Why does your system have audio/video sync issues?

Will Hay · Posted: Jul 04, 2003 11:02

As audio and video sync issues seem to be a very common problem, I thought I'd try list some of the reason's I've learnt may be the cause:

1) Is your hard drive fast enough?
Some of the older drives don't have a sustained data rate that can handle such a fast read/write scenario as capture.

2) Are you capturing to your primary hard drive?
Not the best idea.
If your financies stretch consider investing in a second hard drive, and use this only for capture, not part capture and part storage.

3) Do you have a VIA chipset?
Whilst I've heard many people have nothing but 100% success with these chipsets, I and many others had many problems which were only solved by changing motherbaords and ultimately chipsets.
If you have the chance, try aim for Intel and SiS.
Try a google search for 'VIA LATENCY' and you'll see what problems can occur.
A known problem chipset is the KT133.

4) Are you sure your system is configured correctly?
It doesn't hurt to run a thorough check of your hardware.

5) Are you veiwing the final mpeg with Windows Media Player?
If so, don't.
Try burning to a dvd-r/+r/cdr and viewing on a standalone, it may simply be the software your veiwing it with.

5) Do you have an onboard soundcard?
Onboard soundcards are real system drainer's, and are often the cause of audio/video sync issues.
Try borrow a PCI soundcard (I know that's not always easy) and see if your problem goes away.

6) How reliable is your source?
If you have a very poor VHS tape you're attempting to convert, check your capture settings?
For instance, Pinnacle Studio 8 is horrendous for analogue capture and in one of my attempts at 30 minute capture ended up five seconds out of sync!
Trying the same footage with Virtualdub (which has automatic correction) produced a flawless capture.

I'm by no means an expert, please feel free to add to this post as you see fit, perhaps we can all make it a definitive guide on this horrendous problem

Will
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Will Hay · Posted: Jul 15, 2003 08:21

ATI users with this audio & video sync problem may find the following post of some use:
ATI Capture ~ Gradual Sync Loss
Will
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Will Hay · Posted: Jul 15, 2003 09:26

mgh · Member Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Location: India

Small tip-Latest Virtualdub versions have audio filters
While rencoding-audio-Use advanced filtering-audio- filters-add-doubleclick on input,stretch and output in that order-configure the stretch ratio to the ratio calculated as follows.
Go to video-framerate-under sourcerange adjustment-note down values in third line-change so video and audio durations match and current in first line.
Windows calculator, calculate the ratio of the first value to the second and enter it as the stretch ratio in the filter. After reencoding, the vid and audio will be in synch.
I had a PIII 800 with 20 GB hard disk earlier and did not get dropped frames or synch problem using Vdub and MJPEG codec even at 720x576 and 25 fps.
I have a PIV 2.4 GHz with 40 MB 7200 rpm drive-again no problem. I do not keep formatting or defragging my disk-I reboot every 2nd commercial break while capturing!! My card is the lowly Pixelview TV Pro with a Bt878 chip and now I use the Btwincap drivers-with my earlier PC I was using VFW drivers that came with thecard.

Will Hay · Posted: Jul 26, 2003 14:41

rrios01 · Member Joined: 29 Sep 2002 Location: Monterrey, Mexico

I capture with Pinnacle MivieBox USB with Studio 8 software, but I have video & audio sync problem, I try to use Virtualdub but when a try to open the capture mode appear a message "there is no capture device", can somebody have and idea to solve the problem?

hiptune · Posted: Aug 07, 2003 15:33

I use Pinnacle Studio 8 with the Canapus ADVC - 100. I have no sync issues ever.

This combo does not know how to go out of sync.

Never dropped frames, no out of sync audio.

Pent 4, XP w/ SP 1, spinning 80 and 120 g HDs. Lots of memory crunching avi. I forget how much, but my VCDs are stunning, and better than VHS quality when Laser Discs are captured.

Jeff

Xtasy2002 · Member Joined: 26 Aug 2002 Location: United States

Sometimes it's the software. Before you think your system is to blame try to capture with Virtual Dub. It that works ok you can be sure your system is fine. I've come across a lot of capture softs that have sync bug problems BUILT INTO THE SOFTWARE.

trojanrabbit · Member Joined: 18 Apr 2003 Location: MA

I had no end of problems with Studio 7 and VideoWave 4 that no amount of tweaking would fix. I installed Scenalyzer and I never had a sync problem again. I haven't tried VirtualDub, so I might give that a shot as well.

vcdforme · Member Joined: 23 Dec 2002 Location: West Coast

My sync issues ended with the ADS Pyro A/V link, and a decent
DV capturing program.

