Hi folks
I’m new here, though have been reading here a while, learning quite a bit.
No sense beating around the bush, I figured I’d make my first question a goodie.
I thought I’d pick your collective brains for this unusual capturing problem. I’ve Googled high and low, and only found one reference to the same problem, and no one answered this persons query.
So, on with the problem:
I have been capuring with a Hauppauge PCI card for quite a while now, from two different scources - VCR (transferring old home movies) and dish.
I capture in DVD quality, 640x480 size.
Sometimes when I capture my video, the computer will lock up. A hard reboot from the front panel is required. The mouse won’t move, though I still hear the audio as it plays. Time seems to vary for this to occur…it may happen 15 min from the start, maybe 1h45m…never the same time interval.
Sometimes after a “successful” capture, during playback the video pauses for <1 second, then a few seconds later the audio will pause for <1 second, then a few seconds later the video pauses again - this cycle continues for the length of the capture (captures from a few seconds to over 2 hours…it doesn’t matter). This is in the video, as it occurs in all video players. Editing the capture doesn’t change this, ie: cutting a piece and saving it, the edited piece still pauses the same. I can’t tell it’s doing this during the capture, as the preview doen’t display it. I have to wait till the capture is COMPLETE before I’m disappointed.
Rebooting sometimes helps the pausing thing, as re-capturing after this problems usually means it will re-occur.
Concerned it may be a software issue, I re-formatted C:, installed fresh WinXp with updates, and only the software I need. Still the same prob. I use 2 harddrives and changed the one I captured to - same. I now capture to a partition on C: hdd, same thing. I bought another Hauppauge capture card, also PCI - same thing.
Dis-abled all network connections. Nothing else running during capture. I don’t touch the computer at all during capture or encoding. That’s why I have 2 computers. Screen savers diabled. All power options set to never shut down.
Heat sinks and fans clean and clear for both CPU and power supply.
This locking up ONLY occurs during captures, as does the meno-PAUSING issue. Otherwise, my old computer has been rock steady. When I do get a good capture (about ½ the time), there are no issues. Clean and clear. Audio/video in sync, and all that. Different capturing software doesn’t make any difference.
One 2 hour video took 10 tries to get it right.
When some look at the specs of my computer, you will think it’s too slow. I don’t loose ANY frames during capture, even at this resolution.
Running at factory-set speeds, no over-clocking or modified in any way. Slow and steady.
Ausu A7N8X-E Motherboard
Athlon 1333 Thunderbird CPU
512 DDR ram
Raedon 9550 128mb video
Hauppauge WinTV capture card using Cyberlink PowerDirector3
WinXp
I think I listed all the essentials. I never have a problem during encoding, such as converting these captured videos to DivX, also to the same resolution. I think the prob is hardware, but what? Encoding seems to work the whole thing harder than capturing.
Sorry for the long post.
ANY ideas that I haven’t tried? Besides buying a new computer? If it was that easy, I would have a long time ago. This thing is coming to the grave with me…which at this rate of frustration, may not be THAT far away… :a