Dropped frames - please help

[ranbir]

Hello,
I am a newbie to video capturing, and am having trouble getting excessive dropped frames for my home videos. Here are my specs

JVC DVL9500 digital Camcorder with DV/IEEE1394 output
Generic PCI Firewire card PCI bus speed ~33MHz (I think)
AMD K6-2/III/450 MHz, 256 MB RAM, 83 MHz bus speed, 4GB
Adobe Primiere with LSX-MPEG encoders in trial period

I want to be able to make SVCD encoded *.mpg files from my camcorder. But whenever I try to capture them, I get almost 75% of frames dropped in a 200 frame clip using Primiere. Also, I noticed that there is no real-time encoding - the avi files are just TOO big - 2.1 MB/sec. I was hoping to be able to encode them in real time so that I use only 0.2 MB/sec.

When I use VirtualDub, Wincoder or nanoMPEG, I get the message that the incoming video format is not compatible. My input files are in the *.dvsd format (never heard of it in this forum) and have a 720X480 frame size.

The best results (although really not acceptable) I get from Presto Video Works, a sofware that was shipped with the firewire card.

Please help.
Ranbir

[joeyelliot]

try to reduce the frame size in the capture settings of premiere. I doubt your processor is fast enough to handle 720X480 but maybe others using AMD K6 will tell you different.

[aldus4]

I think joeyelliot it correct. Try lowering your frame size. Another issue, which I noticed when capturing; have a nice freshly defragmented disk and always reboot before starting to capture.

[Riot_Inc]

Just to let you know, and AMD k-6 450mhz will work if my old 366mhz did a perfect job. except you said you have a 4gb hard drive, i have a 7200rpm 20GB on the 366mhz.
you can also do what the other fellows told you to do, but also, go to
http://www.sonicfoundry.com/download/step2.asp?DID=259
and download sonic foundry's video capture.(it's freeware)
that program doesn't take up too much memory, since it's just for capturing, and nothing else.
what i also did was, when i went to capture, i set my screen resolution to 640x480 (i know it's small, but it got the 366mhz to capture flawlessly.)then capture. try it and least and see what you come up with.

p.s i mentioned that program because it lets you work at a screen resolution that small, but it works
that's my advice

[Riot_Inc]

and by the way, make sure you do not have anything else running (except for explorer; you can check what progs are running by pressing ctrl+alt+del), no wallpaper on the desktop, turn off any screen savers, and run scan disk.
and also, i take it you have win98 or win98se?

if so, this page can help too
http://www.videoguys.com/speedtweaks.html

but if you don't know how to do something in that page, don't try it; good luck.

[bishop]

I am just wondering if you are "capturing" via the firewire. If so, you can not reduce the resolution since you will just be transferring diditized video.

Take the word of aldus4- defragment you disk an reboot (of course reboot with the minimum applications being loaded)- you will know this when only the volume control appears in your system tray. [Try to edit your startup files in Prog files>Accessories>SystemT ools>System Information].

Oops, and don't forget to enable DMA in your bios and in your system settings...

[bishop]

Sorry, clicked submit twice...

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: bishop on 2001-07-04 07:15:38 ]</font>

[bishop]

Ok, I must confess, I have a child beside me!!!


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: bishop on 2001-07-04 07:14:01 ]</font>

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: bishop on 2001-07-04 07:16:47 ]</font>

[Riot_Inc]

yeah, what bishop said too.

[ranbir]

Thank you very much folks! I'm amazed by the response here.
I will now try your suggestions:
- defrag before capture
- Stop ALL programs during capture
- Enable BIOS DMA access
- Improve cache settings (I think I already do that)
- I'll try to re-size frames during capture (but I don't think I can do that, from what I recall earlier).

Because of my small hard drive, I wanted to do real-time encoding by MPEG encoders. Has anyone done that with this kind/comparable of a processor?
Thanks again
Ranbir

[Riot_Inc]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
On 2001-07-04 07:11:40, bishop wrote:
Ok, I must confess, I have a child beside me!!!
</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>

yeah, sure

[ranbir]

Hello,
This is the original poster again.

Unfortunately, the capturing didn't work for me again - 75% of the frames are still dropped. I
- defrag'd the drive with all programs closed
- my drive is 4.1 GB (1.8GB free), 5400 rpm, WD
- I am using Adobe Primiere with LSX-MPEG decoders in trial period.

