Overview

DVI2USB vs VGA2USB

The DVI2USB is no longer bus powered

The DVI input accepts both digital and analog inputs

At FiringSquad, we're passionate about our scientific testing methods. From CPUs to GPUs and even our LCD monitor colorimetry, we're always looking for new technologies that help us deliver the best information to our readers. For the last few months, I've been using the Epiphan DVI2USB. This is the upgraded version of the VGA2USB that we reviewed several months ago, with several considerable improvements.

What is the DVI2USB?

Whereas the VGA2USB does exactly what you expect it to do, the DVI2USB is actually special. Not only is it a USB 2.0 device that can capture a DVI signal, but it is also a device that can capture an analog RGB signal. The DVI2USB also captures images at the full 24-bit color. More importantly, the DVI2USB has an integrated memory buffer that fixes the problem of motion artifacts during the capture stream.

This means that while the DVI2USB still has a limited sampling rate (29 fps at 640x480, 4.3 fps at 1920x1200), the device will still produce perfect images every time. Although development is taking longer than expected, Epiphan believes they can reach capture rates of 1280x1024 at 30 fps with future driver releases. This is because the technology inside the DVI2USB is fully reprogrammable as opposed to the fixed function design of the VGA2USB.

When Epiphan achieves 30fps capture at resolutions such as 720p, they may have a budget way to capture HD-SDI and SDI video (when you have an SDI to DVI adapter).

Resolution	DVI2USB (Current Driver see note below)	DVI2USB (Target see note below)	VGA2USB
640 x 480	29.0	30.0	28.0
800 x 600	21	30.0	20.6
1024 x 768	15	30.0	10
1280 x 1024	10	30.0	5.6
1600 x 1200	6.7	10.0	4.3
1920 x 1200	4.3	5.0	3.1

*Specifications table as published by Epiphan