I've been copying some tapes to my computer, and when I played back the capture, the file seemed to have fewer frames than my DVD copy (the playback wasn't as smooth in certain parts). So sure enough, I checked the amount of frames in both videos at the problem parts, and the DVD copy did have more frames, and the capture noticeably skipped around more when going frame by frame. Now, with my capture software, I said lock in the frame rate at 29.97 FPS (yes, it is an NTSC tape, NTSC-J to be precise.) I noticed though, during recording it would say 30 and 31 FPS instead of 29.97. Now, I assume the 30 is really 29.97, they're just rounding up, but might me forcing it to be 29.97 be what is causing this skipping? Might the tape really be playing back at 31 FPS?
It's my understanding that when a frame is dropped the software/hardware
will just repeat the previous frame. It's possible that the frame rate may vary
slightly. What software are you using for capture?
If you look at the captured file in Virtualdub and skip through it a frame at a time,
you should easily see if frames were dropped. You'll see consecutive
duplicate frames followed by a sudden jump as the capture "catches up".
Davexnet knows it but dropped frames is usually caused by a slow processor, not enough ram or no enough disk space. Heres what I did:
1. I got a 1 Terabyte hard drive (external) and I cleaned some stuff off my computer. This made it run a bit faster.
2. I ran a defrag so that my CPU can get to the required files faster so that the program doesnt hold up. I recommend doing this once every week at least to keep your system running at a good speed.
3. Since my Terabyte drive had about 950 GB's left, I set my capture location. You WILL need a hard drive with at least 100 GB's but hasnt got that much junk - especially lots of folders!! When you have alot of stuff on your hard drive, and theres still 100 GB's left, thats still not good enough. It makes it harder for the program to stream the videos through because when you open windows explorer, you need to wait for the folders to load before you can open one. Same thing.
4. The moment of gold! I was all happy and excited that I had a faster CPU, more than enough disk space but when I pressed the "Capture" button, the dropped frames number count started to go up! I just broke down (not crying, just let it go).
Later on I found that my CPU usage was reaching 100% every time I started the capture and I also found that when you disable the preview it doesnt drop any frames because its not streaming the footage live. So basicly, I suggest you quit all the "good" features and just let it do its thing in the background. I also think that you should turn off any other programs. Eg. Windows Media Player, Firefox, Youtube, and all other programs.
Just to let you know, I'm using the good old Sony Vegas 8. I got to be honest. Its got more features than Vegas 9. I was really bummed when I saw other people getting it for free with a "keygen" as they call it.
Davexnet knows it but dropped frames is usually caused by a slow processor, not enough ram or no enough disk space. Heres what I did:
1. I got a 1 Terabyte hard drive (external) and I cleaned some stuff off my computer. This made it run a bit faster.
2. I ran a defrag so that my CPU can get to the required files faster so that the program doesnt hold up. I recommend doing this once every week at least to keep your system running at a good speed.
3. Since my Terabyte drive had about 950 GB's left, I set my capture location. You WILL need a hard drive with at least 100 GB's but hasnt got that much junk - especially lots of folders!! When you have alot of stuff on your hard drive, and theres still 100 GB's left, thats still not good enough. It makes it harder for the program to stream the videos through because when you open windows explorer, you need to wait for the folders to load before you can open one. Same thing.
4. The moment of gold! I was all happy and excited that I had a faster CPU, more than enough disk space but when I pressed the "Capture" button, the dropped frames number count started to go up! I just broke down (not crying, just let it go).
Later on I found that my CPU usage was reaching 100% every time I started the capture and I also found that when you disable the preview it doesnt drop any frames because its not streaming the footage live. So basicly, I suggest you quit all the "good" features and just let it do its thing in the background. I also think that you should turn off any other programs. Eg. Windows Media Player, Firefox, Youtube, and all other programs.
Just to let you know, I'm using the good old Sony Vegas 8. I got to be honest. Its got more features than Vegas 9. I was really bummed when I saw other people getting it for free with a "keygen" as they call it.
