Please review my video capture setup! - Page 4

willow5 · #61 06-26-2016, 07:27 AM

Ah got it thanks for clarifying Sanlyn - I took 9000 series to mean anything 9xxx...so the 9600 will not suffer from interference?

msgohan · #62 06-26-2016, 09:19 AM

"We prefer the 9000, 9200, 9800 and the 7x00 boards. Some of the 8x00 had and 9600 had shielding issues. The whole model lines was not effected, but a lot of individual cards were."

If you already bought it, why worry about it now unless you actually do a capture and see interference?

willow5 · #63 07-02-2016, 04:34 PM

Right sorry for the radio silence, have been awaiting the hardware to arrive.

So I now have a 9600 AIW pro with the purple breakout box and the output connectors on the breakout wire. I also have the original cd's that came with the 9600 pro....so far so good I think

Now onto my pC hardware. I have an Intel motherboard D865perl which has a P4 2.4Ghz processor but only has 768Mb of RAM. Will this be an issue? It also has 8x AGP I believe. Is this OK?

I will be buying new SATA HDD's for this motherboard so the main OS HDD will run 1Tb and the 2nd drive for captures and edits will be as large as I can find.....

I don't yet have a TBC so apart from this, am I all good to go? Is it worth doing a test capture without a TBC?

sanlyn · #64 07-02-2016, 09:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by willow5

So I now have a 9600 AIW pro with the purple breakout box and the output connectors on the breakout wire. I also have the original cd's that came with the 9600 pro....so far so good I think

Good start, but if you purchased the AIW shown in your earlier link you have a 9600 AIW, not a "pro". But you'll get the same lossless captures. The 9600-series CD came with drivers for all 9600's.

Quote:

Originally Posted by willow5

I have an Intel motherboard D865perl which has a P4 2.4Ghz processor but only has 768Mb of RAM. Will this be an issue?

I recall seeing 1GB as the minimum RAM load for XP's entry into its comfort zone in general. But 768MB is odd for a motherboard designed for its best performance with dual-channel RAM. Dual-channel setup means two identical RAM sticks in RAM channel A and, to double that value, 2 more identical sticks in RAM channel B. The only way you could have 768MB of RAM with that motherboard would be (a) two matched 258MB sticks in channel A and a single unmatched 258MB stick in channel B, or (b) unmatched 512MB and 258MB sticks in one of the channels, or (c) An unmatched 512MB in one channel and an unmatched 258MB stick in the other channel. The maximum amount of RAM your motherboard will accept with both A and B matched sections filled is 4GB. 3GB would be closer to ideal, but 1 to 2GB will do. See page 34-36 in your Intel board's reference guide.

Quote:

Originally Posted by willow5

I will be buying new SATA HDD's for this motherboard so the main OS HDD will run 1Tb and the 2nd drive for captures and edits will be as large as I can find.....

I don't yet have a TBC so apart from this, am I all good to go? Is it worth doing a test capture without a TBC?

You may as well get into it, if for nothing else than to see what you get without the external TBC. It would be nice not to capture to the same drive as your operating system but you won't blow up anything doing so. However, do yourself a favor: don't capture for 2 hours. Make short captures, 10 or 15 minutes, and evaluate the results. If you have problems you can always make a short edit sample and post here. Ask if you need help with that.

willow5 · #65 07-03-2016, 03:07 AM

Well remembered Sanlyn regarding the AIW. I actually did buy that card BUT then another one came up almost immediately afterwards which had all the accessories and original packaging so I had to buy it.

Yes you are right with the RAM configuration - it is option a in your options. Just out of interest what happens if it runs in an unbalanced configuration? Either way I will look to beefing it up to as near to 4Gb as possible in the coming days.

I will do a test capture and post the results.

Curiously I have this question: if you are doing a capture from a tape that has several old recordings taped over each other, you will have noise bars while the remaining erased recording is starting (hope that makes sense). In this scenario, how can you get the most information from the left over portion of the erased recording while capturing? Some vcr's will display a blue screen until the full picture and sound is available to play while others will try to play the partial picture and sound while the full picture is restoring. Or is it better to capture individual portions of the tape as separate captures? sorry for the long question but this is the best way I can describe it....

sanlyn · #66 07-03-2016, 07:03 AM

Matched dual-channel RAM has about a 10-15% increase in performance over single channel or unmatched units.

