Merlin05 DV, MPEG-2 and Uncompressed Video Recorder and Dual Stream Decoder

The Merlin DV and MPEG-2  Board is a complete video and audio recorder and player in a single half-sized PCI card.  It is ideally suited for applications such as digital video broadcast, video distribution, authoring, and nonlinear editing.  Video and audio are treated separately so audio can be added to video at a later time or vice versa.  Merlin can also play back two streams of video and then transition from one to the other using many selectable transition effects in real time.  Moving from any frame to any other frame in a video clip is a snap with Merlin.  All you need to do is enter a frame number or move a slider control and you are instantly at the desired frame.  You can even give Merlin a play list of video files and transitions with starting and ending frame numbers, and Merlin will do the rest.  Merlin can even transcode files to and from picture and video formats compatible with other software packages.   Here is a list of some of the many feature of Merlin:

Key Features

  • Real Time DV and DVC-PRO50 Play and Record.
  • Real Time MPEG-1 and MPEG-2(including IMX) Play and Record (up to 50 Mbs).
  • Real Time 10 Bit Uncompressed Play and Record
  • Variable and fixed bitrates supported.
  • I - Frame only encoding as well as IP, IBBP and IB at (4:2:0) and (4:2:2) Chroma sampling.
  • Variable resolutions supported up to 720x512(NTSC), or 720x608(PAL) including the ability to capture line in the blanking interval.
  • Variable Video Play Speed at resolutions as low as 1% normal speed.
  • Composite analog, S-video analog, Component (YCrCb and RGB), and SDI Serial Digital selectable video input sources.
  • Composite analog, S-video analog, Component (YCrCb and RGB), and SDI Serial Digital simultaneous video outputs.
  • Analog and Digital Audio inputs and outputs at 32K, 44.1K and 48K sample rates.
  • Up to 3 AES3 digital audio inputs and outputs with PCM and AC-3 support.
  • Up to 8 channels of embedded audio per video output.
  • Analog video input is Time Base Corrected allowing Merlin to be used as a primitive TBC when in pass through mode.
  • SDI Serial Digital Video input has jitter reduction allowing Merlin to be used as a SDI video Jitter reducer in pass through mode.
  • Merlin can also be used as an Analog to SDI Serial Digital video converter and vice versa.
  • Decodes two DV or MPEG-2 video streams with the ability to alpha blend the 2 video streams in Real Time for doing elaborate scene transitions such as fades, wipes, dissolves, etc.
  • Two independent SDI video output that can play 2 separate video streams at the same time.
  • Logo Insertion capability built in.
  • VITC and LTC support built in.
  • Simple Play List format for playing long sequences with many video clips and transitions.
  • Runs on WindowsÔ 98/NT/2K/XP, LinuxÔ, IRIXÔ, SolarisÔ, and Mac OSÔ.
  • Support multiple boards per system to allow simultaneous Record and Play, including support for video delay applications.
  • Conversion to and from DV, MPEG-2 and uncompressed formats at rates faster than Real Time.
  • Merlin can be used for DVD authoring.
  • Includes all the software needed to Record, Play and Edit Video and Video Play Lists.
  • Includes a Batch recording utility.
  • Includes a Software Development Kit and lots of example source code for custom applications developers.
  • Half sized PCI card that works in both 3.3V and 5 Volt PCI slots.
  • 64 bit PCI interface that works in both 32 bit and 64 bit PCI slots.

Press the buttons below to see some screen shots of the Merlin application software.

Press the buttons below to see the Cable Connections on the Merlin Board.