Two Quick Questions about Dazzle DVC 100

[Derangedyeti]

First off, I have been working with these problems for awhile so any help would be VERY much appreciated.
I am recording my Xbox 360 with from my Toshiba Satellite using Dazzle DVC 100 and Pinnacle Software.

1. I tried recording forever with Pinnacle in 720x480 and it would drop frames constantly, now my friend has the exact same computer as me and records fine. Also, all background problems were eliminated. In 480x480 everything is fine.

2. I began to become restless with 480x480 do I switched to VirtualDub, I recorded in Divx compression and I got 640x480 fine with no lag, but alas no audio.

So my question is, can anyone help solve any of these problems, most preferable the first one, but I just want good video quality.

[Derangedyeti]

bump

[usually_quiet]

Maybe you should have your friend help you, and figure out what he is doing differently.

A few tips I've seen recommended on this website: Make sure no unnecessary programs are running at the same time.Capture often works better if you use a second HDD, not the boot drive. Defrag your HDD.

[davexnet]

Very difficult to give advice beyond the general, often problems are caused by a misconfiguration in the software.
Virtualdub capture, for instance. Doesn't this card have hardware mpeg-2 encoding? Why not use that?

Or install HuffyUV and give that a try - very fast codec. You can use it in conjunction with a simple capture program
called STOIK, in the tools area of videohelp.com.

[Derangedyeti]

Thanks Ill try this. and post results later.

[Derangedyeti]

Still lags in 720x480 no matter what I do... any help here?

[davexnet]

Have you checked the Task Manager during capture to see if it's being stressed?
Defragged the HDD, etc,etc. Have you tried mpeg-2 capture taking advantage of the HW on-chip encoding?

[usually_quiet]

Still lags in 720x480 no matter what I do... any help here?

Please explain what you mean by "lags" and which capture software you are using at the time.

If you mean what you see and hear on the laptop is delayed, or stutters, that is normal and unavoidable during capture. Some capture software allows you to turn off video display and audio during capture. I think VirtualDub does. Try that if it bothers you.

Hopefully you are not using your laptop display to watch while playing games. The delay is why people split the signals between a TV and the capture device, and watch on the TV.

If you mean you still have dropped frames, that should not happen with MPEG-2 hardware encoding. The PC just has to deal with a compressed MPEG-2 stream @ 2 to 5 GB/hr sent via USB if you use hardware encoding. If you are using divX software encoding, for example, the capture device is sending uncompressed data at about 60 GB/hr, and if the CPU can't keep up while encoding to divX, frames get dropped.

[Derangedyeti]

I got many dropped frames when I record in 720x480. What settings should I change, that's the question, including software, compression, etc. And I do check the CPU usage and everything is fine.

[Derangedyeti]

UPDATE: I am able to cap in 720x480 in Stoik, but it doesn't have audio, any help here?

[usually_quiet]

UPDATE: I am able to cap in 720x480 in Stoik, but it doesn't have audio, any help here?

I downloaded STOIK Capturer last night, and only found settings that determine the audio characteristics used for the recorded output. I found no options that allow selecting an audio source. I did manage to crash Windows 7 by clicking the wrong button while looking for them, which makes me think this program is not a good one to use for Windows 7.

If you want to give Virtualdub another shot, you have to select the audio source for recording as well as enable audio recording. File->Capture AVI->Audio->Enable Audio Capture enables recording. There should be an option at the bottom of the Audio menu that looks like it belongs to the Dazzle. Select that as well. Use Huffyuv for compression. It is very fast, and your CPU should have no trouble keeping up. If you are successful, you can encode the capture later as you wish. Your HDD may have trouble keeping up and drop frames if it isn't defragged since Huffyuv compression creates very large files, about 30 GB per hour. If you are using the boot drive for capture, and the OS is trying to write, that could cause dropped frames too.

If you can't get Virtualdub to use the Dazzle's audio as a source, you could try connecting audio from the game system to your laptop's microphone jack instead of the Dazzle's audio input. This will most likely work, although it is possible you will loose audio-video sync during recording. Select "0 Capture Device" at the bottom of the Audio menu. File->Capture AVI->Audio->Audio Source allows you to select an Audio Line for the microphone. If the first Audio Line menu selection doesn't work. try the second.

You will need an RCA stereo to 3.5mm mini jack adapter cable to use the microphone jack. Most are male-to-male, but depending on how you have connected everything, you might need female RCA to male 3.5mm mini jack adapter like this instead: http://www.amazon.com/CABLES-GO-3-5MM-STEREO-FEMALE/dp/B002XIFT6M

I'm not sure now that the Dazzle product you bought is capable of hardware encoding. While Googling for more info on hardware requirements I found there were two versions of the DVC 100. The old version is black and roughly rectangular in shape. Its description says it does MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 hardware encoding. The new version is shaped more or less like a comma and comes in black, red, white or silver. The description for the new version says nothing about hardware encoding, so it probably uses software encoding only.

