Windows Media Encoder Question

[Gabaldad]

I am trying to get windows media encoder to capture a signal that is passed through a deck rather than having WME control the deck itself. The pass through deck is a Sony DVCAM and is connected via firewire. The source is an analog signal.

I get the input signal up on the preview screen, but when I go to capture, the program shuts down because there isn't a tape in the deck it can control.

My question is, can WME do this. I want it to capture the passed through signal, not look for a physical tape in the drive. I cannot configure the properties of the deck to disable device control either.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

[aedipuss]

try windv - start the playback and then click capture. you may have to uncheck the box next to capture.

[Gabaldad]

WinDV is my next avenue. But I wanted to try to bypass the step of going to avi and go straight to wmv since that's what is being asked for. Thanks for the response though.

[JohnnyMalaria]

Pipe it through the Enosoft DV Processor. Connect the input to your DVCAM deck and the output to "Enosoft Virtual DV Renderer". Set the processor running. Then, start WME and select "Enosoft Virtual DV Source" as input. WME will think it is connected to a live DV device without transport controls. This ought to solve your problem.

[Gabaldad]

That DV Processor is a pretty cool program, it worked just as you described. However, now I am having problems on the encode end. Although I don't believe it has anything to do with DVP, maybe someone can help.

I can save video right to the hard drive without a problem. DVP works great. But, when I try to run it straight into WME, I start getting tons of dropped frames. When I play back the WMV that was created, all the video is there, but after the first 3-4 seconds it runs at 2-3 times normal speed.

Right now, I am assuming that the computer is just too sluggish to accomplish my goal. It's an older 2.5 GHz with 256 MB RAM running XP SP3. If anyone can confirm that I'm trying to use a shovel for a project requiring a backhoe, please let me know. Or, if there is something else I'm missing, I just need to be pointed in the right direction.

By the way, capturing via DVP as DV Type 1 and then encoding to WMV in a second step resulted in a successful file.

[bendixG15]

It's an older 2.5 GHz with 256 MB RAM running XP SP3.

256 MB memory is way low for XP.
XP SP3 needs at least 1 GB RAM, 2GB is even better.

Memory was cheap a while back, but I haven't priced it lately.