Dropped frames and poor quality

yakster wrote on 9/30/2001, 10:02 PM
I can't seem to get the dropped frames down to a lower number that I had when I originally installed VF 2.0, I usually end up dropping something on the order of 3000 frames in approx 10-12 minutes worth of capture, I have the program on a 1.0ghz Thunderbird, so I don't think that could be the problem, as I used to get drop rates of 5-10%, instead of the 33%+ Im getting now. I know you peeps will LOL at me for the capture card I have D-Link DSB-V100, and I know this is why I am getting the poor quality that I am, I ordered a Dazzle capture card last night, and am looking forward to much improved quality very soon. Can anyone help with any tweaks to my system, WIN98SE, 384mhz, PC133, Voodoo 4 etc, that might help with dropped frames? Thanks Nick (Yakster)

Comments

Jdodge wrote on 10/1/2001, 4:11 PM
Make sure you have DMA enabled on your hard-drives. Go into your device manager (windows key + pause/Device Manager) then right click on your hard drives and select Properties. Then make sure you have the check box for 'DMA enabled' checked. That will allow direct memory access to the drive for capture/recording. Might help with the dropped frames.

Anyone have other suggestions?
yakster wrote on 10/3/2001, 10:50 PM
First I want to thank you Jdodge for the relpy. Ok, now that I have a real capture card I can see the difference big time from the one I was using, anywho, since installing the Dazzle I can't use Video Factory 2 to capture, it is recognizing the card but wont let me preview, and I checked the preview setting to make sure that its right. Also I changed the system to DMA, but haven't restarted to see any improvements. Will write back to this site when i get more time to sit down and tweak proggie and sys. THANKS AGAIN, PEACE/
Chienworks wrote on 10/4/2001, 4:44 PM
It's also very important to make sure you have as little as possible
running in the background. Typically i have ONLY Explorer, Systray,
and video capture running when i'm capturing video. I don't even have
screen savers disabled ... i just have no screen savers at all.

I use one of the scummier capture cards, a Hauppauge WinTV basic
($70 at OfficeMax). My system is an 866MHz PIII, 256MB RAM,
WD ATA/100 drives. I've been able to capture full 640x480x29.97
video for over an hour straight without dropping a single frame.

If i have a virus scanner active in the background, my dropped frame
rate can go up to 5% or so.
yakster wrote on 10/4/2001, 9:30 PM
Wow Chienworks, sounds like really great capture rates, wish I could comment on what the Dazzle that came yesterday would get, lol. I was getting it set up last night and discovered that the data cable from the card to the 'puter had a short, and I was losing sound and video intermintently, I should have a replacement by 10-8, and hope to report back here soon after that to see if I can get as good a rate as those, LOL I sure hope so, I spent $250 for the Dazzle, THANKS AGAIN PEEPS FOR THE INFO, PEACE