Dropping too many frames!!!

[Frisco]

Hi,

I have just started to learn how to capture video and I have been having problems.

My machine is a 500 Mhz, 256 MB Ram, Pentium III with a 10 GB 7200 RPM and a 60 GB 7200 RPM hard drive (the later is the one I will use for the avi's).

I tried using the new version of ATI Multimedia Center (7.1) with my ATI All-in-wonder 128 card, using those settings quoted in the applicable section of this webpage. I have been unable to capture more than 15 seconds before I start getting 20-50% dropped frames.

I decided to use Virtual Dub instead and I can record there with little to no dropped frames but only at 15 fps (the default setting). When I try to go any higher, I get the same dropout rate as with the ATI Multimedia Center.

Is my video card the culprit? Is my computer just too slow to get that higher fps? Are there some settings that I don't know about?

I would appreciate your help.

Thanks.

[bishop]

Try these tricks:
1. Be sure your disks are DMA-enabled (both in the BIOS and in windows- control panel)
2. Always defragment your HD.
3. Boot minimally (windows), meaning, no other apps are running in the background (e.g. antivirus). You can control start-up files in: Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools>System Information>Tools>System Configuration Utility>Start-up.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: bishop on 2001-08-18 13:23:58 ]</font>

[Frisco]

I defragged the HD as you suggested, and checked out the bios for the DMA enabling - it seems that both are set as "ultra DMA mode 2". I have minimal programs that load up in memory.

I tried again and still, it does do fine at 15 fps, but not any higher. At 15 it does not drop any frames, but when I try 29 it drops about 10 frames a second.

[Frisco]

Well,

I was able to get the VHS tape converted to AVI files. I also got it on to a VCD and it plays on my Standalone DVD player. I do have some further questions on the process, however...

1. While capturing the source VHS tape, it started out fine at 29,97 fps, but as the 75 min movie went along, it slowly was lowering, such that at the end of the movie, I was capturing at 29,40 (on average). I would guess this is due to a combination of my 500 Mhz processor and 7200 rpm 60 GB hard drive not being quick enough. Is such a drop a common thing, or is it unacceptable?

2. When I compare to the original VHS tape, the VCD is obviously a somewhat poor copy. Is this due to my not using SVCD? Can the original source be duplicated fairly closely just using VCD? I tried to make it easier by choosing audio at a quality under that of CD quality, but still the loss of quality was apparent.

[miklos]

I'm not that familiar with the ATI card except that it uses a software codec. My systems a shade faster than yours but I have a MatroxG400 and using Virtual Dub can capture full screen@25fps
(PAL) with 2-5 dropped frames over 4GB. So I guess its down to the effeciency of the the hardware codec.

Perhaps using a more effective software codec would improve matters. I'd like to know of one also as I can't re-compress VirtDub processed files with the Matrox MJPEG codec.

Miklos