Bad fram rate capturing my video using USB2 device

[Ryann]

Gday all, im stumped on how to acheive a better frame rate on my video im trying to import onto my PC, i recently bought a Hi-Speed USB2 video adapter from belkin to get my vhs and camcorder footage onto a decent size and quality on my PC, problem is im struggling with my frame rate.. and im thinking its one thing.. please tell me im wrong.. Celeron...

I had a old one that acheived a 352 picture with a decent frame rate but now with the new one i cant even get a decent rate with that size.. at 720x572 im getting like 10fps.. the greatest i acheived was a 16 average.. im not happy about this seein i paid 100 bucks for this adapter.

Dont get me wrong i didnt set out to get the best hardware for the job, just something that would do the job.. here are my specs.. AN help is VERY much appreciated...

System:
Microsoft Windows XP
Professional
Version 2002
Service Pack 2

Computer:
Intel(R)
Celeron(R) CPU 2.40GHz
2.39 GHz, 736 MB of RAM

My Graphics is ATI Radeon 9100 IGP Onboard.. and its saying 32MB, this cant b right ill b checking this now..

Thanks Again,
Ryann

[bugster]

That PC should be quick enough for capturing at full frame rates. A few things to check:-

1) The high speed USB capture device is actually connected to a high speed (USB2) port on your PC.

2) Capture to Avi and not mpeg if your software allows it. Use the huffyuv codec or an mjpeg codec. Compression is low so file sizes are high but these codecs require relativley little CPU time.

3) Make sure all your HD's are running in DMA mode.

I am sure there are other things too, maybe someone else has more ideas.

[Ryann]

Gday thanks for your advice..

I did go ahead and get huffy UV and downloaded also virtualdub.. now at a 720 wide video im getting around 20 frames but it still jolty and inconsistant.. i checked my drives and they are running on DMA and it is a usb2 im running it thru.. anymore ideas are much helped.. im getting PicVideo MJPEG codec so ill b back soon to tell u how that goes..! please repsonses are appreciated.

Ryann,

[Ryann]

Ok here it goes.. Using


Recording at 352x288, frame set at 30;


Picvideo i got these results:

45.1meg vid file
average frame rate: 19.59617
data rate: 2500kb/s
compression 1:6:1
Av frame size: 130580
frames dropped 191

On I/O tweaking i was able to acheive 21 fps
i got the same results with Huffy UV


i was also getting roughly the same output with 720x576 still jolty
Also would it matter how my master and slaves are setup?

[Ryann]

Bump..

[Ryann]

what is this forum for? if people cant have the curtesy to reply to my topic.. please help me..?

[snafu099]

usb connection, ver 1.1 or 2.0 are both sufficient to provide video capture at full dvd spcec's. Going over 4-5mb/s with ver 1.1 might push it some.

2.39 mhz system should also be sufficient for even a software encoder provided you don't try to do much or have much also running.

You say hdd are set to dma but have you done a speed check of hdd to verify the ability to write to the drive at the bitrate you are trying to use.
(Don't care spec's of drive, test it)

Most if not all usb capture devices advise direct connection to usb port on pc, not to a hub

Not being a techie I do not understand some of your post.
Whatever your device and software, if you are using any of the preset capture templets for vcd, dvd or mpg, the frame rate should be ?? depending on ntsc/pal/secam specifications and given the captured frame rate you say, then the droped frames count should be high. Or am I missing something

You do not say other than Belkin usb, what your capture device is or what it is "supposed" to be capable of doing. Since you mention getting a codic I assume it is a software capture device not a hardware encoder

If the device is within a return period and you are not satisfied with it, return it and get a different device.

Compro usb VideoMate Live online (got mine at newegg.com) about $150 USD is currently my choise but you would need to check compatability with your capture mode pal/secam, I know it works well with ntsc

[johns0]

Dont capture at 30 fps,set it to 29.97 for ntsc capture or you will drop frames like crazy using anything less or more and people are here to help,just be more patient.

[daamon]

what is this forum for? if people cant have the curtesy to reply to my topic.. please help me..?

This forum is for people to post questions, news etc. for others to read and to VOLUNTARILY respond to - i.e. in their own time and because they want to.

Because someone has posted doesn't mean that the whole community must drop everything just to answer your question - especially when you've got the sum total of 5 posts and so have contributed very little, if anything, to the forum before demanding anything in return...

You'll find that it can take a few days before you get an answer. BE PATIENT. If, after that time, you can post in the thread asking if anyone has any ideas.

It also helps if you can demonstrate that you've tried to help yourself (by saying which guides you've read / threads you've searched etc.) rather than expecting people to wipe your arse for you.

Just some friendly advice if you want to get the best benefit from this great site... Attitude doesn't wash here.

Now, to try to help - have you read the "Sticky"'s at the top of the "Capturing" forum? There's one that may have some bearing...

