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Need help with digital video...

fetterjohn

fetterjohn

Non-active but active and lurking!
Joined
Apr 22, 2005
Messages
1,301
Location
14217 Ballycastle Trail, Austin Texas 78717
I have a basic Dell Dimension 2300 with a 120GB HD and using a SIIG Firewire home DV kit PCI card...the last few times I have tried capturing my DV to my PC to copy it onto a DVD format, all I get is choppy video and audio. I also get this choppy playback when I play dvd movies and also when I am playing simple games (like Flash Element...thanks guys!!!). I have tried multiple video capturing and editing software including Pinnacle Sudio 8 and ULead VideoStudio, also HP and Windows software. All I get is the same choppy crap. It was suggested to buy a better video card to make the video stream smoother...can this be it?

Any help? I have 2 years of baby video and no way of getting it on DVD.

-Fetter
 
A guess.....how much RAM do you have? I'd suggest at least 1Gb for this type of work.....at least. If you don't have enough RAM, the OS will start swapping data out to the hard drive and could be the cause of your choppy playback.

Good Luck - B.B.S.
 
what BBS said, plus the software you are using stinks. use windows movie maker to capture and create the dvd, it's a simple proggie to use. i have vegas video for all my editing, but the system requirements and learning curve are steap. and make sure you are not running any apps in the backround, this can cause choppyness. also, are you converting mini dv tape to dvd or is this vhs, 8mm?
here is a page with some free tutorials using window movie maker http://www.atomiclearning.com/moviemaker2
hope this helps,
Rob
 
Rob_k said:
what BBS said, plus the software you are using stinks. use windows movie maker to capture and create the dvd, it's a simple proggie to use. i have vegas video for all my editing, but the system requirements and learning curve are steap. and make sure you are not running any apps in the backround, this can cause choppyness. also, are you converting mini dv tape to dvd or is this vhs, 8mm?
here is a page with some free tutorials using window movie maker http://www.atomiclearning.com/moviemaker2
hope this helps,
Rob
[/quote\]

Thanks guys...

I'm putting DV to the computer and then trying to get it onto a DVD to play in a DVD player. I've used Windows movie maker and heard the Pinnacle was the best...? The problem is that after I capture the video, the file played through the movie maker is choppy. No I don't have anything running in the background. I have 756Mb of RAM. I'll keep trying...but does anyone think it could be the need for a better video card?

-Fetter
Click to expand...
 
I doubt it would be the video card unless it is really old or possibly the integrated type. Can you get the brand and model of your current video card? Did you also make sure you've got all the correct audio and video codecs? One way to test out the possible missing codecs would be to download vlc player and see if the videos play fine that way. This player is a stand alone program with most of the codecs out so if it plays it fine, your OS may be just missing some codecs.
 
KeyserSoze said:
I doubt it would be the video card unless it is really old or possibly the integrated type. Can you get the brand and model of your current video card? Did you also make sure you've got all the correct audio and video codecs? One way to test out the possible missing codecs would be to download vlc player and see if the videos play fine that way. This player is a stand alone program with most of the codecs out so if it plays it fine, your OS may be just missing some codecs.
Click to expand...

Don't have a video card...that's why I'm asking if Ineed one. While I'm capturing the video from the camera, the video looks great on the camera screen, but the video shown on the computer monitor is choppy, that's how I know the dvd won't come out good.
Codex? Huh? I'll try the VLC player and see.

Thank you...
 
fetterjohn said:
Don't have a video card...that's why I'm asking if Ineed one.
Click to expand...
The integrated video subsystem on your computer may not be the whole problem, but it's at least some of the issue. You're going to have a time putting a video card in that system as the documentation I saw didn't show a video card slot...!! The docs I found show four PCI slots but no AGP slot.

So, for a PCI interface (and without breaking the bank) I'd recommend something like this. It's got an S-Video output that may come in handy. eVGA really stands behind their cards, and of course with an nVidia chipset, you get the advantages of being able to use the nVidia reference drivers. A big advantage, in my book, as they are very solid and dependable.

When you order your video card, throw in an extra 256MB of RAM (if you have an open memory slot) for an even Gb of RAM. Sure can't hurt.

This may not completely solve the issue, but for sure it would be a good start.

Good luck - B.B.S.

