Garbled DVR capture with ATI TV card (VE)

[Lcarvone]

I need some opinions on the possible cause(s) of garbled capture I am getting with an ATI TV card (VE version). I am capturing using the preset configuration for VCD using MMC 7.9 on WinXP and burning onto CD using the Nero Xpress VCD template. My applicable PC configuration is as follows:

Athlon 1.1 gig CPU
256 meg RAM
ATI Rage Pro 4 meg AGP video
Yamaha PCI sound card (CMI8738 chipset)

The only thing running in the background is McAfee and any normal WinXP stuff.

The video part of the capture when viewing the VCD is fairly smooth except for a couple of skips here and there every ten seconds or so. The audio portion is a bit whining at times or it skips dramatically. My initial impression is that it is hardware related since I had previously used the TV card in a machine with the same CPU & RAM, a Geforce2 MX video card, and Soundblaster sound card under Win2K with little to no issues.

Any thoughts/opinions are greatly appreciated.

[lordsmurf]

What motherboard?
And shut off the antivirus at capture. I will cause problems.

[Lcarvone]

It is a Abit KT7 mobo (non-RAID) version with the most recent VIA chipset drivers loaded

[macleod]

not sure if this will solve the problem,but....

I have the ati pci version and I do not use the software that came with it for my captures. I either use powervcrII OR IUvcr.

Try another capture application like vdub and see if you get the same issues.

If you want to use the software that came with the card, you have the best guy on the job (lordsmurf). he is a whiz with the ati capturing stuff. Check out some of his guides.

[Lcarvone]

Any other suggestions?I hope to try another capture program this weekend.

Thanks

[lordsmurf]

Is the video problem in the video, or digital distortion. And can I see a copy? Upload one somewhere, a short clip.

If video: It may be bad VCR, or bad playback.

If dig. distort: Fragmented HD could cause digital distortions. Defrag.

[Lcarvone]

The video when viewing straight from the hard drive is pretty good (hard drive 7200 RPM, ATA66 (?) and defragged just a few days prior to capture). The audio is still real garbled though. The capture is from a coaxial cable connection - recording TV shows with the DVR feature of MMC.

[lordsmurf]

The video when viewing straight from the hard drive is pretty good (hard drive 7200 RPM, ATA66 (?) and defragged just a few days prior to capture). The audio is still real garbled though. The capture is from a coaxial cable connection - recording TV shows with the DVR feature of MMC.

Defrag it again.

Check your cables and volume levels on both computer and input devices. It could just be the source.

Are you using the default ATI MMC settings (barf!) or some of mine from www.lordsmurf.com ?

[Lcarvone]

At present I have used only the default settings. What I am trying to do because of limitations (no DVD-RW drive and my stand-alone DVD player only plays DVD and VCD, no SVCD) is to create burn VCD's from TV card recordings to play on the stand-alone DVD player at a later date.

Based upon this, what settings within MMC 7.9 for a VCD compliant mpeg1 file would you recommend???

Thanks again

Lcarvone

[FulciLives]

At present I have used only the default settings. What I am trying to do because of limitations (no DVD-RW drive and my stand-alone DVD player only plays DVD and VCD, no SVCD) is to create burn VCD's from TV card recordings to play on the stand-alone DVD player at a later date.

Based upon this, what settings within MMC 7.9 for a VCD compliant mpeg1 file would you recommend???

Thanks again

Lcarvone

Have you looked at the LORDSMURF website? There is a section on CAPTURING MPEG WITH AN ATI CARD.

Reading that should set you straight :P

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[Lcarvone]

I plan on going and reading up on this later today. But just to clarify....is the general opinion that my current video card and/or sound card are NOT the culprits responsible for the poor capture?

Thanks

[Lcarvone]

OK. I defragged the hard drive and read Lord Smurf's suggestions for recording MPEG-1. I "watched TV" on the system for a while as well as recorded a short clip of a program (per suggestions). The audio comes through just fine in "watching" but slightly choppy when viewing recorded clip. The video is very choppy in "watching" but less choppy in viewing recored clip. The CPU never went above 75% usage and the system memory was never maxed out.

[lordsmurf]

OK. I defragged the hard drive and read Lord Smurf's suggestions for recording MPEG-1. I "watched TV" on the system for a while as well as recorded a short clip of a program (per suggestions). The audio comes through just fine in "watching" but slightly choppy when viewing recorded clip. The video is very choppy in "watching" but less choppy in viewing recored clip. The CPU never went above 75% usage and the system memory was never maxed out.

"Choppy" may be dropped frames. Are you checking that as well?