Accelerate Your Mac! - Aurora Design Fuse Video Capture Card Review

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Aurora Design Fuse^tm Video Capture Card
Review date: 6/13/98

How to Install the Fuse

Intro | Installation | Configuration | Performance | Specifications | Summary

Hardware Installation:

Like any PCI card, you need only to remove the AC power cord from the system, remove your case cover, touch the power supply case to discharge any static electricity (better yet, use a grounding wrist strap). Avoid touching the components of the Fuse card and motherboard. Insert the Fuse into a free PCI slot.
In 6 PCI slot Macs it's generally best to put the Fuse in a different PCI Bus than your graphics or SCSI card (the top 3 PCI slots are one bus, the bottom 3 another). Secure the card in the slot making sure it is fully seated.
Audio/Video Connections:
Connect your video equipment (Video camera, Tape deck, etc.) to the Fuse card. It will accept composite (RCA type) video or S-Video (preferred for clearer video due to separation of the Y/C signals). All outputs are simultaneously active, so you can connect a NTSC monitor to the outputs of the card should you desire to see a representation of the video stream at all times.
Your audio input should connect to the Mac microphone connection, as the Fuse does not have audio capture capability. You may need a RCA to miniplug adapter for this, they are available at Radio Shack and other electronics dealers.

Software Installation:

The Fuse drivers are supplied on a single floppy disk. Run the installer on the floppy and it will install the following components:

Fuse Extension
Fuse Init
Fuse Control Strip

After the installation duplicate your extension set (I named the new one FUSE) and disable AppleTalk and any extensions and control panels that are not needed for your capture application, the Fuse and the Video card. This ensures that maximum CPU time and system resources are available for video capture.
Also open the Memory control panel and set the disk cache to the lowest possible setting - large disk caches interfere with Video capture. Also ensure your video mode is set to thousands colors for best results. These tips are outlined in the Fuse documentation as well. Another old DV tip to remember - keep a floppy in the drive and a disk in all removable media drives as well. This prevents the MacOS from periodically checking for the presence of a disk.

I normally don't run the Apple control strip on my desktops, but I did during the tests to make use of the cool Fuse control strip module. I cover the software controls features on the Configuration page.
Once you've minimized your extension set, set the disk cache to the lowest possible setting, ensured that your video mode is set to thousands colors then restart the machine. This is necessary to load the Fuse drivers. If you see a red 'X' through the Fuse extension during the restart - open the case again and verify that the card is fully seated and installed properly.

Compatibility:

I ran the Fuse with the following hardware and software:

PowerTower Pro 180
PowerForce G3 CPU Card running at 288mhz CPU speed
Adobe Premiere 4.2
Quicktime 2.5

Notes:
As mentioned on the introduction page, I captured video fine with the PTP built-in SCSI but had problems when attempting to use an Initio Miles PCI SCSI card, the same issues readers have reported to me many times in the past. I expect better performance with the ATTO or Adaptec cards that have video tuner settings, but at the time of this review was not able to retest with either of those cards. The Adaptec card cannot be run with the PowerForce G3 CPU cards due to problems with mounting wide SCSI drives reported many times at the main site.
If you are running a PCI SCSI card and capture card in pre-Apple G3 3 PCI slot Mac, it is recommended you disable Ultra-SCSI mode for best results. This can be done with the utilities provided with the SCSI card. If you PCI SCSI card provides such an option, experimenting with the 'Video Tuner' options in the SCSI card control may be of help, as it changes the way the card shares the PCI bus with other busmastering cards. Reportedly the better PCI controller chip in the Apple G3 systems does not have the same limitations of the earlier Macs and you may be able to use Ultra-SCSI mode in that system with a video capture card.

Index of Aurora Design Fuse^tm Video Capture Card Review
Intro | Installation | Configuration | Performance | Specifications | Summary
- or -
Back to WWW.XLR8YOURMAC.COM

Copyright © 1998.

No part of this sites content or images are to be reproduced or distributed in any form without written permission. All brand or product names mentioned here are properties of their respective companies.
Users of the web site must read and are bound by the terms and conditions of use.


