Frustrated newbie

[AikiMike]

I have just bought a WinTV-PCI-FM (647) card to transfer some video to (S)VCD.

I am trying to capture using VirtualDub 1.4.10, and am having several problems testing from the TV source.

1. I can only seem to choose 352*288 format; anything else comes up as unsupported.

2. 15 secs of test capture is 379 frames captured; 151 frames dropped; 8% CPU and an "Average Frame Rate" of 25 fps???? The Capure | Settings is 15 frame rate.

How do I get other formats and how do I stop the frames being dropped.

Also, sometimes the sound just stops - I have to exit and re-enter the program.

Machine is 1.6GHz Athlon; 512MB Ram; Maxtor D740X 80GB 7200 rpm hard disk; SB Audigy audio. XP Home.

Thanks in advance,

Mike

[AHaxton]

Virtual Dub is only AVI.

Use PowerVCR (from the makers of PowerDVD). Its excellant!

[snowmoon]

1) turn on preview and turn off overlay. Then try higher resolutions.

2) Vide/ compression turn on some sort of vompression like MJPEG or huffyuv. Also check the CPU utilization to make sure it's not 100%.


Can't help with the audio.

[AikiMike]

1) turn on preview and turn off overlay. Then try higher resolutions.

Done.

2) Vide/ compression turn on some sort of vompression like MJPEG or huffyuv. Also check the CPU utilization to make sure it's not 100%.

Using huffyuv my CPU goes up to 30%. I still get 106 frames dropped and 266 frames captured in 11 secs of capture!

I still cannot seem to get any other formats eg 480*480 or 352*576.

Thanks for taking time to answer.

Mike

[Tommyknocker]

Try a different codec. If no luck, you may have to settle with a 320 x 240 resolution, and use an encoder to format it for VCDs.

[AikiMike]

Try a different codec.

Any suggestions? Where do I change the codec? in Compression? I have tried no compression and huffyuv. These do not appear to affect the format i.e. 320*240...

Confused.

Mike

[Tommyknocker]

Huffyuv is a codec. You also need to install Nimo Lite Codecs as well. You change the resolution under Video-->Format.

[AikiMike]

Huffyuv is a codec. You also need to install Nimo Lite Codecs as well. You change the resolution under Video-->Format.

So I choose Codecs under Video | Compression.

Trying to change resolution under Video | Format or Video | Set custom format results in "Error 418: Unsupported video format" with all the ones I have tested so far...

Do I junk this card and get something else?

Mike

[snowmoon]

If you are dropping frames and you CPU is not maxed then you probably are driving your HD too hard.

You must reduce your overall capture "rate" ( data/second ) you can do that by reducing the frame size or using a better compression scheme. I personally recommend some MJPEG codec.

[gll99]

XP uses wdm drivers. Virtualdub need vxd (vfw) virtual drivers. To make vdub work you are going through an interface wrapper (a translator more or less) provided by microsoft which is buggy, limited and slows down the process.

Why not switch capture app to a wdm friendly one. Look on the left at Other... tool... capture. Try freeware VirtualVCR and see if that improves your captures.

Enjoy!

[Fozzee]

Totally untrue. I don't use Virtual Dub as a rule because I prefer the ease of PowerVCR2 and get gr8 results.
But................... I use WDM drivers and can capture at full resolutions in Virtual Dub. It is not always the case that u have to change to vfw drivers.

Fozzee

[gll99]

Fozzee:

Sorry you either misread what I said or you do not understand Virtualdub.

Vdub must use vfw drivers but since you use wdm drivers you are also going through a vfw to wdm interface (vfw wrapper). You are just not obviously aware of it. Some wdm capture drivers and cards work well with the interface but some do not.

Please read before making untrue comments, contradicting and misleading the one I am trying to help.

Your statements will only confuse the issue.

If you want the specs on vdub then go their site and see for yourself.

It is a great app but was designed to use vfw (vxd) virtual drivers.

Depending on the capture card, AikiMike could also try tweaked wdm drivers which can be found on the left "tools". Some cards seem to work better with the wrapper. I don't know the chipset of your card so cannot know if tweaked drivers will work for you.

[Fozzee]

Put simply

I DO NOT HAVE ANY OTHER CAPTURE DRIVERS THAN WDM.

I was also trying to help. If you disagree feel free to voice your opinion and say if you think I am wrong . But don't slag someone off for trying to help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Fozzee

[gll99]

You are the one who jumped in and blanket contradicted me without proof or proper understanding and then persists in resisting the explanations supplied just for your sake in my second post.

