VLC network setup questions

[mohawk24]

Hi All new to vlc however many many years of computer experience, i am looking to accomplish the following any help would be extremely appreciated.

INPUT
looking to use the 2250 hauppage cards or the colossus cards to capture and encode 4 separate analog video inputs

MACHINE SETUP
p4 with lots of ram
2 dual tuner cards for capture
multiple vlc instances for the ability to produce 4 streams via multicast to network.

Is this possible or would it overload the machine??

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

So long as you don't transcode, restreaming is not CPU intensive.

[mohawk24]

are there any issues with drivers etc. or with vlc recognizing the dual tuners??

I have read lots of conflicting stories.

Also if i needed to transcode from mpeg2 to mp4 or .ts how much cpu load would this create??

I do require either mp4, ts, MOV, 3GP, or 3G2 outputs

is mpeg2 output from the capture cards actually .ts or m2t??? if so then i should be ok.

again any and all help is extremely appreciated.

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

It depends on the tuner drivers and VLC versions. Cannot say.

[mohawk24]

well im speficially looking at using the hauppage hvr 2250 or the hauppage colossus cards when i look at the compatibility list they are not listed.

Does this mean they will not work??

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

I don't know what compatibility list you're looking at. In my experience, those lists are intrinsically unreliable.

[mohawk24]

the compatibility list i looked at is actually the videolan wiki list that is a sticky to the stream output section of this forum??

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

As I said, this is intrinsically unreliable. First, you have to trust random people from the Internets who write the list. Second, the compatibility lists are based on hardware branding. Unfortunately, many hardawre vendors change the detailled content of their hardware while keeping the name. I have seen cases of "compatible" hardware not working due to hardware revisions like that. Last, compatibility also depends on the version of the hardware drivers, the operating system, and possibly the version and configuration of VLC. So...

On the other hand, plenty of compatible hardware is not listed because nobody ever tried or bothered to add it to the list.