1. Canopus Sound Cards Free
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1. Canopus Co., Ltd. Was a manufacturer of video editing cards and video editing software. The company's focus shifted from enthusiast video cards to other areas of video hardware and software after the release of their Spectra line of products.
2. Grass Valley / Canopus EDIUS NX PCI-X (Discontinued) Product Code:NXPCIX. Model: EDIUS NX PCI-X The EDIUS NX PCI-X Capture Hardware with EDIUS 5 Software from Grass Valley is an software and hardware solution that allows you to edit both SD and HD video in real time. The card can capture and edit DV, HDV, and HD footage.

The ADVC-100 is the first affordable DV converter that supports locked audio when converting from analog to digital, assuring perfect audio and video synchronization The ADVC-100 features Canopus' award-winning DV codec technology, found in AVID's Xpress DV software and the full line of Canopus DV capture cards.

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With all the hype that nVidia has kicked up around their Riva TNT chipset over the lastfew months I have to admit that I was quite skeptical a TNT board would compare to aVoodoo2 board in the least bit. When I was told I would be receiving Canopus' newSpectra 2500 TNT card, I had no idea what was in store for me. Canopus has alwaysbeen known for taking their products a step further than the reference board design byadding in some great functionality. The Spectra 2500 is no exception to that rule.

While many of my colleagues have chosen to use their reviews of the Spectra 2500 as asounding board to address the Hype that nVidia has surrounded their TNT chipset with, thisis a review of a Video card. What the card will do for you and how it performs isfar more important to me than how nVidia fell short of their initial claims. Thefact that the TNT fell short of it's initial hype is not the fault of Canopus so that willbe all said about the subject.

Features
The Spectra 2500 is based on the nVidia Riva TNT TwiN TexelProcessor 128-bit graphics chip. It features 16MB of high-speed SDRAM, 250MHz RAMDAC, TVOut, and Canopus' WitchDoctor technology which provides internal pass-through features forVoodoo1 and Voodoo2 owners.

Fan Cooled:
Keeping up with the tradition of the Pure 3D II, the Spectra 2500 comes with ametal heatsink and fan to keep the chipset cool. The TNT chipset gets very hot undernormal circumstances so the added fan will help keep the card running cool. Tennmax, makers of the Stealth V2 cooler, has contactedme stating that they have an even better cooling system soon so I should have a review ofthat soon as well.

WitchDoctor:
Canopus' exclusive WitchDoctor technology allows owners of Voodoo and Voodoo2boards to take advantage of an internal pass-through while keeping the clarity of yourhigh-resolution desktop image. Typical voodoo configurations pass the 2D cardthrough the 3Dfx card via a passthrough cable to get to the monitor which slightlydegrades the visual quality of higher resolution desktops. With the WitchDoctorfeature, the 3Dfx cards out put is passed back to the Spectra 2500 via a reversepass-through cable. This configuration doesn't degrade the video quality of yourdesktop video and also allows you to take advantage of the TV-Output capabilities of theSpectra 2500 with your current 3Dfx card. Pure 3D II and Pure 3D II LX users canalso take advantage of an internal pass-through cable eliminating the need for the extraexternal cable.

TV-Output:
A feature that has almost become a trademark to the Canopus name is their greatTV-Output capability. Whether you are displaying a business PowerPoint presentationor playing Quake™ on the big-screen TV, Canopus has you covered. The TV-Outputsupports resolutions of 640x480, 800x600, and 920x690 while simultaneously displaying onboth the TV and your Monitor. You can also boot windows directly to the TV without amonitor attached.

Optional Video-In:
The Spectra VideoPORT 600, which will be available in October and will retail for$99, will add video capture, conferencing, and still image capture to the Spectra 2500adding to it's versatility. The VideoPORT 600 will install into a 5.25' drivebay putting the composite and s-video connectors conveniently on the front of yourcomputer for easy access. The VideoPORT 600 was not available for testing at thetime of this writing.

Installation
The Spectra 2500 installation was quite effortless and welldocumented. The included manual includes scenarios for users installing the card asstandalone, with a Pure 3D II/Pure 3D II LX, or a Voodoo/Voodoo2 card from anothermanufacturer. The driver CD contains drivers for Win9X, WinNT, the latest DirectX,and Canopus' Utilities such as Quick Control, Screen Control, and Application Launcher.

The card itself comes with every cable you should ever need. Included are aninternal pass-through cable for the Pure 3D II, a pass-through cable for a non-Canopus3Dfx Card, an S-Video cable to connect your TV-Output as well as a Composite video cable,and a Sound Cable to hook your sound card to your TV/VCR.

Testing
While testing the Spectra 2500 I posted the preliminary results togive the world a taste of what was to be expected. Several readers faithful to theVoodoo2 chipset wrote in to exclaim their disbelief's and opinions. To those I thankyou, but here you will simply find the facts just as I did. Don't get me wrong Ilove my Voodoo2 as much as any of you.

