Capture (recording) Causing Lockups

[reubenray]

Yesterday I was finally able to make some recordings from my captures. I have been unable to make any recordings today because the captures are locking up my computer. I tried AMCAP (Xcapture), VitualDub and SVCDCorder. It did not make any difference if I did a manual or scheduled timing.

Any ideas what is wrong?

[reubenray]

Bttt

Any ideas out there?????????????

[Nelson37]

Idea #1 - fill out your computer profile so that at least some info is available for those who may wish to help.

Idea #2 - define what you mean by "making recordings from my captures" - this statement means absolutely nothing.

Idea #3 - more fully explain what happens when your PC "locks up", including any error messages, task manager list, controlls available, etc.

I want to make a ham sandwich and have not been able to. Can you tell me why? Maybe my arms are broken, maybe I don't have any ham, maybe I like them on wheat bread and only have rye. Without some additional information, you can't help me, can you?

[reubenray]

OK

I have an AMD 2000 1.7 with an A7N8X Deluxe MB. I have the Xcapture card and I am able to do the captures (watching video on my TV) with no problem. I am trying to record this capture to hard drive to play back later (similiar to a VCR). It will work fine for a few sessions (I am tweaking the audio) and then with no rhyme or reason it will lock up just at the point where the recording of the capture is stopped. I have been doing the recordings from 1 minute to 5 minutes and have doing manual and scheduled recordings. None of this makes any difference. I have tried AMCAP, VitualVCR, VitualDub and SVCDcorder and they all lock up.

At this point I cannot exit out of the capture program. It comes up with the note (program not responding with the end task option) which does not work. I cannot exit or start anything unless I do a hard reboot (pushing the power button until it turns off). I then have to restart and reinstall my wireless keyboard and mouse (it uninstalls for some reason, but this is no problem).

Let me know if you need any more info.

[reubenray]

Bump

Anything anyone??????????

[Nelson37]

Ok, first, some terminology - watching TV on the PC is not CAPTURING, this only happens when the video is saved to the hard drive, THAT is capturing.

Understanding this is important to your problem, and here is why. Most progs when starting a cap use a temporary file, at the end of cap this file is rewritten somewhere else. Freezing at this point would indicate some sort of HD throughput problem.

However, SFAIK Vdub does not do this. Among the programs you mentioned, you have options to cap AVI with several codecs, also MPEG-2 and MPEG-1. Captured file size could vary between less than 100 MB per minute and over 1000 MB per minute.

Try varying the codec and capture method so as to dramatically shrink file size, if you are using AVI (don't know) at 720x480 (don't know) without any compression (don't know), on an OS with a 4 gig file limit (don't know, are you seeing a pattern here?); you could try AVI with Huffy at 352x240, also try a low bitrate Mpeg-1 or 2. Achieving quality is not the goal here, it is reducing filesize to verify whether that may be the problem.
This also reduces CPU load and other factors, you may have a corrupt or incompatible codec.

Have you defragged your HD? Run capture to a secondary drive? DMA on? Scanned your HD for bad spots? Eliminated ALL repeat ALL other running software? Tried leaving the wireless KB and mouse uninstalled and using a conventional one? The repeated uninstalls may indicate a conflict, or just a secondary effect of the real problem. Scan and fix registry? Install latest videocard drivers? Have you used the software, if any, that came with the card?

Have you checked through the numerous and excellent suggestions in the various capture guides posted here?