Edit - Here's a link to eVGA's website and the full spec sheet. Given your system, this looks solid.... :thumbs:
 
BlindedByScience said:
fetterjohn said:
Don't have a video card...that's why I'm asking if Ineed one.
Click to expand...
The integrated video subsystem on your computer may not be the whole problem, but it's at least some of the issue. You're going to have a time putting a video card in that system as the documentation I saw didn't show a video card slot...!! The docs I found show four PCI slots but no AGP slot.

So, for a PCI interface (and without breaking the bank) I'd recommend something like this. It's got an S-Video output that may come in handy. eVGA really stands behind their cards, and of course with an nVidia chipset, you get the advantages of being able to use the nVidia reference drivers. A big advantage, in my book, as they are very solid and dependable.

When you order your video card, throw in an extra 256MB of RAM (if you have an open memory slot) for an even Gb of RAM. Sure can't hurt.

This may not completely solve the issue, but for sure it would be a good start.

Good luck - B.B.S.

Edit - Here's a link to eVGA's website and the full spec sheet. Given your system, this looks solid.... :thumbs:
Click to expand...

There are PCI video cards...just looked at few at Fry's this past week. At this point I think I'm going to buy a new computer...
 
fetterjohn said:
BlindedByScience said:
fetterjohn said:
Don't have a video card...that's why I'm asking if Ineed one.
Click to expand...
The integrated video subsystem on your computer may not be the whole problem, but it's at least some of the issue. You're going to have a time putting a video card in that system as the documentation I saw didn't show a video card slot...!! The docs I found show four PCI slots but no AGP slot.

So, for a PCI interface (and without breaking the bank) I'd recommend something like this. It's got an S-Video output that may come in handy. eVGA really stands behind their cards, and of course with an nVidia chipset, you get the advantages of being able to use the nVidia reference drivers. A big advantage, in my book, as they are very solid and dependable.

When you order your video card, throw in an extra 256MB of RAM (if you have an open memory slot) for an even Gb of RAM. Sure can't hurt.

This may not completely solve the issue, but for sure it would be a good start.

Good luck - B.B.S.

Edit - Here's a link to eVGA's website and the full spec sheet. Given your system, this looks solid.... :thumbs:
Click to expand...

There are PCI video cards...just looked at few at Fry's this past week. At this point I think I'm going to buy a new computer...
Click to expand...
be carefull you didn't see PCI EXPRESS...which is the current technology, it is completely diffferent from PCI.
 
Rob_k said:
fetterjohn said:
BlindedByScience said:
fetterjohn said:
Don't have a video card...that's why I'm asking if Ineed one.
Click to expand...
The integrated video subsystem on your computer may not be the whole problem, but it's at least some of the issue. You're going to have a time putting a video card in that system as the documentation I saw didn't show a video card slot...!! The docs I found show four PCI slots but no AGP slot.

So, for a PCI interface (and without breaking the bank) I'd recommend something like this. It's got an S-Video output that may come in handy. eVGA really stands behind their cards, and of course with an nVidia chipset, you get the advantages of being able to use the nVidia reference drivers. A big advantage, in my book, as they are very solid and dependable.

When you order your video card, throw in an extra 256MB of RAM (if you have an open memory slot) for an even Gb of RAM. Sure can't hurt.

This may not completely solve the issue, but for sure it would be a good start.

Good luck - B.B.S.

Edit - Here's a link to eVGA's website and the full spec sheet. Given your system, this looks solid.... :thumbs:
Click to expand...

There are PCI video cards...just looked at few at Fry's this past week. At this point I think I'm going to buy a new computer...
Click to expand...
be carefull you didn't see PCI EXPRESS...which is the current technology, it is completely diffferent from PCI.
Click to expand...


Just spoke to a guy from CompUSA...he thinks it's my HD...too much data in it without enough space for the HD to work efficiently (120Gb HD with 95Gb used space). Going to try to use my back-up drive and see what happens.
 
It sounds like you have interlaced video. Does the choppiness look like this:

Interlaced_crop.jpg


If this is the case, you have to deinterlace the video. It's a little tricky to do this.
 
fetterjohn said:
**SNIP**

There are PCI video cards...just looked at few at Fry's this past week. At this point I think I'm going to buy a new computer...
Click to expand...

If you are serious about this.... I would look into the new Macs.... from what I understand, this is what they do best. Go to an Apple retail store and just talk to them. They don't work on commission so you are not obligated to buy anything and they won't "push" you
 
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