vetz wrote on 2020-11-22, 14:42:

The chinese product you're mentioning is an OEM product sold as Symphony 2 (53-000663). I have not been able to source any drivers for this card and the sellers online does not include them from what I've seen. There are two versions out there with same PN number, one with no VGA connector (EM8401 chip) and one with VGA connector and EM8475 chip.

The manual only mentions the following with the digital video connector:

"Digital Video output header (future feature)"

I suppose the old feature connector was indeed a "digital video output" connector itself (?) and maybe that name choice might be a "modern" way of name it or at least it's what I always imagined..

386SX wrote on 2020-11-22, 14:47:

I suppose the old feature connector was indeed a "digital video output" connector itself (?) and maybe that name choice might be a "modern" way of name it or at least it's what I always imagined..

Maybe, anyway I checked, the card I ordered is rev 2 with the connector so can test it out when I receive it.

vetz wrote on 2020-11-22, 14:51:

386SX wrote on 2020-11-22, 14:47:

I suppose the old feature connector was indeed a "digital video output" connector itself (?) and maybe that name choice might be a "modern" way of name it or at least it's what I always imagined..

Maybe, anyway I checked, the card I ordered is rev 2 with the connector so can test it out when I receive it.

It's difficult to be sure about it anyway cause it might not be pin-compatible with the vga feature connector and in the worst case might break something ( (?) maybe it'd help to read some original vga feature connector pinout table to eventually understand the pins) even if I'd not understand which would be the point of having that connector at first in that case. Or maybe there was some idea to add some external DVI connection if we consider the other SCART connector that sound like a RGB output for the european usual TV input that compared to the S-Video should have been theorically better. But still if that was the case it'd be needed another cable and possibly a spare PCI space to add some output. Who knows..
About the chinese 3rd party brand I wonder if the original XCard drivers/app would work on that or if they would search for some specific ID of the original cards only.

EDIT: interesting.. my version is a Rev S3 and it has not the connector (just factory not-soldered). Looking at the PCB only few differences:
-main chip still EM8475 but the chip revision is AT2 and not AT1 like the Rev S2. Chip's built in Taiwan late 2002.
-passive components seems the same but it has added a 16 pin IC close to the SVideo connector by Philips 74HC4316D that seems like a "quad bilateral input/output switches" IC.
-card's built in China in early 2005 but fully original brand/model and same P/N number
I wonder if they removed the digital connector in a later revision for costs reasons or compatiblity ones or simply lost of interest in it. Maybe cause at that point probably most cards already had DVI or had not the feature connector anymore.

The SCART cable was a thing when you bought the card in Europe:

SCART bracket:

SCART cable:

Some info on the different EM chips. As you can see EM8471 which is on the late PN 53-000663 from China is basically just a EM8400 chip (MPEG2)

vetz wrote on 2020-11-22, 16:27:

The SCART cable was a thing when you bought the card in Europe: […]
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The SCART cable was a thing when you bought the card in Europe:

SCART bracket:
Xcard with SCART cable.jpg

SCART cable:
kabel3.jpg

Some info on the different EM chips. As you can see EM8471 which is on the late PN 53-000663 from China is basically just a EM8400 chip (MPEG2)
10.gif

Interesting I didn't remember that bracket cable that I suppose can be used for both components and rgb both better than s-video. From that table I suppose the EM8470/71 chips were used in other devices like add-in modules or standalone dvd players; my card still has the EM8475 obviously P/N -000661. I'd imagine that also that chinese 3rd brand card had the EM8475 chip too, at least the one I saw time ago with the same layout of the usual XCard (and an heatsink too as said).
Who knows anyway maybe as the SCART bracket, the digital connector was not a feature vga connector but a possible proprietary to DVI cable with bracket for future projects. Maybe it'd not be impossible to build that with some pinout if that was the case. 😀

Interesting that card attached with the digital connector seems to have the Philips IC too I was talking about too while the one in the link above didn't have that. So there were quite some different revisions too as the H+ cards.

