Problems with new version of AVI_IO

[Rick6612]

Hi,

A few weeks ago I received a new version of AVI_IO. I finally had a chance to use it for the first time yesterday.

The first thing I noticed is that it seemed to be reporting a lot more dropped frames than I ever saw in the previous version. I was accustomed to seeing only 1 or 2 or 3 dropped frames in 10 minutes of capturing with the old version. Now I'm seeing 10 to 20 dropped frames in 10 minutes.

I am capturing from the same camcorder, using the same tape, through the same capture card (Marvel G-200), using the same drivers, the same Fast Trak RAID with the same hard drives, etc. The only thing I can think of that changed, other than AVI_IO, is I upgraded from a 400 MHz PII to a 500 MHz PIII processor.

The other thing I noticed is that the capture file sizes are not as consistent as with the previous version of AVI_IO. I have it set to use a maximum capture file size of 1000MB. With the old version of AVI_IO, I would end up with a series of capture files that were all close to 1000MB in size. With the new verion of AVI_IO, my capture files end up being 563MB, 722MB, 639MB, etc. There is plenty of free space on the discs for the files to go up to 1000MB, so I don't know why it is cutting the files off at such strange sizes.

Anyone else have any similar experiences?

Rick

[jeff b]

Yes. I noticed that my 500mb file size selection resulted in files that were smaller than that.

As far as dropped frames are concerned, I've always had frame drop problems slowly creep into the picture over time. I've had a long standing tendency to believe that it's because Windows is constantly dicking around with how things are set up. Every time it boots, it will go in and do stuff that you don't really want it to do: load drivers that you don't need, reconfigure things, and so on. There's also the problem that every time you install anything new on the machine, the whole deck gets re-shuffled, whether you like it or not. Consequently, I've been periodically reinstalling my whole system every few months, whenever I see that things have deteriorated again. This always brings everything back to pristine condition, super performance, and no dropped frames at all.

current system:
Asus P2B-f, PIII-500, 256mb RAM
10.1 gig system disk
10.1 x 4 FastTrack for capture
8.5 gig for project files
Mystique220/RR-S and MSP 5.2
SIIG 1394 and VideoStudio 4.0

[Markus Zingg]

Hi Rick6612 and gang

The thing with the filesizes is something I currently investigate. There are other tiny issues that aparently went into D 02.22 which were not "detected" by me and the beta testerts. As a consequence, we will send out a new version of AVI_IO to all registered users which only contains bugfixes and a slight performance enhencement in the player part.

As far as your drops are concerned, I belive that changing the processor can be the reason. The simple answer is that the timing relations changed. Capturing with a seperate audio and video board is generating synchronisation issues which depend on the overal timing RELATIONS in the system. It CAN be that a faster processor creates a slightly worse timing REALTION situation. It's however impossible to tell from far away. The drops you get now are most likely no drops caused by a HD subsystem which would be too slow, but they are doubled frames to keep audio and video in sync. The only other thing that comes to mind is to recomend you to defrag your drive (since you did not mentioned that you did so).

I beg you guys for a bit patience. Sending out a general update to all users is something I would like to do with a release which is as stable as possible. You can however expect to get it in january.

Markus

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[cuddles]

Thanks for the upgrade Markus.
I get a lot less drops now than with the original setup.
My specs
100 mhz Pent
40 Mg Ram
So it cant be all bad eh.

[jeff b]

Markus: If it wasn't for AVI_IO, I wouldn't consider my system complete! I can't say enough about how slick it is. The filesize bug is certainly not a problem for me, since all I set filesize for is to keep them under the one gig MSP scratchpad limit.

Since it's apparent that adding DV features to AVI_IO would more than likely be a major project, I would like to say up front that I'd be willing to pay for a separate 'DV_IO' program from a guy who's already proven that he's a truly competent in the nether world of programming. The major problem with 1394 DV in and out right now seems to be the lack of an inexpensive way to fully convert between Type 1 and Type 2, back and forth, so that the current MSP and Premiere can be used along with the inexpensive 1394 cards.

Secondary to that, however, is the lack of an inexpensive solution for seamless playback of more than one Type 1 file in a single pass. THAT would certainly be a very welcome piece of software at this point in time.

