Marvel G400 - DivX

[wladimir]

Hi!

I’m using a Marvel G400 for capturing my analogue videos (resolution 704x576).

Software I'm using is MovieDV (www.aist.de).

Now I tried to encode my video with DivX-codec (for archivating my produced videos).

I tried nearly all:
I tried to render the produced video in MovieDV with the DivX-codec directly instead of the Matrox-Codec (shiped with Matrox-drivers!?). Also I tried first to render with Matrox codec 2.0 in MovieDV and then in a second step to encode this file with Virtualdumb to get a DivX-file.

I tried DivX-Codec 4.12, 5.0 and 5.0.2 (adware) in combination with MovieDV and also in combination with several versions of Virtualdumb.

In all combinations I have the problem, that my system crashes during encoding. The time of crash is not ever the same. Sometimes it crashes at the start of encoding, sometimes at the end and sometimes in the middle!?? Only onetimes it was possible to encode a 30-min Video with Virtualdumb without a crash (videoresolution of DivX-file was also 704x576). But in this DivX-file the video and audio where asynchronous (I encoded video with DivX 5.0.2-codec and audio with Lame-MP3-codec).

I have heard, that there is a incompatibility between DivX and the Matrox Marvel!?

Is there anybody out there, who could help me to produce a DivX file of my captured analogue-videos with my Marvel G400????

Thanks in advance,
Wladimir

[DrP]

I have a G400 on a AOpen AK73pro + AMD tbird 1GHz running XP, with a TBSC for audio (there is another PCI capture card in there too, but heh, thats another story). I am capturing using AVI_IO and huffyuv for video. To edit / compress I use virtualdub, splitting the audio and using lame / oggenc to compress it. No crashing, no glitching (supprising considering the hardware). What video codec are you capturing with? Divx? Capturing directly to divx will never ever give best results, and makes editing harder, and requires recompression to do any sort of useful editing.

AVI_IO http://www.nct.ch/multimedia/avi_io/
huffyuv http://www.nct.ch/multimedia/avi_io/

[mikiem]

My best guess would be a problem with other software. After a while resources get used up till the process won't run any longer, and I have had similar caused this way.

Hard part would be verifying & troubleshooting. Try the winmedia encoder for example (what DIVX was originally based on). If it works, then try another app but stick with DIVX. If it doesn't, then you know you don't have to fool with either DVIX or your NLE.

2nd step, turn off any and all programs running in the background, like virus, mouse, &/or firewall software. Then turn on one of the windows (or similar) resource monitoring applets, and start encoding -- watch to see what happens for some sort of clue.

It could take a while... Additional stuff you could try is uninstalling whatever codecs you have on your system, checking through your win & system ini files if you're in 98, that sort of thing. And just keep plugging away at anything having anything to do with video on your system.

I even had one case where I upgraded an NLE from the limited to the full version, but didn't delete the old prog first (needed to complete something). With the old app on there, and a certain app running in the background, had problems with the new one!

I've also had problems with Ligos stuff, where more then one app used it, but they all used different, incompatible versions -- threw everything off.

RE: Matrox and DIVX... Far as I know they should care less about each other. Matrox has their hardware dmb1 format, unless you've changed something, and DIVX has it's stuff -- your editor will use the Matrox to decode the orig pictures if they're still in that format, and then plug the picture into DIVX.

Still, if you're concerned about it as a possible culprit, transcode or capture some source material in picvideo or morgan or huff, and feed that to your editor. Could be it doesn't like matrox, or maybe your matrox card is screwing with your system resources over time.

'Bout it for now, please give us some additional info to go on, like OS & hardware and video apps etc...

mikie

[wladimir]

Hi! Thanks a lot for Your help.

I will give You more informations about my system:

CPU: AMD XP 1700+
MB : K7T266 Pro2/-RU (MSI)
RAM: 512 MB DDR
Sound: Creative labs Audigy
Scsi: Adaptec Scsi-Adapter (or Plextor CD-Rom and Teac CD-burner)
Graphic: Matrox Marvel G400
ISDN : Fritz-Card
OS : Win98SE / W2k (SP2)

I’m capturing with Matrox Videotools (with Matrox-Codec).

