Capturing at 320 x 480 (seems so simple but....)

[SteveBia]

OK. I'm still on the quest to make a decent quality VCD. I can capture my video at 320x 240 no problem, I edit it in Adobe 6.0, comple nand create a VCD with...hmmm...can't remember the name now...but I bought it.

Anyway, the sound is fantastic and all but the image is a little blocky. It isn't the end of the world but if I could just improve the quality a little bit I'll be totally happy. Now, I know that I have to capture at 320 x 480 due to the nature of analog viddeo. Here begins the nightmare.

The software that comes with my capture card (aver tv) supports 320x 240, 352 x 240, 640 x 480 and 720 x ? whatever the DVD resolutoin is. It will not allow me to select any others. So OK...I figure I'll get Virtualdub zand use that.
Nope. I can't get around the driver issue as I have Win98SE and don't have ae wrappers or whatever.
So then I try Virtual VCR and nope. It can't find some sort of fliter or something.
So then I try the software I use to burn. NOp;e, can't initialze the card.
I'm about to give up and just buy a new comtuer, a digital camera, and a dvd burner and forget the whole VCD thing.
I sat in front of my computer last night for a good five minutes just laughing 'cause it seems that EVERY attempt has something wrong.
Anyway, if anyone has any suggestions I would GREATLY appreciate it.

Just want to capture at 320 x 480. That's it. Seems SO simple!
Thanks all.

-S

[snowmoon]

Have you tried in Vdub to select Custom Format?

It should be inthe video menu when capturing.

[SteveBia]

I can't do anything 'cause I don't have thecorrect drivers for Vdub. Something about the .vdm drivers, and needinga wrapper, etc...

It seems to be a common problem for a lot of people when they are dealing with Virtualdub. That's why I moved on to Virtual VCR...
-S

[Irondude]

I don't know if it make a difference or not but standard
VCD res is 352x240. Capture at 352x480 to get both fields
then deinterlace, resize to cut down some jerkyness.

[SteveBia]

Absolutely.

That's what I'm trying to solve.

I just can't capture at the 320 x 480 resolution.

[drdy111956]

Have you tried going into Control Panel -> System -> Hardware -> Sound, Video controllers . Select the controller for your cap card. Look for a "properties " or settings button. Check to see if you can release "keep ratio" or something like this , which then might allow you to select a wider variety of resolutions in your cap software.

[labrat99]

SteveBia,

I'm using an Aver card ( Aver Stereo ) to cap 320x480 using VirtualDub. See the capture card comments section for Aver Studio for some tips on how to install the VFW drivers that you need to get VirtualDub to work.

If you have questions, I'll be glad to help. Good Luck!

BTW - I fall into the "V-Dub is the greatest thing since sliced bread" camp!

Labrat99

[gll99]

Wrappers don't work with win98se.

As was said if you must use Vdub then go to the avermedia site and get the VFW drivers for win98 made for your card and do a "custom capture" in "preview" mode. Overlay will still not work with large framesize (res). Its a feature (limitation of the avermedia card/driver).

If you have used any other apps that use wdm drivers you will notice that they no longer function after you install the vfw drivers. With win98se that is normal its all or nothing.

[Nelson37]

Yhe MINIMUM horizontal res you should use is 352, NOT 320. 352x240 should be superior to 320x240, and is VCD standard. 352x480 or 720x480 would be best, or the ideal of a cropped 672x448, which avoids capturing the overscan area.

The VFW-WDM wrapper, at least for my AIW 128, DOES work under Win98SE. Not sure for your card, however.

[gll99]

Nelson37:

I am glad you posted. You are the first person who has stated that he can use both VFW and WDM designed apps with a wrapper and win98se.

Would you mind listing the capture apps that you have used and tested.
It's important not to guess.

This may be useful for SteveBia and many other users with win98se.

Thanks.

