Capturing video - processing power required

[Guest]

I would like to capture video hopefully at 720 x 576, 25 fps.

At the moment when I save video at that resolution it is very "jerky". I
think I need more processing power!

The PC I have is running XP Profesional, Pentium 4 2.02 GHz with 512 Mb RAM.

When I run Task Manager there are 70 processess running. Will cleaning that
up help? Will more RAM help?

Or (realistically) should I get a new PC?

Cheers!

 

[Shenan Stanley]

I would like to capture video hopefully at 720 x 576, 25 fps.

At the moment when I save video at that resolution it is very
"jerky". I think I need more processing power!

The PC I have is running XP Profesional, Pentium 4 2.02 GHz with
512 Mb RAM.

When I run Task Manager there are 70 processess running. Will
cleaning that up help? Will more RAM help?

Or (realistically) should I get a new PC?

Capturing video at that high can be accomplish with a machine such as that -
some of it depends on memory - sure (I would suggest 1GB or more) and some
on processor (I have captured higher resolutions on lower speed
processors) - however - it seems to be more a factor of how the media
(video/sound) gets into the computer and what application you are using to
capture it.

I have no problem on a machine with a P4-2GHz and 1GB RAM capturing straight
from firewire from my DVR or camcorder - but going in using certain video
capture cards just could not keep up. Also I find it difficult to actually
play smoothly the 1080i captured video from the DVR until a conversion
process has been completed, shrinking the size and putting in better
copression methods.

Your questions would likely better be answered with more details on the
system and if posted here:
http://www.videohelp.com/

 

[David Starr]

I would like to capture video hopefully at 720 x 576, 25 fps.

At the moment when I save video at that resolution it is very "jerky". I
think I need more processing power!

The PC I have is running XP Profesional, Pentium 4 2.02 GHz with 512 Mb RAM.

When I run Task Manager there are 70 processess running. Will cleaning that
up help? Will more RAM help?

Or (realistically) should I get a new PC?

Cheers!

Some years ago I was capturing live video on a 233 Mhz machine with
256K. A 2 Gig Pentium ought to be plenty. The problem is that Windows
is NOT a real time operating system, it is a "I'll do it when I feel
like it" operating system. Windows will get to doing something, leave
interrupts locked out, and not let your capture card take control of the
memory bus to write the video to memory.
One classic Windows time waster is the CD drive. Windows polls the
CD drive every coupla seconds, and some CD drives can take damn near 1/2
second to respond. A half a second is 30 fields of composite video. If
Windows locks out your capture care for a half a second, video is going
to be lost, no capture card has enough buffer memory to ride thru a 30
field blackout. The fix for the CD drive sluggishness is to disable
what Windows calls "Auto Insert Notification". In the old days the
check box to kill Auto Insert Notification" was in device manager.
XP made the switch more user friendly , now you have to handpatch the
registry like this:

(From my "how I tweaked my computer.doc"

Hkey_Local_Machine\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Cdrom
Define AutoRun =0 to kill . (1 lets it run) Hand patch to
registry done Nov 05 Did this on CAMRON (Camron was my favorite IBM
Thinkpad, now deceased)
Redone 22 Feb 06 on Blackbox. (Blackbox is my current Compaq SR1750NX)
And use Tweakui to disable autoplay on all drives. Do Tweakui -> My
Computer -> Autoplay. Done 22 Feb. (Download Tweakui from the
Microsoft website)

Second Windows timewaster is buried somewhere in Handicapped Support.
For users with some awful physical handicap, Windows waits around for
them to tap on something with a stick taped to their foreheads. You get
rid of this by removing ALL handicapped support. You do this in "Add
Remove Programs"/Windows components.

Then you want to have a LOT of free hard drive and no viruses or spyware.

David Starr