dont settle for less! :0

[jerets]

hey guys
im capturing now w/:

winXP, 1.4ghz, 256mem, ati a-i-w rade 128, standard cable

im just not producing the quality id like... i know adding more mem,a newer tv-in card, and upgrading to a fast cpu will help me result w/ more quality in the end... but for me (and my setup) which would do me best to upgrade?
-also, im encoding my rips to divx5 after i capture them (through virual-dub) and i know that cant be helping, does divx5 take away quite abit of quality opposed to other formats?

thanks for any bit of info!
jerets

[djnibler]

jerets:

Your system is MORE then adequate to capture very high quality video. You did not mention if you were capturing directly to MPEG1, MPEG2, or AVI. This makes a big difference. Also, you are running XP (as am I), and from what I've experienced and read on the forums, you can't capture higher then ___ X 240 w/ XP using MMC or Virtual Dub.

My advice is to capture directly to AVI, then convert to DivX, or whatever it is you want. You'll get the best quality that way. If you can't capture higher then ___ X 240, get iuVCR. Capture to compressionless AVI first. If the file is too big, download one of the various Codecs out there, like Huffy or MJEPG. I like the latter the best... though it is not free; Great compression/quality ratio. Capture to 760x480 or better. My P2 766 can capture 760x480 AVI RGB24 or YUY2 with only 70% CPU utilization so you should have lots of room to spare.

Let me know if you are capturing higer then ___ X 240 with Virtual Dub... and if so, what version you are using.

Jeff

[jerets]

hey man thanks a ton for ur reply,

i am capturing uncompressed avi to my 80gig 7200rpm drive (usually 8gig per half hour). then i use virtual dub to re-sync audio/video, edit unwanted frames, then compress to divx5 (which i dont know if that is cutting some of my quality in the compression)

my captures are 320 x 240. and they are never that great...
what could i add or do to improve what i currently am stuck w/? you said a faster cpu wouldnt do anything, would a newer tv-in card give me noticable differences? - i mean look at rls group rips... they are much better then what im able to capture... what could i upgrade to bring me up to their level?
thanks a ton
(im going to try to add in a snap shot of my captures)
jerets

[Tbear]

Well I am also running Win XP and can capture upto 720 x 576.
I use VirtualDub 1_4_9 with Huffyuv, windows WDM drivers. I also have MMC 7.6.

My System is -

Abit KR7A-133 w/Raid
AMD Athlon XP +2000
512 MB Memory
Maxtor 60GB ATA133 7200
WD 100GB ATA 100 7200 w/ 8MB cache
ATi AIW Rage 128 Pro 32MB AGP
SB Audugy MP3
Plextor 24/10/40a
Creative PC-DVD 12X

I use the Wd 100GB just for captures and rips.

[jerets]

so more memory might do me some good?

[spidey]

Capturing and encoding are 99 % cpu dependent. Memory won't help, as it only will improve multi-tasking etc. past what you already have.

Make sure to shut down all unnecessary services and programs when capturing, as well as a new card could help. But in all honesty you should be in more than good shape with what you got....

Also, to make sure, dont cap to DivX if you wish to VCD. Cap to Compressionless avi (Huffyuv) then to Mpg for VCD or for DivX for PC.

The only other negative I see is Win XP - I have had great experience and productivity on 2000, when I had XP on it pissed me off to no end, but aside from preference, they're very similar functionality-wise....

[djnibler]

Jerets: Your hardware should be fine. Just try to jack up your resolution on your AVI capture. I don't know much about DiVx other then, like anything else, if you don't do it right, it will look lousy. Try capturing at 720x480 or better to AVI..... keep jacking up the resolution until you start to drop frames, then take it one step back. View the AVI file with Windows Media Player or whatever in full screen. If it looks lousy, then you still need to play with your capture settings. If it looks good, but then lousy when you convert to DivX, then your settings on the DiVx conversion will need to be played with.