You need to read what I said because you still don't comprehend why you can capture using Vdub with wdm drivers. I have explained it to you but you refuse to read it. So be it but don't confuse the user who is asking for help because you don't understand.

You say you were only trying to help but these are your comments:

Totally untrue

It is not always the case that u have to change to vfw drivers

=========================================
How does that help? What is untrue? "Totally"????

My goodness read the post man!!!!!

Where do I speak of him using vfw drivers? It's the vdub capture app that was designed for use with vfw virtual drivers.

If you looked at his profile you would see that the user has XP and can't use vfw drivers with that OS that is why he must use a wrapper just as you do but don't even know it. That's the only way that vdub can be used with wdm drivers. PERIOD!!!!!!!!!!!

That is very often a cause of problems and he needs to try another capture app or try other wdm drivers suitable with his card to see if that helps.

Now don't go do something drastic to yourself over this cause I would feel badly about it.

You are not the first nor the last (present company included) who has misread or misinterpreted information and then had to apologise or bow out gracefully.

Ask questions if you don't understand someones answer don't just dismiss it outright and jump to your keyboard so you can get a comment in.

I sincerely hope that things are clear to you now and that it has not hindered AikiMike who seemed to badly need some help.

[kitty]

Let's not get this thread too personal please

[gll99]

Thanks Kitty.

It pleases me to offer these facts only for the originator of the thread, AikiMike.

From the Virtualdub site:

VirtualDub says I don't have a capture device, but I know I have one.
VirtualDub needs a Video for Windows capture driver to capture. Most Firewire (DV) devices do not provide a VFW driver, and thus cannot be used by VirtualDub at all. Also, ATI appears to be shipping their current devices with a WDM (Windows Driver Model) driver only; this can be used indirectly by VirtualDub through a Microsoft wrapper, but it is crippled in functionality and it also appears that the wrapper is buggy.

The wrapper will show up as "Microsoft WDM Image Capture (Win32)." If it works for you, great.

http://www.virtualdub.org/docs_capture

This may or may not apply to your situation but I hope it helps.

[Poplar]

Hey, chill off, guys

@Mike: I have the same capture card and have been capturing with 1/2 D1 or 2/3 D1 with minimal frame loss. And my machine is a P-III 500 and runs under Win98. I am using VDub or AVI_IO. Maybe you should try another program.

[gll99]

Poplar:

With win98se you can run either vfw drivers or wdm drivers although not both at once but there is no wrapper available for win98se.

The fact that you run avi-io and vdub, 2 apps both designed to use vfw drivers makes your situation different. Both those apps run very well with with win98se and vfw drivers which is what you are using. I used to capture with a K6 233 and dropped very few frames once I learned a few tricks and used YUY2 mode.

Caution if you ever switch to wdm drivers you would not be able to use either of these 2 apps for capture with win98se but then you could use others like powervcr II, virtualvcr, amcap,windvr,winvdr...etc some free and some shareware. These applications do not work with vfw drivers because they are directshow apps which access the capabilities of the newer wdm drivers.

Unfortunately for AikiMike he runs XP and the only way to use virtualdub is through this wrapper interface which slows down and limits his caps.

My knowledge stems from the fact that a few years ago I designed my own capture app in Visual Basic based on Microsofts sample vidcap (originally in C) using the vxd (vfw) driver architecture. The basic capture portion of Vdub was developped using the same samples and was subsequently rewritten to overcome limitations in vidcap. However it was never redesigned to use Directshow filters and wdm drivers.
From what I understand the author has no intention of doing so at this time.

[Donovan]

Hi guys, really stupid question - what's D1? I've seen references to full D1, 1/2 D1 etc. but how does this relate to the resolution or MPGE etc.

[snowmoon]

NTSC ( pal people can extrapolate )

D1 = 720x480
Half D1 = 352x480
3/4 D1 = 480x480

D1 is consitered the limit of standard definition TV signals/receivers. There are things like D9 ( I think that 's it ) for stuff like HDTV 1920x1080.

[Donovan]

Thanks Snowmoon - Clears up some of the forums I've been reading.

[AikiMike]

Well things have progressed.

I uninstalled and re-installed, not adding the WinXP update on the Hauppage site and had a system that could capture other resolutions - unfortunately it took me back to my C programming days: Edit, Compile, Run, Reboot...

I installed the SouurceForge drivers after reading some other posts here, and all my applications stopped working.

Uninstalled, ran the "Remove other drivers", deleted drivers from device manager and reinstalled. I now have a system that reboots whenever I run any of the Hauppage apps.

I take it I am back to reinstalling the OS? If so I will have to wait until I have a couple of days spare...

Any recommendations short of throwing the thing out of the window?

Mike