[enjoylol]

Hey guys,


I have been searching around for a problem like this before but haven't found anyone with it. What is happening is basically I connect my DirecTV cable box to my AverTV HD DVR capture card through HDMI. Now, everything sounds and looks perfect on SD channels, but when I switch to HD channels I get perfect sound, but the video is extremely choppy. It's hard to describe what is happening but every time there is movement on the screen it becomes choppy and strange. I included a short youtube clip of what exactly it is that's happening: http://www . youtube .com/ watch?v=mB74j9XnudU (simply delete the spaces)


My specs are: Intel Q5500 Quad Core, 4 gigs DDR2 ram, ASUS P5ND motherboard and an Nvidia GeForce N9600 GT GPU. I can give more specs if desired~


Any help would be greatly greatly greatly appreciated as I have basically tried everything I could think of (reinstalling, updating drivers of GPU and Aver through their respectable websites, ect).

 

[enjoylol]

I did a bit more playing around with VHCapture and other composite cables (as well as HDMI) on both the box in my room, and the main DVR box in our living room. Same problems occured. In VHCapture I was able to listen, watch, and record with a resolution of 720x480, but anything higher than that (1920x1080 and 1280x720) both gave the same effect that was happening in the aforementioned Youtube link.


The only problems I assume could still be causing this issue is maybe a software setting/driver issue, a hardware issue (whether it is my P5ND ASUS MB, or my GeForce 9600 GT), or possibly the capture card itself has an issue.


Again, when recording in AverMedia Center it previews and records in 480i and 480p on SD channels, but when I increase increase the resolution in VHCapture or when I change to a HD channel in AverMedia Center the above/choppy effect I mentioned earlier occurs.


Another update: the same problem occurs with Virtualdub in that when I try to change the Capture Pin to a higher resolution than 720x480 it gives off that same choppy/baring effect; also I noticed heavy baring (I think is the term) even when running that low resolution, not to mention the audio quality occasionally cracks and still doesn't seem perfect. I'm beginning to think this is more Hardware oriented than anything..

 

[msgohan]

Embedded version of your video.

Wow. No idea what would cause that or even what to call it. It's intercutting parts of the video with frames from a few seconds earlier.


You mentioned composite, did you mean component? What happens if you view an HD channel in 720x480 in VHCapture (this works with my PS3, downscaling the video).

 

[winterescape]

Hopefully someone with that card and similar set up will chime with something more useful, but in the mean time, can you sort out if it is a recording or a playback issue? For example if you get a HD video from Amazon and play it back is it smooth and O.K. is it only recorded HD with that card? It sounds like low signal strength, do you have a signal strength application with that card and software?

 

[enjoylol]

Hey guys,


Yeah sorry meant component not composite. When I play hd channels with a 720x480 resolution it doesn't have that weird baring effect like in the video, but I still notice some quality issues like audio cracking on occasion and there are some smaller detail issues I notice with plaid patterns and a barring effect on special effects like lightning.


As for if its a recording or playback issue its both; the same effect occurs when recording or even watching hd channels when using vhcapture, virtualdub, or avermedia center.


I'm not sure if this is relavant but when recording with virtual dub I was getting a dropped frame every 3 seconds.


One thing I will try when I get home is putting the card into another pci slot.


Thanks for the quick responses BTW guys, when I get back ill upload another video of what it looks like in 480 and another in 720 with virtualdub and avermedia center.


Another thing I forgot to mention was when I put the resolution of the hd channel on 720x480 it looks decent without the crazy baring, when I increase the res to 1280x720 it gives me nothing but a green screen and when I put it to 1920x1080 it goes back to that crazy barring like in the above video

 

[robn1]

I've used this card with the AVermedia center for about a year and a half, for almost all my TV viewing, and I've never had a problem with it. I see a green screen and some flashing when I switch from a SD to a HD channel, but it's only a few seconds while the card adjusts to the change.


The only time I see choppy video is if I have Handbrake running, it uses all of my CPU and leaves nothing for the AVer card. I can watch live TV OK, but I can't record while HB is running.

 

[enjoylol]

So a quick update, I basically switched my GPU and the capture cards PCI slots.. and that seemed to have fixed everything. But I have a question regarding recording.. since I can use HDMI and not worry about HDCP problems, would recording files (huge files, mind you) in AverMedia Center be best? If so, what do people use to compress these files to work in Sony Vegas? If not, what would you recommend I use to record the settings (if you could list capture resolutions, audio settings, compression settings, ect. that would be amazingly helpful)?


Thanks guys

 

[robn1]

I don't know if my system specs make any difference in the reliability, but it might.

3ghz Phenom II Quad

4gigs DDR3

Radeon 4670

600w PSU

My OS is on a SSD, but I use Seagate 2tb green drives for storage. The lower speed of the green drives is still plenty fast for video.


