Capture Resulting in Dropped... Lines?!?

[zilog jones]

Hey, I've just started trying out a Hauppauge WinTV PCI-FM (CX881 chip) on my P3 PC, just to see if it's actually fast enough. But I'm not sure now - if I capture at 704x576 or higher, it looks as if it's dropping lines - some lines in certain frames are either green or are lines from a previous part in the video. Here's some examples:

http://www.skynet.ie/~zilog/yuy2-1.png
http://www.skynet.ie/~zilog/yuy2-2.png
http://www.skynet.ie/~zilog/yuy2-3.png

If I change the resolution down to 640x576 or lower, the picture seems ok. I'm using Virtual VCR with Huffyuv and YUY2 colour, though I get the same results with WinTV. If I try RGB24 it seems even worse, but without green lines. Turning off audio capturing doesn't really help.

What's wrong? Is my PC just too slow, or is there something else? Or is it a hardware problem - someone else reported something like this which was caused by a VIA chipset and USB devices, but his weirdness seemed to single lines in certain places - on mine it's several lines together in several places. Here's my specs just in case:

P3 933/133FSB (Coppermine)
Via Apollo Pro Chipset
512MB SD-RAM (PC133)
Seagate Barracuda 80GB, 7200RPM (2MB cache)
There's also an Intel-based NIC and a Lucent modem.
GeForce 2 Ti 64MB

These weird lines never appear when just watching the captured inputs - they only occur when recording the video.

[zilog jones]

I tried unplugging all my USB devices, and disabled both the NIC and modem, but it hasn't made any difference. Oh, and I forgot to mention I'm using Win2k, by the way.

[scharfis_brain]

try changing the PCI-slot

and alter the PCI Latency in the CMOS Setup

[zilog jones]

I don't recall there being anything for PCI latency, but I'll see what I can do when I get home. Would moving the NIC and modem around make any difference too?

So it's definately a hardware problem then?

[zilog jones]

OK, I checked yesterday and there is nothing in the BIOS relating to any latency outside of the RAM. I tried removing the modem, the NIC, all USB devices (even though they weren't turned on previously) - I even unplugged my optical mouse (PS/2)! And after doing all this at the same time, I still got the same weird lines! I tried moving it to different PCI slots and it made no difference.

Is it definately a PCI latency problem, then? Is there any way I can change that outside the BIOS, e.g. some "tweak" program, hacking the registry or .inf files, or something?

[AVIL]

Hi:

I use the utility WPCREDIT to increase the pci latency of my capture card ( HAUPPAUGE WINT TV ). See the thread :

Strange white lines appear in my captures

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=84864

Best regards.

[zilog jones]

Yeah, I found out about this program later on today - thanks. How do I change PCI latency exactly, though? I can't seem to find much documentation on the internet for it.

[AVIL]

Ufff... Is hard for me to explain how to use WPCREDIT for this purpose but i try it.

Download the program from the author :

http://www.h-oda.com/

and expand it in one folder.

Execute WPCREDIT.EXE.

In menu EDIT select DEVICE. A list of your PCI devices appears.

Select your capture card. Mine is called "Video controller". Click OK.

In the grid of hex number select whith the mouse the number in row 00, column 0d ( hex value for latency in your capture card. Mine es 20 hex ).

Edit the binary pattern in the window at bottom. I use the value 80 hex, in binary 10000000.

Click the button SET in the right of the windows and accept the changes.

The work is done. It remains until logoff.

It will be better with some images, but i don't know how post it.

If you want to make the change stable ( it is not my case ) you can use WPCRESET, but i can't tell you about it. You must google.

[zilog jones]

I actually found a much easier solution - http://www.georgebreese.com/net/software/#PCI - look at the ""PCI Latency" patch for VIA chipsets".

It's a program that'll run each time you start Windows and fix the latency for most older VIA chipsets (Apollo series, KT133, etc.). You don't need to set anything - just either install it or uninstall it (through the normal Add/Remove thing in Control Panel). And it worked first time for me!

It's also supposed to fix similar problems caused by latency with PCI sound cards and IDE devices.

So, after all this I have discovered it is true - a 933MHz P3 *can* capture full 768x576 PAL with 44.1kHz sound without dropping frames or anything! Providing you have a modern HDD of course. And anyone with a Intel BX or i815 chipset won't have to arse around with PCI latency, either.

[markich]

got that problem too,, tried to download that patch,, nothing happens..
is it working with winXP SP 2?? i think not or?
is there another way for winXPSP2
and one question more:: is there problems like this on nForce2 motherboards with amd XP3000?? thnx

[zilog jones]

You don't physically see the program do anything - it'll just make things work. Do you still get the weird lines?

I don't know about the nForce 2 chipset, but I doubt it will have these problems.

[markich]

yes,, same old lines.,., i tried wdcredit and patch and still nothing,, i also checked in bios, but there's no pci latency option, only for ram,, well i was planning to buy new procesor and MB, (gess thats my only option) so i was curious for nforce2 chipset,,

[zilog jones]

I'd say you should be OK with an nForce 2. I haven't seen anything about PCI latency problems outside of these specific old P3/socket7/socket A chipsets from VIA.

[Arachnotron]

and one question more:: is there problems like this on nForce2 motherboards with amd XP3000?? thnx
I have had similar problems (green lines) with a hauppauge CX23881 based card and a nforce2 MB (asus A7N8X) and there are other people on this forum with this board and problems. (do a search on nforce)

In my case a driver update from Hauppauge fixed the problem, but I got other problems in return (borked brightness settings in the driver). Since this is not my main capping machine anyway I never bothered to really get to the bottom of the problem.

[markich]

G, i was just planning to buy that board,, saw the test results,, they sad it's the best.. damn,,, any with this board and working tuner? which board doesn't have this problems

[Arachnotron]

These type of problems are a bit hit and miss. Some people have no problems at all, other cannot get it to work no matter what they do. AFAIKS Athlon boards in general are hit more often by problems like these. Also it is my impression that capture cards based on Conexant chips suffer more often from these type of problems than others.

Then again, there are many, many happy Athlon + conexant users out there that never have a problem (so they don't post about it either).

With Murphy's law involved, if you go for a P4 solution you will have to pay more and end up with stripes anyway :devil:

[markich]

whell, i was going on asus a7n8x -X maybe this X vresion hasnot such problems,,, but i have another questions for BTwindrivers,,
i can't get it work,,
i have tuner 3DeMon PV951 with radio, bt878 chip, and that company had no more official drivers, so my option are BTwindrives,, but i can't figure it out which settings i have to choose,, conextaks i guess, but there are only for ntsc and i am PAL user...
so if somebody have this card, (it's older, but good picture) and set up it please help

[Arachnotron]

The BTwincap driver comes with an installer that should auto-detect your tuner. Tuner in this sence indicates the brand of the metal tuner box on the card, not of the whole card by the way. Most tuners are made by Philips, but there are other brands.

If the installer cannot detect the tuner used on your card you can try to set it manually, but it may simply not be supported.

There is also a generic driver available from iulabs that may work for you. See http://www.iulabs.com/drv/index.shtml