The picture above was not my card, but one I found on Ebay. The card that is on the way to me looks exactly like the one on VGAMuseum http://www.vgamuseum.info/index.php/news/item … ealmagic-em8475

Regarding the 3rd party Xcard (we're not sure it has the same capabilities!) with heatsink, did it have the same layout as this card? As you can see the layout is very similar, but there as differences.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Board-Decompressio … 70/303774791827

It's the only version I've been able to find with heatsink on. All of them either have chip EM8470 or EM8475 and PN 53-000663

vetz wrote on 2020-11-22, 17:04:

The picture above was not my card, but one I found on Ebay. The card that is on the way to me looks exactly like the one on VGAM […]
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The picture above was not my card, but one I found on Ebay. The card that is on the way to me looks exactly like the one on VGAMuseum http://www.vgamuseum.info/index.php/news/item … ealmagic-em8475

Regarding the 3rd party Xcard (we're not sure it has the same capabilities!) with heatsink, did it have the same layout as this card? As you can see the layout is very similar, but there as differences.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Board-Decompressio … 70/303774791827

It's the only version I've been able to find with heatsink on. All of them either have chip EM8470 or EM8475 and PN 53-000663

Interesting. And regarding your card not having that Philips IC (the Dragon V card seems to have that or a similar) it'd be interesting to understand if that IC is involved into the separation of the VGA in and VGA out or what.
That chinese card is the one I was talking about and I agree we don't know a lot about it but what I notice is a cheaper chip package even if I'm not sure about the chip cause in that table attached above it'd not have sense: it seems to have both the A/V input option (pass-through cable?) and the Analog audio output jack and the VGA output too (DAC?), so I wonder if it's just a cheaper or older package of the EM8475 or that chip table might be more complex but who knows. Also interesting there's the Sigma brand name on the PCB and the card's built in 2012 with 2002 tech. The heatsink might have had a sense the older EM8300 already heat up a bit, the EM8475 with the BGA chip too.

Anyway I was thinking again to the manual line "Digital Video output header (future feature)" and I really suspect that it might not be the classic feature connector and I'd not connect it to the vga risking the card or the vga... cause that "header (future feature)" sounds really like a bracket add-in solution.

I've not been able to get in contact with MrGlasspoole who claims to have the Hollywood 2 driver. As of this post they are still missing in action. I've done some research and the file list of the driver/app is available here:
http://www.video-drivers.com/drivers/70/70068.htm

1  Length     Date   Time    Name
2 --------    ----   ----    ----
3        0  08-30-99 21:14   app/
4   316220  02-06-98 14:32   app/_INST32I.EX_
5     8192  02-06-98 14:32   app/_ISDEL.EXE
6    11264  02-06-98 14:32   app/_SETUP.DLL
7   181747  02-06-98 14:32   app/_SYS1.CAB
8    24859  02-06-98 14:32   app/_USER1.CAB
9      110  02-06-98 14:32   app/DATA.TAG
10   367388  02-06-98 14:33   app/DATA1.CAB
11    72126  10-23-97 09:18   app/DLOGO.LGO
12      352  02-06-98 14:32   app/LANG.DAT
13      334  02-06-98 14:32   app/LAYOUT.BIN
14      419  02-06-98 14:32   app/OS.DAT
15    12951  02-06-98 12:12   app/README.TXT
16    59392  02-06-98 14:32   app/SETUP.EXE
17       59  02-06-98 14:32   app/SETUP.INI
18    59434  02-06-98 14:32   app/SETUP.INS
19       47  02-06-98 14:33   app/SETUP.LID
20      450  09-09-97 19:17   app/WVP.INI
21        0  07-08-99 14:50   driver/
22    59646  07-08-99 14:51   driver/24BITS.DI_
23     5885  07-08-99 14:51   driver/4BITS.DI_
24    32745  07-08-99 14:51   driver/8BITS.DI_
25    63538  07-08-99 14:51   driver/AC3DEC.DL_
26   121631  07-08-99 14:51   driver/ALLNODE.DL_
27     2495  07-08-99 14:51   driver/CROSS.VB_
28   225537  07-08-99 14:51   driver/IMPEG32.DL_
29    20261  07-08-99 14:50   driver/MCIFMP16.DR_
30   194358  07-08-99 14:51   driver/MCIFMP32.DL_
31    37216  07-08-99 14:51   driver/MPEGAPI.DL_
32    12951  07-08-99 14:51   driver/README.TXT
33     3580  07-08-99 14:51   driver/RMHOL2.INF
34   106995  07-08-99 14:51   driver/RMHOL2.VX_
35     8331  07-08-99 14:51   driver/RMPNPH2.VX_
36    27554  07-08-99 14:51   driver/SDUDF.DL_
37    15463  07-08-99 14:51   driver/STUB32.DL_
38    16415  07-08-99 14:51   driver/STUB32.EX_
39     1739  07-08-99 14:50   driver/V7.BI_
40    66893  07-08-99 14:51   driver/WAVIFACE.DL_

