Capture Video for VCD/SVCD Using ATI AIW

[Radioman]

Hi all AIW users !

This thread is really awesome as "Reckless 1" said!

6292/MMC 6.3 , Thats the one for me !!
Compaq 500mhz 256mB AIW 16Mb (1999).Soundcard is a Diamond monster (Vortex 8830), and this and that...

About settings "Lucky Patrickm", BIOS and set PCI Latency=0"
Sure, You don't have a Compaq, hey ....

OK that was my boring beginning, Hope you have come so far. My extensive testings of the different versions of the Ligos "Go motion" realtime encoderdriver's shows that the newest ones (the upgrades from te Ulead videostudio 5) is the best. Not just the quality, which I cant see the differens of, but the smoth use of CPU power, it's more even.

I have had experinces of much more variable CPU usage of the earlier drivers. To the extent that you have to use a lower ME setting !

So my conclusion of the ligos "gomotipon_drivers" is that the result is VERY GOOD for ordinary Videotranscodes, even in VCD format (as of PAL 352x28 When you try to do SVCD's a Computer of PIII and 500Mhz isn't enough though.

If I want to do effects, transitions and so on I use Hufyuv codec in 352x288 (PAL), free stuff. I have a very nice standaloneDVD -player (Nintaus 9901N) that takes it all (XVCD'S and XSVCD'S), as longt as you shoot in the the right resolution,

Cheers // Ove

[patrickm]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
6292/MMC 6.3 , Thats the one for me !!
Compaq 500mhz 256mB AIW 16Mb (1999).Soundcard is a Diamond monster (Vortex 8830), and this and that...

About settings "Lucky Patrickm", BIOS and set PCI Latency=0"
Sure, You don't have a Compaq, hey ....

</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>

first of all, i'm not sure why you're calling me 'lucky', but i have to tell you whatever it is there's very little luck involved. no, i don't (or never will) own a compaq, dell, gateway, emachines, etc. i've been building computers from scratch since i was 14. every part in this computer was selected for very specific purposes, (and odds are i paid less too). anyhow, i'm sure there's a way to change things in the BIOS in compaq's. even if there's not, there is a utility out there that will let you change the latency to zero inside windows. if i find it, i'll post a link. but check http://www.viahardware.com, http://www.tomshardware.com if you can't find it searching the web.

your sound card should be fine. it's based on the same chipset as the one i'm using. it's not the problem. the drivers may be crappy though. if you want, or if the PCI=0 doesn't solve things, try the Aureal Vortex2 reference drivers (2038 or 2040) from http://www.vortexofsound.com

btw, my system:
asus a7v133 (w/o sound, w/ATA100-RAID, KT133A chipset)
aiw 128 pro 32mb
aureal vortex2 sq2500
256Mb pc100 ram
maxtor 7G dma33 primary master (windows swap file)
west dig 15G dma66 secondary master (capture drive)
acer 12x8x32x burner secondary slave

(and also in there... yamaha 724 sound card, cybermail AV bt878 capture card, linksys 100TX ethernet card, crappy actiontek 56k PCIlite modem)

4.12.6292 drivers
MMC 6.3 and 7.1 (4.1dvd)
WinME
via 4-in-1 v4.27
viagart.vxd shut off

[Radioman]

Hello again Patrickm

Thanks for the links and tips. I'll maybe try such a program to be able to change the settings which I can't change from the Bios setup in my Compaq.

I have some other things that bother me though.

ATI loads a lot of things when I start up my Computer that I can't see the need for.
The files are:
aticwd32.exe
atiptaxx.exe
atiqipcl.exe
ati2evxx.exe
Do I need them ? I use to "Ctr+Alt+del" and take them away before I do any captures.