Sheeeesh! all the wasted hours.

Still, making a proper VCD or SVCD is still a time
consuming process. Just no more problems.

spectroelectro · Member Joined: 17 Jul 2003

In my experience, all video captured PCI cards which do not have a built-in hardware sync twixt audio & video will gradually slide out of sync. The simple (free!) solution is to use the modification of VirtualDub called VirtualDubSync. This mod re-samples the audio otnhe fly so you don't get audio & video sliding out of sync. The downside is that on some systems you can only capture at 352 x 240 resolution, though you can capture to full D1 data rate if you want (technically 352 x 240 with D1 data rate is known as half D1). Or you can capture to standard DV AVI but at 352 x 240.
In any case, I can't see any singificant difference twixt MPEG-2 DVD video produced by a DV AVi file captured at 352 x 240 and one captureed in native 720 x 480 to DV AVI. At least, not on a TV set. On the computer, the difference looks obvious, but most people watch DVDs on their TV sets, not on their computers.

cyberphox · Member Joined: 30 Nov 2003

I have been interested in solving an audio sync issue i have with a my video capture system. I have also read loads of news groups and suggestions but not really solved my problem at all.

I have a Dazzle DVCII capture card, Gigabyte intel Pentium IV 2.4GHz cpu and motherboard, two drives etc....

I can record a full movie from my DVD player without any problems with the audio sync, the movie looks great. Now if I use my Canon G2000 video camera I get terrible sync problems. (Camera is a 8mm analogue system).

Is there a way to improve the signal without having to buy a new camera?

thanks
marino

Will Hay · Posted: Dec 03, 2003 08:52

cyberphox · Member Joined: 30 Nov 2003

My Dazzle Capture card uses software called Moviestar. Which I must say is not so great. The Dazzle drivers only allow you to use Moviestar, for example Adobe Premier cannot control the capture card nor any other 3rd party s/w..

My camera is old technology really and unfortunately I don't have a new camera to act as a pass through. I have tried recording the stuff on camera to a vhs tape and then record from the video tape, this did not help either.

Thanks,

marino

Will Hay · Posted: Dec 04, 2003 11:57

s_fleece · Member Joined: 16 Nov 2003 Location: Atlanta Georgia USA

The Hauppauge WinTV PVR-250 & 350 use WDM drivers, not VFW (Video for Windows) drivers, so VirtualDub software is likely not an option for users of this capture board hardware.

fizzybubbly · Member Joined: 07 Jan 2004

I have just installed pinnacle dc10. Im recording fine from the tv/video, but the playback is very distorted.
I have the sound settings low. Could you please tell me the best settings to have, please?

fizzybubbly · Member Joined: 07 Jan 2004

I have pinnacle dc10. Is it possible to change the screen size as its very small!!!

SIG.SAUER · Member Joined: 04 Jan 2004

shdwsclan · Member Joined: 17 Jan 2004 Location: Chicago

My comp and hardware never outsyncs video and audio.

Possible causes for VideoAudio Outsync may be.

heavily fragmented drives
slow drives -> 5400 RMP
slow interface -> ATA 33/66
cache too small -> 2mb cache
not enough ram -> 128mb ~512mb
ram too slow -> 333 mhz~400mhz
FSB to slow -> 266mhz~333mhz
Single Ram Channel
Overclocking
AMD process
Too many mobo features, usually onboard sound
Not enough resources free -> to many background progs running.
Crappy chipset -> VIA
Old firmware
Old drivers
Your still using last years programs that use DV 1
Your using a prog prone to drop frames and unsync
Your using anything less than Dazzle Hollywood DV-Bridge with a FrameSync chip built in.
Your processor is too slow.
You have a lot of crap connected to your peripheral web.
Slow Vid Card, resolution too high.
Old/crappy firewire cable
Old/crappy RCA/SVideo cables
Poorly Shielded Cables.
Page file too big.
Your still using the FAT/16/32 format for your hardrive.
You have crappy codecs.
Your a Mac User

Here is another interesting FACT:
It is common for MPEG 2 to be unsynced, most people dont notice it when they are watching TV. Truely, the NTSC MPEG 2 has a low unsync rate such as when watching DTV/SATV/HDTV etc.
XVid is also used for better sync.
PAL MPEG 2 has a lot worse sync, sync can be off for about 3-5 seconds.
Using DivX compression for transmission could have periodic sound loss, video loss, 10+ second lagging, and color loss.

