File size limit

[Chet]

Hi
I feel like I should appoligize for asking this question again because I know it's been answered before but I have to. I just added a second HD (Maxtor 27 gig) to my system dedicated to captured video only. I was about to settle down for a long winter's nap capturing video when I noticed that I can only capture clips of about 10-15 min. duration to be able to open them into the time line of MSPro. If I let it go to 25 min., the capture stops and I get a message (data rate too high or hard drive full). I've read posts about a 2.1 gig file limit but at the time I didn't pay as much attention as I should have. Is that limit the real deal and if so is it a limitation of the Marvel G200tv or Ulead MSPro?

Thanks
Chet

[JAZZ]

The 2 gig limitation is a Microsoft Windows limitation.

[Pertti]

Hi Chet,

The Matrox PC-VCR will create new files at the 2GB limit, into which the capture will continue.

Markus has also written a program, AVI_IO which can do it.

The 2GB limit is a Windows limitation, and allthough you can play multiple 2GB AVI:s from the MS timeline, the Ulead capturing program doesn't know how to break the capturing session into multiple files.

Pertti

[Rick6612]

Hi Chet,

The 2 GB limit is a Windows .avi file limitation. The solution is to get the AVI_IO program from http://www.nct.ch/multimedia/avi_io/. You can download a trial version for free. When you find out how well it works, you will want to pay $25 for the full version.

What AVI_IO will do for you is allow you to capture as much as your hard drive(s) will hold, in a sequence of individual files no larger than 2 GB each. When you put these individual files on the time line in Ulead MSP, you will find that they play through perfectly from one file to the next. There is no visible break when one file ends and the next one begins!

Now, the next thing you will notice is that the Scratchpad in MSP can only handle files up to 1 GB in size. Fortunately, AVI_IO has a setting which allows you to specify a maximum size for each individual capture file. Instead of letting this default to 2GB, set it to 1000 MB. This will make all your individual capture files less than 1 GB in size, which in turn will make them all useable in the MSP Scratchpad.

The next trick is how to play back your video. Since you are trying to capture more than 2GB worth a video, I have to assume that your finished video project will be larger than 2GB also. Don't try to create a new .avi file from MSP that will be greater than 2GB. It won't work. Instead, use MSP's "Preview" feature, which basically plays the video from the timeline, only rendering the parts that need to be rendered.

Rick

[Chet]

Hi Jazz/ Pertti/ Rick
Thanks for helping me out. It sounds like AVI_IO is the way to go. Rick thanks for adding the notes about scratch pad. I'm sure you're right, that would have been my next problem. I'm also glad to hear about the seamless transition from one file to the other. It would be a bit of a drag to go back and capture a song because I lost a word or two at the file break.

Thanks Again
Chet

[SteveR]

Technically, you can use greater than 2 GB avi files in windows as long as your are using applications which work with DirectX. There is an explanation at:
http://www.concentric.net/~psilon/video_2gb.html

Practically speaking, of course, this is not much use if your software relies on VfW or MCI, and then you are stuck with 2 GB or 1 GB.

I have played around with VirtualDub and it does create avi files greater than 2 GB and Windows Media Player plays them back happily. Can't speak for anything greater than 4 GB because I am running W98.

This would be a limited convenience with software which supports timeline editing of multiple 2 GB files - you are still working with mutiple files, just fewer, larger ones. And neither of the current versions of the mainstream editing apps support the DirectX flavour of avi (fingers crossed for MSP6). I did try loading the avi's into VS4 (which I believe uses DirectX drivers for Type 1 DV capture/export) - but no success so far.

One neat feature of VirtualDub is the frameserver option. This has allowed me to process >2GB avis in applications which support neither processing of multiple avi segments or >2GB avi. For example using Panasonic stand-alone encoder to convert >2GB avis to MPEG1.

VirtualDub looks like it can frameserve from multiple segmented avis which would allow running almost unlimited total avi size through a standalone application (though I haven't had a chance to run this all the way to a completed mpeg yet).

[jeff b]

The largest number you can have with 32 bits is 4 gigabytes, consequently, that's the outside limit for 32 bit OS's. AVI's can only handle half that, and that crazy scratch pad in MSP can only handle half of THAT, for some odd reason. Type 1 DV files, on the other hand, can go to 4 gigabytes in Windows 98. Interestingly, Ulead's VideoStudio will capture to the 4 gig limit, then tell you the disk is full. When you check the filesize, Windows and VideoStudio tells you it's '0 bytes' long... but they work just fine.

Fun stuff, eh?

[Chet]

Steve and Jeff
Thanks for the info. Because MSP scratch pad only allows 1 gig I guess I'll go with AVI_IO. I downloaded the trial last night and I've got a problem that I wrote to Markus about. I don't think it's major. I've read some of his other posts and he seems to be on top of support issues. He'll probably have some ideas for me.

Thanks Again
Chet