To all of you capturing guru`s outthere, please help!

[Wiken]

I have majour problems with capturing videos without dropping frames, so now i have formatted my hdd, and want to start from scratch.

I have a Pentium III 667 mhz
256meegs of ram

so if you can give some tips to what i exactly todo and use of proggs after i have installed win98se, i have heard something about vcache,tweaking etc (please tell an amateur exactly how to start from scratch, with everything that i really should do to get a stable and good system =))

ThanX

[Dr Mordrid]

Open the file c:\windows\system.ini in Notepad and search for the [VCACHE] entry. Now edit it to look like this;

[VCACHE]
minfilecache=10240
maxfilecache=10240
chunksize=1024

This fixes the VCACHE to 10 megs thereby stopping Windows from eating all your physical memory for disk caches and forcing video software to use the swapfile (a bad thing).

Now create a folder named TEMP in the root of your video drive (D: in this example) and add this to the end of your c:\autoexec.bat file;

TMP=D:\TEMP
TEMP=D:\TEMP

This will force Windows to store temporary .avi and audio files generated by your editing program on the faster/larger video drive instead of the boot drive. Again this is a performance enhancer.

The video drive should ALWAYS be a separate drive than the boot drive. Not just another partition of the boot drive but a totally separate and preferrably 7,200 rpm drive.

The Maxtor DiamondMax Plus40 ATA66 in the 40 gig size is an excellent choice, even if you run it on an ATA33 interface. It's one huge, fast and cool running drive.

Now right click on "My Computer", right click and select "Properties". Once in there click on "Performance" and select "File System". Once there set the Typical Role as "Network Server".

This makes the filesystem read & write faster and enhances multitasking.

Now select "Troubleshooting" and check the box labeled "Disable write-behind caching for all drives". Click "OK" to go back.

This disables a disk cache mode that slows drive access during captures.

Now click on the box labeled "Virtual Memory". In here select the box to "Let me specify my own virtual memory settings". Choose the system drive and set the minimum and maximum both to 256 megs.

This fixes the size of the swapfile and thus speeds it's writing.

Click "OK" all the way out and reboot to lock in the settings.

If you're using MediaStudio Pro go to the "file/preferences" menu item and set the loacation of all temporary files to the D:\TEMP folder mentioned earlier.

IF you are using an all-in-one combo capture card like the Marvel G400 go into your mainboards BIOS setup program and set the AGP apature as large as possible. On most boards this will be either 128 or 256 megs. Save the change and boot up.

This will maximize the data transfers across the AGP bus to the PCI bus. Some AGP cards won't like this. If you run into this then just set it back to 64 megs.

There are more tweaks but this should get you started.

Dr. Mordrid


[This message has been edited by Dr Mordrid (edited 08 July 2000).]

[intomisery]

More TWEAKS? Doc, you've been saying that a lot.. what are they?? Give em up, you know you want to Heck, who am I kidding.. you NEED to... we need you to...
btw, what should my virtual memory setting be if I have 128MB RAM.. right now it's set to 3x 128.

[Wiken]

Dr Mordrid: ThanX for all the info, iam about trying it right now, but some of the thingy you says have i tried before except that vcache thingy, so if you now something else please let me know =))
cause it seems like you know alot moore....

[Wiken]

Dr Mordrid Btw, what powerdesk version and vtools are u recomending??

[Dr Mordrid]

Sure there are more tweaks, but then what would I have to post about?

Actually another good one is to create a custom editing-only user profile with all but the essential PCI devices disabled. This frees up PCI bus resources on systems with extraneous hardware like network, modem and other such toys.

I'm recommending Video Tools v-1.52 for those who want to use alternate codecs by way of the YUY2 hack because YUY2 support in Video Tools v-1.54 is broken. Otherwise you can go with v-1.54 for MJPeg & RGB only. The current display drivers are OK.

Dr. Mordrid

[intomisery]

yeah, but by imparting your knowledge among us, we will be able to make a substantial difference in changing the world for the better, one Non-Linear edited video at a time...
now if that doesn't make for an interesting argument, I don't know what does!

[This_Idiot]

Of course you could always read through the Idiots guides and FAQ sections of the site. Much of this stuff has already been put there so that poor ole Doc doesn't have to trot it out again every couple of weeks....

Or maybe you weren't aware that the forum is just one part of the site.

Check out the rest at www.desktopvideoworld.com

[Dr Mordrid]

Thanks, T_I. That would give me a chance to get rid of this writers cramp

Dr. Mordrid