Elgato Game Capture HD - Video Corruption

[TrueBlue1981]

I've already posted a similar problem to this thread, but the problem has somewhat changed since then, and I've found new things going on.

Basically, the Elgato Game Capture HD will corrupt and glitch the video while capturing. You can see it on the preview window, but since I'm not always looking at the laptop when I capture, I don't always notice it until it's too late.

The corrupt video is often unusable, and I have to delete it.. and many of the videos I record I cannot record again. I also use the built-in Live Commentary feature, and whent he corruption occurs, the commentary is completely missing from the video, for some reason.

A perfect example of this corruption can bee found on my video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWzWRKY6l94

Around the 7:25 mark, the Elgato will spaz out. In this case, I was using Audacity to record commentary, so it didn't disappear like when using the Live Commentary feature.

Basically.. why is it doing this? I've been back and forth with Elgato Support, and so far even THEY don't know why it's doing this. My laptop meets and exceeds the requirements of the Elgato, for both RAM and CPU. My USB ports are functioning fine, there is no high CPU usage when it occurs as the Elgato is using less than 40%.

Also, the corruption happens when I'm NOT capturing. The preview window will corrupt and glitch in the same as if I was recording. Since I'm not recording when the glitching happens, I have no idea what could be causing it.

I apologize if I didn't seem to make much sense... just watch the video at 7:25 and you'll see what the problem is. I'll be replacing the Elgato with a Roxio Game Cap HD at this rate, if this glitching does not stop.

[jagabo]

That happens when the computer isn't powerful enough. Their capture driver uses the CPU for decoding all the time (even when your not capturing, only editing an old video, the capture driver is running and hogging up CPU cycles). If the computer falls behind (either from too high a CPU load* or a pause for disk access) it starts dropping data from the USB port, leading to corruption like you're seeing. Capturing to a secondary drive (not the OS drive) may help as the OS won't be using the drive for other things. Make sure your laptop isn't switching to a low power mode. And make sure it's not overheating.

* Even though you are only seeing 40 percent CPU usage -- that's only an average. There may be short term spikes. 100 percent CPU usage for 400 milliseconds followed by 0 percent CPU usage for 600 milliseconds averages out to 40 percent CPU usage. But if there program needed more than 100 percent during the 400 millisecond interval you will have problems.

[TrueBlue1981]

Hmm... well, the Elgato requires a dual-core 2GHz CPU and 4Gb of RAM... I have a dual-core 2.24GHz CPU and 4Gb of RAM, so my laptop meets/exceeds the requirements for it to run, so theoretically, it SHOULD be powerful enough, right?

I did try to capture to a secondary internal HDD, but it didn't look like it helped at all, but I'll try again at some point. I've got it set to High Performance mode, and it's not overheating, as I have two large fans underneath it keeping it cool.

The only thing I can think of to do is either get the Roxio Game Capture HD, as that uses less resources than the Elgato, or upgrade my laptop. I'm probably going to do both, either way.

Thanks for the reply, dude!

[jagabo]

Hmm... well, the Elgato requires a dual-core 2GHz CPU and 4Gb of RAM... I have a dual-core 2.24GHz CPU and 4Gb of RAM, so my laptop meets/exceeds the requirements for it to run, so theoretically, it SHOULD be powerful enough, right?

Sure. For standard definition capture. I have an old Core 2 Duo E6300 that can't handle it.

The only thing I can think of to do is either get the Roxio Game Capture HD, as that uses less resources

I don't know about the Roxio devices but the Hauppauge HD PVR 2 can capture without displaying the video which will give you low single digit percent CPU usage while capturing. Unfortunately, its bitrate is limited to about 16 Mb/s.

[Cauptain]

Virtualdub can capture without display too. Try it.



Claudio

[TrueBlue1981]

I have turned down my bitrate, yes.. but I have yet to see if that made a difference.

I've tried both Xsplit and VirtualDub... Xsplit didn't quite work that well at capturing, and VirtualDub didn't detect the Elgato device.

Thanks for the help guys.

[SHS]

TrueBlue1981 dose it always do it in about same time frame and what the make and model of your laptop and list any other add-on device hook up to it.

[vhelp]

then, give graphedit (or better, graphstudio) a try.

here is one example of the device connection setup, graphically. there is no preview in this graph (below) because i believe it has to do with my built-in (low performance) onboard graphics card. don't worry about getting a preview working at this time. just see the blue light come on (if your unit has one) to monitor that its working. then, either press the green [>] diamond button or press the [enter] key to start recording. to stop, press the [backspace] key. i use this method all the time. use the menu\Graph\insert filter (or, Ctrl+F) to bring up the filter dialogbox, and search for each of the terms shown below. just scroll all the way down to the bottom of the list and you will see most of them. then, under DirectShow Filters is sub-level of dshow filters, open that and search for File Writer, enter a folder/filename and [Ok]. then connect each as you see them below. if you rt-click the output pins for each filter, they will auto-connect. that should get you started in a stap. and don't forget to save the graph to you don't have to rebuild it. then, you can just double-click it to load graphedit/graphstudio.

[gll99]

Although I've installed OS and other software, performed backups and recovery on notebooks for others etc.. I've never really looked inside (except to swap an hdd) so I'm no laptop guy by any definition but.... I believe that just like a PC laptops have a CMOS battery to remember settings if you pull the ps battery? (it's usually a CR2032 on PC) I'd be tempted to change it out since I had data corruption issues at one time on a pc when it was failing but it seemed to only happen under load. Otherwise I'd pull the main power battery from the laptop and run it on the external ps only. Try capturing and see if that solves the glitches which could mean your main battery is flaky (this could happen even if you run on the external ps with the main battery still in that's why it's best to remove it to test) .