Aurora Design Fuse^tm Video Capture Card Review date: 6/13/98
How to Install the Fuse
Intro \| Installation \| Configuration \| Performance \| Specifications \| Summary
Hardware Installation:
Like any PCI card, you need only to remove the AC power cord from the system, remove your case cover, touch the power supply case to discharge any static electricity (better yet, use a grounding wrist strap). Avoid touching the components of the Fuse card and motherboard. Insert the Fuse into a free PCI slot. In 6 PCI slot Macs it's generally best to put the Fuse in a different PCI Bus than your graphics or SCSI card (the top 3 PCI slots are one bus, the bottom 3 another). Secure the card in the slot making sure it is fully seated. Audio/Video Connections: Connect your video equipment (Video camera, Tape deck, etc.) to the Fuse card. It will accept composite (RCA type) video or S-Video (preferred for clearer video due to separation of the Y/C signals). All outputs are simultaneously active, so you can connect a NTSC monitor to the outputs of the card should you desire to see a representation of the video stream at all times. Your audio input should connect to the Mac microphone connection, as the Fuse does not have audio capture capability. You may need a RCA to miniplug adapter for this, they are available at Radio Shack and other electronics dealers.
Software Installation:
The Fuse drivers are supplied on a single floppy disk. Run the installer on the floppy and it will install the following components: Fuse Extension Fuse Init Fuse Control Strip After the installation duplicate your extension set (I named the new one FUSE) and disable AppleTalk and any extensions and control panels that are not needed for your capture application, the Fuse and the Video card. This ensures that maximum CPU time and system resources are available for video capture. Also open the Memory control panel and set the disk cache to the lowest possible setting - large disk caches interfere with Video capture. Also ensure your video mode is set to thousands colors for best results. These tips are outlined in the Fuse documentation as well. Another old DV tip to remember - keep a floppy in the drive and a disk in all removable media drives as well. This prevents the MacOS from periodically checking for the presence of a disk. I normally don't run the Apple control strip on my desktops, but I did during the tests to make use of the cool Fuse control strip module. I cover the software controls features on the Configuration page. Once you've minimized your extension set, set the disk cache to the lowest possible setting, ensured that your video mode is set to thousands colors then restart the machine. This is necessary to load the Fuse drivers. If you see a red 'X' through the Fuse extension during the restart - open the case again and verify that the card is fully seated and installed properly.
Compatibility:
I ran the Fuse with the following hardware and software: PowerTower Pro 180 PowerForce G3 CPU Card running at 288mhz CPU speed Adobe Premiere 4.2 Quicktime 2.5 Notes: As mentioned on the introduction page, I captured video fine with the PTP built-in SCSI but had problems when attempting to use an Initio Miles PCI SCSI card, the same issues readers have reported to me many times in the past. I expect better performance with the ATTO or Adaptec cards that have video tuner settings, but at the time of this review was not able to retest with either of those cards. The Adaptec card cannot be run with the PowerForce G3 CPU cards due to problems with mounting wide SCSI drives reported many times at the main site. If you are running a PCI SCSI card and capture card in pre-Apple G3 3 PCI slot Mac, it is recommended you disable Ultra-SCSI mode for best results. This can be done with the utilities provided with the SCSI card. If you PCI SCSI card provides such an option, experimenting with the 'Video Tuner' options in the SCSI card control may be of help, as it changes the way the card shares the PCI bus with other busmastering cards. Reportedly the better PCI controller chip in the Apple G3 systems does not have the same limitations of the earlier Macs and you may be able to use Ultra-SCSI mode in that system with a video capture card.

Index of Aurora Design Fuse^tm Video Capture Card Review Intro \| Installation \| Configuration \| Performance \| Specifications \| Summary - or - Back to WWW.XLR8YOURMAC.COM
Copyright © 1998. No part of this sites content or images are to be reproduced or distributed in any form without written permission. All brand or product names mentioned here are properties of their respective companies. Users of the web site must read and are bound by the terms and conditions of use.