Patrickm, Do you have BOTH mmc6.3 and 7.1 installed att the same time ?
I tried mmc7.1 but couldn't do any captures at all. No third party sotwares or even the mmc tv capture failed. No driver found or something. I have tried both with the 6292 driver and the newest one. I did a totally new installation and uninstalled the mmc6.3 before as ATI says i should.
(There was some hard work to get back to 6.3 again )

Very strange I think. I have also read somewhere that there isn't any point to go to 7.1 because of lacking third party capture software that supports directshow capture. Am I right ?

About you beeing "Lucky Patrickm". I was just drunk I think But maybe you are happy even if not that lucky ?

[rrolsbe]

I have an ATI AIW Radeon AGP card running on a Win2k box with service pack 2 installed. I have the MMC7.1 drivers installed. Has anyone found/modified the MEPerformance (Motion Estimator Performance) registry setting(s) using this configuration. If so please report on what you changed and your before and after results.

Thanks Much


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: rrolsbe on 2001-07-12 07:44:10 ]</font>

[RFontenot]

rrolsbe,

I've got the exact same configuration as you. I believe the MEP registry key is called "CPU Load". I don't remember the entire key pathname, though.

RF

[Cam Corder]

Can anyone describe the limitiations on file size with MMC 7.1

Specifically,

I want to capture TV programs or old videos transmitted through the card (on channel 4) to AVI using a codec like Huffy or Raw AVI Codec, but it stops after only 30 minutes in all cases and the file is not playable then; my harddrive space is 80GIGs!!! (Drive D) and the main drive (C) is 20 gigs with 9 GIGs free. My goal is to be able to then cut out the commerials (as AVI) then convert to MPEG-2

Note; smaller files work flawlessly (under 2 GIGS) which I manually stop. I have been able to make files greater than 4GIGs when transfering my DVDs to AVI for transfer to MPEG-2

I am using Windows ME and MMC 7.1 with the AIW Radeon 32DDR/AGP Card

Any comments???

[patrickm]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
I've got the exact same configuration as you. I believe the MEP registry key is called "CPU Load". I don't remember the entire key pathname, though.
</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>

"CPU Load" is just the % value for ME you set in MMC 7.1 profiles. there's another thread where we're dissecting the registry entries, so you might want to check that out.

[patrickm]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
Thanks for the links and tips. I'll maybe try such a program to be able to change the settings which I can't change from the Bios setup in my Compaq.

ATI loads a lot of things when I start up my Computer that I can't see the need for.
The files are:
aticwd32.exe
atiptaxx.exe
atiqipcl.exe
ati2evxx.exe
Do I need them ?

Patrickm, Do you have BOTH mmc6.3 and 7.1 installed att the same time ?

Very strange I think. I have also read somewhere that there isn't any point to go to 7.1 because of lacking third party capture software that supports directshow capture. Am I right ?
</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>

you can toss all of those ATI programs. they control the ATI taskbar, the hotkey display switching, i have no idea what cwd32 does but i shut it off too.

yes, i've got BOTH 6.3 and 7.1 installed simultaneously under winME. i've installed it like that 3 times so far, always with the 6292 drivers. this latest time though, the 'setup' button on 6.3 causes a MFC42.DLL crash, though it still captures fine if you don't push that button. this is probably due to the fact that my system has way too many programs and versions of the MFC libraries on it, and that my install procedure was 6292 -> MMC 6.3 -> MMC 7.1 (new dir) -> DVD 4.1 (7.1 dir) -> 6.3 -> 7.1 -> 4.1. as long as you keep them separate, you can reinstall 6.3 over itself and use it instead.

7.1 does do some nicer things with MPEG capture, such as deinterlacing, bitrates up to 15 Mbps, and VBR. 6.3 is better for AVI and VCD-bitrate MPEG. i can do a pretty watchable realtime SVCD seinfeld capture at 2400 without too much trouble in 7.1. i do use virtualdub for the AVI capture though, because it won't do a 480 height AVI.

[Stinky]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
"CPU Load" is just the % value for ME you set in MMC 7.1 profiles. there's another thread where we're dissecting the registry entries, so you might want to check that out.
</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>

here is that thread
http://www.vcdhelp.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?topic=49383&forum=2

[RFontenot]

Cam Corder,

I'm using MMC 7.1 with W2K and I've captured MPEG2 files as large as 6GB+. I believe file size limitations are based on the OS you are using, not MMC 7.1.

