Problem with MPEG2 Capture on ATI 8500DV

[LanEvo7]

I have an aiw 8500dv and for some reason whenever I do MPEG2 direct captures i have a lot of problems. I've used ATI TV, Power dvd recorder and win dvd recorder and it all has the same effect. ATI says my dropped frames are <1% and the rest don't report any errors. But the stuff I capture looks like it skips a frame frequently. Not sure how to fix it. When I capture with MJPEG it doesn't happen.

System specs are:
Athlon 1700+
Maxtor 80gig hd with 8mb buffer, DMA enabled
ATI 8500DV
Sony VCR, 19 Micron Heads


Any ideas?

[lordsmurf]

Do you think it's source or the computer?

If source, try a TBC. The SIMA SED-CM is good for dropped frames normally. More powerful ones if you got the money.

If computer, troubleshoot for frame drops.

And on that DV card, disable the hardware on the "DV" port.

[LanEvo7]

I'm not actually sure what it is because when I capture using MJPEG, this effect doesn't happen. The source is pretty clean, when I use Virtual Dub to capture I usually drop less than 20 frames in abou 45min - 1 hour video, which is less than 1%. This "skipping" problem only happens when I capture with MPEG2 and MPEG4. I thought it might be the systems fault, but then my system specs are way more than enough to capture at half d1 using MPEG2.

[LanEvo7]

I just checked it out again. For MPEG4, if I use DIVX, frames drop like crazy, if I use XVID its normal. Strange...

[racerxnet]

Make sure you disable all background programs. Disable write behind cashe and system restore. Virtual memory should be 2X your physical ram. Enable DMA ( normally is). Set your PC as a network server. Defrag the hard drive before capture. Make sure your not overclocked on the memory timings for your RAM in the bios. From your above post it sounds like a software compatability issue with the card and capture settings.

These things help me to insure the best scenario for capturing with my 8500DV. Hope it helps you.