Looking through the filenames I recognize almost all of them from the Netstream 2 driver. Hollywood 2 and Netstream 2 share very much and are almost the same card. The driver update to Hollywood 2 also contains many of these files. The only file really missing is the RMHOL2.INF file, but I believe it would be possible to modify either the inf file from the Hollywood 1 or Netstream 2 to work with the Hollywood 2.

If anyone have a Hollywood 2 card laying around and would like to test this, please let me know.

Check here for the Hollywood 2 drivers:
ftp://oisellerie.org/drivers/SigmaDesig ... ywood%202/

cyclone3d wrote on 2020-11-25, 23:38:

Check here for the Hollywood 2 drivers:
ftp://oisellerie.org/drivers/SigmaDesig ... ywood%202/

Thanks for checking, but that is the driver update file unfortunately (which I already had). For some unexplained reason Sigma Designs never released the driver online for Hollywood 1 and 2, only the updates which required the drivers to be installed already. The Hollywood 2 filelist above was uploaded by a user who copied them from the original floppies.

A while ago I went on a rampage of collecting RealMagic cards when I was finding them for cheap.

I have:
ISA
53-000362
53-000366-01
53-000417-03
53-000417-04
PCI
53-000511-01
53-000519-01
53-000519-03
53-000519-11

I now have on the way a RealMagic DVR PCI card. Not sure of the part number as the picture didn't show it. Supposedly this is a MPEG-1/2 capture card / Hollywood Plus card from what little I could find.

I also have another 53-000417 card on the way that has the original driver disks and some other disks... looks like 1.3 and 1.81 driver versions and maybe something else.

I'm working on putting together a VIP 486 system so once I get done with what I am already working on for that I should be able to test the modded driver package on the Hollywood 2.

cyclone3d wrote on 2020-11-26, 02:20:

I now have on the way a RealMagic DVR PCI card. Not sure of the part number as the picture didn't show it. Supposedly this is a MPEG-1/2 capture card / Hollywood Plus card from what little I could find.

I also have another 53-000417 card on the way that has the original driver disks and some other disks... looks like 1.3 and 1.81 driver versions and maybe something else.

I'm working on putting together a VIP 486 system so once I get done with what I am already working on for that I should be able to test the modded driver package on the Hollywood 2.

Nice one!

I see you have multiple revisions of the Maxima / Lite NFC. If you could take some pictures of the card and make images of those disks that would be great 😀

The DVR should have part number 53-000618. I had downloaded the pictures and drivers, but not added it to the table on the frontpage, this is now sorted.

I noticed you had a Hollywood 2 by the part number (53-000511). Very nice if you could test it out when you get the time. I need you to give me the PCI VEN info beforehand though to modify the INF file.

I have Maxima Pro EM7110 and it seems to support most of the games on the list though I have not tested the ones on the bottom list like under a killing moon yet;

however, I was confused with installing the card in DOS, whenever I ran an install of the driver on 98/95 it would failed to initialize the FMPDRV.SYS or MPGDEV, but under Dos 6.22 it would work perfectly fine

I also noticed that only the windows 3.1 based installer gave me the proper DOS drivers for the card, but it cannot be ran on a 98 system, I used 2.30 to get the DOS drivers to load.

any ideas why it would dislike running in later dos versions or fail to initialize when 95 or 98 is installed, yet work perfect in 3.1 if I run the 3.1 based installer and then boot to dos?

vetz wrote on 2020-11-09, 22:27:

I've spent so much time trying to figure out what was what with the Realmagic cards so I made a list:

If anyone else have anything to contribute, please do. I'll continue to edit this post with photos, drivers and more.

That's interesting! I have also composed such a list a couple of years ago, but did not share it.