[Nelson37]

Well its been a while, as I upgraded to XP pro, but I know I could use both Vdub and MMC 7.2, Vdub required the wrapper, after installing both apps still worked. I know I used a few other capturing apps but can't recall for sure, Vdub seemed to be the best. I still use it on XP, but primarily cap with MMC 7.6.

Previous OS was definitely Win98SE, card was (and still is) AIW 128 - I have both the 16MB and 32MB versions, no real difference for capturing.

[vhelp]

gll99,

I can't see why you can't capture (w/ any cap card) under windows 98se for.
I'll assume you mean you can't use your current?? card w/ VFW drivers in
this OS??

If the above is the case, then they R ways around this, even for your OS.
You're just not thinking hard enough or shall I say, not clever enough.

I use Windows 98 (not SE) on both my PCs and have both VFW and WDM
capture abilities. However, I don't have WDM on my 2nd pc (as I don't
really need it) for the time being since I have the WTVGO card and the
DC10+ card on THAT pc, and am ever-so please w/ the results I get from
both those cards. course, I'm also using a TBC and SIMA SED devices to
help inrich my captures, he, he...

Again, my setup goes like this:
1st pc, ATW (pci vfw) and ATIRFP (agp wdm)
* when i use the atw, i'm capping w/ vfw
* when i use my atirfp, i'm using the wdm
* note, currently, i'm using my atirfp w/ modified vfw driver to work
.. as a vfw capture, at 720x480 (but, i can't seem to remember my exact
.. steps - went into the reg file and did some dorect screwing around some
.. and als modified some *.drv files. But, for some reason, I can't
.. capture w/ PREVIEW. Only in OVERLAY - weird, but works.
2nd pc, DC10+ (hw mjpeg) and WTVGO (vfw)
* I've done some successful screwing around also with WDM vs. VFW and
.. WDM to VFW, but I'm perfectly happy w/ the arrangements w/ my current
.. system setup.

So, basically, what I'm saying is, if you want something to work real
bad, you gotta do some messing around, or get a better (supportive) capture
card for your OS.

Well, Later.
-vhelp

[gll99]

vhelp:

I think you misunderstood my question to Nelson37.

I only have one capture card on my main PC which uses win98se and I don't want to add a second capture card because I don't want to split the signal. The digital input signal is already split too many ways.

I have other computers but those are for family use, testing XP, etc... and those are fine.

On my main computer with win98se, I can capture with any app designed to use vfw drivers when I load those drivers for my card.

I can also run any directshow app that is designed for use with WDM drivers when I load the wdm drivers for my card.

Anyone with the right card/driver set who runs win2000 or XP and uses capture programs like vdub that were designed for vfw drivers can still use vdub by using a special wrapper interface (dll and drv) which was originally designed for NT.

When NT Beta testers complained to Microsoft that they couldn't use any vfw apps Microsoft developped a quick and dirty wrapper which unfortunately is buggy, limited and doesn't work with win98se.

I prefer to run my system with win98se and wdm drivers so lose any app designed to use vfw drivers (i could revert to vfw but don't want to).

My message to Nelson37 was in the hope that someone else had designed a vfw-to-wdm wrapper compatible with win98se. I know Microsoft hasn't.

I appreciate your taking the time to post all your setup.

8) 8) 8)

[kitty]

Check this site to see if you're card is supported. It allows for lots of settings on Win98 vfw captures.

http://btwincap.sourceforge.net/

[gll99]

Thanks for trying to help Kitty:

That site is a good one but it's for "wdm" drivers only not vfw and I originally posted it on this Board.

I have the same Avermedia TV card as the originator of this thread SteveBia and am trying to help him understand why he is having certain problems. Another user posted an answer concerning a wdm to vfw wrapper which he stated works with win98se but according to all my research should only work with win2000 and winXP. That got my attention but I fear its a cold lead since the user is now using XP and doesn't recall the details when he used win98se. Can't say I blame him. Who wants to look back when you change OS. I thought the info might have helped SteveBia, me and other users with the same limitation. I say limitation because its more that than a real problem.