AVI_IO timer recording and DV capture?

[wkulecz]

Does it work? If so what's the trick?

I've version 3.24 and Canopus ADVC-100. Capture seems to work but when I set up a timed recording it never starts or gives me any indication that its planning to so something later.

--wally.

[DrP]

There are a few undocumented (well, undocumented for me anyway) switches for AVI_IO. The timer isn't very useful for Matrox users as it can't set the channel, so I wrote a kixtart script to automate things.

For you though, configure AVI_IO with all the right codecs etc, save the settings, then use the windows task scheduler to launch avi_io.exe -c at the right time. avi_io will even automatically close once the capture is finished.

Hope this helps.

[Nick Piercey]

Hi Wally,


Yep. AVI_IO works well with timed DV captures. Unless you're using XP or ME, these do not have the appropriate capture drivers.

I'm using the ADVC100 with Win2000 and AVI_IO3.22 (the latest one Marcus sent me).

I usually fire up MSPro vcapture or Scenalyzer first to check that I am getting something from the Canopus first as I get no preview function for either video or audio with AVI_IO, then I usually do a quick test capture with AVI_IO and check that before setting the timer.

Agreed it doesn't give you an indication that a timer has been set - trust to luck!

It's a bit fiddly but works well.

Regards,


Nick.

[wkulecz]

I must be missing a something.

I set the timer for five minutes from now and waited. Nothing has happened after 10 minutes with AVI_IO open.

I reset the timer and closed AVI_IO doesn't appear to have set anything up in windows scheduler. Nothing happens at the appointed time.

Manual captures work, at least for short tests, so AVI_IO and the capture drivers seem in order.

I'd really like to make this work.

--wally.

[droopy]

Well, timed capture works for me, but not multiple timed as you can not change the capture file. Problem is a bit different, but I guess you can solve yours the same way as I did mine.

I used a program called KeyText 2000 to make a macro of all needed. It is a simple and extremely easy to use program. It doesn't have a macro recording option, but it makes up for that by the easy script language used. Its basically a no fuzz macro program. Unlike programs as Macro Express, Keyboard Express and others this one works. It also can reactivate windows when focus is lost, which happens with e.g. the capture window or the timer window when enter is pressed to confirm a change / setting.

What you could do is create macro 1 at xxxx time which
-runs AVI-IO
-Insert pause for AVI_IO to start up properly
-set the capture file (Make sure to deactivate the capture conformation message in capture options)
-start capture

Then create macro 2 at xxx time which
-quits capture
-quits AVI-IO

Hey presto, you got your easy re-usable capture timer.

Regards, Leon

[DrP]

my avi_io kixtart script

all I do is configure AVI_IO with the right audio and video size / codecs and then save the config to an ini file with the name like huffyfull etc. This script can run weekly events, or if you put in a date, a one off. Its really written (can you can something this messy written??) with W2k / XP in mind, but a bit of a mod and it will run with 98 too.

I've done one up that runs virtualdubmod in a similar way. msg me if you are interested in it.

Enjoy.

cls
$rc = setoption ("HideCursor","ON")
do
sleep 1
until @ticks > 60000
$dow = " MOTUWETHFRSASU"
$crlf = chr(13) + chr(10)
dim $startdate[29], $starttime[29], $enddate[29], $endtime[29], $channel[29], $capfile[29], $shutoff[29], $ini[29], $weekly[29], $sd[29], $ed[29]
$rc = open (1,"c:\avi_io\schedule.tv",2)
$items = 0
$program = readline (1)
while @error = 0
$temp = split($program, " ")
$startdate[$items] = ucase($temp[0])
$starttime[$items] = $temp[1]
$enddate[$items] = ucase($temp[2])
$endtime[$items] = $temp[3]
$channel[$items] = $temp[4]
$capfile[$items] = $temp[5]
$shutoff[$items] = $temp[6]
$ini[$items] = $temp[7]
$weekly[$items] = 0
$eval = substr ($startdate[$items],1,1)
if ($eval > ":")
$weekly[$items] = 1
$startdate[$items] = chr(instr($dow,substr($startdate[$items],1,2)) / 2 +48 )
$enddate[$items] = chr(instr($dow,substr($enddate[$items],1,2)) / 2 +48 )
endif
$sd[$items] = $startdate[$items] + $starttime[$items]
$ed[$items] = $enddate[$items] + $endtime[$items]
$items = $items +1
$program = readline (1)
loop
$rc = close (1)
do
at (0,0)
?"@DATE @TIME "
$items = 0
while $startdate[$items] <> ""
if $weekly[$items] = 0
$cd = @DATE + substr (@TIME,1,5)
else
$cd = chr(instr($dow,substr(@DAY,1,2)) / 2 + 48 ) + substr (@TIME,1,5)
endif
if $cd => $sd[$items]
if $cd < $ed[$items]
gosub capgo
endif
endif
$items = $items + 1
loop
sleep 5
until exist (c:\avi_io\stopme) = 1
del "c:\avi_io\stopme"
exit
:capgo
$capfile1 = $capfile[$items] + " (@DAY @MONTH @YEAR " + substr(@time,1,2) + "-" + substr(@time,4,2) + "-" + substr(@time,7,2) + ").avi"
copy "c:\avi_io\" + $ini[$items] + ".ini" "c:\avi_io.ini"
$rc = writeprofilestring ("c:\avi_io\avi_io.ini","avi_io","DISC","0, $capfile1")
$rc = writevalue ("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Matrox\RainbowRunner \0\VidCap\CurrentValues\TVTunerChannel","",$channe l[$items],"REG_SZ")
shell "cmd /c start /realtime c:\avi_io\avi_io.exe -c"
cls
? "@DATE @TIME "
? "Start: " $startdate[$items] " " $starttime[$items]
? "End: " $enddate[$items] " " $endtime[$items]
? "Channel: " $channel[$items]
? "Capture to: " $capfile1
? "Config: " $ini[$items]
do
at (0,0)
? "@date @time "
sleep 5
if $weekly[$items] = 0
$cd = @DATE + substr (@TIME,1,5)
else
$cd = chr(instr($dow,substr(@DAY,1,2)) / 2 + 48) + substr(@TIME, 1, 5)
endif
until $cd => $ed[$items]
do
sleep 1
until setfocus ("AVI_IO") = 0
$rc = sendkeys ("{ESC}")
do
sleep 1
until setfocus ("AVI_IO") <> 0
if $shutoff[$items] = "1"
shutdown ("","wait",30,1,2)
sleep 300
endif
cls
return