As you can see NTSC SDTV is better even though it has a lesser res, and les colors, but higher frequency of fields, and higher framerate.\

SDTV 420i/p
EDTV 720i/p
HDTV 1080i/(p)
_________________
ShDwScLaN

bottle-necked · Member Joined: 23 Sep 2003 Location: United States

As a past owner of a VIA chipset and all the soundblaster stuff also I can relate to all of the above posts. Anyone interested in capturing video my suggestion is to get an Intel chip motherboard. I've tried my onboard A97 Intel audio chip and it works fine also, but I generally run a Creative Audigy 2 card out of habit I guess.*()*

My experience with AVI capture has taken a very big turn for the better since I've started reading and posting on this forum. I've learned a lot from you guys and even from your mistakes. It's all good stuff, believe me. I want to say thank you all.

I've gotten into a habit of doing 2 things everytime I stop an AVI capture. I check the framerate and I check the audio/video stream length. My last 2 systems both use ATI AIW video/capture cards so i can't speak for other products but my experience has proven to me that if I can keep my framerate exactly on the money then calculate the 'offset' of my audio stream - I can produce in-sync MPEG encoded files from my AVI captures everytime. I simply use my calculated offset value in my MPEG encoder. Easy now, a nightmare before I figured that out.

I would add I have my system as streamlined as I can stand it, I don't abuse it by trying to over-clock or over-volt it and I don't install just any program I can find or own. My system is fairly bare with only the programs and tools I need and like to use and not much else. I've had so much trouble after installing bad applications I woudn't know where to begin.

Have fun with your video, and have fun on the forum. It's all good, either way.

Goood luck.

Will Hay · Posted: Jan 26, 2004 04:20

A little trickly upgrading a motherboard to incorporate an Intel chipset if you have an Athlon

Intel or SiS chipsets are the choice for me

Will
_________________
tgpo, my real dad, told me to make a maximum of 5,806 posts in one lifetime. So I have.

themichael · Member Joined: 14 Aug 2001

A slight note to shdwsclan:

When I started capturing video I was using a Celeron 400 e-Machine with 196 Meg RAM. I had a WinTV BT8x8 card, used WDM drivers, Virtualdub, MJEPG (18 ) compression, 640x480 resolution, a 30 Gig 5400 rpm 2M cache capture drive, and Win 98SE.

Never had any problems until I got a faster computer and bigger hard drives.

Warlock_THR · Member Joined: 12 Nov 2003 Location: Guelph, ON

Does anyone know if this VIA KT133A chipset deal affects burning?

Basically, I have a 1.2Ghz Athalon, GA-7ZX-H Gigabyte KT133A motherboard and 768 megs of ram with an ATI 9600Pro video card. Everything works fine. I download videos and burn and no real probs "if" they're around 20min or shorter. Anything more , AVI or MPG, halfway through it just goes outta sync.

Tried the FAQs for the separating the audio etc and mostly never works the way it's described, and if it does, still outta sync anyways. Tried Ulead, SonicFoundry, and NERO for making DVDs, even formatted the drive and started fresh and same issue. 7200rpm drives, tried from the Primary and Secondary, umm... yeah... annoying issue driving me nuts.

Was gonna get a SiS based board since it's the only thing I can find that will hold my Athalon and my PC133 ram but I noticed this FAQ here is mostly about capturing, but a few posts sounded like burning issues. Any suggestions?

Odd thing too I'll mention is, I can create the DVD onto my HDD first, and from what I can tell it seems fine... I read a few latency issues with the VIA chipsets and thought maybe it's related.

In any case... since I posted this I ordered an ECS K7S5A PRO ATX SIS735 board and will post my findings. Thanks.

Will Hay · Posted: Feb 11, 2004 03:57