To All People Who Capture in PAL

[cliffo]

Just started capturing at 720x576 and i'm getting major flickering in my captures when there is fast horizontal or vertical movement. I have tried different deinterlacing methods using virtualdub but i can't get rid of this flickering. No problems capturing at 352x288 so i guess it must have something to do with capturing both fields???

I'm running a 1.3 GHz Celeron, 512 MB Ram, 7200 rpm HDD, VIA chipset (is this the problem??) and am capturing with AVI_IO. I'm not getting any frame drops at all and apart from the flickering effect the quality is great. If anyone can help me out with their capture methods it would be greatly appreciated.

cheers,

cliffo

[Satanico Pandemonium]

I'm not sure what flickering is...but if it's the same effect like shown on the picture, then i think it's just the way it should be when capturing 720x576.
Anyway, when encoding with TMPGenc, sett under Advanced tab - Interlace/Bottom field first....or if you use CCE, under Other settings/Video, uncheck "Upper field first" option. It comes out without this effect.

Hope that myght help!

[cliffo]

no unfortunately thats not the problem. its like when theres movement there is a brief instance where you can see horizontal lines flashing where the movement is. this happens even after deinterlacing. it's very distracting to watch. thanks anyway for the input.

i've tried, different deinterlacers (smart deinterlace, standard virtual dub), de-bobing filters so i'm at a loss as to where to go from here. guess i'll just keep trying things and see what happens.

cheers,

cliffo

[trashbin]

This new topic is great because I've found this to be a real problem and have been searching hi and lo for answers.

Granted I'm new to all this - but it seems such a serious quality issue that I'm surprised to have found no answers - yet.

I've found it to be the case when capturing direct from VCR to Mpeg2 via NeoDVD4+ and also when converting AVI files to MPEG2 using Studio 7.

These products are meant to 'do the job' for the 'layman' - I'm extremely dissapointed to say the least. The rest of the captures look fantastic and burn to DVD no problem - its just when there is movement it goes to shit. If anyone can offer advice I'm all ears.

with thanks....mordwid

[Satanico Pandemonium]

OK, my English is not the best, but as far as I can understand, you're having the same problem that I had couple of months ago.
Look closer to the pic and you'll see those strange horizontal lines all over it. That was captured with AVI_IO at 720x576 using PICvideo codec(but it makes no difference as far as i know)...and here we go:
Captured HI-RES video looks always very shity on my PC, even after conversion...but using above settings, it plays/looks perfectly on my stand-alone player.
I think i saw few days ago one topic here which explains why is it like that...but i can't find it anymore.

[cliffo]

Ok... i've uploaded a small sample (500KB) of the problem. it was encoded with the latest Divx codec (5.0.3) at 500 kbps. the link is:

http://www.users.bigpond.net.au/cliffo/sample.avi

notice the flickering around the hand as it moves up and down (no its not what it sounds like - he's playing guitar ).

any ideas people??

cheers,

cliffo

[Satanico Pandemonium]

Oh...i know now what flickering is
Sorry, but i can't help you with this one.
Btw...i don't see any movement in the video.

[cliffo]

really? no movement? Mmmm... maybe its just my system in general. well i have been meaning to upgrade for a while so i guess thats a good excuse to. I have read that VIA chipsets aren't that great for video capture... well the chipset in my motherboard anyway (Apollo Pro 133T).

can anyone else see the flickering i'm talking about in the sample?

cheers,

cliffo[/quote]

[bunyip]

I couldn't get any movement in your video either, but I was running DIVX 5.0.1, so I downloaded 5.0.3 and it plays OK ( seems DIVX is not backward compatible).

I couldn't detected any flickering - just the usual motion-blur.

[cliffo]

I couldn't detected any flickering - just the usual motion-blur

maybe that's what i'm seeing. anything i can do to lessen the blurring? .... maybe if i squint while i watch my captures... hehe

cliffo

[Fozzee]

I have a similar problem with my captures using a VIA board.
I never got this problem with my SIS mobo.
When capturing Mpeg2 720 x 576 i get a horizontal flicker.
With certain soundcards I don't get it, but i get crackley sound.
with my present card an AUDIGY PLAYER I get perfect sound but problems with the video.
Although at every other resolution including 640 x 480 it's perfect.
I was hoping a new processor would sort it as capturing 720 x 576 with my 1700+ CPU is using high CPU. So I am hoping a better CPU will solve the problem.

Fozz

[Fozzee]

Even though I'm not happy with my digital cable picture at the moment.....
This is not the problem. I also get it when I capture from my analogue camcorder.
I think it's time to change motherboards. Been saying it for a while.

Fozzee

[Betamax]

The "flickering" you're talking about actually is not what you claim!
It actual is INTERLACED fields.

Try to capture in Interlaced (even if you're creating VCD).
Then do any de-interlacing when you're going to encode the video to MPeG (or something else), but if your intension is to build a SVCD or DVD after all then leave it Interlaced (just be sure of the kind of Interlaced : you have 2types which are "Field-A first (odd)" or "Field-B first (even)".

Interlaced video don't look 'right' at a computer, but while the TV is interlaced your video will look great when you're playing it at a Standalone-DVD player!!

Interlaced are commonly used at capture-devices which can produce high-quality (like DV-capture devices).

[Fozzee]

Betamax....

I don't know which post your comment is aimed at but..........

If my flickering is called by interlacing then why is it still there on my VCD?? I capture interlaced and leave it interlaced.

With all the same components and my old mobo I could capture at 720 x 576 with no flicker whatsoever.
And this flicker does not appear in any of my captures at other resolutions.
I am guessing at one of 3 things...

1) Via Chipset!!

2) PSU not handling it.

3) Processor not powerful enuff with this board.

Fozzee

[lpn1160]

I've watched the clip, and think it looks great. if you see flickering then re-check the system your're viewing it on.
also remember that to have a little softness is a good thing as high qual sharp images don't compress well in a VCD (MPEG1) format

[cliffo]

Hi people,

Update time.... the flickering I was seeing - I'm laying the blame totally at the VIA chipset. I bought a new motherboard with an Intel 815 chipset and now there is no flickering in my captures (even with the caps i previously did with the VIA based motherboard)

Ahhh... it's good to be flicker free

cheers,

cliffo

[dilligaf]

I have seen the flickering effect before when I was encoding a capture to dvd mpeg2 with tmpgenc. The way I got around it was to change the field order from B to A, hope that helps.

[cliffo]

I tried changing the field order but it still didn't help. all is sweet now i have changed to a new intel-based motherboard.

cliffo