Graphics card question

[eclipse95]

Just have a quick question on the graphics card (not the capture card) in connection with capturing. How much difference (if any) does it make? I am capturing DV from good quality Hi-8 analog sources using WinDV with a Canopus ADVC-110, with the ultimate goal of encoding to MPEG-2 and burning to DVD (although I do plan to preserve the original DV files as backup). My system has a P4 2.54 GHz processor, 1 GB RAM, and an Nvidia FX 5500 graphics card (AGP 4x) with 256 MB memory. During capture, I set the color to 16 bit and the resolution to 1024x768 (as opposed to the native 1280x1024), and follow the other suggestions in the sticky in this forum regarding preventing dropped frames. I notice some occasional jerkiness in the video in both capture and playback, which occurs at apparently random points (although all involve motion) and am wondering if this is simply the video card not being able to keep up. WinDV reports no dropped frames. Is the graphics card up to the task of video capture and editing? I have not been able to find anything on this question, or whether the card even matters at all. If the card is too weak, any suggestions as to one that is up to the task? I am limited to AGP 4x, and I do no gaming whatsoever, so I would want to limit any card upgrade to that which will provide sufficient resources for capture and editing. (The AGP 4X limitation also obviously restricts options in that regard as well.) Thanks.

[redwudz]

Your video card is only for display. Nothing to do with capture, or transfer of DV.

During capture, I set the color to 16 bit and the resolution to 1024x768 (as opposed to the native 1280x1024)....

That confuses me a bit. If you are transferring DV, it only has the 720 X 480 resolution. Are you converting the DV 'on the fly' to a different resolution?

But I wouldn't worry about your AGP card and captures.

[julitomg]

Quote:
During capture, I set the color to 16 bit and the resolution to 1024x768 (as opposed to the native 1280x1024)....

That confuses me a bit. If you are transferring DV, it only has the 720 X 480 resolution. Are you converting the DV 'on the fly' to a different resolution?

I think he means his computer´s screen display size. The canopus ADVC110 captures to DV specs only, doesn´t it?
and no, it doesn´t affect the capture/edit process or the quality of the video itself. The jerkiness must be because of something else (several factors to check)

[jagabo]

Capturing DV via Firewire is merely a digital data transfer. The graphics card is only used to show you the video as it is being received. Some capture programs don't even show you the picture. Unless there is something severely wrong with your setup, or you are using a very old computer, (ie, the display of the video is screwing up the transfer) the graphics card performance doesn't matter.

[eclipse95]

Thanks for the quick responses. Yes, the 1024x768 reference related to display resolution, and the ADVC-110 captures to DV. What are the factors to check regarding jerkiness in the display on my monitor? I did convert to MPEG-2 a sample of a file where the stutter was occurring, then authored it and burned it to a DVD-RW. The playback in a conventional DVD player was flawless.

[jagabo]

Your system shouldn't have any problems capturing or playing DV. Open one of your DV AVI files with VirtualDub. Step through it frame by frame. Does it appear jerky?

[edDV]

Thanks for the quick responses. Yes, the 1024x768 reference related to display resolution, and the ADVC-110 captures to DV. What are the factors to check regarding jerkiness in the display on my monitor? I did convert to MPEG-2 a sample of a file where the stutter was occurring, then authored it and burned it to a DVD-RW. The playback in a conventional DVD player was flawless.

Explain how you are capturing from the ADVC. I recommend you try WinDV. It uses low resources and gives a downres preview display to keep CPU load low.

A DV stream transfer itself uses very little resource. Monitoring the capture does load a slow system. A program called DVIO transfers without preview.


PS: I see you are using WinDV. What is jerking? The WinDV window?
Does WinDV report lost frames?

[eclipse95]

Both the WinDV window (when capturing) and playback of the captured video (in, e.g., Windows Media Player) show jerkiness (in different spots on the video), and WINDV reports zero dropped frames.

[jagabo]

What kind of jerkiness? Did you try opening the video in an editor and stepping through frame-by-frame? Post a short sample.

[edDV]

Try playing with VLC.
Use Video->Deinterlace->Linear for playback.