Captured move is chunky

[RCH]

I use Pinnacle PCTV Pro and VirtualDub (always the latest) to capture moveclips direct to DivX avi. The result is good, but the motion is a little chunky.

What can I do?

(Sorry for poor english)

[Mutable]

I've never tried it myself but I understand it can be done if your system is fast enough. What are your system specs? Since you use Virtualdub, did you check the system resources and whether or not you were dropping frames?

p.s. there's another thread that gives more detail about what you should be doing.

[theReal]

You can do different things:

2. check that divx is set to "fastest" encoding (I guess you're not using divx 3.11?)
3. try other colorspace input formats (i.e. YUV12, RGB24, whatever...)
4. lower input resolution
5. buy faster computer ;)

[RCH]

My PC:
P4 1500@1600 with Asus P4B motherboard, 512 MB Ram, 7200 RPM Quantum HDD, GeForce 2 MX 400.
When the capture start, the CPU usage about 80%.
The captured movie is nice, no audio sync problem.
Maybe i can upload to my homepage a little part of a captured movie...

[RCH]

Uhh, i forget:
Captured size: 384*288
Color YUY2

[theReal]

the CPU usage about 80%I know why I prefer AMD :D

Seriously, there seems to be something wrong - the CPU load is a little high for that resolution in YUY2 colorspace. I only get 80%-90% when capturing in YUV12, Divx5 100% quality with b-frames in 640x480 from my WinTV PCI card.
Without b-frames the CPU load goes down to ~50-60% (in 640x480!).

In 384x288 you shouldn't have to think about CPU load at all!


P.S., my sys:
Thunderbird 1400@1500 (10x150) (1.85V)
Epox 8K7A+ (AMD761 with HPT Raid)
512MB PC2100 Crucial Micron (2.9V)
ATI Radeon 7500 retail
2 x 60GB Western Digital (5400U/pm)

[Mutable]

I tested capping directly to divx with my system. My specs are closer to RCH's. P4 Intel board, 1.5 GHz, 512 Rdram, ATI AIW Radeon, and I cap to SCSI drive. Using Real's divx settings, at 640x480 YUY2, I was at 90-95% and dropped 57 frames in a 30 second clip. At 352x240, I was at 35-40% with no drops.

Dropped frames could be causing your "chunkiness."

@RCH
You never mentioned whether or not you were dropping frames. Real mentions that he uses a Raid array setup, and I use a SCSI drive. Since you're using an IDE drive, is it at least a separate drive on a separate IDE controller?

[theReal]

Unfortunately I haven't set up the RAID array yet - so actually I'm using a 5400U/pm single drive and it is fast enough (but of course I have an empty capture partition, so no fragmentation)

[RCH]

Originally posted by Mutable

@RCH
You never mentioned whether or not you were dropping frames. Real mentions that he uses a Raid array setup, and I use a SCSI drive. Since you're using an IDE drive, is it at least a separate drive on a separate IDE controller?

I use a fast HDD...
I have some new perception: when i capture, the movie on the preview window is chunky too (in overlay mode).
Maybe the VDub is not perfect...?

[Mutable]

Well, both Real and I were able to cap to divx, so I don't think its vdub or the codec. My 640x480 cap needed to be deinterlaced, but the motion of the 352x240 cap seemed smooth enough, not great quality but OK.

You still haven't mentioned if you were dropping frames. Your system seemed pretty taxed for a 384x288 cap. Like I said, my system specs are similar to yours with the exception of my capping drive. I agree that the specs of your hd is fast enough, and I might be barking up the wrong tree with my theory, but if you're capturing to your system drive, all bets are off. Even if it is a separate drive but you've set it up as a slave on the same controller as your system drive might interfere with the data rate. Finally, is DMA enabled and write caching disabled?

[RCH]

Originally posted by Mutable
Finally, is DMA enabled and write caching disabled?

The chaching is disable, but i can't change the DMA settings: no DMA option on the Device Manager/Disk drivers/... (Win98SE).
But when i capture some movie, on the VDub info panel show me: no dropped frames.

Short example movie here: www.extra.hu/rikardo/chunky.avi
(0.9 MB, DivX 5.01, no audio)