Dropped Frames Question

[WMaas]

I am using Mystique 220/Rainbow Runner Studio combo with Sound Blaster Live! MP3 card. I have been trying to isolate the reason for sporadic dropped frames (1 dropped frame about every 30-60 seconds). When capturing without sound using AVI_IO I get 0 dropped frames. When I capture sound, then I get the occassional dropped frame.

Is this acceptable? Will my video suffer from it??

Also has anyone tweaked any settings specific to the sound card in their system?? I have done all the tweaks and settings found on this site. I am using an Abit BP6/433 Celeron/128mb PC100.

Thanks!

[Nick Piercey]

Hi,

I fear that the occasional drop with the RRS is a fact of life, especially when used with the SBLive!

I, too, have the RRS/SBLive! combination and can capture perfectly at full resolutions without sound, with sound, well, that’s a different story.
I find that I can capture with sound and without drops, if my source is Hi 8. However, if I capture TV from composite video or tuner, I get horrendous “batch” drops at full res (usually on very white or very dark screens) and so I have to knock it back to 352x576. Here I get the odd drop as you report and find that sometimes I notice them and sometimes I don’t! It’s as hit and miss as that.
I’ve tried moving my SBLive to a different PCI slot, but still the odd drop happens. I’ve recently start capturing sound at 48kHz as that’s the internal frequency of the
SBLive! I’ll try anything once!

One thing I noticed when capturing with Virtual Dub, which displays the audio details, is that the audio frequency does wander a hell of a lot!? So maybe that does point to the SBLive, and a soundcard with a rock solid frequency would be the best bet.

Any ideas anyone!


Regards,


Nick.

Sys: Win98se, P3 450, 128 RAM, Aopen AX6B+ m/b, SBLive, Teac 56 CDR, Aopen 48x CDROM, Fujitsu 4.3 boot drive, Quantum bigfoot 12GB, Maxtor 40GB 5400. Powerdesk 4.31, Videotools 2.10. plus cheap PCI modem!

[WMaas]

Hey Nick,

Thanks for confirming what has been driving me crazy. In a way I am glad it's not something I missed but now I am sorry I purchased that card. Oh well. I too have tried all the slots with no luck. Have you found any difference capturing at 48kHz?

Anyone else have this combo with a different sound card and not experiencing dropped frames?!?!

Thanks,

Wayne

[Nick Piercey]

Hi Wayne,


Just got back from work.

AVI_IO has recorded BBC2 via composite video from cable box (2 Simpsons’ Episodes, uncut –Sky take note) and having captured at 352x576,4.1;1, 48kHz stereo, 46 minutes….. no drops reported! I suspect though that this is a rare result.
What I have done recently is, rather than close all programs via Cont/Alt/Del before capture, I’ve used Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/System Information/Tools/System Configuration Utility/Startup and unchecked everything except Scan Registry and System Tray. And I always reboot before capturing or, indeed, playing out to video from the MSPro5.2VE timeline. You know how temperamental Windows can be!

Hope this helps,


Regards,

Nick.