PCTV vision capture at 20 fps (PAL)

[VresiBerba]

Hi.

I'm having a problem when I record (capture) with PCTV vision that it produces mpeg2 files at 20 fps. I've tried everything, reinstalled PCTV vision, drivers. I have PCTV vision 5.8, Pinnacle PCTV Stereo (PAL) and live in Sweden.

Please Help, I need to capture in mpeg since I have limited hd space.

EDIT:
Here's a sample of the capture:
sample 3.44 Mb mpeg2 (http://217.215.112.146/sample.mpg)

[rfmmars]

I looked at the clip, and on playback, the only thing I notice was brightness cliping. I myself have had nothing but capture problems with Pinnacle products.

Here's something to try.......download Leadtools; demo MJPEG codec at www.leadtools.com. I you like it its $9.95 US

Download Virtual-VCR (free) and see if it will recognize your card. The MJPEG codec is very flexable from lossless mjpeg to very small files. It is the fastest codec that I have ever used.

Good lick

richard
www.photorecall.net

[VresiBerba]

Thanks rfmmars for the response, but like I said in my earlier post, I don't have enough HD space to use MJPEG. I've tried it and can't really get a grip of it, and I'm not exactly a guru when it comes to encoding to xvid either. I have at the moment about 8Gb left on one of my drives, and that's not enough for 1.5-2 hours of quality 18 MJPEG, and I would need an additional 5-7 Gb when I encode to MPEG2 to use for my DVD or at least 2-3 Gb if I encode to xvid.

Besides, I have used my PCTV Vision since I bought my pinnacle card and it always worked like a charm, but for some reason it suddenly started to produce MPEG2's at 20 fps. This is clearly a setting error, because when I first installed the PCTV I had my locale accidently set to America (I live in Sweden, PAL B) and PCTV installed and automatically set up Vision to US settings. That's the only problem I have with the PCTV Vision or Pinnacle's product, other than that, it's great.

I went into the registry and changed a setting, I unfortunately can't remember which, and changed the fps from 23.96 to 25. So I know it's possible somehow, but how.

Here's another clip captured from the same card, the same settings, but with 23.96 fps (which I later changed to 25), and I believe the quality is quite acceptable, albeit a bit blurry. 11.2 Mb, 23.96 fps (http://217.215.112.146/f1bb/test.mpg)

Does anyone know which setting in the registry controls the capture fps, or perhaps a program to change these registry settings? Alternatively, a MPEG2 codec which I could use with another capture program, iuVCR for instance.

Thanks.

[Centurione]

I got a similar problem, some time ago, when for error I set TELECIDE on in DVD2AVI ( I also live in PAL land), all DVD backup comes out at 20 fps.
Perhaps in your capture SW there is a setting for automatic TELECIDE that now is stick.
Try to see if it is the case....

regards, Centurione

[Guest]

Yeah
I´m also living in Sweden and had the same problems. It´s in the WDM-driver I think. You cant get the settings from Pinnacles (crappy) program. I solved it like this:
1: Install Virtual dub.
2: Open capture mode and change all settings you like to do there.
3: Click "save as standard" under the settings tab (still in capture mode).

Now, the same settings is used by all programs using Windows WDM drives.

[killingspree]

hi,
i just downloaded the first sample clip and it actually IS a 25 fps video!!

I think you might have left Force Film on in DVD2AVI. When doing this DVD2AVI somehow returns a 20 fps clip if fed a PAL clip (25 fps)

just make sure field operation is set to None and it should work fine!

Didn't download the second clip though as i'm limited with my dl capacity, but if you could provide a 2-3 meg sample i can take a look at it too!

kr
steVe