VT adjust, error causing dropped frames in VirtualDub?

[ChunkDaMan]

I know I've been making a few posts on here lately over several things.

I'm now in the process of capping full length recorded VHS tapes. As I'm recording in Vdub, frames are fine in the beginning except I see the current error going up 1 ms every couple of seconds and VT adjust going down every couple of minutes. The more VT adjust goes down, I get a dropped frame. I have no clue if this is normal for capping but just want to make sure. The recording is not finished as of this post so I can't confirm if the audio is off sync or not. The timing graph is on and I don't see any "errors", etc.

Don't know if I need to adjust timing settings in Vdub or what, I shouldn't blame my equipment b/c I have [almost] DigitalFAQ recommended hardware (specs below). I also don't know if it's my audio hardware/settings. The audio is going straight from my VCR's audio out via RCA, then converting it to 3.5mm directly plugged into my sound card's "Line In" port.

During recording, I have Preview mode turned on, enable audio playback turned off, capping using Huffyuv and PCM audio @ 48000hz. Though the audio playback is enabled through my sound card in XP (not Vdub), I don't know if I need to mute that.

Any help is appreciated, thanks.

Specs:

Intel Pentium 4 HT 2.40 GHz
2 GB RAM
Windows XP Home SP2 x86
120 GB Crucial SSD (system drive, SATA)
1 TB WD Blue HDD (secondary, SATA to IDE)
ATI All-in-Wonder 9000 Pro
Creative Sound Blaster Live!

Capture setup:
JVC SR-MV45 VCR/DVD recorder w/ TBC turned ON
Prime Image TBC/Freeze II w/ DTL set to HIGH

EDIT: Yep, it's out of sync from the second half onward of the capture (2:45 hrs total, 15 frames dropped).

The picture is clean and the Freeze II should be doing a good job on the sync (I know it's not a recommended TBC on here), probably my audio settings or method? It's got to be a setting issue IMO. No other programs are open besides VDub.

[keaton]

As you stated, the Frame TBC (Freeze) you are using isn't on the short list of recommendeds, so that could very well be it.

If you haven't already, review the VirtualDub Settings Guide. More specifically, review the General Options in post #6 http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/vide...html#post45242 to try and get Virtualdub to recover as best it can when these events happen. Different settings may help it do a bit of compensation to adjust the audio or video to try to get back in sync when they have drifted due to a drop. This may help you not end up with as noticeable of a/v sync issues as the capture goes on.

Without the recommended Frame TBCs, or possibly a Panasonic ES10/15 (or possibly other DVD passthrus mentioned on this forum), not sure the situation can be improved in hardware. However, you may be able to improve things with trying different settings in General Options as listed above. Last resort, is to do some audio editing to try and resync the audio as best you can to the video. It could be grueling, but if you watch while it's capturing and take notes at what times it drops a frame, you could try and use that later as audio correction editing points. If Virtualdub is able to adjust audio or video to bring it back into sync, that is obviously preferred to this last resort approach.

Best of luck to you. This work can be grueling. It all boils down to how important it is, and how much effort you want to put into it.

[lordsmurf]

This is a reason that Creative audio cards are not suggested.

[AssafR]

I came across this question, albeit probably too late.

VirtualDub is probably not a good capture software. Personally I use NextPVR (with an ATI 550/650/750 card), it feels much more stable.