I have shared my game list here - you have cited it in your post: Re: Reelmagic/Realmagic MPEG games

ReelMagic Producer - that should be 53-000387 with chip CL-4000.

RealMagic Fullscreen DVD - I thought that EM8220/ 53-000604 was called 'REALmagic Dragon'? Although it does say 'Fullscreen DVD' on the card.
And are you sure that REALmagic Ventura is EM8210? I thought it was EM7210, as it is an earlier card.

psychoticgiraffe wrote on 2021-03-14, 14:52:

however, I was confused with installing the card in DOS, whenever I ran an install of the driver on 98/95 it would failed to initialize the FMPDRV.SYS or MPGDEV, but under Dos 6.22 it would work perfectly fine

There were two kinds of drivers for RM cards: DOS+Windows 3.1 (usually numbered 2.xx) and Windows 95/98 (numbered 4.xx) . You can't run DOS games with the latter drivers!

Uka wrote on 2021-03-18, 09:16:

ReelMagic Producer - that should be 53-000387 with chip CL-4000.

RealMagic Fullscreen DVD - I thought that EM8220/ 53-000604 was called 'REALmagic Dragon'? Although it does say 'Fullscreen DVD' on the card.
And are you sure that REALmagic Ventura is EM8210? I thought it was EM7210, as it is an earlier card.

Well,unless there is an earlier version of Ventura, see this picture for what I based that on:

Seems you're right about the name regarding Dragon/Fullscreen, atleast according to this review: http://www.hardware-one.com/reviews/dragon/dragon2.shtml

vetz wrote on 2021-03-18, 09:43:

Well,unless there is an earlier version of Ventura, see this picture for what I based that on:
Ventura.jpg

Interesting picture, albeit rather tiny 😀

And are you sure that RealMagic Ultra is EM8000 / 53-000491?
I though it is EM7110. Here is the article about it - it is not exactly true, as for some reason they say it is 'PCI', but why should they lie about the chip?

Here is a closeup of the same card:

Not 100% sure on the Ultra situation. The Maxima Pro/Ultra/Netstream products are closely related. I believe I made the assumption based on info on Sigma Designs on website (but I'll check that up later).

If it's not the card in the article you mentioned, then we have no explanation for the card with PN number: 53-000491
http://173.0.141.92/shop/prodView.asp?idproduct=503

vetz wrote on 2021-03-18, 10:07:

If it's not the card in the article you mentioned, then we have no explanation for the card with PN number: 53-000491
http://173.0.141.92/shop/prodView.asp?idproduct=503

Isn't that Maxima Pro?
That EM8000 card does not look at all like the Ultra card on Sigma site.

vetz wrote on 2021-03-18, 10:07:

Not 100% sure on the Ultra situation. The Maxima Pro/Ultra/Netstream products are closely related. I believe I made the assumption based on info on Sigma Designs on website (but I'll check that up later).

Well, I have a Netstream 1 card (that was called 'Ultra II' before), so I can assure you it is EM8010 and 53-000517 😀
And psychoticgiraffe has Maxima Pro, so maybe he could share a picture of it?

Based on some google searches and your info I believe this to be the correct PN number situation:

RealMagic Maxima -photo - 53-000417 (EM7011)
RealMagic Maxima Pro - photo - 53-000411 (EM7110)
RealMagic Ultra - unknown PN?
Unknown card/product Ultra II? -photo - 53-000491 (EM8000)
RealMagic Netstream - photo - 53-000517 (EM8010)

vetz wrote on 2021-03-18, 11:21:

RealMagic Maxima -photo - 53-000417 (EM7011) RealMagic Ultra - photo - 53-000411 (EM7110) RealMagic Maxima Pro -photo - 53-00049 […]
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RealMagic Maxima -photo - 53-000417 (EM7011)
RealMagic Ultra - photo - 53-000411 (EM7110)
RealMagic Maxima Pro -photo - 53-000491 (EM8000)
RealMagic Netstream - photo - 53-000517 (EM8010)

Yes, that corresponds to my list.
I also list the release dates 😀
REALMagic Maxima - 06.11.1995;
REALMagic Ultra - 21.05.1996;
REALMagic Maxima Pro - 13.12.1996;
REALmagic Ultra II / NetStream 1 - sadly don't know about that: somewhere in 1997.