Video Capture Questions

Discussion in 'Junky's Jungle' started by Myke, Sep 27, 2000.

  1. Myke

    Myke Administrator Staff Member Content Manager Kage

    PSN:
    Myke623
    XBL:
    Myke623
    I just bought myself capture card and found that the software bundled with it for capturing isn't quite ideal for my needs. The display window during capture only plays at around 5-10 fps even though it's capturing at 25 fps. I had this idea of capturing video while I played, but playing at 5-10 fps is impossible :(

    So am I limited to the packaged software for capturing or can I use another product? If not, surely there must be cards out there that can maintain 25fps display during the capture? No?

    __
    m y k e
    how ya gonna win when ya ain't right within?
     
    Myke, Sep 27, 2000
    #1
  2. Chanchai

    Chanchai Well-Known Member

    My experience (which isn't much) has been dealing with the 5-10 or even sometimes 3 frames per second during capture. However, you can edit the video files and cut them down in the mixing and editing process. However, that's my experience... Oh, and when compressing, that just takes forever depending on your system....
     
    Chanchai, Sep 27, 2000
    #2
  3. Myke

    Myke Administrator Staff Member Content Manager Kage

    PSN:
    Myke623
    XBL:
    Myke623
    My experience (which isn't much) has been dealing with the 5-10 or even sometimes 3 frames per second during capture.

    Damn, so should I expect that kind of display rate during capture across the board? I'm not really concerned with the editing/rendering/compressing process at this stage -- it's the raw capture that worries me. The only work-around I can see with the current card I purchased is to put it all onto tape first, and then just capture the playback. So this way, I wouldn't care that the playback window during capture was a dog slow 5 fps. It'd just be nice not to have to go to video first.

    __
    m y k e
    how ya gonna win when ya ain't right within?
     
    Myke, Sep 27, 2000
    #3
  4. GodEater

    GodEater Well-Known Member

    The 5-10 fps is surely a software limitation. And can
    be gotten around by using a better program.

    An excellent Freeware program is VirtualDub allowing the
    user to capture in pretty much any codec (rather than
    having to capture in proprietary format) which is a real
    time saver. The program has several other options that
    are missing from the usual bundled software which makes it
    a real find.


    I'll try and track down the web address for you.

    GE
     
    GodEater, Sep 27, 2000
    #4
  5. Chanchai

    Chanchai Well-Known Member

    oh wow, now I'm also interested in that program/images/icons/smile.gif

    Especially with all the stuff I've been dealing with experimenting with capturing... Thanks GE

    -Chanchai
     
    Chanchai, Sep 27, 2000
    #5
  6. Llanfair

    Llanfair Well-Known Member

    OKie - got your email.

    I have a capture card made by AIMS. It's called the VideoHighway Extreme. I use their proprietary software called CaptureX. I can only capture at 320x240 and I have no idea what the frame rate is, unfortuantely. However, the frame rate is good because I can play no problem through the capture window. I plug the DC directly into the capture card at the back of my PC and play. Pretty simple.

    AIMS' website is www.aimslab.com but apparently their site is down at the present time.

    What I would like to do is replace my capture card with an ATI capture card...I have an ATI Rage128 and this would likely work a bit better - it also can capture at 640x480 (I think GE has an ATI capture setup)

    Hope this helps.

    <font color=white> Llanfair the prized <font color=green>cabbage</font color=green></font color=white>
     
    Llanfair, Sep 27, 2000
    #6
  7. Myke

    Myke Administrator Staff Member Content Manager Kage

    PSN:
    Myke623
    XBL:
    Myke623
    http://www186.pair.com/vdub

    That's the website for VirtualDub I believe, and I've downloaded and tested it out. It's looks much better than what came bundled with my studio mp10 but I've yet to achieve the golden fast frame rate in the playback/preview window. Keep in mind I'm totally new to this game, so I'm not exactly sure to what to tweak in order to get it just right. Any ideas GE?

    For e.g. my preview window is at 352x240, and the frame rate is horrendous (unplayable) however, reducing it to postage stamp size (176x120) improves the frame rate to something 'playable'. I failed to see what effect the frame rate selector in the bottom right corner had? I'm guessing it sets the frame rate for the capture, and not the preview/playback?

    Grr, I feel like I'm making some progress so I thank you all for your input so far, but man this is frustrating! :)

    __
    m y k e
    how ya gonna win when ya ain't right within?
     
    Myke, Sep 27, 2000
    #7
  8. GodEater

    GodEater Well-Known Member

    hurum.....next quesion is system related: what kind of card,
    what kind of system? Llany's right in that (thanks to KBCat)
    I have an ATI setup. Capturing with either the ATI software
    or Vdub yeilds playable results.

    I have a PII, 233 with 128 megs of ram. Capturing with ATI's
    software I can manually re-size the capturing window without
    as big as my monitor will allow without any change in displayed
    frame rate.

    I can totally understand your frustration....hopefully we can
    help you out with it.

    GE
     
    GodEater, Sep 27, 2000
    #8
  9. GodEater

    GodEater Well-Known Member

    I'm gonna pass this one off to another capture aficianado, the
    Shroud. hopefully he'll have some words of wisdom.

    GE
     
    GodEater, Sep 27, 2000
    #9
  10. Myke

    Myke Administrator Staff Member Content Manager Kage

    PSN:
    Myke623
    XBL:
    Myke623
    I have a PII, 450 with 128 ram, and a Voodoo Banshee video card. The capture 'card' (it isn't really a card) I purchased from Pinnacle is called the Studio MP10. It's a little breakout box which hooks up to my PC via the parallel port.

    Hmm, could it be a data throughput problem with the parallel port? I'm thinking of going back and exchanging it for the Studio DC10plus which is an internal card, to see if that makes any difference?

    Do you think it may help if you told me what your video and capture settings/prefs are in VirtualDub?

    __
    m y k e
    how ya gonna win when ya ain't right within?
     
    Myke, Sep 27, 2000
    #10
  11. Llanfair

    Llanfair Well-Known Member

    Yeah - this could indeed be the problem. If the 'card' is a contact with the PC via a parallel, I'm no expert on this, but I would imagine the transfer rate through a parallel is WAY slower than a direct PCI slot hook-up.

    I'd say this is likely your problem - can you return the 'card'??


    <font color=white> Llanfair the prized <font color=green>cabbage</font color=green></font color=white>
     
    Llanfair, Sep 27, 2000
    #11
  12. Myke

    Myke Administrator Staff Member Content Manager Kage

    PSN:
    Myke623
    XBL:
    Myke623
    Re: Problem solved

    Thanks Llanfair, GE, and Chanchai for your ideas and I'm pleased to say that I've solved my problem which basically boiled down to the limitation of data throughput via the parallel port. I've exchanged my studio MP10 (external box) for the miroDC30plus (internal card, which kicks ass btw) and I couldn't be more happier with the results.

    Once I get my head around Premier and SummErs sends me those tapes, I'll be putting together a little highlight reel of my recent MYG2 venture.

    __
    m y k e
    how ya gonna win when ya ain't right within?
     
    Myke, Oct 1, 2000
    #12

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