[English] Datapath VisionRGB-E2/E2S via current generation PC

 Once I started capturing games with capture card from 10 years ago, I got experience some some of cards. I think the best one for from 15Khz to 1080p is Datapath VisionRGB-E2S. Ideally, VisionRGB can accept all of refresh rate if it is in bandwidth of itself (480MB/s for E2 and 650MB/s for E2S). So if you try to capture the Arcade PCB games those are abnormal refresh rate signal as following list with consumer capture device, you can see tearing or out of range message on display.

• Midway's 52Hz
• Seibu Kaihatsu Raiden Fighters 54Hz
• Seibu Kaihatsu Seibu cup Soccer 55Hz
• Sega Virtua Fighter 2 57Hz
• Other Arcade Games those are not NTSC/PAL standard.

 Consumer grade capture device only have standard EDID/DDC information. This means they only guaranteed 25 and 50Hz for PAL and 29.97 and 59.94Hz for NTSC (not mentioning for cinema frame rate in this post). There are two well-known devices that can capture such non-standard games, Yuan Hightech SC-500N1(Micomsoft SC-500N1) or later,  VisionRGB-E2/E2S. However even if SC-500N1 can accept non-standard signal, it would not be means all of non-standard signal. So as far as I know, the only solution for everything is VisionRGB.

 Nowadays this devices still can use the new system, but you MUST read carefully this post. When I try to replacing the old intel system to new AMD system, I encountered serious compatibility problem. This is the report for try and error. 

Do NOT use VisionRGB-E2 or E2S with Supermicro H12SSL series.
The PCIE 4.0 slot will cause beeping POST or just black screen. The most worse case is brick the CPLD chip on motherboard which is for IPMI and some core system components. I recommend you should buy USB type capture devices. 

Old system
CPU: Intel core i3-4130
GPU: integrated in CPU
MEM: Samsung PC3-12800U 4GBx2
MB: GIGABITE H81M-DS2
Capture1: Datapath VisinoRGB-E2
Capture2: IEI HDC-302e
OS: Windows 10 pro x64

Confirmed working system
CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 3100
GPU: NVIDIA Geforce GT610 (modified to UEFI BIOS)
MEM: Teamgroup PC4-25600U 8GBx2
MB: MSI B450-A PRO MAX
Capture1: Datapath VisinoRGB-E2 (PCI_E4 2.0 16x slot/data as 4x)
Capture2: IEI HDC-302e (PCI_E6 2.0 1x)
OS: Windows 10 pro x64

Did not worked system
CPU: AMD EPYC 7302P
GPU: NVIDIA Geforce GT610 (modified to UEFI BIOS)
MEM: Samsung PC4-25600R 16GBx8
MB: Supermicro H12SSL-NT
Capture1: Datapath VisinoRGB-E2 (any PCIE slot)
OS: Windows 10 pro x64

I think the problem was from legacy compatibility on PCIE4 or SoC in Supermicro motherboard. When I insert VisionRGB in H12SSL after installed windows 10, I can hear very small beep sound and cannot boot properly. I tried modifying some options in BIOS that was also not resolved. Then suddenly CPLD chip has broken, I cannot boot windows with UEFI mode, only can use BIOS boot. The IPMI and ethernet chips has completely dead. So I sent RMA as twice for this problem.

 Then I googled other cases with new generation system. There is one guy I found who has AMD threadripper system with MSI motherboard, VisionRGB has no issue in that system. So I bought my confirmed system set then has no issue. I'm guessing that the key point is compatibility for PCIe 1.1, PCI-X, or option ROM.

Here's the HWINFO log for VISIONRGB-E2 as follow.

General Information
Device Name:            Pericom PI7C9X130 PCI Express to PCI-X Bridge
Device Class:             PCI-to-PCI Bridge
Revision ID:              4
Hardware ID:            PCI\VEN_12D8&DEV_E130&SUBSYS_00000000&REV_04
PCI-X Mode:             PCI-X 133
PCI Express  Version:   1.1
Maximum Link Width:  4x
Maximum Link Speed:  2.5 GT/s
Current Link Speed:     2.5 GT/s
Device/Port Type:        PCI Express-to-PCI/PCI-X Bridge

Here's the example for MSI B450-A PRO MAX.

I'm using slot1 for GPU, slot4 for VisionRGB-E2, slot6 for HDC-302E and M2 slot for SSD. The manual explain slot2, 3 and 5 are unable to use when I using both slot 1 and 4. The 2.0 x4 sufficiently fitted for VisionRGB-E2 (Unidirectional bandwidth of PCIE 2.0 1x is 500MB/s).

Hope this post will be helpful and informative for everyone.

useful link
Nerdly Pleasures: Proper Analog Retro Video Capture with the Datapath E1/E1s