I record HD as MPEG2 at 20mps. I tested several other settings and this seemed to be the best all around way to go. I use 10mps for SD.


I open the MPEG2 files in Corel video studio pro for editing, and save as the same type without conversion. This just writes a copy of the original except for the edits. I then use Handbrake to reduce the file size. HB can make a MKV file at about 5mps with no noticeable change in picture quality.

 

[enjoylol]

Thank you Robn1, I will try that.


I am assuming you are recording using AverMedia Center?

 

[robn1]



Quote:
Originally Posted by enjoylol /forum/post/20876514


Thank you Robn1, I will try that.


I am assuming you are recording using AverMedia Center?

Yes I use the AVermedia Center. I tried Vdub but I couldn't get it to work. The AVer app sucks with the tuner card, but seems just fine with capture.


It occurred to me that converting to H264 while recording may be the problem. The conversion is very CPU intensive and has to be done on the fly in real time when recording, maybe your CPU just can't keep up. Recording MPEG2 even in HD only uses about 20% of my CPU.

 

[enjoylol]

I see. I am concerned right now about the huge file that recording in MPEG2 creates, a 6 minute clip is almost 800 MB in .mpg format. Is there a way to reduce the file size or compress it somehow? I put it into Sony Vegas and render it, but the sound always is slightly off at the end of the video, and I feel like its because of the gigantic size of the file itself.


Any suggestions??

 

[robn1]

Yeah they're big, 1 hour of HD is over 8gb. But Corel handles it just fine, after I make the edits Corel takes about 10mins to render a 1 hour vid. Again just a copy of the original, no conversion. I've never had a problem with sound.


I've not used Sony Vegas so I can't comment on that. Maybe try Corel, it's got a free trial so you've got nothing to lose.

 

[enjoylol]

I will try that, thank you!


In fact, I have never heard of it but always have made my edits in Sony Vegas, but for the shows I want to record all I need is something that can edit/cut out the commercials; something I assume Corel does(?).


Is the actual program itself simply called "Corel" ?

 

[robn1]

 Corel Video Studio Pro. I use X3, I think 4 is the same with 3D capability.


Yes I use it to edit commercials, also to trim the ends of commercial free movies. I've done movies up to 3 hours long in HD with no problem. I don't come close to using all it's features. It will save to several formats, but the quality doesn't seem as good. When I save an edited vid, I select "Same as first video clip", this will copy it without change other than the edits. This only seems available for mpeg and avi.


I then use Handbrake to make a smaller file to keep. A 2 hour HD vid will take 5 hours or more to process, but the quality is great.

 

[enjoylol]

Thank you very much, I have been toying around with it before the 30 day trial expires. But I have a couple questions regarding it: 1) when trimming out a clip do you use multi-trim video option? Or is there another way? And 2) would it be possible to use Handbrake before opening either CVSP or Sony Vegas? If that is the case I wouldn't have to buy CVSP and could simply use Vegas to edit.

 

[robn1]



Quote:
Originally Posted by enjoylol /forum/post/20878897


...1) when trimming out a clip do you use multi-trim video option? Or is there another way?...

No, I just move the slider to the point I want to cut, once you get the slider close, you use the arrow keys to move it frame by frame. Then click the scissors button. This makes multiple parts in the storyboard, then I delete the parts I don't want. I had to look at multi trim to see what it is! I'll have to play with that.

Quote:
Originally Posted by enjoylol /forum/post/20878897


...2) would it be possible to use Handbrake before opening either CVSP or Sony Vegas? If that is the case I wouldn't have to buy CVSP and could simply use Vegas to edit.

I don't know about Vegas, but Corel will only edit mpeg and avi. I suppose you could compress to one of these first, but HB only makes mp4 or mkv files. Corel won't open these.


Does Corel seem to handle the large files better for you?

 

[enjoylol]

It handles them much much better, but the issue I have is buying the actual product, I get paid bi-monthly and I literally just spent 800$ on a completely new rig lol


I know for a fact that Vegas uses .mp4 files, so the next test is to see if I can reduce an AverMedia Center file (22 minutes ~3-6gigs) to around 300-400 MBs using HB.


Needless to say I'm praying it can :O

 

[robn1]

Understood on the price. The 30 day trial without restriction helped there, I was able to determine that it did everything I need before pulling the trigger.


So Vegas will edit mp4? With frame precision? How about mkv, will it do those too? I haven't seen anything that will do that.

 

[enjoylol]

I'm going to experiment with 22 minute clips from AverMedia Center and AmarecTV today and see. Pretty sure the .mkv files work fine in Vegas, but I have only experimented with .mp4.