insufficient resolution

[jonnybignote]

Can anyone shed any light as to why my system (Celeron 566, 128mb, CyberAV Capture card) running VirtualDub won't capture 29.97fps at 640x480. I want to convert camcorder material to vcd. I was led to believe that my hardware was more than sufficient...thanks

[tacosalad]

Although there's not enough information to "diagnose" your specific problem (not yet anyway), I can "shed some light".

Without knowing any more detail, I can list some common causes:

1. Hard drives: your hard drive, though "fast", might not have DMA enabled, might not have the motherboard's DMA driver installed, or might not be set to a fast enough mode in the BIOS. (Hint: The "auto" setting doesn't choose the fastest.)

2. Capture hardware: I don't know what capture hardware you've got, but it just might not have the required interface bandwidth if it's a USB device. Likewise, many PCI (Bt8x capture boards cannot capture at high resolution with the video "overlay" enabled. (Hint: turn off "overlay".)

3. Audio hardware: Some common sound cards (like SB Live) compete for resources during captures, causing dropped frames at high resolution. (Hint: try a test capture without audio.)

4. Video codecs: You might be using a video codec (like MPEG4) that isn't suitable for real-time capturing at high resolutions. (Hint: try a different codec, or "uncompressed".)

This probably won't lead you directly to a diagnosis. Can you tell us what capture card you've got, what operating system you're using, and describe what actually happens? The phrase "won't capture 29.97fps at 640x480" doesn't distinguish whether it dropped frames, refused to start capturing, or gave a mysterious error message.

[jonnybignote]

Many thanks for the tips.

I thought that I did mention the capture card - its a CyberTainment CyberAV pci card with the bt879 chipset. My soundcard is a turtle beach montego II with direct sound drivers. I have dropped frames at 640x480 16bit and with the HUFFYUV codec with yuy2. probably averages out a 15fps. Win98se. Appretiate your help very much


On 2001-08-03 17:22:33, tacosalad wrote:
Although there's not enough information to "diagnose" your specific problem (not yet anyway), I can "shed some light".

Without knowing any more detail, I can list some common causes:

1. Hard drives: your hard drive, though "fast", might not have DMA enabled, might not have the motherboard's DMA driver installed, or might not be set to a fast enough mode in the BIOS. (Hint: The "auto" setting doesn't choose the fastest.)

2. Capture hardware: I don't know what capture hardware you've got, but it just might not have the required interface bandwidth if it's a USB device. Likewise, many PCI (Bt8x capture boards cannot capture at high resolution with the video "overlay" enabled. (Hint: turn off "overlay".)

3. Audio hardware: Some common sound cards (like SB Live) compete for resources during captures, causing dropped frames at high resolution. (Hint: try a test capture without audio.)

4. Video codecs: You might be using a video codec (like MPEG4) that isn't suitable for real-time capturing at high resolutions. (Hint: try a different codec, or "uncompressed".)

This probably won't lead you directly to a diagnosis. Can you tell us what capture card you've got, what operating system you're using, and describe what actually happens? The phrase "won't capture 29.97fps at 640x480" doesn't distinguish whether it dropped frames, refused to start capturing, or gave a mysterious error message.
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