A/V Sync problems gone with VDub 1.6.4

[manolito]

Usually I am a little reluctant to work with "experimental" software, but in the case of VirtualDub 1.6.4 I must say that I am totally happy with its new WDM capture capability.

For my BT878 based capture card with the tweaked IULab driver I have been using VirtualVCR until now. With a lot of experimentation and the help of DarkFalz' AVI Offset Calculator I could minimize A/V sync problems, but ever once in a while I would still end up with a completely screwed up A/V sync. And when capturing a bad VHS tape where I would get plenty of dropped frames, A/V sync was mostly hopeless.

After trying the new VDub 1.6.4 all I can say is: If you have WDM based capture drivers and have been plagued by A/V sync problems, use VDub 1.6.4 by all means.

Even when capturing a very bad tape where I get over 200 dropped frames within 30 seconds at one point, there was not the slightest audio drift. Basically I did not change the default settings except custom frame size (464 x 576) and Preview with acceleration instead of Overlay. And VDub also captures without A/V offsets, so no problems when editing the file in VDub. No more need for AVI Offset Calculator.

Of course there is a small wish list for the stable version: Mainly I miss the option to save capture settings like Video Compression, Custom Format, Overlay or Preview. Right now you have to reenter all these settings whenever you do a new capture. A timer would be nice, too. You can simulate a timer with command line options, but without the possibility to select a Custom Format or a Video Compressor from the command line, this is not really helpful right now.


Cheers
manolito

[Boulder]

All those settings are saved AFAIK, see Device->Device settings.

[manolito]

Thanks Boulder, I must have been so excited that I've overlooked that. So bye bye VirtualVCR...

Cheers
manolito

[BruceL]

I have not had a chance to check out VDub 1.6.4 capture capability. Can you make scheduled recordings?

[Boulder]

You can use the commandline options to do that. The only thing missing is shutting down VDub after recording, but Avery will probably add that option later. For CLI options, see his journal entry regarding v1.6.4.

[manolito]

@BruceL
If shutting down VDub or the computer after capture is absolutely essential for you, I have written a simple utility that lets you do just this. Let me know if you need it, I will upload it if you do.

Cheers
manolito

[BruceL]

@manolito
leoncheong of the VirtualVCR forum wrote VVCRS2 (VirtualVCR Scheduler). One of it's nice features is it can wake your computer from Standby (STR, Suspend To RAM), capture using VirtualVCR and then go back to sleep again. I use standby mode most of the time as I have grown tired of waiting for a full boot. Boot up times remind me of warm up times of vacuum tube TV's when I was a kid. Instant on TV's seem to have come faster than instant on computers. I have had good success with A/V sync using VirtualVCR even with VHS captures. When I get time, I'll check out the latest Virtual Dub. I don't usually have as much spare time in winter to experiment as I am a ski addict (:D), but if you don't mind up loading your program, I wouldn't mind checking it out.

[leoncheong]

@manolito

I don't quite understand how this Device->Device settings works. Can it, purely from command line, have 2 captures consecutively from Tuner as the source, and then from S-Video as the source. I can do that with VirtualVCR. My FTA channels are on Tuner and Cable TV is on S-video.

@BruceL
After 2.5 years, my 2rd power supply unit just give-up on me. So I'll be adding hibernate function to VVCRS2. VDub 1.6.4 command line options are very simillar to VirtualVCR and I have modified VVCRS2 to work with VDub. I hope to get this this (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=90789) solved for my testing purpous before releasing. Alternatively, I'll just release it as a beta. Yes, it will close VDub at the end of capture, just like VirtualVCR

[BruceL]

@leoncheong
Thank you for your handy utilities. I look forward to your new release for the latest VDub and hope the problem you encountered can be resolved or overcome. Your VVCRS programs and VirtualVCR are the only capture tools I have used in a long time. I have yet to see anything as effective, reliable and simple to use. :)

PS I have been using Antec power supplies with STR for quite some time with great reliability (knock on wood).

[manolito]

@leoncheong
It seems VDub 1.64 has no solution to your problem right now. The "/capchannel" parameter only lets you select a different channel, but not switch the input from tuner to SVHS. The "/capdevice" parameter won't help you either, since both tuner and SVHS use the same capture device.

Cheers
manolito