Video encoding card

[bezhan_o]

Hey guys,
i have been trying to convert my divx files and dv files which i captured from my camera through firewire to mpeg and mpeg 2 so i could make vcd's and dvd's but my computer always freezes after doing about 5-6 minutes of it.. is it normal for the cpu to be maxed out during the conversion process? i have xp home/athlon 2200+/512MB DDR RAM/60 GB ~30 GB empty (defragged)/Ati Radeon 7000 64MB/Soundbalster live 5.1.

I have used many apps but they all result in the same thing. Is there a card out there that is specially designed to do these conversions without stressing the cpu so much? I am even willing to do a straight capture to mpeg1/2 without editing but i wanna be able to get those videos onto vcd's and dvd's. any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Richard_G]

I have had a similar problem (quite some time ago now) when encoding from DV format avi to mpeg. After a few minutes the whole thing would slow to a crawl and then stop. Ctrl-Alt-Del was the only way out. I then realised that, by accident, I was trying to save the encoded mpeg file in the same folder as the original avi. Normally, I would save to my second hard drive. Resetting everything so that I was reading from one drive and writing to the other meant the problem no longer occured.

If you don't have two hard drives, this might cause you a problem, but try saving the encoded file in a different folder and see if this makes a difference.

[bezhan_o]

well when mine freezes i can't even do a ctrl+alt+del. i can't even move the mouse pointer. its as if the monitor is just showing a screen capture. the comp doesn't respond to anything. I then have to use the reset button on the tower.

as far as the hardrive goes, i only have one hardrive. does it really affect the convdrsion process? and please someone reply to my original question

[Richard_G]

as far as the hardrive goes, i only have one hardrive. does it really affect the convdrsion process? and please someone reply to my original question

You originally asked if there was a card that would do the encoding for you. The simple answer is yes there is. The Matrox RT series card amongst others do the encoding in hardware. But, they are extremely expensive (around £500 in UK).

Hard drives are very cheap and if you intend doing video then you NEED a second drive. As you are currently unable to do any encoding at all, wouldn't trying the cheap and simple option first make sense?

You'd be well pissed off if you bought a hardware encoding card and still found that your pc froze after a few minutes of encoding wouldn't you!