Focal Dual HDMI Card

[Chris Gohlke]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.akihabaranews.com/en/en/news-12881-An+HD+video+acquisition+card+with+HDMI+for+Mac+and+PC.html' target='_blank'>http://www.akihabaranews.com/en/en/news-12881-An+HD+video+acquisition+card+with+HDMI+for+Mac+and+PC.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Focal offers in Japan a PCI Express card with 2 HDMI ports for video acquisition in 720p and 1080i (QuickTime format). The card works on either Mac or PC."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/dualhdmi.jpg" /><br /><br />I assume this will let you record two HDMI sources simultaneously. Talk about a way to fill up a hard drive quick! No indication if this is available outside of Japan.

[Felix Torres]

Three questions:

1- Is this for real?
2- Where can we get one?
3- When do they get sued? :twisted:

Never mind cablecard2, this and an IR blaster will do nicely for my next-gen MCE PC.

[whydidnt]

Don't know, but I assume this doesn't provide HDCP so you probably won't be able to use this with most HDMI devices here in the US. If it doesn't, and I don't know how it could based upon previous video card issues, it really won't have much value for use with MCE PC.

DRM's ugly face shows itself again. :evil:

[Felix Torres]

Would be surprised if it didn't have HDCP, but it doesn't matter.
HDMI switch boxes provide HDCP on the incoming end but not on the outgoing end.

[whydidnt]

Would be surprised if it didn't have HDCP, but it doesn't matter.

Well I went the Focal Web site and looked at the product page, and while it's in Japanese, all of the acronyms such as HDMI are in English with no mention of HDCP. This would leave me to believe that it doesn't provide it.

We've already heard that getting High Definition content into a VISTA MC PC is going to require a PC that is specifically built to "standards" that prevent piracy -- ie using the content however we want. I have serious doubts if a simple add-in card is going to somehow meet these requirements.

HDMI switch boxes provide HDCP on the incoming end but not on the outgoing end. .

Wow, so this means simply using a switch box completely defeats the whole content protection system. That's cool. How can they sell these without getting sued? Better yet, where can I buy one, I don't have a use today, but imagine I will someday.

[drfatal]

http://www.markertek.com/SearchProdList.asp?off=0&amp;sort=prod

http://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/intensity/techspecs/

[whydidnt]

The 2nd link - to blackmagic-design shows the card does NOT work with protected content.

I didn't get to a specific product off of the first link, but the product descriptions for their HDMI switch boxes seem to say an HDCP capable device is required throughout the chain. Maybe I'm just misunderstanding their vague descriptions.