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  1. Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    United States
    Search Comp PM
    Built a custom PC recently and put my Wintv Go Plus (1033) capture/tuner card
    from my old PC in it.

    Never had dropped frames on the old pc but new one is dropping randomly. Plays back fine for
    several minutes then audio and video jumps forward a sec or two. I have CPU stepping
    turned off during recording so my CPU runs full out at 2814mhz. Can't explain it. Didn't do it with an older slower PC so it shouldn't do it with this new faster PC.

    System stable running prime95 for hours (even with an OC to 3.01ghz). Memory also error free
    with microsoft floppy based memory tester. Extended tests 11 passes over 5+ hrs.

    Only thing I can think of ...is ...since this PCIe video card has 256mb onboard memory and up to 512 sharing system ram via turbo cache.... Is it possible the memory sharing is causing an issue? I'm not sure where to disable sharing but it's probably in the bios. I didnt see an option to set video aperture but I might've missed it. Aside from that (maybe) possibility...I'm out of ideas...

    BTW....for those that don't know this hauppage capture card...its software encoded and I'm recording with mpeg1 using the included hauppage codec.

    All suggestions welcome and appreciated.
    Thanks,
    Dave

    SPECS FOLLOW:

    Both systems Running Windows 2000 Professional with Hauppage Wintv2000 bundled software.

    NEW System: frames dropping at random
    Antec 500w PSU w Active PFC
    Biostar Tforce 550SE mobo (nforce 550 chipset)
    AMD X2 5600+ dual core CPU 2814mhz L2 cache 1mb x 2
    ADATA 2gb (1gbx2) DDR2 PC6400 Ram
    Gigabyte 7200GS 256mb ddr2 graphics card (512mb w ram share) PCIex16 (450mhz clock/dual400 ramdacs ddr2 so running at 800mhz.)
    Boot drive - WD 80gb 7200 8mb cache
    Storage Drive - Seagate 250gb 7200 8mb cache
    Asus 1814 DVD RW
    Wintv Go (1033) PCI Tuner/capture card


    OLD system: no frame drops with this system
    Seasonic 300w (340max) PSU w active PFC
    ECS K7VTA3 Mobo Via KT333 chipset
    AMD 3000XP CPU (333fsb) 2.18 mhz 512L2 Cache
    Kingston 1gb (512x2) PC333 Ram
    PNY MX440SE 64mb AGP graphics card (250mhz clock/dual 300 ramdacs)
    SAME HARD DRIVES AS ABOVE...Pulled out of this sytem and installed into new system
    NEC 3550A DVD RW
    Wintv Go (1033) PCI Tuner/capture card
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  2. Banned
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    Freedonia
    Search Comp PM
    First of all, it's great that you gave us all that info, but you should have included your OS in there. If you're running Vista, maybe it's a Vista problem. Lots of people have serious problems with Vista.

    Secondly, I had no idea that Hauppauge made cards that do software encoding. You spent all that money to build out a new system and you're using Hauppauge's cheapest card in it. The PCI based PVR series generally works very well. The PVR-250 and 350 models just work without problems. The PVR-150 uses a different chipset and some people have no problems, others have nothing but problems. The 1600 is too new and I have never used it. The PVR series uses hardware encoding, so generally speaking they work without problems.

    Usually frame dropping occurs when something is using too much of your CPU and the software encoder can't get as much as it needs. Are you doing anything else on the PC while you record? I would definitely no do ANYTHING on the PC while recording with this card. I doubt that memory sharing is the problem. Usually it's a CPU issue, not memory, when you drop frames. If you had one of the PVR cards I think you'd see this problem go away.
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  3. Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    United States
    Search Comp PM
    Thanks for the reply. Actually I did include the OS info. Windows 2000 pro.
    It's just before I list specs for my systems.

    I wasn't building an HTPC here and sorta need to give the wallet a rest after building this system which Is why I re-used my old tv card. I realize software enoding isn't the best way to capture and record streams and that the hardware encoded PVR cards are better.

    My reason for this post however is to try and find out why the tv card worked fine with my old PC....and is dropping frames with this new higher performance system.

    If you (or anyone) has any ideas on that specifically it would be appreciated.
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  4. Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    United States
    Search Comp PM
    Hmmmm....150 views so far and only 1 reply. Guess I stumped everyone...

    No matter....Issue is RESOLVED.

    Wasn't any of the usual suspects. It was the fact that I installed an a new version
    of WinTV software OVER the old version. I would normally uninstall an old version any
    time I install new software...but ....the newer Hauppauge drivers and software don't
    include the mpeg1 codec. By installing the old version first then the new one over it...
    the mpeg1 codec (and others) that came with the old version were retained once the
    new version was installed over it. This way I was getting the advantage of the newer
    slightly faster GUI and program features but got to keep all the old codecs.

    UNFORTUNATELY....this dual install was apparently the reason for the frame skipping during capture. Uninstalled everything and re-installed just the old version and it works fine even with CPU stepping set to 1809mhz at idle with No skipped frames.

    The learning process never ends......................
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  5. Banned
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
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    Freedonia
    Search Comp PM
    Hardware encoding is the way to go, with cards like Hauppauge's PVR-250/350, etc. Software encoding is just a losing proposition as your post proves.
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