What's the most cpu intensive task you've done while capturing?

[yoda313]

So whats the most cpu intensive task you've ever done while capturing?? Do you simply walk away and let the computer capture without disturbing it?

Do you author dvds and burn at the same time?

Do you play internet flash games? Do you play full blown directx, ram hogging action games??? Do you watch dvd movies while capturing???

Do you worry about dropped frames while capturing and multitasking? Or do you have a hardware capture card like the hauppauge wintv series and not worry?

About the most I do is surf the net while capturing. In fact I'm capping the weekly Star Trek TOS marathon on G4 right now

[lordsmurf]

To walk away and let the computer capture without disturbing it is the best thing you could possibly do.

I have seen far too many crap captures, and it always comes from people that insist they can do what they want (burn discs, play a game, etc). Even after they swear their captures are perfect, I often hear audio glitches or see other goofy crap in the image.

With your hardware capture card, you do have a little added luxury, but I'd not do more than solitaire or some HTML-only web browsing (no java or flash sites).

[thecoalman]

At most surf the web and usualy not even that, as LS mentioned you might get glitches and if they are not reported as dropped frames you won't be aware of them.

Besides it doesn't take much to get a few dropped frames in the middle of the capture if you fire something up.... Then you have to restart it.

Guess it depends on what you're capturing too but if it's important I'd leave it alone.

[drewzor]

deleted

[DarrellS]

I spin my chair around and turn on the Windows 98SE machine and play a game or something or if I'm capturing a sporting event then I'm to busy watching that to do anything else.

[guns1inger]

I go and watch TV in the other room, or play with the kids. It is too easy to screw things up believing your PC is invincible.

[dun4cheap]

I have been known to burn dvds to multiple burners while capturing or watched some video files or even dvds on the same computer while capturing. I have surfed the internet as well, and also used other heavy applications like Paint Shop Pro. Its been a long time since I have had problems with dropped frames.

I like to stress my system out to make sure its running to par. I have not had any problems in a very long while.

[jagabo]

I often run VirtualDub or TMPGEnc Plus (at low or idle priority) while capturing with my Hauppauge PVR-250.

[Abbadon]

Hi,

Capturing from VHS or Live Television does not load my CPU, and this because my TV card comes with a MPEG hardware encoder. I can surf the web or watch satellite TV while capturing directly to MPEG2, CPU load is zero %.

Both TV cards have a built in mpeg encoder, including a hardware mpeg decoder in my satellite card.

[mats.hogberg]

Encode DVD to AVI, play Doom III.

Do you worry about dropped frames while capturing and multitasking?

Never.

Or do you have a hardware capture card like the hauppauge wintv series and not worry?

Yes.

/Mats

[somebodeez]

To walk away and let the computer capture without disturbing it is the best thing you could possibly do.

That's what I do

[vhelp]

>> What's the most cpu intensive task you've done while capturing?

Well, its hard to say on my end. I go through numerous changes in my OS
that I can't keep up. My captures suffer the most on account of drivers
being changed by new software installs or other mess.

Therefore, when I capture, which is usually Analog (advc or other) I will
not do anything in the background. But..

I do have my internet up and my browser as well, plus Notpad and Firewall
and a few other apps already running -- usually been running long before
I begin my capturing.

The one thing I found that causes my Video Processes to fail (sometimes)
is when my e-mail software finds new mail and alerts me by updating the
status tray area with a new, "you've got mail" bit. When this happens
during my capturing, I can see the video window become a bit jerky. I
know that this *might* cause me some problems, specially if I end up
doing any IVTC or other frame-rate conversion work. I least I know what
cause my ivtc to fail when all other leads fail.

As such, sometimes I leave e-mail up and running, other times, I close
it down. I don't know.. I guess it all depends on what my needs are or
other factor

-vhelp 4035

[harley2ride]

I've used the clone brush and done other photo editing in Photoshop 7, while encoding video on the same PC, and haven't had any problems. This was on my XPS 3.2ghz with 2gb of ram. It never even batted an eye...

[edDV]

I've used the clone brush and done other photo editing in Photoshop 7, while encoding video on the same PC, and haven't had any problems. This was on my XPS 3.2ghz with 2gb of ram. It never even batted an eye...

Straight encoding isn't usually a problem. The encoding process will slow if the CPU priority drops or if the disk is busy. Capturing is where you get problems even with external encoding.

As an example, I can load my CPU when capturing HDTV MPeg2_TS streams to a separate drive, but if an application runs an index on the capture drive the capture is corrupted (pixelates). You need to know how to completely isolate the capture from any CPU or drive access or just keep your hands off.