Canopus Sound Cards & Media Devices Driver Downloads

The first thing to remember about the tests performed here is the fact that the driversfor the Spectra are still in development. That means that the results of mybenchmarks can and probably will vary over the next month. I highly doubt thechanges will be drastic but time will only tell.

Compatibility:
The Spectra 2500 supports both the Direct3D and OpenGL API's. This meansthat unless your game title absolutely requires a 3Dfx card, the Spectra 2500 can handleit and in some cases performs better as you will read in the following sections.

OpenGL Performance:
For OpenGL testing I used the ever popular Quake 2 timedemo to and compared theresults to the Riva 128 and Vooodoo2 Results. When I had tested the Riva 128 I hadneglected to test the 1024x768 but you will still be able to see the progress in OpenGLperformance from the Riva 128 to the TNT. As you can see the TNT doesn't reallycompete with the Voodoo2 and Quake and Quake II players will want to stick with playing ontheir 3Dfx board. I would assume this is partly due to the fact that Quake and Quake2 are using a GL minidriver that is tweaked specifically for the 3Dfx chipset for idSoftware.

While the performance of the Spectra 2500 doesn't come closeto that of the Voodoo2 the visuals however are close if not better. The Picture tothe right is a split between Voodoo2 on the left and Spectra 2500 on the right. Click on the image to display the 800x600 version of the image so you can compare theimage quality for your self. The gamma in the two images is off slightly so that youcan tell the difference a bit easier.

I couldn't get unreal to run using the beta OpenGL driver although several others wereable to without any problem. The performance of Unreal using OpenGL should be lessof an issue when the D3D drivers are available though.

Direct3D Performance:
Unlike OpenGL, the Direct3D tests I ran showed to be faster than that of theVoodoo2. This is probably due to the TNT's TwiN Texel Processor. I used theForsaken Mark to test the Direct3D performance and was utterly shocked at theresults. As you can see from the results the Spectra 2500 does a better job withDirect3D than even the Voodoo2 and the ability to play your Direct3D games using 32 bitcolor makes the visual quality more appealing.

Ok so the Spectra kicks butt in Direct3D but how does it look? The following aresome sample sceenshots of the Spectra 2500 in action in full 32bit color. Keep inmind that these are compressed JPEG's so there is a little degradation of the media.

Problems:
Of all the D3D games tested with the Spectra, the only title that gave me anytrouble was RedStorm's Rainbow 6. In Rainbow 6 the mouse left trials along thescreen whenever you moved the mouse to the left. This was only an annoyance thoughas the game worked fine in every respect. I am sure this is due to the fact that thedrivers are so young and should be cleared up with the final drivers.

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In Wing Commander: Secret Ops I noticed that the lens flares were divided by 4 with athin black line which I would imagine also has something to do with the drivers.

Bundle
Canopus has chosen once again to not include a software bundle withthe Spectra 2500. Whether this is good or bad remains a personal taste. Idon't know what to do with all my copies of Jedi Knight and Incoming which seems like itwas included with every piece of hardware sold this year.

Canopus has included their signature utilities that add quite a bit of functionality totheir products. Screen Control is a utility that sits on the task tray and allowsyou to instantly change resolution and refresh rates. Quick Control allows you toset 'Hot Keys' to adjust settings such as gamma and TV setting without leaving yourapplication to open the control panel. Total Cinema EX is an MPEG/AVI/Video CDplayer.

Application Launcher is by far one of the most handy applications included with anycard. Application Launcher is allows you to preset shortcuts to launch all of yourfavorite games with their gamma, resolution, refresh rate, etc.

Conclusion
The Spectra 2500 certainly lives up to the Canopus name and makes agreat addition to any PC regardless of configuration. Should you get rid of yourVoodoo2 card for it? Not by any means. The point here is that if you alreadyhave a Voodoo2 card the Spectra 2500 makes a great companion for it and they will getalong great together. Fortunately you can disable Direct3D support on your Voodoo2and use the TNT instead. This gives you the best of both worlds with Glide andQuake/Quake II OpenGL being handled by your V2 while the Spectra can pick up the Direct3D.

If you haven't made the move to Voodoo2 yet, you might want to look at how many glidetitles you have as opposed to D3D titles. If you are a Quake player you are going towant the fast fps that Voodoo2 will give you. At any rate you need to have agood 2D card in your system and the Spectra 2500 certainly fits the bill.

The Spectra 2500 has a list price of $199 with no software bundle and a 3 year limitedwarranty. Though some may say that's a bit pricey when you consider what you get,great D3D performance, WitchDoctor reverse pass-through, TV-Output, and Canopus Quality, Ithink the Spectra 2500 is a great value and if you are considering a new video card thisis one you should not miss.

You can get more information on the Canopus Spectra 2500 product page.

Review by: William Gall
Date: September 6, 1998

Thanks to Sarah Kavanagh, Jim Anderson, and Vince Martel, for the Spectra 2500 and allthe help.