I think the largest file you can capture with Win9.x is 2GB, and the largest partition is 4GB if you are using FAT32. NT and W2K can use NTFS which doesn't have the same limitations.

When I first installed MMC7.1, I had a problem where my captures would run fine for 30 minutes, then CPU utilization would jump to 100% and my capture would go to crap. Reinstalling MMC 7.1 and using newer display drivers fixed the problem. I know it's not the exact same problem that you are having, but I thought I'd pass on my experience.

RF

[next]

I run 98se fat32 and have been able to do captures as large as 3.5 gigs with MMC 7.1 real time vcd and xvcd encoding. Haven't had to go any larger but 4 gigs will be the limit with my setup. I capture to a 30 gig partition.

Many of the editing programs will give you problems with anything over 2 gigs (simple editors that don't reencode). Alot of these programs still have the legacy 2 gig restrictions in their code. There are programs that can handle the larger files - DvTool being one of them.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: next on 2001-07-12 18:38:10 ]</font>

[rrolsbe]

Stinky's tool did not work with MMC7.1 on the Radeon Card. Now that I have messed up my registry most of my capture modes using the MMC7.1 do not work not, IE.. no video only audio. I seem to remember that someone did mention that, Stinky's application that modifies the registry, does not work for the Radeon card. When I did a status Stinky's tool reported that it found version 4.1 of the MMC drivers. I should have check the stautus before using the tool. If anyone else has had the same experience and might know what needs to be undone in the registry, please relpy. I do have a ghost image from the 23rd of June so not a big loss.

I still would like to find a way of capturing non-standard VBR higher bit rate MPEG1 files, burn them with Nero 5.5 and be able to play them on my APEX AD-500W.

In order to capture better realtime VCD compatible mpeg1 files using the MMC7.1 ATI drivers, I would also like to find a way of maximizing the Motion Estimation setting in the registry.

Oh well better luck next time.

[Stinky]

rrolsbe:

you can contact me directly

my tool will not mess up your registry - it wont do anything but change a profile (if it can find them) - if it does find them it will allow you to change a few values (3 to be exact) no more - no less --- it does _not_ have the ability to mess up a registry

it does work with Radeon (thats what I have) - there seems to be some problem with the version number 4.1 is your DVD version number - I have seen this with non-english installs - if you contact me I can fix it to work with your install

to un-do what you did - go into your Digital VCR and delete the profile or create a new one.

I must repeat my tool CAN NOT (does not have the ability to!) mess up your capture modes or registry!

[AT]

rrolsbe, like Stinky said, his tool would not mess up the registry.

For changing the motion estimation value, you can create a profile you own, and set everything as you wiss.

Stinky, I can't remember if your tool have a option to set things to default. If not, you may want add one. So in a rare case, people can look for other reasons of their problem instead of thinking something wrong with your tool.

[nox71]

Anyone know where i can get Ati Multimedia Center 6.3 for downlaod and don't tell me that there is a link a the beginning of this forum because it doesn't work anymore.

Thank in advande!

[AT]

Rich at SVCD forum gave you a link, and it apperas working.

[iKlEiTlH]

Anyone think they can lend a hand with an audio capture problem I'm having with my AIW RADEON?

Ok, I made sure to check previous posts about other people having audio capture problems with their RADEON before I made this post.
I also made sure to check my mixer numerous times to see if any line was muted during a capture session.
I think I've checked about everything I know how to check for my computer and still can't solve the problem I'm having with my AIW RADEON.
I have MMC7.1 installed and whenever I startup the TV program, the video/audio-in displays normally with the audio present.
The very moment I begin the capture process (simple click of the recording button), the audio shuts itself off and all that remains is the video.
Once I end the capture session I'm forced to switch connectors (s-vid, composite, tv cable) in the TV program in order to "refresh" the audio and have it play once again.
Once again, I've checked numerous times that none of my recorders in my mixer are muted.
Why is the audio only present when I'm simply watching the connection (I use composite cables to connect my VCR to the RADEON), but not present when I begin capturing?

