Shortcuts
I can understand the aversion to
VirtualDub if your coming from the default software that is bundled with the a new capture device.
VirtualDub can just "look" confusing because it normally starts up in "Edit" mode, and you have to remember to navigate to the File menu, scroll all the way down to Select > Capture just to flip it over into "
Capture mode".
After 2013, the VirtualDub2 fork changed this by putting the Capture mode button in the Top menu.. but you still have to flip it to Capture mode after start up.
You can however, make a shortcut and append the word /capture in the Target: field
Quote:
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VirtualDub-1.10.4-AMD64\Veedub64.exe /capture
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Then when it starts it will automatically start direct in "
Capture mode"
I think a lot of people might appreciate doing this since we tend to think of VirtualDub as the ultimate reference design for a good video capture tool on Windows, more so than AMCap.
Sound
Software developers back then, and up to this day have always been encouraged when writing video capture device drivers to "split them into two pieces". One for the video, and one for the sound capture capabilities for a device or card.
What this means in a space end users can inspect, is that when you use the GraphEdit tool and Insert a DirectShow "filter driver" into the workspace called a "Graph" is.. the device driver has a set of (pins) for input and output on the Left > Right sides of the rectangle representing the device driver.
On a "proper" device like the ATI USB2.0 N video capture tuner, you will have separate device driver filters for audio and video.
Third party capture software, including VirtualDub will search first for the video and then for the audio for a device. But more importantly, let you select the video input device separately from the audio input device. Basically they give you (two lists) one for video and one for audio to select from for the different streams. And when capturing a capture application like VirtualDub will "interleave" or splicing frames and samples into one file called an "Audio Video Interleave" file.. an .AVI file.
The problem with a lot of video capture devices is their device driver puts all the (pins) on the one driver. The developers tried to reduce their workload by writing only one driver.. or were not aware of the somewhat (unstated) convention that you should write two separate drivers.. it was just "known" you had to do it this way.. all the examples always did this, but you could write a single driver with all the pins.. it just wasn't supposed to be done that way.
For example the Pinnacle systems 700-usb will have both a video and audio output pin for both capture streams on one device. A third party capture application will enumerate or "see" the video (pin) but then ignore or "miss" the audio (pin), the end result is you'll be able to capture video but not audio.. unless...
VirtualDub is one of the very rare capture applications that will "assume" unless told otherwise that the video capture device (also) has an audio (pin) and will automatically pull from that source. Thus VirtualDub does work with a Pinnacle 700-usb device and captures both audio and video and produces proper .AVI files.
For "many" devices with the (one-driver) problem you can go into GraphEdit and create a Graph that will play and capture from the problem capture devices.. but it is awkward. The Best solution is to use a tool like VirtualDub that automatically tries to compensate for this well known problem.
Preview
VirtualDub has "modes", the term may be overused a bit, but in this context the Preview function found under the Video menu option is not the default. The "Preview" function is part of a collection of default Settings for VirtualDub when it starts. I think they are saved to the registry, but regardless, you can [Save] the default Settings configuration so that it always starts up the way that you want.
Under Video menu the default setting attempts to use the Overlay function to display output from a capture device, but not all capture devices have an Overlay feature.. I think it depends upon whether your device or its driver has the ability to share oversight of the video card display memory.. if they are from two different companies its very unlikely. So you need to expend CPU time to "blend" the two inputs, Graphics card video and Capture device video into one on screen image. Preview performs the CPU assisted blending.
The Pinnacle 700-usb is from a different company than the one that made my graphics card, so when VirtualDub starts, I see a black screen in Capture mode. To see the video I merely have to go to the Video menu and select Preview. But normally this Setting is not saved and the next time I start VirtualDub it will revert to Overlay.
To change the default (and) Save it, after selecting Preview "mode" to change the overall Display "mode", open the Device menu, select > Device settings...
A popup dialog with four check boxes will appear, check > [Save current display mode as default] and click OK ---
NOTE: if you open Device > Device settings... again the same box will be automatically "unchecked" so that you can "fire it" again for making future changes.. this is quite unusual for Saving settings. For one thing you usually use a "Save" button not a check box, but it does work.. you just have to get use to it.
Now whenever you start VirtualDub and get into Capture mode, the Display mode will automatically use Preview mode to display the output of the capture device.
Tweaking up the Shortcut to get into Capture mode without passing through Edit mode, and tweaking the default settings to render in Preview mode and not Overlay mode has made it quite simple to use VirtualDub for literally everything.
Crossbars
The crossbar function/mode/settings for a device are quite complex, but basically all capture devices with multiple inputs need a way to choose which physical input to route to its input. Where its captured and output as a video stream. The selector is called a crossbar and is treated like a real thing by the device driver.
There can be one or more crossbars, one for video and one for sound. And "setting" them to composite, s-video, component, vga, dvi, hdmi, or any other type of input can be a pain. Even remembering to set them can be annoying. But once you've chosen the most commonly used ones for you, as above with the Preview mode you can save the Settings so they are the new default when starting VirtualDub.
For some reason VirtualDub does not always find or enable the crossbars for a capture device. In this case you can use the stand alone application called "Crossbar Thingy" to startup, list the crossbars, and let you point them at the proper physical inputs. Crossbar Thingy does not discriminate between audio or video crossbars.. it lists them all and lets you tweak each of them. Unfortunately there is no way to "save" these settings as part of VirtualDubs defaults and the changes you make will only last until the next system reboot.
In some cases however capture devices have what is called a built-in "signal autodetect" and as long as only one physical input is attached to a signal.. it will automatically switch to that source on device power up. So for the 700-usb for example, it automatically will select the video and audio sources with an input. This can be broken however if you use (all) of the physical inputs for the device.
Some people like to connect the Yellow Composite input on a device for (storing) the flaying yellow composite cord of a three cable red, white, yellow AV cord.. but also use an S-Video cable and prefer the better Input. Doing this will defeat the autodect mechanism and select either randomly between the multiple video inputs, or probably the composite input.. which is not what you want. In those cases manually selecting the input will be necessary.
