Glitches on VirtualDub capture: AIW 9600, no dropped frame?

[rickface]

Hey all,

I’ve been following this VirtualDub setup to the letter: https://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/vid...-settings.html

Specs:

• ATI All-in-Wonder 9600 (S-Video)
• Terratec SixPack 5.1 for audio
• Windows XP SP2 clean install, tuned only for capture
• Capture via VirtualDub 1.9.11 (Huffyuv codec, standard recommended settings)
• Playing on Sony GV-D200 with built in TBC turned on

I tested all the recommended tweaks — disabled preview/overlay completely, verified audio input settings, and ensured frame drops/inserts stay enabled as per the initial post from Lordsmurf. I am still seeing consistent glitches on all tapes, seems to jump a few frames every ~6 seconds. No, (or few e.g. ~1) dropped frames reported during capture.

I’ve attached a short clip showing the glitch. I had to compress to H.264 to meet forum limits — it’s not deinterlaced, just re-encoded to stay under 99MB. Original capture was uncompressed AVI, straight from VirtualDub. (an excerpt of the original AVI is also here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MnO...ew?usp=sharing).

Is this signal-level (TBC) related, or am I missing something system-side? Is anything else looking off e.g. the head noise? Appreciate any insight!

-- merged --

Update 1/26:

Well, to anyone who ran into the same issues as I did with this, I solved this by capturing to an internal SSD rather than my old (likely fragmented) HDD. All the same settings between the two, one of them I guess just couldn't manage and didn't tell me.

Sometimes it's the simplest things I guess.

[lordsmurf]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rickface

Well, to anyone who ran into the same issues as I did with this, I solved this by capturing to an internal SSD rather than my old (likely fragmented) HDD. All the same settings between the two, one of them I guess just couldn't manage and didn't tell me.

Sometimes it's the simplest things I guess.

I missed your original post earlier, so thanks for the update.

Here's a few added tips:
- Never capture to the OS drive. Dedicated drive is needed. The OS drive is too noisy.
- Re-format the drive for capturing, and re-reformat it as much as possible (which tends to be months apart for most people)
- Assuming Windows, only use NTFS, and then use the maximum allowed clusters (usually 64k or 16k). The cluster size can really cause hiccups, and add to dropped frame issues. However, it's best to do this in Windows 7 or later, and not on XP (if XP system). ---- The only exception is Samsung EVO SSDs, where those drives are so fast that cluster size can be immaterial.

[rickface]

Great extra tips! Thank you.
I am keeping the capture to the SSD and things seem to be going well.
This is a Windows machine indeed, running XP (I think SP1).
Another pointer for any n00bs like me....make sure you player isn't accidentally outputting it's stereo mix to one channel before capturing 25 tapes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lordsmurf

However, it's best to do this in Windows 7 or later, and not on XP (if XP system). ---- The only exception is Samsung EVO SSDs, where those drives are so fast that cluster size can be immaterial.

Is the cluster size something that is set when reformatting the drive? And when you say Windows 7 is better, do you mean for the whole capture build or just for formatting to NFTS properly? (I built around Windows XP thinking it was the gold standard).

Good to know about the Samsung EVO SSDs....I think that's what I have and had thought about trying to buy a larger one as it's getting a bit annoying to have to keep moving files after every three tapes I capture.