I've also tried other capture programs such as VirtualDub and Adobe Premiere with similar results (also no audio during capturing).

On an extra note, I'm connecting the audio-out from the RADEON into the Auxiliary-in to my SB Live! Value.
I know there aren't any connection problems, because audio is still present when all I do is watch the input with the TV program that comes w/MMC7.1
I also made sure to check that the Auxiliary setting is selected in the mixer for recording, and that it isn't muting itself during capture.

Is there anyone out there who's had a similar experience with their RADEON and can offer any kind of help whatsoever?
This problem is extremely frustrating, and renders my RADEON as I initially purchased it so I could create VCD's to back-up my VHS tapes.

Does this have anything to do with the audio capture driver that the RADEON uses?
In my device manager, there is a something called "ATI WDM Rage Theater Audio"
I checked the device and it says that everything is working properly.
Also, is it important that I install the entire MMC7.1 into my computer if I just want video capturing to work?
All I have installed is the TV program, because that's all that seems to be necessary.

Someone told me that my problem may come from the fact that I'm using an Abit KT7 Mobo and that my audio drivers may only be partly connected.
He suggested that I reinstall windows or disable my DOS drivers to solve this problem.
Anyone else ever have this type of problem with their RADEON?

[next]

Try connecting the audio out from your VCR directly into your sound card. Then go into MMC 7.1 setup and click on the Display tab and then Initialization Wizard. Go through the process and when you come to the audio tab click Line In. I capture with a AIW Pro and have my sound going directly into my sound card. I gave up trying to get it to work any other way.

[AT]

I had similar problem with my AIW 128 Pro when capture with 3rd part program, VitualDub, mediaStudio etc. In which cases I had to switch the source forth and back. But capture with MMC always worked.

Aside from next's suggestion, I think you should also install ATI DVD player 4.1, even you don't have a DVD drive installed. Because it contains some other update to MMC 7.1.

I assume you also installed DirectX 8 and DirectX 8 DV update?

Good luck.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: AT on 2001-07-15 23:05:48 ]</font>

[Steve_h]

I too have an Abit KT7 mobo with an Athlon CPU, an AGP Radeon, and a Soundblaster card. Everything works fine. Make sure the Radeon card has it's own interrupt. You may have to custom set this in the bios. You might also have to move the cards into different slots.

[AT]

"You might also have to move the cards into different slots"

Does Abit KT7 has more than one AGP socket?

[patrickm]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
On 2001-07-16 12:28:44, AT wrote:
"You might also have to move the cards into different slots"

Does Abit KT7 has more than one AGP socket?
</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>

i don't think so, but the SB can still be moved (as well as a PCI Radeon, though they don't have one in this case). the SB Live is a buggy drivered bus-hogging card, so make sure you're using the latest drivers for it. i think creative is supposed to be releasing some to limit it's bus-clogging behavior that caused problems by corrupting file transfers on VIA 686 southbridge chips (KT133 chipset) which i think the Abit KT7 uses.

also, do try getting rid of DOS SB drivers, and make sure the SB has its own interrupt, (unless it's sharing with a modem or something not doing anything during capture)

[patrickm]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
the file is not playable then; my harddrive space is 80GIGs!!! (Drive D) and the main drive (C) is 20 gigs with 9 GIGs free. My goal is to be able to then cut out the commerials (as AVI) then convert to MPEG-2
</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>

speaking of that, did i read it right when i saw that the Ulead Studio bundled with the ATI cards (which i hate) does non-destructive MPEG-2 editing (where you don't have to re-encode to cut & join). if so, i might have to reinstall that, because a lot of times i get sync problems using TMPG's cut/join

[iKlEiTlH]

Ok, after checking my system information I found out that my SB Live! card has its own interrupt and isn't in conflict with the RADEON.
The RADEON however currently shares interrupt 10 with my SCSI card used w/ my CDR Burner.
Should I move the SCSI card to a different slot and change the interrupt so it doesn't share it with my RADEON?
The system information doesn't say there are any conflicts between the two, but you never know...

