Why Am I Dropping Frames?

[AdmiralEpoch]

I'm trying to capture video on my new PC system, but its dropping about a frame every 5 seconds and it tends to run into stoppages, where it'll appear paused and then skip forward to where the video is in playback.

But the video camera seems to be doing playback just fine.

I tried different firewire cables, different Mini DV tapes, different cameras, different video editing software, and I've tried capturing onto two different HDs, but I seem to get the same result on playback & capture.

Could it be the firewire port (I connect into my ASUS P4C800), or my video card (Radeon 9700 AIW)? I also use Windows XP, but I doubt the problem's there.

 

[Raja]

Three questions for you since they will have the most relevance to why you're dropping frames.

1) What codec are you using?
2) Where are you capping to? Is it to a partition that is COMPLETELY defragmented or preferably a freshly formatted partition.
3) Do you have any intrusive programs in the background that you haven't killed yet.

On the first question I assume you are using mpeg2 but whichever codec you are using you can try lowering quality a small notch to see if that makes a difference or you could try a different codec to see if it works better.

On the second question if you want to cap at high quality without dropping frames you'll want a dedicated partition (or even better a dedicated drive on it's own ide channel). I usually use two partions one for capping and one for storing the avis I want to work with. This way I can make sure it's always unfragmented. But remember to turn off system restore on that drive (which eats up disk space and can add to fragmentation) and pay attention to scattered folders (that includes the "hidden" ones) after you delete files they can get in the way (which is why I find a quick format an easy solution). Any little fragment that gets in the way of the enormous file from hell you are building can cause a hiccup.

On the third. Background applications can cause you to drop frames particularly those like an anti-virus who may try accessing the same drive or parition. Also something that is cpu intensive can cause you to drop frames. Kill what you can and see if anything in pariticular is giving you problems. Sometimes seemingly inocuous things such as irc (especially if you are using scripts on it) can be surprising irritants.

 

[jackscotty]

I had a similar problem with my ATI all in wonder card. I discovered that some PC's with an AMD processor and Via Chipset will not perform as well as a machine with an Intel Processor and Chipset.

Also, you might want to make sure that you have the latest motherboard drivers installed as well as the latest version of Direct X.

 

[arsend]

Give us the full Specs on your hardware, which card is in which PCI slot, the ratings on your Power supply, and how much, and what speed your memory is.

If it works for you then don't fix it.