AthlonXP realtime DiVX capture test

[Terenius]

I think someone asked for some numbers in regards to AthlonXP cpu and realtime DiVX capture. Well, here are the results from some quick tests I did.

Source: Satellite feed (MPEG-2 stream)

System:
AthlonXP 1600+
512 MB DDR-Ram
Windows 2000 Server Ed
40GB Maxtor Diamond+ on dedicated IDE channel
Hauppauge WinTV-Theather capture card

Test:
Capture 5:30 from preview channel
VirtualDub 1.4.7
DiVX 4.11 Codec
640x480 resolution, 29.97 fps, YUV2

Results:

For Reference (HuffYUV)
Frames captured: 9897
Compression 2.9:1
Frames dropped: 1
Total size: 2.1 GB

DiVX (Slowest encoding setting, 1500 kb/s bitrate)
Frames captured: 9819
Compression 80.8:1
Frames dropped: 87
Total size: 126.8 MB

DiVX (Slowest encoding setting, 1000 kb/s bitrate)
Frames captured: 9821
Compression 100.1:1
Frames dropped: 80
Total size: 57.5 MB

DiVX (Slow encoding setting, 1500 kb/s bitrate)
Frames captured: 9882
Compression 68.7:1
Frames dropped: 8
Total size: 139.9 MB

DiVX (Medium encoding setting, 1500 kb/s bitrate)
Frames captured: 9885
Compression 71.5:1
Frames dropped: 4
Total size: 136.5 MB

DiVX (Internal De-interlace, slow, 1500 kb/s)
Frames captured: 9849
Compression 87.3:1
Frames dropped: 49
Total size: 121.7 MB

DiVX (Internal De-interlace, medium, 1500 kb/s)
Frames captured: 9885
Compression 87.3:1
Frames dropped: 6
Total size: 121.7 MB

My Conclusion:
AthlonXP 1600+ is certainly up to the task of real-time encoding. I would use (1500, slow), or (1500, medium, de-interlace). If you're just planning to use it to capture the occasional missed show then I'd highly recommend using this method. Beats capturing to MPEG-1 hands down in my opinion.

Hope that answers your question (whoever was asking)

[elpapacito]

Interesting test , thanks for sharing your experience with us.

[Terenius]

Wow, a reply! Even though someone had orginally asked for the numbers, I was starting to think no one cared about it :)

[bb]

How do you cut out the ads? Using MJPEG I can cut by frame, but using DivX4 I need to cut at a keyframe.

As long as there is no tool that can insert a keyframe at any position including the reencoding necessary for the following frames until the next keyframe, I'll stay with the MJPEG method (PicVideo, quality 19).

BTW: Inserting a keyframe would be a nice extension to VirtualDub, wouldn't it?

bb

[Terenius]

bb, you're right... I won't use realtime DiVX capture for anything I was going to archive.

I use MJPEG as well for my regular captures, but say I was out of town for a day and they were playing the best of ST:NG marathon on TNN... I could use DiVX to record the entire day of episodes at full resolution on my pitiful 40 GB HD.

I tried using MPEG-1, and MPEG-2 (at 1/4 resolution) for this type of long run capture, but in my opinion neither could match the IQ of DiVX. So I would say that realtime DiVX certainly has it's uses.

[bb]

Ok, for that purpose I'd rather use quarter PAL / NTSC resolution. That way you don't have to worry about deinterlacing, and you can capture with slower machines like my 1.3GHz Thunderbird.

bb

[NeVeRLiFt]

I can capture at 720x480 using 6000 bitrate and not drop frames using the DivX4.11 codec.
With mpeg2 I can capture at 720x480 using 15000 bitrate and no dropped frames. So IMHO the AthlonXP does great for video capture.
BTW I use a AIW Radeon.

[ppera2]

Hmmm... interesting.

I think that capturing in DivX 4.xx is good idea for temporary storage of video watching system with (B/W) cameras. Quality is not important, but place consumption...
Just need some software to control all it.

[Olleman]

Hi!

It was me that asked about some encoding numbers for DivX4 and AthlonXP and I just wanted to thank Terenius for his test, i'ts a bit clearer to be now what the XP is capable of! :)

Best Regards, Olle