[Luigi Brambilla]

Yes,
I can confirm the last version (Dicember 1999) caused me some trouble capturing long sequences. I get 20 to 30 drops frames for 20 minute CIF size capture (Marvel G200 on AMD K6 II 300 MHz, UDMA 18GB IDE HD).
In the previous demo version, NO dropped frame at all!
Yesterday I confirmed the order for this 'good' product, hoping to find it improved soon.
I'll need to capture some footage in FULL PAL from my Hi8 camera, for VHS presentation.
Hope to do it 'perfectly'.

Luigi

[JoakimC]

I also received a new version of AVI_IO a few weeks ago. I cant use the new version. It often crashes when I change audio settings,save settings or starts capture. I am using NT 4 and G200 Marvel. It always crashes when i close AVI_IO. I get three dialogs i have klick OK on. It is different with version 01.27 it never crashes. So when Marcus says that he will fix some "tiny issues". I dont know if he means the crashes. It runs more stable under Windows 2000 but since one crash means that i have reboot my computer I cant use it for capture with Windows 2000. When I used SP6 with NT 4 i got blue stopscreens during capture. But after I reinstalled NT 4 and installed SP5 instead I dont get any BSOD. I dont need the new features in version 2 of AVI_IO. But it seems like version 01.27 prepares too few files when I test capture. If I say I want 1000MB in each file and enter 1 disk with 3850MB I get 3 capture files. Shouldnt I get 4 files. Marcus: Do you have a newer version of AVI_IO 01.xx that fixes this error or isnt it an error.

[Rick6612]

Hi Markus,

Thanks for your reply. The thing with the file sizes is not a serious problem, as it still is at least keeping the file under the 1 GB limit for the MSP Scratchpad, which is really all I care about. I just thought it was strange that it was behaving differently from before.

I will have to try recapturing the same footage using the previous version of AVI_IO and see if I still get as many dropped frames. I guess this would narrow it down as to whether it really has to do with the processor upgrade or not.

Overall, I still think AVI_IO is a great program!

Rick

[Markus Zingg]

Hi Gang :-)

jeff b

DV support is something I will add to AVI_IO hopefully soon. IMHO there is a utility which can convert Type1 and Type2 files. The DV support I plan will include the option to choose the Type (1 or 2) of the files to be captured. Certainly DV support will mean that the playback feature works with DV output too. I can't give you an exact date yet. I do not yet have plans to create a seperate product. This means unless there are very strong reasons to create a seperate product the DV version will be free for registered users. The story will be different if it comes to MPEG support due to license fees that one have to pay to the MPEG organisation as soon as an encoder or decoder becomes part of a product. In case we do something like that we would create a new product.

other posters & drops:

Please note that drops are unavoidable if the audio and video board do not sample at the requested rate. It's acutally rare that they do remain in sync if audio and video are on seperate devices. The number of drops caused by synchronisation issues should be relatively low though. Almost anything in a system is haveing some influnece then. As a general rule, turn off EVERYTHING which might run's in background. Defrag the HD. You may even want to experiment with different soundcards. If the number of drops are relatively high and you have to get rid of them the only reliable way is to use a grabber hardware which is having it's own sound part. If we are talking about drops caused by synchronizing the video, getting no drops with other capture software means nothing else than that audio and video would shift over time using this other software if that software could capture as long as AVI_IO. If you refer to the previous version of AVI_IO it also depends if you refer to the "use old Video for Windows" mode which was available thre or not. This mode was not seamless and had the same limit's as any other capture software (that is audio and video would shift).

other posters & crashes:

It's known that AVI_IO D 02.22 crashes if you exit it through File -> Exit. This have been fixed. It wan't crash if you exit using the upper right hand X to close the window. There is at least one other case reported where AVI_IO crashes ocasionally during capture. I could not yet reproduce it but do have an idea where it happens. I'm currently a bit stuck with the usual "end of the year stress" in our business. So - again - bear with me :-)

I wish everybody a happy new year!

Markus




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[cuddles]

Markus
Got to say this well done to the Dec upgrade
best $ I've ever parted with.