Jeff

[jerets]

ive been messing around w/ the sizes like u guys said. but and ive been recording at 320 x 240 and have always had capturing set on that. so i went ahead and doubled that to 640 x 480 and like half the frames dropped???? and even worse yet, even when im not capturing... just watching tv - it uses up like 60% of my cpu opposed to when capture settings where set on 320 x 240 it would be down around 20-30... ? <- thats when im not even capturing anything? im getting pretty mixed up. i have a 1.4ghz amd. also, when i do try capturing in 640 x 480, still only 60-70% of my cpu is used up... but then why does it drop half my frames????
thanks guys for the continued feedback and help! :)
jerets

[djnibler]

I'd guess it's a hard drive thing if your CPU utilization is low and you are still dropping frames. There is a How-To in the capture area that details tuning your system to capture. It has you check various things including that DMA is enabled etc. Do you have any other IDE devices on the same cable that your hard drive is on? If so, you may want to move them to the secondary IDE cable. What kind of hard drive are you running anyway?

As for high CPU utilization when just watching TV, that's normal (mine does it too anyway). My CPU hovers at 60-70% when watching TV, and only 10% when capturing to non-compressed AVI... 60% when capturing to MJPEG compressed AVI.

Jeff

[jerets]

i just made sure that it has ultraDMA set for that drive and does not cashe to that drive either... still no luck..? 10% dropped frames for 480x360 and yet more then enough cpu left...? what am i doing wrong?
jeff uve been much helpful, thanks a ton
thanks again guys, uve all been most helpful :)!
jere

[djnibler]

Doh, well I'm about at a loss here. Tell me... what is your hard drive light doing while the capture is taking place.... is it almost solid bright, or dim flickering, or periodically flashing? How much space is on your drive? How large is the drive? If you have a large drive (say 80 gig), and you only have 10gig free, and your drive is very badly fragmented, you may want to run a defrag, otherwise I wouldn't worry about it.

Do you have the latest drivers/BIOS installed for your MB and Hard Disk controller?

Looking back at earlier posts, I don't see what app you are using to capture. Try another app..... vdub and iuVCR have a good reputation around here from my intensive readings in the last few days (though I myself have not had much luck with vdub). iuVCR seems to have the lowest dropped frames and CPU usage. I think its http://www.iulabs.com. If not, search the forum for iuVCR and youll find a link. Try a different compression codec as well.... also, if the compression codec is configurable, try setting it to lower quality (for instance, the MJPEG codec has a slider from 1 to 20. My CPU is at 60% with 0 dropped frames on setting 19, but if I go to 20, it pegs at 100% with tons of dropped frames).

Hope some of this helps.... I'm new at this too

Jeff

[jerets]

i have a western digital 80gig 7200rpm. i have nothing on it (wiped it clean when i was having this mess), ran norton on everything. i am capturing w/ ati mmc 7.1 (the only verison supporting my card)-do you think that my card may be dropping some frames and cant handle what im forsing apon it. i have one of the older ati cards
-All-in wonder Rage 128
^it has 16mb pci bus

i get pretty confused on what does what, what helps what (in the capturing process), ex: more memory prevents..... <- couldnt finish that sentence when it comes to capture. im very new to all of this too.

im capturing in non-compressed avi, im afraid if i attempt to capture in mpeg that i may loss even more frames :-/ lol. ill have to give it a try though. you've been very helpful and i think you much for your fast replys! :)
jere

[Nelson37]

I have virtually identical system, except 512 MB RAM, AC 97 sound, and AGP AIW 128. Your PCI card may be a problem. I can capture 720x480, on XP, no problem. I found the last couple of "magic" tricks for near perfect captures were :
EDIT - A#1 = Use SVIDEO, and DIGITAL CABLE - I have almost given up on non-digital cable, except when no other option exists, then I have to use smoothing filters
1. First MMC 7.5, then 7.6 - 7.1 was much worse
2. Cropping the overscan area ON CAPTURE (7.6 has setting for this, otherwise use Stinky's MMC tool) 672x448 is capture res
3. IVTC - very important (AFTER capture)
4. capturing to MPEG2 at high bitrates shrunk the file enough to virtually eliminate frame drops, 7.6 and cropping have eliminated them altogether
5. I encode svcd 480x480 fpr DVD playback, but the above should hold for Divx, as well
Note on Hardware - when RAM was cheap I Upped all the way to 1 gig, then back to 512 - definite improvement over 256

[jerets]

i have just standard cable, but its not too bad - i have a signal booster on it to improve quality.

so you think doubling my memory (from 256-512) will prevent dropped frames and enable me to increase the video size for my captures?

