Jittery audio and video capture

[shookiejones]

Hi all -


Using video studio 9 - I have completed a few projects, (the most recent about a month ago) and I have never had any problems at all.

I recently tried doing a quick little project of one of daughter's talent shows, and while capturing
I noticed jittery video and audio.
Upon playback I started getting the 'venitian blind' effect with the video.

I have an internal 160GB hard drive with about 28GB space available.

I have a larger video project in the works which is probably taking up quite a bit of space, but other than that nothing has changed on my PC from previous projects other than I have doubled my memory.

Again I have done a few projects in the past with not so much as a problem and suddenly this?

I guess it could be the amount of hard drive space, but I believe I've been this low before without a problem.


Any Ideas?

Thanks,

Enzo

[Ron P.]

Welcome to the Forums,

How are capturing, what devices are being used to capture the video to your PC?

You might check to see that the Field Order is correct for the type of video you're capturing. Analog video most of the time is Upper Field First, Digtial Video is always Lower Field First. Frame Based is used for video that is to be viewed using a PC, or image slideshows. It may have inadvertently been changed.

[MrA]

In editing, you need to shut down all programs that are not needed, and defrag the drive(s) first. Disconnect from the internet, and shut off virus programs and firewall.. I have a high speed PC, which, lol, is now outdated, but, I still have to minimize all processor work.

With every, I mean every, new project, I defrag the drives. Unfortunate down side to this is, more wear and tear on the drives.

The larger the project, the more that is needed by your processor.

Thouroughly check your hardware. Bad burner? Bad Hard Drive? Bad Memory Chip? CPU got to hot? Incorrect venting of the PC? Your DVD player is not working/old?

It's a hit and miss trouble shooting adventure.. 99% sure it's a hardware problem..

[shookiejones]

Thanks for the responses -

Per usual have everything else turned off nothing else running at all.
I have not edited or burned this project to DVD, this is just on playback after capturing.

Again, I have done a few projects beginning to end and have not encountered this situation, as it has just appeared all of a sudden.

I have not defragged I will give that a try...if anyone else has any other ideas I appreciate the feedback.

[heinz-oz]

Try recording another bit of footage on a new tape and see if the problem persists. Is the tape playback from the camera ok? May be a faulty tape.

[Ken Berry]

You still have not told us anything at all about the type of camera you have been using, other devices which might have been used in the capture, let alone the all-important information about capture format and project properties.

Right click on one of the captured files within Video Studio and copy down ALL its properties here, please. And if you have produced a DVD compatible mpeg-2 of the whole project, right click on that and tell us those properties too.

Like Vidoman, I think the likely culprit is going to be changed Field Order. But as the others have said, there are all sorts of other possibilities too.

[shookiejones]

First off I want to thank everyone for their responses!

If I can explain, the jittery audio video is occuring as I am capturing the video you can see and hear it occuring.
I stop capture - and I get a message:
"Flushing DV transcode buffer" Which I have never seen before but I am assuming is occuring due to the amount of frames I am dropping?

Once I play back the file I get the the 'venitian blind' effect.

Unfortunately I don't have a completed file as I deleted the huge file I mentioned early thinking that perhaps the amount of hard drive space was causing the issue.

Here is some info you asked for hope this helps:


I am using a Canon Eulra 85

Capturing using Firewire


Video and Audio Capture Property Settings:
MPEG Files
24 Bits, 720 x 480, 29.97 fps
Frame-based
MPEG-1
Video data rate: 1800 kbps
Audio data rate: 224 kbps
MPEG Audio, 44.1 KHz, Stereo

Gents, my concern here is that I have not changed a thing other than memory since the last time I have captured video. Which was only about a few weeks ago. I have not changed any settings what so ever.
I am not saying that something could not have change during a reboot etc. I am in the IT field so I know that stranger things have happened
But it's puzzling why all of a sudden I am having this issue.

In my limited Video editing knowledge I am beginning to think it's a hardware issue with the Firewire card...but that's just the IT geek in me butting in...I really want the video geek in me to figure this mess out without it being a hardware issue, but I really need your help!

Thanks for any info you can provide.

Enzo

[shookiejones]

All right Gents -

My apologies, as I mentioned I didn't change anything but I wasn't opposed to the idea that something did change -

In the capture window under 'format' it was set to MPEG instead of DV as I normally have it set. I didn't touch it but something changed, so it must be Karma for all the times I said to my PC users at work "Well you must have done something to it!!"

Anyway, I apologize for asking anyone to spend one extra minute of their valuable time thinking about this any longer than they had to!

Thanks,
Enzo

[Ken Berry]

Now we're getting somewhere. You are capturing from a mini-DV camera using Firewire. Right so far.

But you are capturing, not to DV format, but for some unexplained reason, to mpeg format, and not DVD compatible mpeg-2, but for some even stranger reason, low quality mpeg-1. What are you hoping to produce?

Whatever the reason, looking at your computer specifications, I would say it is just not up to the complex job of capturing a DV signal from your camera, and converting it on the fly into mpeg. Stuttery and jerky audio and video are the symptoms reported by quite a few other users who try this when their computers are not up to the job.

(Essentially, the incoming DV signal is stored in a buffer -- the transcode buffer -- while it awaits being converted to mpeg. If your computer is not up to the task, the buffer eventually fills and the capture has to stop while the buffer is processed and emptied; then it begins all over again. Stop. Start...)

The simple answer is to capture first to DV format, do all your edits in DV format. This puts no strain on the computer as it is merely transferring the video to the computer in exactly the same format. Once editing is complete, only then convert it (Share > Create Video File > DVD or VCD or whatever you want to produce) to mpeg.

That way, you capture the highest quality DV format, maintain that quality through editing, and don't subject the computer to any undue stress by trying to get it to do too demanding a task on the fly.

EDIT: Sorry. I was typing the foregoing, so I did not see your last post. Good that you found the reason yourself!!!

[shookiejones]

Ken - Thanks for your response none the less, I appreciate you (and all the others) taking your time to help out!
I am back on track and hopefully will have a decent DVD produced for family and friends within the next few weeks!

[Black Lab]

As of today I am
85% questions
15% knowledge

You're not making any progress!