Where to get VFW driver for DC10+?

[thai_tx]

Hi,
I have DC10+ card, it captures ok with Studio7. I want to capture AVI with Virtualdub but it says "No capture driver available". Some discussions in this forum say that I need a Video for Windows driver. Where do I get this driver for DC10+? I'm using Windows 2000, it's not in my Win2K CD.

[vhelp]

thai_tx, morning...

The DC10+ doesn't/won't/can't use the othe codec or what-have-ya other
than it's own (hardware assisted) MJPEG!! This card is strickly an MJPEG
card, not an AVI or real-time capture card. Just an MJPEG AVI capture
card!! I've ben this route w/ mine, when I use it long ago. I don't use it
anymore!!

As long as you capture the full, 640x480 and use 3000 as your bitrate,
you'll have good quality source. BUT, if your source is noisy or what-have-ya
you'll end up with whatever quality you're currently getting.
And, no, don't set capture to 320x240 unless you are planning to encode
to something like divX (a waist in my opinion) unless you plan to watch the
video on your PC monitor - but still, a waist.

Good luck.
-vhelp

[MaDmiZe]

I still use mine, but I capture very little...I agree with Vhelp...It only uses its own format....I have gotten it to work in virt dub, but the files were so huge that I saw it as counter productive...

[wumbus]

Thai_tx:

Here's a quickie breakdown of the situation:

Microsoft has two different (and incompatible) interfaces for programmers to write software for capturing video:

Video for Windows (VFW)
Directshow

The Video for Windows API is older and in use on all Windows operating systems up to Win98/Win98SE and relies on the older "VxD" driver model.

The Directshow API is Microsoft's newer interface and relies on the newer "Windows Driver Model" (WDM) hardware drivers... the benefit is that drivers are much more stable than VxD.

You're running Win2000 according to your post, so that means your system requires all installed hardware to have WDM drivers by default. When you installed S7, the install program detected Win2K and automatically installed the WDM version of the DC10plus drivers that relies on the DirectShow API.

Now here comes the bummer... VirtualDub was written for the Video for Windows API and is not compatible with the Directshow API. Consequently, your nice and stable WDM DC10plus drivers are incompatible with VirtualDub and that's why you're getting the error message. As an aside, it has nothing to do with codecs (MJPEG or otherwise).

Is there a solution? Well... I suppose it's possible for someone to use a VFW wrapper if such a thing exists, but I've never seen or heard of one, so I can't help much there. For the time being, the only solution I know about is to switch to a "Directshow" video capture program or reinstall Win98SE on your PC in order to use VFW. Some examples of DirectShow capture programs:

1. Studio 7 (Of course)
2. IuVCR http://www.iulabs.com/eng/index.shtml
3. VirtualVCR http://www.digtv.ws/index.php (heard good things about this one)

Good luck.

[thai_tx]

Thanks all for the advice, I guest I have to stick with what I have for now.

thai_tx

[rinkel]

thai_tx,
i would like to add that the DC10+ is (IMHO) one of the best analog capture cards available.
I also own a PCTVcard and friend of mine have different brands, but NOTHING (IMHO) can be compared with the results you can get with the DC10, except of course the more expensive cards. But all good thing come with a price.

If i produce a DVD recorded with the DC10, YOU CANNOT SEE THE DIFFERENCE with a life broadcast, it really is superb, NO ARTIFACTS AT ALL

The DC10 doesn't use it's own format, it just outputs a standard motion jpeg AVI.. which is compressed by hardware, realtime. That's always better than using a software codec realtime.

Ok it does have some drawbacks, it will cost you hours of time encoding to mpeg, but the result is better by far than a PCTV card.

So it's not running with other apps...
well, i tried IuVCR, i recognizes the card, but could not get it to work though, getting files of 128kb....

[wumbus]

Just to clear up the confusion about the DC10plus codec issue...

The DC10plus implements the "MJPEG" codec in hardware and as such, you can't capture directly into any other format (HUFFYUV, MPEG-1/2, DiVX, etc.) You can, of course, convert the MJPEG encoded AVI file into any other format *after* your initial capture. Pinnacle's MJPEG encoded AVI files are compatible with other MJPEG codecs like PICVIDEO, etc. This means you can playback your avi files on another machine that doesn't have a DC10plus installed as long as you've installed a software MJPEG codec.

[juggas]

Hi Thai_tx!

I was just wondering why you wanted to use Virtualdub to capture?

I have a DC10+ card too and I switched from the Studio (not ver 7) software included with the card to AVI_IO to be able to capture more than 70 minutes of video without having to stop and make another 70 minut capture and so on. Oh, by the way, I use Win98SE... umm dunno if this was to any help though...

/juggas

Bye.