"Your PCI card may be a problem"
^so are you saying its time to upgrade? or are you saying their may be something wrong w/ just my card (like defected in some sorta way)?

thanks
jere

[jeex]

i read a month or so ago in pc magazine of a program called "ramdisk xp". basically what it does is create a virtual drive from your ram.. so per se you had 3 gigs of ram, you could allocate 2 gigs as a virtual drive.. which you could capture video to .. without any fears of your harddrive's slowness causing dropped frames, meaning you could also capture at a higher size & bitrate... has anyone tried this? i only have 256mb of ram on this system, but i'm building a new one soon, and am defienetly considering starting off with a 1gb ramdus ram module, and adding 2 more when i can afford it...

nothing in stone.. just a thought...

[Bstansbury]

Jerets,

Go look at the ATI web site and get the latest MMC software and drivers for your card. You say you have an All in Wonder 128 Rage card. ATi does not list that card. They have All in Wonder 128, and a Rage 128 but not the one you listed. In either case they have MMc version 7.2 which might really improve your capture.

Also, since you are having problems dropping frames at other res. go look at in the User Guides section of the forum and find my post "How to tune your system for ATI capture. If you are dropping frames, you need to tune your system and get rid of what is blocking or interrupting capture.

If you are captureing in 320x240 you are eliminating 1/2 of the picture information. This format is called Half SIF,... no wonder it looks bad. TV is 640x480 and you are basically capturing 1/4 of the data. You should try to get the best MMC software and see what resolutions this gives you. Also, why are you messing with DIVx,... unless you only want to capture stuff and look at it on your PC. YOu can't use it on VCD or SVCD,... so why use it.

Hope this helps

[Gameshow Host]

I have a slightly slower CPU than you, but I have no dropped frames when I capture at 720x576. Make sure no other programs are running when you capture, and your drives have their DMA enabled. And make sure your capturing drive is nice and clean (you should defrag regularly).

[jerets]

hey,
yes my system is tuned and i do have the lastest drivers for my card. (my card is listed as ati aiw 128). the drive im using for my captures is 7200rpm and completely cleaned off w/ not a thing on it (80 gig). no other apps are running when i rip and i do have ultraDMA set. the only thing i can figure is that my card (w/ only 16mb pci bus) cant handle 640x480 does any1 think that may be a possibility? that mayb its time for me to get a better card?
what would a card w/ more/faster:
-----
Memory Bus
Memory Size
Memoryclock
Chipclock
RAMDAC (S)
----
http://www6.tomshardware.com/graphic/01q4/011211/
^compairs the newer cards

could my card be the problem? only able to capture so much...

thanks guys :)
jerets

**my harddrive:
http://www.westerndigital.com/products/current/retailkits/wd800bbrtl.asp

[OptimusPrime22]

You might wanna try a AGP version of the ATI cards. I believe I have heard that AGP cards tend to perform better than their PCI counterparts in the long run. This is just my opinion though and I could be very much off base with that.

[jerets]

wait.... if your trying to capture using uncompressed avi (16gig/half hour) w/ 640 x 480 ... then could it be that my hard drive just cant take all that in that quickly?... im pretty sure thats the case. but if i capture w/ any decent mpeg quality it just maxes out my cpu and leaves me w/ a ton of dropped frames.
-id really like to find something that works. my pc is tuned (followed the guide)
..is there any format that wont max out ur cpu but at the same time not put out files so huge your hd cant take it all in when capturing 640 x 480?

[jerets]

w/ the signal booster i now have on my cable which comes in2 my pc.. and then capturing w/ uncompressed avi 320 x 240 <- it looks better then i think ill ever beable to do to it. even if i do get 640 x 480 w/ mpeg or something... it wont have the quality im receiving now. my only problem now is when i use vdub to edit my rip and re-sync i also compress it to divx4.12 or divx5... which is really what my problem is. divx is clouding up my rip.. all blur and fuz :-/ i need to find a avi format other then what ive tried...
anyways, im going to add a new topic to my question since my problem has been taking new paths all through this post :-/ lol he he.

i want to thank all of you guys that have done your best to help me out and add your 2-sence and helping me find the problem :)!
thanks a ton to all =)
jerets

[Nelson37]

Jerets- I haven't used a PCI capture card in some time but I do think the limited bandwidth could be your problem. Just for giggles, try capturing w/o sound, this could be an issue. good luck!