for almost half a year:<br><br>product page: <a href="http://elgato.com/elgato/int/mainmenu/products/Accessories/Turbo264/product1.en.html">http://elgato.com/elgato/int/mainmenu/products/Accessories/Turbo264/product1.en.html
</a><br><br>review: <a href="http://www.tuaw.com/2007/06/21/elgato-turbo-264-graphics-accelerator-first-look/">http://www.tuaw.com/2007/06/21/elgato-turbo-264-graphics-accelerator-first-look/</a><br><br>It is a USB h.264
video encoder by Elgato called the Turbo.264. It will not encode HD. Sound boring yet? Here's what is cool about it: it doesn't take analog video as its input, it takes uncompressed digital video from its host machine and returns
h.264 encoded video. <br><br>It is mac only, so it is not about to become an integral part of anyone's myth, but it is a harbinger of very good things to come in the quest to capture analog HD video. Attach a Turbo.264
and a Blackmagic Intensity Pro ($350, <a href="http://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/intensity/">http://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/intensity/</a>) to an old PCIe PowerMac or x86 hackintosh, and for under $2000 you have a machine that can capture HD analog video and encode it into as 800x600 anamorphic 5mbit
h.264 video. <br><br>Now, the 800x600 @ 30hz limit that this thing maxes out at is obviously not HDTV, but the resultant video would be a whole lot better than anything you can get with a PVR-150. And frankly, the crap that Directv and cable are providing is barely HDTV anyway.
<br><br>Anyhow, I just wanted to point this out for those of you who still believe that we won't see analog HDTV capture anytime soon. By this time next year, somebody out there is going to be using myth to record the analog HD output of a cable or satellite box. Mark my words. Within two years, the capability will be available to enthusiasts for under $500.
<br><br>-chris<br><br><br><br> <br><br><br>-- <br>TV/IT Engineer<br>WCJB-TV Gainesville, FL<br>(352) 416 0648<br><a href="mailto:cribe@wcjb.com">cribe@wcjb.com</a>