You'll likely be somewhat better off and spend less cash with 2 to 3GB RAM than with 4GB. XP can't access 4GB of RAM.

Some VCRs have a menu item that let's you turn off the blue screen, some don't. The menu is accessed with the VCR remote. In any case, don't worry about it. Just play the tape and capture it. Your capture will be post-processed and edited anyway.

lordsmurf · #67 07-03-2016, 08:04 AM

RAM is only needed for system stability. Not enough RAM means the system relies on swap, and swap degrades performance. Video itself doesn't really need RAM. (At most, RAM is for large rendering space during complex edits and restorations. It does nothing for capture.)

2gb is perfect for an XP capture system.
- 512-768mb works, but it will generally caused dropped frames
- 1gb minimum for no resource issues
- 2gb suggested
- 3-4gb is just throwing RAM at it for no reason

Dual channel doesn't matter either.

sanlyn · #68 07-03-2016, 09:00 AM

Agreed, dual-channel setup is only a 10% difference if that much, hardly discernible.

Both of my XP capture PCs have 2GB RAM. You're right, that's plenty.

willow5 · #69 07-12-2016, 06:06 AM

Hi guys- once again sorry for radio silence....is it better to go for a 5400 rpm drive or a 7200 one for the purposes of capturing / editing?

sanlyn · #70 07-12-2016, 06:50 AM

You want a fast hard drive for capture. Get a 7200.

lordsmurf · #71 07-12-2016, 07:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by willow5

Hi guys- once again sorry for radio silence....is it better to go for a 5400 rpm drive or a 7200 one for the purposes of capturing / editing?

Quote:

Originally Posted by sanlyn

You want a fast hard drive for capture. Get a 7200.

I no longer agree that 7200rpm is required. The rpm itself isn't the determining factor for how fast a drive is. It is only one aspect -- and in the SATA II/III 2tb+ days, a largely unimportant one.

My main consideration is noise and heat.
- 7200 rpm is louder
- 7200 rpm is hotter
It's also why most 5400 are often "green", and 7200 never are. Less power is used, and less heat created (secondary power thus required to keep cool).

- I have SATA III 4tb Seagate 5400rpm drives in my Skylake, and "slow" isn't the word that I'd use for them.
- All my SATA capture boxes use a mix of 5400 and 7200 just because that's what I had on-hand. Most of the 500gb/750gb drives are 7200, most of the 1tb/2tb drives are 5400.

5400rpm is fine for even lossless AVI. But it depends more on the motherboard, SATA/IDE type, and drive specs. I've used 5400 rpm 2tb capture drives for at least 3 years now.

sanlyn · #72 07-12-2016, 10:20 AM

5400 will work but I'm already impatient enough with transferring 46GB captures into 7200rpm drives in a.c. powered enclosures with XP/USB2. I have a slew of 5400 drives for storage. They work well using my OPPO as media player for HD.

msgohan · #73 07-13-2016, 08:30 PM

USB2 is the bottleneck there, not 5400RPM.

sanlyn · #74 07-13-2016, 09:16 PM

XP/SP2 has USB3? Many have waited for years. Please share.

I dislike nitpicky trivia debates in forums. The final conclusion from my experience: I had 5200 rpm drives in 6 different business office PC's. All 6 users including myself were really really really really sorry, dissatisfied and pissed off until the drives were replaced with 7200rpm drives, which brought an immediate improvement in performance and general office happiness. However, if your mileage differs you should definitely follow your own proclivities and preferences.

lordsmurf · #75 07-14-2016, 11:57 AM

What happens with USB3 ports in XP is that you can finally reach the theoretical max of USB2. So it is faster, but not because of drivers, OS or software.

