RAID 0 bows before Huffyuv

[Gren]

just recently upgraded and have a very frustrating problem when trying to capture video. my rig is as follows (cap relevant bits only):

p4 2.53
asus p4pe
512 ddr 333
Lifeview Flyvideo 3000
raid 0 array: 2x80gb WD Caviars - JB model (8mb cache)

when i capture to the array (using fly2000 TV or iuVCR) cpu usage is approximately 50%. The compressed flow to around 7/8 mb/s at yet the capture loses frames. Approximately 1 every 5-6 minutes.

I capture at a full PAL res of 768x576. I first thought that perhaps huffy can't handle the res but i'm pretty sure it'd b the hard drive being unable to keep up. sound right about right? any ideas how to optimize the array? i'm running a stripe size and ntfs cluster size of 64k.

[uteotw]

Your hardware sounds fine. Your hardrives, even if not install in Raid array, can keep up with more than 10mb/s.

On a Celeron466 oc 550 , IDE66 and no Raid I could capture PAL full res using Huffyuv with no frame drops or limited to 5 per hour on average.

- Is you OS on another hard drive ? If you're raid arry also hosts your system then you might have slow downs when your OS does a disk access.
- Do you capture to a dedicated partition ? Avoid framentation and therefore slow down by using a clean dedicated partition.
- I don't know your mobo but after checking the Asus site I don't see a hardware Raid controller. Is it a Raid software set up ?
- I'd say you should check if you have any backgroud apps running.
- If you're under XP disable System restore, indexing services.
- If you're using NTFS you can optimize it, check http://www.tweakxp.com
- You should check what IRQ you're mobo uses for the hard drive controller and see if any other device is sharing it. Even if it's meant to work fine I personally prefer to make sure that no other device uses the controller's IRQ.
- Last thing I can think of is that your capture card loses sync with what you're capturing. If it's a VHS it can be quite frequent depending on the quality of the tape and the recording. If it's analog TV and slight fluctuation in signal quality can produce a frame drop.

It's all I can suggest.

Overall 1 frame every 5 minutes is not that bad.

uteotw

[Gren]

Originally posted by uteotw
- Is you OS on another hard drive ?
- Do you capture to a dedicated partition ? Avoid framentation and therefore slow down by using a clean dedicated partition.


yes & yes


- I don't know your mobo but after checking the Asus site I don't see a hardware Raid controller. Is it a Raid software set up ?


the raid controller is a Abit Hot Rod 100 Pro - HPT 370


- I'd say you should check if you have any backgroud apps running.


no back ground aps however cpu usage is still minimal - although there may b background accessing hard - will double chek this


- If you're under XP disable System restore, indexing services.
- If you're using NTFS you can optimize it, check http://www.tweakxp.com

already done - testing the tweak xp stuff now


- Last thing I can think of is that your capture card loses sync with what you're capturing. If it's a VHS it can be quite frequent depending on the quality of the tape and the recording. If it's analog TV and slight fluctuation in signal quality can produce a frame drop.


i severely hope not. the vhs is a clean input and i have had NO problems on an older system using an asus v6600 deluxe using the asv2 codec - not the same throughput as huffy but it highlights the point that the vhs quality is not an issue.


Overall 1 frame every 5 minutes is not that bad.


true - but when i was able to capture for hours on a lower system without a frame drop - this seems rather pitiful

[Gren]

well i just did the tweak xp stuff and tweak the ntfs settings. did a cap with no sound and it still dropped a frame. the source was clean vhs.

[Kb_cruncher]

I read a review of your raid card a few days ago and the write to disk scores it got compared with the promise fast trak were very poor to say the least.i would recommend trying a different raid card.

[Kb_cruncher]

You might check to make sure your hd's are DMA mode enabled and you have the latest ide port drivers.

[Gren]

Originally posted by Kb_cruncher
I read a review of your raid card a few days ago and the write to disk scores it got compared with the promise fast trak were very poor to say the least.i would recommend trying a different raid card.



yeah - already a step ahead of u - i now NEED a new card! m8 and i tried flashing the bios and now it don't boot at all!


You might check to make sure your hd's are DMA mode enabled and you have the latest ide port drivers.



yeah after the card died we thought of that - i never checked - i just assumed they would be seeing all my other drives automatically enabled DMA.

[DarkAvenger]

It is pretty normal to loose frames. It is because of the soundcard I guess. The clock of it is not exact and for the sake of sync onca a while a frame has to be dropped.

[theReal]

It is pretty normal to loose frames. It is because of the soundcard I guess. The clock of it is not exact and for the sake of sync onca a while a frame has to be dropped. Get VDub sync and that problem is history :)