Avermedia PCI problems

[hurnik]

Where do I start.

two major problems:

a) Capturing anything other than MPEG2 at "good" quality or MPEG-1 drops like 50% or more of frames.

b) It won't capture sound. Even though the sound IS playing through the LINE2 input of my SB Live 5.1, and other software captures that audio, the Avermedia neoDVD won't capture it. Get no sound at all.

Otherwise, anyone got a recommendation on a piece of software that is decent (doesn't have to be stellar) that will let me capture from VHS tapes (I can either use the avermedia pci card, or the asus 7700 deluxe card with nvidia WDM drivers) and burn to DVD? It appears that quite a bit of software requires you capture to mpeg2, and then run a separate conversion process to produce a DVD compatible format. That's one of the reasons why I got the Avermedia board. The only bad thing is that the framerate drop is horrendous and no audio?

[racerxnet]

What are your specs on the system?

[hurnik]

Windows 2000
256 MB RAM
800mHz Athlon
40 GB 7200 rpm Maxtor hard drive
Asus 7700 Deluxe video card

Note that recording with the Asus Digital VCR in "dvd" MPEG2 quality is perfect. No dropped frames and it has audio. Granted, this is from the TV Tuner input.

If I uses the ASUS Digital VCR to select the Avermedia PCI "capture driver" as the source, I get "perfect" video, but no sound.

I can only assume that the dropped video frames are a result of the neoDVD software that ships with the Avermedia PCI card. However, the lack of sound in both applications causes me to think that issue is due to the Avermedia PCI driver.

[DanDeighan]

You need to make sure the "LINE2 input of my SB Live 5.1" is set as the device Windows will record audio from.

[hurnik]

Windows 2000 or the capture software itself?

In Asus Digital VCR, you select the audio card and which input to record from and it works.

With the Avermedia, you also select the audio card and which input but it seems to not record sound from LINE-IN/1 or LINE2.

I know that they both work because again, I can use the ASUS Digital VCR and record from the TV Tuner (which uses LINE1) and I get sound. If I select LINE2, I get line2 sound.

Just not with the Avermedia capture driver.

[racerxnet]

Try going into the sounds and multimedia in the control panel and make sure that nothing is muted or turned down to the minimum. Also check to see that your input source is enabled. Check the Sound Recording and Sound Playback boxes, it should list the device you are trying to use. Just a thought!

[hurnik]

Well everything checks out in Windows, so I just gave up and bought an RCA cable that lets me plug two things into the line in on the back of the SBLive.

So, now here's the deal:

Using neoDVD that came with the Avermedia: I get sound, but using anything other than MPEG2 "good" quality or less, has a LOT of dropped frames.

Using Asus Digital VCR with the Avermedia driver at DVD MPEG2, I get sound, but the video looks "sped up".

Using PowerVCR 2 version 3 (demo), with the Avermedia driver, recording DVD NTSC has the video VERY fast and thus out of sync with the audio.

Am I doomed? Should I just give up on the Avermedia and go with the ASUS board? The only problem I have with that (or even using the Power VCR software) is that it looks like I have convert the resulting capture into a DVD format and then burn onto DVD.

The neoDVD software captures (albeit poorly) into a VIDEO_TS format and then you can burn that directly to DVD with the software.

[hurnik]

Well the plot thickens.

I've successfully captured video AND audio with ASUS Digital VCR and Power VCR 2 using the Avermedia card and the Avermedia PCI capture driver.

The "fast" playback I see is an issue with Windows Media player.

Now here's where it thickens:

If I capture with ASUS or PowerVCR as an MPEG-2 format and then replay with a "diff" media player it's "fine". NO dropped frames.

If I take that MPEG2 file and use the neoDVD software to burn to DVD it appears that it encodes it. Unfortunately it drops like 30-50% of the frames. I can't understand that one. The encoding should just "go" and either take a long time to not "miss" frames or work. IMO anyway.

Anyone else experience this? Or have ideas on how to solve? Looks like the problems I see now with the product are all related to the neoDVD software. Too bad there doesn't appear to be any other software out there that:

a) Captures
b) converts to DVD
c) records

that doesn't cost like $200

[TurboRunner]

hi,
I have an avermedia EZCapture card with the bt878 chipset i think

I use VirtualDub which is a freeware capture program that is very good well worth the time in downloading Ive capture at 720x576 25fps without dropped frames and editout the adverts and stuff with virtualdub then frameserve out to Tmpgenc to encode to a Svcd complaint mpeg(only just got myself a dvdburner so i will start to make dvdmpegs but need to make hdd space first. once encoded there are cheap or maybe free dvdauthoring programs out there that also burns to dvd-+r disk.

Also just changed my Soundcard which had ess chipset to a sblive card so dont know if that will effect my capturing yet.

I cant remember which guide had it but there are guides on dvdrhelp.com that tells you ways on setting up Virtual dub to minimise the chance of dropped frames.

my System is a 1.4Ghz AMD Athlon but 800mhz should be enough but for encoding the faster your cpu is the faster the encoding time is.

Ive tryed capturing on an AMDK6300 and could only just capture at 352x28825fps with no frame drops with a SB16

These captures are to an avi Huffy codec so it doesnt have much compression so takes heaps of Hdd Space.

Hope this is some info to help you out

Thanks

TurboRunner

[rokvideo]

I'm using an Athlon 950mhz with the AVERdvd pci card and am having same problem capturing without massive dropped frames. I am using XP and have tried SEVERAL capture programs, my favorite is iuvcr but I can't get the settings right. Seems like problem is related a little? I've been burning with Nero 6.

[hurnik]

Okay, one final posting here.

The solution:

Don't use the neoDVD software.

I didn't realize that my DVD player came with the Roxio Easy CD/DVD creator 6. Normally I'm not a big fan of the Roxio software.

Anyway, the DVD Builder portion actually allowed me to capture from the Avermedia card and burn to DVD just fine!

And I've also captured from the ASUS 7700 card and burned to DVD just as well.

So there's really no need for me to use the Avermedia card now and the Roxio software does what I need it to do and MUCH better than the neoDVD software.

I don't need anything fancy, so it does work.

The only thing I've got a question remaining on, is what should the resolution be?

Roxio "defaults" to 640x480 which seems to be okay. How 'high" can I got for a NON HDTV unit? (ie: i thought that DVD was 480i by default?)

[TurboRunner]

Hi,

For DVD Full Resolution is 720x480 ntsc 720x576 pal
or for half DVD Resolution is 352x480Ntsc 352x576Pal

So if your going to do full DVD resolution you want to capture at 720x480ntsc

Thanks

TurboRunner

[hurnik]

Great!

Thank you so much!