sample scheduler file:

fr 17:25 fr 18:05 10 e:\ocean 0 xvidfull
fr 11:30 fr 12:05 10 e:\animorphs 0 xvidfull
fr 10:25 fr 11:05 25 e:\genie 0 xvidfull
fr 23:20 sa 09:00 10 e:\rage 0 huffyfull
sa 19:25 sa 20:35 19 e:\myst 0 xvidfull
sa 21:25 sa 23:45 25 e:\farscape 0 xvidfull
su 00:35 su 06:30 10 e:\rage 0 huffyhalf
su 17:58 su 18:53 10 e:\pilot 0 xvidfull
su 19:25 su 20:35 16 e:\ancient 0 xvidfull
su 11:55 su 13:05 10 e:\landline 0 xvidfull
2003/01/27 04:00 2003/01/27 11:10 25 e:\test 0 mjpegfull

sample avi_io.ini (note the [avi_io] manually edited in)

[avi_io]
VERSION = D 03.21
DEVICE = Matrox VidCap Driver
TIMELIMIT = -1
FPS = 40000
SDROPDETECT = 0
VU_PEEKDELAY = 0
SESSION = 0
PAUDIOOFS = 0
CONFIG = 75498944
PCONFIG = 0
PRUNS = 1
LPFILE =
FSIZE = 1024
AINTERLEAVE = 500
WAVEFORMAT = 1, 2, 44100, 176400, 4, 16, 0,
VIDEOFORMAT = 40, 28000000C002000040020000010010005955593200600C0000 000000000000000000000000000000
VIDEOCOMP = 1667524982, 1970890344, 0, 0, 0, 232, 0, E8000000600100002001000001001800484659550018030000 000000000000000000000000000000021000004225264768C9 0A090B0B0C090D090E090F081009D13231D253345374353736 3738597A383738793A393A5958393837583978595A98793A39 3837563536353635343574731208110810080F09EE0D090C0A 0B0BEAC98867262422422426282A2B2C2D2E2F305132737435 34955455363719191A8C191058393837387675140A93723150 2F4E2C2B2A272523222123252728294B2C4D2E4F7071529435 3938593819B838190C38395836373554335231304F2E2D4C2B 2A292827242200
DISC = 0, C:\capture.avi
CURRSTATION = -1

[Nick Piercey]

Hi Wally,

All I do is set the timer and leave AVI_IO open (or minimised).

Silly question, maybe, have you ticked the "timer active" box?

Multiple timers work if you tick the assign session numbers box. This allocates a different file name to each timed event.



HTH,


Nick.

[droopy]

@Nick

This is not my call, but I want to thank you for the idea of the "assign session numbers box". I really didn't know that one. Guess that shows how stuck I am in the same old process of recording things.

It doesn't solve the specifc name issue which I can with KeyText 2000, but is absolutely an alternative to try.

Thanks again, Leon

[wkulecz]

Nick,

Thanks for the reply!

Knowing it did work and that I was using it right (Timed box checked, leave AVI_IO open, assign session numbers checked) motivated me to look for other issues.


DOH! My computer clock had drifted to be off by ~12 hours! Thus when I set 10:10 for 10:10AM when I tried it yseterday I should have set 22:10 as that's what time my computer thought it was. Reset the clock and now I'm in business! When the time arrives AVI_IO starts and behaves exactly like I'd pressed the record button.

Thanks again!

--wally.

[Nick Piercey]

Hi Wally and Leon,


Glad you've got things sorted out!


I use a little program called Tardis http://www.kaska.demon.co.uk/ which resets the internal clock every time I start my computer - invaluable.

Regards,



Nick.