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"Argo22" wrote ...
> Just seen these Lorex Security camera PCI capture cards with 4 inputs
> for composite cameras. Just wondering if anyone has tried using them
> for a video switcher to work with Vidblaster or something similar?
> Does Windows identify the card as having 4 separate inputs? Does it
> have to be used with the Lorex software?

I have done some investigation about this question, although not
with that particular board. But I suspect that most of those muli-
camera security video boards are generally of the same design.

The two major issues appear to be...

1) The video digitizing (A/D) is only of "security quality" and not
"production quality" or "broadcast quality". This is almost
certainly a limitation of the basic hardware design and not
something you can change with software.

2) The switching function is "asynchronous". But then the
video coming from the cameras is asynchronous, and there
is no requirement for synchronous operation for security
video applications. If you are collecting video from several
different cameras and assembling an array of pictures on the
computer monitor, or if you are taking every 10th or 20th
or 30th frame and storing it, then nobody cares whether the
video "tears" when you switch between cameras. But this
is not acceptable for modern video production.

And then, of course, there is the matter of actually talking to
the board with your own software. Since these boards seem
to come bundled with their own application software, it appears
less than likely that the specs for the drivers are published for
others to use.