virtual dub and Hauppauge wintv card

[morr1s]

I am trying to capture with virtual dub using my wintv card. It will only do 320x240 captures. If I go right thru the wintv card I can do anysize. I wanted to see if virtual dub would fix an audio sync problem. It is wintv 401 card.

[dinkob]

Most likely it's that WDM driver issue and VirtualDub incompatibility.

Now that I checked your product on hauppage web site I think we have the same card.

If you are using XP good luck - most likely you will have to go with btwincap drivers or try VirtualVCR. If you are using Win2k though there is Definitely Hope.

Before we go on we gotta make sure you have BT 878 chip (pls check this)

VirtualDub.... and Win2k or WinXP

Well I am not sure if drivers would work but I would definitely try that first. We need to change your drivers to VFW ones as those are compatible with VirtualDub.

Look for a VFW drivers for Win2000 on Hauppage website. The filename you are looking for is w2kdrv311.exe (I think it's still the same as it was in 2001), haven't found updated ones yet. As for WinTV 2000 application I think any will do (I have these files backed up and lot's of other versions for Win98).

(the files will probably be under WinTV GO)

here I found it under Windows NT updates.

http://hauppauge.lightpath.net/software/wintvnt/w2kdrv311.exe

Once the installation is finished we need to get VirtualDub Sync VCR (modified version of VirtualDub).

If my card and your card is the same then it will probably behave the same.

Now I am sure you're familiar with VirtualDub VCR setup so let's say you opt for 352x480 with YUY2 format, capture some file like that (or YVU9) and get it over 40 mins or so.

Test the sound / video sync in media player and VirtualDub.

IF VirtualDub is OK and WMP not then save the WAV file SEPARATELY from your captured file.

Then if you want to go to mpeg load these files individually in your encoder program and all should be well from there.

hope that helps.

I like this card but you just can't avoid dropped frames when capturing in VirtualDub (5 frames per 40 mins for example). Still though it is much more trustworthy then my Pinnacle PCTV Pro.

As for other options outside of VirtualDub.

VirtualVCR > haven't tried this but this one I think works with WDM.

VirtualDub and btwincap drivers > Tried this many times and couldn't get it to work.

As another option there is nanoDVR from hauppage web site that can do capture to mpeg-1 (not VCD standard if NTSC). This choice however doesn't work with WDM drivers.

Hope that helps.

[morr1s]

Thank you for your help. I would have never figured out the driver for my card needed to be changed. It worked great. Virtual VCR sync fixed my audio sync issues and the new driver allowed me to capture at full resolution.

[dinkob]

(lol) been there through all that mess,

"Never update a driver until you really must *)"

One more thing.

I am not sure if you are getting or will be getting dropped frames, but it may happen that on some captures there will be one dropped frame in 30 mins. For example your file is interlaced with full vertical resolution (both fields) at 352x480. My Max Capture size/rate with YUY2 is 480x480 (barely makes it), maybe your computer can go higher, but for me 352x480 is optimum, that's why I am using this size as an example.

When encoding this file to interlaced mpeg-2 for DVD it may happen that when you play it back on DVD player, the DVD player will screw up the field order AT THAT Drop-frame POINT (been there at least 10 times). I had a recent discussion in Advanced Conversion.

I haven't found a way to fix this on the capture side, but later on one can probably crop the AVI at that point and set the opposite field order with the newly cropped second avi file.

Or just save both mpegs, one with upper field, other with bottom field.

(on a side note - I really have to give it to VirtualVCR though, that thing won't drop a frame with my Pinnacle WDM drivers - but it screws up the audio clock badly, still it's good for capturing video though).

take care,

dink

[morr1s]

It sounds like I might have another issue to deal with soon (DVD playback with dropped frames)
I did drop a few frames when capturing, but I think it had to do with some bad sections in the original VHS (original is very poor quality). I haven't got to the DVD playback yet because I did some cropping and other adjustments in Premiere and I got an 11 hour rendering time. That's with a P4 3.2 ghz machine. Sure glad I upgraded.
I really like the Virtual Dub sync program. I found this great guide for setup with a google search. http://arstechnica.com/guides/tweaks/vidcap.ars

Thanks again for all your help.