Dropping frames in VirtualDub... 50 percent!! (???)

[davidgrp04]

Hello,


Have read the FAQ, but still am without an answer. I am quite new to video capture.

I am trying learn to use VurtualDub, xVid, etc.

But, I can't seem to get a decent capture in the first place.

Software:

- VirtualDubMod that came with Gknot.
- xVid 1.0 RC4
- Huffyuv 2.1.1

Hardware:
- Intel P4 1.7 GHz (Laptop)
- 640 MB RAM
- USB 2.0 ports
- D-link DSB C-100 camera (USB 1.1)

When I try to capture, even at very low resolution and frame rates, I get massive number of frames dropped. Sometimes approaching 50 percent.

I am using a laptop, but I should think that my hard disk could handle a 176x144 @ 5 fps capture. I even tried capturing to a ramdisk. It was no help.

CPU use is never over a few %. Have tried both uncompressed and with Huffyyuv.

Now, sometimes when I start VirtualDub, if i don't change any settings and go right to "capture mode" and start capturing with what ever the defaults are (176x144@15fps no compression), it will work fine with zero dropped frames. This will happen maybe %85 of the time. It does not seem to matter if I enable "preview". If it will work, it will work with or without preview.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

David

UPDATE:
I just tested it in Windows Media Encoder 9, and the "preview" is much smoother than in vDub. Not sure about capture performance, as WM9 does not give many stats.

[davidgrp04]

Anybody?

[Mac Sidewinder]

Checkout answers 20 and 21 of the capture sticky, maybe those can help you. Dropped frames can be caused by a multitude of different things. Good luck.

Mac

[sh03z]

Windows Media Encoder 9 isn't very good...

To prevent dropped frames,

try using VirtualDub (not virtualdubmod)
as this might help.

also, set the frame rate to 29.9697 unless you need a different one (29.9697 is used most of the time)

then make sure you use the capture tutorial in the Guides section

it will guide you through setting up virtualdub for your computer hard drive speed, etc.

hope this helps.

PS there is no need to use uncompressed frames, all you need is Huffyuv @ your max resolution (max resolution = better quality)

if you're new to capturing, you might also want to use some filters before you encode. use an avisynth script...it also allows you to crop out the lines at the bottom, and perhaps black bars if you have any

-Mike