Here is some information I missed last time
- I'm using Windows ME - Most people here are using Win 98/2k. Is ME a problem?
- My video card is integrated with my (SiS5597/9 motherboard. The 4MB memory for the video card comes from the main memory onboard. So, out of the 256 MB RAM, 4 MB is used by the video card. The card is quite OK - I use 1024x768 resolution typically.
- I cannot change capture frame rate using Virtualdub or Primiere - it's fixed at 740X480.

The things I am going to try now are:
- Sonicfoundary by Riot_Inc
- Reduce my resolution to 640X480 during capture
- I guess real-time encoding into MPEG2 will overwhelm my K6-2/450 MHz (with 3DNow, i.e. MMX). But, I want to get the avi file capture working without dropped frames before I invest in a faster drive

Here are things I couldn't figure out
- Is DMA enabled only via BIOS? I couldn't find in my BIOS a setting for DMA.
- Someone suggested that setting an IRQ for the capture card specifically helps - how does one change that?

Ranbir

[CordeliaII]

this is more of a question than a suggestion.
I have premiere 6 but have not installed it on my new pc yet. If I remember correctly it is quite a large installation and this makes me think that it may use a lot of system resources which could hinder capture.

IRQ-

You should be able to reserve an IRQ in BIOS settings. Not sure of the whole process as I haven't done it for a while. I think it goes in the order of removing the card, reserving the irq, rebooting so all other devices get different IRQs, shutting down, installing the card, rebooting. It worked for me first time and only took 2 minutes. Thats why I don't remember much of what I did.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: CordeliaII on 2001-07-05 09:01:24 ]</font>

[bishop]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
On 2001-07-05 08:04:00, ranbir wrote:
...
- my drive is 4.1 GB (1.8GB free), 5400 rpm, WD
- I am using Adobe Primiere with LSX-MPEG decoders in trial period.
...
- I'm using Windows ME - Most people here are using Win 98/2k. Is ME a problem?

Here are things I couldn't figure out
- Is DMA enabled only via BIOS? I couldn't find in my BIOS a setting for DMA.
</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>

A 5400 rpm drive for video capture (with your OS sunning in it) is likely the culprit.

I am using Premiere 6/Win ME without trouble.

DMA has to be enabled both in the BIOS and in the System settings (Windows)...

[MovieFreak]

Yup - seems like a low RPM speed on your disk may be the culprit.

Make sure you have any Anti-Virus programs switched off too.

[zemsys]

I think you don't have to free up an IRQ, because it wouldn't cause much better capturing quallity.

I started with an ASUS V3800 Pro 32Mb AGP, 533Mhz Cel, 5400RPM 8,4 Gb, 128MB SDRAM,
First of all I got a lot of well known capturing and editting software (ie ulead videostudio, MGI videwave, Premiere 6, etc.)
Then I tried to capture videos from VHS recorder with them.
The result was terrible.

352*288 12 FPS!!! Avi file - with the DIVX codec

more than 50% dropped frames.

After that I changed to a very simple capturing soft which could use codecs and sound compressions,
this time the result was better:

352*288 22.351 FPS!!! DIVX
352*288 24.58 FPS firm codec

but there were often about 5 dropped frames in 100 frames.

finally I installed a new OS (win2K - more stable) without any drivers and software. Only the capture things.

I tried to capture The 6th day movie. Screen: 640*480 60Hz

and the result:

352*288 29.996 FPS, firm ware codec
1,95Gb + 1,95Gb + 0,504Gb Avi
670Mb + 655Mb Mpeg1 after converting it with the MGI videowave for a VCD-PAL.

You should buy a 20Gb HDD 7200RPM or a bigger SCSI if you have money
and maybe you should install a second, clean OS for capturing. Try other codecs which don't use the whole CPU during capture.

for realtime capturing you need a faster Workstation PC.

[Cart Wheel]

DV needs about 3.6 MB/sec. Make sure your hard drive can handle this. (You can use the benchmark in VirtualDub's AuxSetup to get an estimate of your hard drive's speed.) Making sure you have the latest drivers for your Fireward card and the DirectX DV updates from Microsoft is another good idea.
Also, try capturing with AVI_IO:
http://www.nct.ch/multimedia/avi_io/

-Cart
http://www.geocities.com/lukesvideo/index.html

[Lamont Cranston]

I suggest you install Mainconcept's dv codec if you are going to capture with AVI_IO so you will ahve an image in the preview window.