In years past, I'd also poo-poo 5400 rpm. But that was due to hardware of the era. Conversations got more complicated. Don't they always? Now we need to know more about system specs to judge drive speed.

And as msgohan mentioned, USB is the primary speed bottleneck anyway.

All of my ATI AIW systems need 7200 rpm to prevent dropped frames. It's just the nature of the hardware. I've tried to capture to 5400 rpm eSATA in the past, and had issues. I don't think it has anything to do with drive speed here, but other factors.

7200 rpm is erring on the side of caution.

willow5 · #76 07-15-2016, 11:50 AM

Hi - thanks all fortl the detailed replies for the drive speed. I therefore conclude 7200 is the belt and braces option?

Also I have recently acquired an asus motherboard (P4C800-E deluxe) which has an AGP pro slot vs. the motherboard I currently have which is an Intel D865perl and has an AGP 8x slot. Which one is better for an AIW 9600 pro?

-- merged --

Please can anyone help or advise which motherboard setup to use with an AIW? A motherboard with an AGP pro port or AGP 8x port?

-- merged --

Hi all - I have just come across this site which compares DV capture to MPEG 2 capture and appears to conclude that DV capture is better but I am no expert. Thought it might be worth sharing here: http://www.trevorthurlowproductions.ca/dvmpeg.php

Answers to my previous questions would also be appreciated...thanks

sanlyn · #77 07-24-2016, 06:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by willow5

Please can anyone help or advise which motherboard setup to use with an AIW? A motherboard with an AGP pro port or AGP 8x port?

There is no such thing as an "AGP pro port". AGP is a type of PC component internal physical connection and graphics processing circuit. Both boards you mention have AGP 8x graphics connections. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerated_Graphics_Port

willow5 · #78 07-27-2016, 07:14 AM

Hi Sanlyn, that is interesting - I checked a cnet site out about those motherboards and it claims that the asus motherboard has an AGP pro port:

1 x AGP Pro ( 1.5 V/ 0.8 V )

Maybe cnet are wrong?

sanlyn · #79 07-27-2016, 12:32 PM

Some mobo makers (ASUS, for one) use that designation to indicate an AGP slot with extra power pins for pre-PCIe "pro" model AGP gaming cards that required more power. Those cards required an extra internal power cable connected to the card, and later mobos had extra power pins to eliminate the power wire. The more common name I'm familiar with for what some makers called AGP pro is "AGP 3.0". However the AIW 9600 Pro is an older 1.5v pre-AGP3 card that doesn't require a power cable or extra 3.3 power pin, so it works in either slot. Your other AIW will also work in either slot. AGP 3.0 slots are compatible with AGP 2X and AGP 8x/4x. My 9600 XT is installed in an old Biostar mobo with a newer AGP slot, and works just fine. But my Biostar didn't use the term "AGP pro". After a bout with Google today I see that the term became more common later.

Of course you can always test the 9600 Pro by mounting it in the motherboard for fit. New "pro" gaming cards with extra power pins won't fit in the older AGP slot. But since neither of your AGP cards don't have the extra power pins, the extra power slots aren't used -- both cards will work.

The install and user guide for the ATI AIW 9600 Pro AGP shows that it works in any AGP 8x slot and requires no extra power. For capture you must install the basic drivers, the ATI capture drivers, and the Control Panel. You can install MMC Media Center if you want, but many don't use it and it isn't required for capture with VirtualDub: MMC uses ATI's MMC capture module. The Media Player is old-hat and has seen its day. You won't need the ATI Remote or Hydravision.

willow5 · #80 07-27-2016, 02:25 PM

Thanks for your advice Sanlyn - I must admit that I was getting slightly confused with the AGP terminology.

I am nearly ready to install and set up the system now but only have 1gb of ram - will this cause an issue for some initial test captures? Also how best should I capture multiple recordings that are recorded over each other leaving the noise bar between recordings?

Did you mention that I should install XP with SP2 and not SP3? Do I install the drivers you have attached to your last post with virtualdub? Will I then be ready to capture? Is there a dummies guide for how I get started?

Finally if you had a choice between those 2 motherboards, which one would you use?