[Ryann]

well i thankyou all for your replys.. what kind of program do u suggest for testing the speed of my HDD? im going to do a search now to see what i can find..

daamon.. i have posted my results from testing and have tryed hard to get this working im not familiar with the process hence my lack of information to you guys.. also do u suggest i post for a couple of months about nothing to get my posts up? how can i put forward anything worth while whilst not knowing most of it? im not trying to butt in and sound like an ass, just trying to deal with a annoying problem i cant solve.. sorry

[deckard8]

I think I read somewhere that Mainconcept Mpeg encoder's capture feature is better with usb devices.

[snafu099]

Hard drive speed test.

There are a number of free ones for download. Sorry I don't have links to post.

Two that I use.
raptest
HDtune

zdnet.com is one of the places I look for free stuff but there are many.

I offer this suggestion due to my early experience with a system that was supposed to have good hardware and proper settings. A mod on another forum finally emialed me the raptest program which showed my new 120g Maxtor hdd was only capable of 3.9 mb thruput. Puting the drive in a usb 1.1 case brought it up to 10-14mb range, usb2 to 45 mb range

Sorry I don't know enough tech stuff to understand/explain the whyfors, just that it was an issue that was not obvious just looking at specs of components

[Capmaster]

well i thankyou all for your replys.. what kind of program do u suggest for testing the speed of my HDD? im going to do a search now to see what i can find..

daamon.. i have posted my results from testing and have tryed hard to get this working im not familiar with the process hence my lack of information to you guys.. also do u suggest i post for a couple of months about nothing to get my posts up? how can i put forward anything worth while whilst not knowing most of it? im not trying to butt in and sound like an ass, just trying to deal with a annoying problem i cant solve.. sorry

Daamon wasn't suggesting you post for a while before asking for help. He was suggesting you not be so demanding. People will ignore you for that reason alone. And bumping your topic like you did without waiting for at least 1 or 2 days is a violation of the forum's AUP. Remember that this is a forum and not a chat room.

Relax and be a little more patient. You'll get your answers here. We have countless happy customers

[daamon]

@ Ryann - Capmaster summed it up just right - don't take it as a personal attack.

There's a good set of tools (as well as all sorts of other software) at www.download.com. One that I've used previously that will (should, from memory) measure your hard-drive speed is Sandra Standard from SiSoftware.

Have you tried a different approach - I know you've forked out for a fast USB adaptor, but how about trying to capture at least your footage from your camcorder (I'm assuming it's DV) via firewire? If you don't have a connection, cards are cheap and cables aren't too bad either.

I've captured many-a-time from my miniDV cam via firewire with no problems. Apps to use include WinDV, DVIO, AVI_IO. I use Adobe Premiere coz I use that to edit too.

If you do go the firewire route, look at the Canopus ADVC-50, 55 or 100 or the DataVideo DAC-100 - they all capture analog and convert to digital and pass to the PC via firewire. Maybe you can get a refund on the USB2 adaptor if firewire works for you...?

Of course, there's always capture cards for analog (firewire for digital) - and there's plenty of info / debate on that in these forums.

Good luck...

[Ryann]

daamon, its analog im trying to capture.. im thinking about just scraping the usb cable untill i buy a dv camera.. and use firewire to import it with that.. is there better ways to import to pc using DV cameras?

but i really want to get this running

[daamon]

Hi Ryann,

If it's analog your capturing, there's other ways to consider besides the USB route:

1. A decent capture card - I can't recommend one as I'm not into analog capture. There's been loads of threads on this - search for "VHS to DVD" and similar.

Also, check out lordsmurf's site: www.digitalfaq.com.

2. Look into one of ADVC-50 / 55 / 100 or a DataVideo DAC-100. They take analog in and pass firewire out to the PC.

3. There may be other ways that I'm not sure / aware of...

...buy a dv camera.. and use firewire to import it with that.. is there better ways to import to pc using DV cameras?

Not that I know of - firewire is it for DV cams at present, and is very reliable.

Good luck...

[ray808]

Dear Ryann,

Can I ask you whether the external card is the Belkin VideoBus II? I tried it and read that it can only capture up to ?VGA resolutions (352 x 288 dpi, 30 fps). However, I don't think it can capture at PAL resolution at the required 25 fps. I tried it and the video picture was very blocky, which I assumed was at 352 x 288 resolutions. I have since returned it. And I used it with my new laptop (P4, 3 Ghz, 60 Gig HDD, USB2 input) so it cannot be my hardware.

Hope this help.

[vhelp]

Hi Ryann,

I'm also curious if you got your capture issue working for you

I know how you feel - fustrated in all, so I do understand (ben there too)
I just hope you got everything sorted out.

I'm not USB-2 expert, but its suppose to be as fast (or faster) than firewire.
But, maybe your ubs-2 device is being bauged down due to a usb-1 i/o on
your motherboard.., it might be a usb 1.1 (not useb 2) ..and that might be
the cause of your frame drops. So, even though the device you bought may
be usb-2 your on-board's might be usb1 or something.
.
Hay, it could also be the tape that is causing the frame drops too

Well.., feel better, and I hope all is working out for ya pal.
If not, tomorrow's TGIF, and maybe you'll have better luck over the weekend
Post back here if you have additional questions.., many here don't mind
helping.

Cheers,
-vhelp