I've also thought about connecting the audio-out from my VCR straight into the line-in on the SB Live!, but the sound isn't as good when using the line-in.

Thanks for all the suggestions.
This problem is really making my RADEON worthless for the time being.

One last question: how do I get rid of my DOS SB drivers?

[AT]

Adjust line-in volume control for the best sound quality.

I doubt your DOS driver was enabled.

But for disable it, within your C:\ "autoecex.bat"/config.sys" delete any entries referring to sound blaster, I remember one called sbinit.exe or likewise.

[patrickm]

a lot of SCSI and ATA100 controllers seem to have a liking for IRQ 10, so i'm not sure moving the card would help too much. see if you can hardcode your slot for the radeon in the BIOS to either 9 or 11, whichever is sharing less.

make sure you weren't using the mic-in (red) on the SB, the mic input and line input are electrically different. the ATI card is only a pass-through and does nothing to the sound, though i think this pass through is only on when told to be by software, which is why it's preferable to go direct to the SB from the VCR.

[Steve_h]

I remember when I was setting up my Radeon card and having similar problems that moving the sound card out of the pci slot next to the agp slot was important. This is for the Abit KT7 board.

[next]

I stand corrected. I am now able to use the ATI supplied break out blocks for sound. I had given up previously but decided to give it another try after reading the last few posts in an attempt to find a fix. Problem is that it worked from the start so I wasn't able to tinker around enough to really know why. About the only thing different in my current setups with MMC 7.1 (3 boxes) is that I have installed the DVD update (v 4.1) which I have heard can fix some capture problems.

[Tired of the Bull]

iKlEiTlH,

What OS are you using, and what driver version.

I had a similar problem for the longest time in WIN2K with basically the same hardware you have. The problem was caused by drivers and IRQ's or any other hardware issue that has been discussed here. I went from having audio problems only when I capture to everything working with a driver update.

The fix mentioned earlier about running the audio directly into the SBLive will work but shouldn't be necessary. I think we can fix your problem with drivers.

My Config:
Windows 2000 Professional
ATI Radeon AIW
SB Live X-Gamer
3Com PCI 10/100 LAN Card
Creative PCI WINMODEM
750 T-Bird @ 866
MSI K7T Turbo-R
512MB of Crucial 133 CAS2
Plextor 12X10X32 IDE
AFREEY 50X IDE CDROM
IBM 45GB ATA 100, 7200rpm
Two Maxtor 40GB, 7200rpm in a RAID Array
Antec PP-303X
Toshiba DOCSIS Cable Modem

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Tired of the Bull on 2001-07-18 09:46:28 ]</font>

[iKlEiTlH]

I'm using Win98 with my AIW RADEON and the SB Live! Value.
The RADEON is using the WME_RADEON_4_13_7075 drivers and MMC7.1 w/o the DVD Player.
The SB Live! Value is using the lw30full_9x and sblw9xup drivers.
I've also got DirectX 8.o installed.

I tried switching my SB Live! Value and SCSI card slots around last night and it didn't seem to help much.
One configuration caused my modem to stop working, and others didn't help my audio problem even when the RADEON's interrupt was freed up a little.

I also disabled my DOS drivers for SB 16 emulation, and that didn't change anything at all either.

Thanks for all of the suggestions and help.
I'll keep trying to fix the problem and might even just settle for connecting the VHS audio right into the line-in on the SB Live! Value(I still think this produces less quality audio than connecting internally).
I'll probably reinstall windows in a couple of weeks and try to get a fresh start as well, but that's really a bitch because I have to then reinstall all my previous programs as well.
Oh well...