Personally, I think you may have made made an unwise purchase. For every reviewer that thinks the Dazzle is a great product, there is another who can't get it working properly. Dazzle products don't get many recommendations on this website.

[Derangedyeti]

Alright, well I do have the comma one, and I'll try the Virtual Dub one, as I said before I am using the boot drive as to record to. I really don't have money to drop another, nor do I have a motive to, because I am not a hardcore capturer, just a casual thing.

[davexnet]

Do you have a medium - high end PC, preferably dual-core or better? Since the main CPU is now doing the encoding,
it needs to be able to keep up. Virtualdub's capture is very versatile, but can be tricky to set up.
For example, the timings page

.

[Derangedyeti]

Low end I would assume 450 at Bestbuy last Christmas

[davexnet]

My box captures OK at 720*480 using HuffyUV or mjpeg codec.
I've got dual core, 2.2 GHz, 2 GB RAM - modest by today's standards.

If you've got a slowish single core PC (or laptop, and a slow HDD), there could be issues.

Does your friend really have the same PC as you and he captures OK? Then I would seek him out and find out what he is doing.

[lizzoqops]

On my older computer I used to have to capture in 352 x 480. I don't know if this will suit your needs, but you might give it a try. It always worked well for me at that resolution. I wasn't using a Dazzle, though.

[Derangedyeti]

Thanks for the help, I've pretty much given up hope unless there is an easy fix, once I get some money together to get another desktop I might just use that. Because obviously this laptop doesn't have the guns.

[vhelp]

it sounds to me like your pinnacle software is capturing in realtime to some codec, probably xvid or a propriatory internal codec of their own. thats the only thing i can think of thats causing your problem. if true then theirs may not be efficient for most computers or laptops.

virtualdub is probably your better solution. as long as you incorporate an intermediate codec (ie huffy) you should not experience any lags or frame drops during capturing while not doing anything else on your laptop.

if i can capture 720x480 on a netbook single core 1.66Mhz with virtualdub and huffy codec without frame drops your laptop should fair the same or better results.

if you are capturing vhs content then that would be another story, but you are not.

after you install virtualdub you will need to set it your capture device; resolution; and codec; setup.

STEP 1 -- initial setup for virtualdub capturing

1. go to menu, file\capture avi..
2. in a short while, you may be greeted by a 320x240 or 720x480 black screen
3. next, go to menu, device\choose your pinnacle device
4. picture may start to show
5. go to menu, Video\Video source\ and select your connction type, usually [video svideo]
6. go to menu, Video\capture pin...\ and make sure it is UYVY, some pinnalces use that format, my dvc100 does, and set Output size: to 720x480 if not already
7a. then, go to menu, Video\Capture filter...\ and make sure Video Standard is set to NTSC_M, this is the IRE 7.5 setup, for some PAL regions you would use NTSC_J (japan) for 0 IRE setup.
7b. next, click Video Proc Amp tab, and click on the [Default] button, (we do this initially when we first install vdub and a capture device, well sometimes, but when you sometimes have problems initially, its a good idea to refresh this by using this step--i find myself doing this whenever I change to another capture device)
8. next, go to menu, Video\Compression\ and select huffy codec (if you installed it, it will be there)
9. next, go to menu, Video\Set custom format...Shif-F\ and make certain it is set to 720x480, also make sure the code format matches that of your pinnacle's (remember above) UYVY in your case since you have the dvc100 like mine, else most other cards would be YUY2 setup here.
10. next, go way down to your right, where you see audio and fps, sometimes its at a defualt of 44k and 25fps, this is where you want to change it (not in the menus bc sometimes it does not stay), for audio click the 44k and a menu will pop up, click the (48.00 KHz, 16-bit stero) then click the 25 fps and select 29.97 fps the one under NTSC, that's the one that it locks to--at least for me this works.

STEP 2 -- now, for the capturing..

11. go to menu, File\Set capture File...F2\ and enter a filename, i.e, 01.12232010.avi and click [Save] button to accept.
12. now, you are ready to capture

press the F5 key and virtual dub will begin capturing video. when you're ready to stop, just press ESC key.

now, when you want to capture again, press the F2 key, this will bring up the File\Set capture File...F2\ screen and enter your next avi filename, i.e, 02.12232010.avi, press F5 to capture, and so on.

That is the basics of how I capture in virtual dub. It is not so user-friendly in once we get to step 2 though I think there is an auto increment feature for capture files.

-vhelp 5456

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