2 questions

[Dwight]

Would I decrease my chance of dropping frames in capture if I purchased let's say a better graphics adapter (I have an integrated 8mb Intel chip) ?

What's the best method / program / Plug-in for filtering noise from video ?

[fmctm1sw]

Not sure, but make certain you CAN disable the integrated graphics. I have a computer that can't.

[2fives]

I would say before that invest in a dedicated HDD, fast memory and fast CPU will make all the difference.

[rkr1958]

I see in your profile that you only have 128 MB of RAM. RAM's cheap ... if it were me I'd the first thing I'd do would be to upgrade my RAM to 256 MB.

I'm not sure about going to 512 MB with Windows ME. I do know that W98SE only makes use of up to 256 MB so I recently upgraded to Win2k Pro in part to take full advantage of the 512 MB of RAM that I had and to make use of NTFS instead of FAT32 to allow me to have files greater than 4 GB.

[DJRumpy]

Dropped frames are usually caused by CPU, Hard Drive, or System Resources (memory).

If your dropping frames, and you don't want to invest in a faster CPU, Drive subsystem, or memory, then consider simply reducing the resolution that your capturing at. If that is not an option, then read on...

If one of these three systems is seriosly challenged by capturing, then the other two are not likely to benefit very much from an upgrade. It depends on your system specs. You should at least be current (or close to it) for your processor. Pentium III (or equivelent) or better.

Your drive subsystem should support at least ATA-66 (ATA-133 is the latest ATA performer. Serial ATA is even better). SCSI drive systems should support at least UltraWide transfer rates.

Memory is dependent on the OS your using. Win9X should have at least 64MB. Win2K/XP should have 128MB minimum (256 or higher is preferred).

You should also take steps to optimize your PC. Remove any unecessary memory resident programs (these are common on old installs, or for the PC challenged).

Defrag your hard drive.

Capture in an easy compressable format (like Huffman). Capturing uncompressed, or highly compressed formats like DivX will require extremely fast hard drives (uncompressed video), or a fast cpu (for highly compressed video).

Last but not least, use PCM for your audio codec. Using highly compressed audio codecs, and compressed video is very CPU intensive. Audio is peanuts for size, compared to video. Stick with PCM.