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This page is for informational purposes only, I cannot give any guarantees about any device's quality or compatibility with BTV. Compatibility of devices with BTV relies on their Macintosh driver software; any device with Macintosh driver software should work with BTV (conversely a device with no Macintosh driver software will not work with BTV or any other Macintosh video software). Note that Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X have built-in driver software for DV devices and Mac OS X 10.2 and later has built-in driver software for FireWire (IIDC) cameras.
Please email me with any corrections, additional information, or details about any device I have missed out.
Devices marked with a * work on Mac OS X. Only devices that have specifically-written OS X driver software will work on OS X.
 
DV converter devices
FireWire video converter devices
TV tuner devices
PCI analogue video input cards
USB video input devices
USB cameras
FireWire cameras
FireWire video converter devices
 
  DV converter devices top
DV devices connect to the Mac via FireWire and use the standard Apple QuickTime DV drivers which are reliable and stable and work on both OS 8-9 and OS X.
Device
Manufacturer
Comments
Good features and reasonable price. One very impressive feature this device has is locked audio to video during capture, enabling long captures with perfect AV sync. This feature is very important and is not found even in much more expensive devices.
Hollywood DV-Bridge *
Now taken over by Pinnacle Systems
Built in TV and radio tuner and loudspeaker. Powered by the FireWire bus (external power supply optional). the TVR version has a built in 48GB hard drive.
Good features including dual analogue output.
DVMC-DA1 *
DVMC-DA2 *
One of the first DV converter devices, NTSC only. Now discontinued.
 
  FireWire video converter devices top
These devices convert analog video to uncompressed (not DV) digital video.
Device
Manufacturer
Comments
High quality device with 2 composite and 1 s-video inputs. Works on OSX with very high quality driver software written by ASC (Aupperle Services and Contracting). The driver software is available here.
PixeLINK PL-A544
Two FireWire ports, s-video and BNC composite video inputs. OS 9 only. Now discontinued.
 
  TV tuner devices top
Most TV tuner devices also have video inputs so that they can be used as analog-to-digital video converters.
The only PCI device in the following list with Mac OS X driver software is the AlchemyTV card. The Eskape Labs USB devices have beta OS X driver software, and the DV devices are supported by drivers built into the system written by Apple.
Device
Manufacturer
Comments
AlchemyTV PCI *
Nice quality, with stable and well written OS X driver software.
Discontinued - ixMicro went out of business. Works well on OS 8-9, BTV has a full implementation of channel changing for these cards.
ProTV PCI
Discontinued and won't be supported by Formac on OSX. BTV cannot change channels on this card.
Driver software for Mac OS X available here.
Built in TV and radio tuner and loudspeaker.
 
  PCI analogue video input cards top
Cards that are have Mac OS X driver software are marked with a *.
Device
Manufacturer
Comments
DC30 *
Powerful high quality capture card with hardware Motion JPEG compression and locked audio. Supported on OS X by the free driver software by Squared 5.
Professional uncompressed video capture cards for high end editing and broadcast design. The Kona HD supports 170 MB/s HDTV 10 bit capture. Supported on Mac OS X.
Comprises of a PCI card and various hardware and software components. Supported on Mac OS X.
Hardware Motion JPEG compression and decompression. The Igniter also has CD quality audio input/output.
Uses DV compression, has video input/output and locked audio
 
  USB video input devices top
Out of these devices only the XLR8 InterView has Mac OS X driver software.
Device
Manufacturer
Comments
XLR8 are out of business but the InterView hardware and OS X software is being sold and supported by EchoFX.
 
  USB cameras top
The cameras marked with a * are supported on Mac OS X by the IOXperts USB driver software (Click here for a full list provided by IOXperts).
Device
Manufacturer
Comments
Spacecam 200
Spacecam 350
This is a UK company who offer some good camera / software bundles.
Vesta *
ToUcam *
Nice design, comes in different models with the "XS" and "Pro" models giving high quality video. Comes bundled with the full version of BTV for OS 9. A Mac OS X driver is being developed here.
High magnification USB microscope
KritterUSB version 1.0 is supported on Mac OS X using the IOXperts driver, but not version 1.1.
Matchbox-sized camera that can operate as both a still camera (up to 80 images in memory) or a 16fps webcam.
QuickCam (various models)
Macintosh compatible cameras are: QuickCam greyscale, Color QuickCam, Color QuickTime II, QuickCam VC USB, QuickCam Pro USB (beige focus ring), QuickCam Pro 3000 *, QuickCam Pro 4000 *, QuickCam Zoom*, QuickCam for Notebooks Pro *.
Axys Spypen Digital still camera that can be used as a USB video source. Nice design, compact.
UC110 / UC310 Hawking Technology The UC110 has a resolution of 352x288; the UC310 has a resolution of 640x480.
Afina Eye * Sotec (Japanese)  
AnyCam * Samsung  
 
  FireWire cameras top
These cameras are supported on Mac OS X by the IOXperts DCam driver software (click here for a full list provided by IOXperts), and on OS X 10.2 ("Jaguar") by the built in driver that comes with the system.
Device
Manufacturer
Comments
High quality, nice design, and auto-focus.
High quality, nice design. New "iBot Pro" packages come bundled with the full version of BTV Pro.
Nice quality, has two FireWire ports so can be daisy-chained with other devices without a hub.
FireFly * Point Grey Research  
Fire-i *
Fire-i400 *		 Unibrain Both Fire-i cameras have two FireWire ports so can be daisy-chained with other devices without a hub.
DCam 1394 digital camera * Videre Design  
CCM-DS250 *
DFW-V300 *
DFW-V500 *
DFW-VL500 *
DFW-X700 *
DFW-SX900 *
XCD-X700 *
XCD-SX900 *		 Sony All these cameras are explicitly supported by the driver built into OS X 10.2 ("Jaguar"). (Support of these cameras by the IOXperts driver is uncertain at this time).
 
  FireWire video converter devices top
These devices convert analog video to uncompressed (not DV) digital video.
Device
Manufacturer
Comments
Available in both PCI and CardBus, some cards in the range include USB and SCSI ports. New models come bundled with the full version of BTV Pro.
Available in both PCI and Cardbus.
PCI. XLR8 are out of business but their products are still available here.
Available in both PCI and Cardbus.
PCI.
Available in both PCI and Cardbus, as well as a FireWire/USB PCI combo card.
Cardbus.
Available in both PCI and Cardbus.
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