In Win98 SE I tried to turn off all programs running in the background before encoding with Virtualdumd, but the system also crashed after round about 80% was finished!??
In a second step I changed the Matrox-driver from latest driver 6.28.017 and VideoTools ver. 1.55.043 to a older version and tried encoding again. But the result was the same.

It’s curious, because one times under Win98 SE the encoding run perfect till end (just sound/and video were asynchronous, but this seams to be a problem with settings in Virtualdumb).

In a last step I tried to encode with virtualdumb under W2000 (SP2). The problem under W2k is, that I cannot open the AVI-files, which I captured under Win98SE with Matrox-Codec!?? It seems, that the Matrox-Codec, which is installed under Win98SE isn’t compatible with the Matrox-Codec, which is installed under W2K (shipped with Matrox W2k-driver). I only hear sound but don’t see the video.
Nevertheless I tried encoding the AVI-file with Virtualdumb under W2k. If I open the AVI-file in Virtualdumb, I see a picture, but the quality is very bad (because of false codec!??). But the encoding with Virtualdumb with DivX-Codec under W2k run perfect till end without a crash. Only the picture-quality of the DivX-file is also bad (codec-problem!?).
During encoding under W2000 I saw, that the CPU-temperature rose to round about 70C!?? Could it be possible, that a temperature-problem is responsible for the crashes under Win98??

To bypass the problem with Matrox-Codec under W2K, I tried to render my videos in MovieDV with Intel-Indeo Codec 5.1 instead of Matrox-codec. With Matrox-codec the rendering time was nearly an hour, with Intel-Indeo Codec round about 8 hours. I canceled the rendering-procedure after 1 hour!??????

Do You have an idea, how could I activate the right Matrox-codec under W2k and where to get it? Or is there maybe another possibility to solve my problem??

Thanks again for help.

Wladimir

[kropotkin]

Hi!
My opinion is, after i read your sys config, that, yes, the overheating could be the/a problem. Encoding/capturing video is a very processor dependent task, and 70 deg seems a lot to me. However, how performs your system in a long endurance test like 3dmark for 5-7 hours ? If it crashes also in that situation maybe you need a better processor fan.

Just a thought,

[wladimir]

problem solved :-)

Hi!

It seems, that I have found the problem. The problem was the overheating!

Today I opend my computer-chasis and tried encoding under Win98SE again.
With open chasis I had no crashes anymore :-)

I tried encoding a avi-file of 30 min two times and in both tries I had no crash.

Thanks guys for help!!

Wladimir

[Fred H]

Opening the case is a solution, but not the best one.

Installing effective cooling on the CPU ( copper base cooler with Arctic Silver II + fan) AND chasi fans (I have one 80 mm blow on and 2 x 80 mm exhaust fans + the PS fan) is a better solution, but can be noisy. Works effectively only with closed case.

Sometimes I switch on a SW cooling program, called CPUCool from:
http://www.podien.de.
It's not only showing the temp diagram, CPU usage diagram, it effectively lowers the temp with about 15-20° C. It manipulates the CPU.
It works fine with, eg. TMPGEnc. Sometimes I pop up 2 different TMPGEnc with 2 different files to encode. The temp diagram shows a max. 40°C and the CPU usage near 100% under 3-4 hours of encoding.
Without the CPUCool the temp rises to about 56-60°C and is stable with this level.
Tray it.

Fred H

[wladimir]

CPU-cooling.....

Thanks for advice!

I will install a chasi fan and in combination try the SW cooling program.

I know, that opening of chasis is not the best solution, but I'm happy, that I have found the problem and now I know, what I have to solve. A week ago i was at the end with my knowledge and I was very frustrated about my Matrox Marvel, because I thought, that an incompatibility of Marvel G400 and DivX was the reason for my crashes.

Wladimir