Virtualdub Capture: Pixelated preview

[Jenova314]

Hey guys,

Hope you can help me resolve this issue I've been having.

Before:
I had an ATI Radeon AIW (7200 or 7000 GPU I believe). I would use VirtualDub to capture (because I wanted to use DivX + Smart Deinterlacing). My video input format would be YUY2 @ 640x480. In addition, I would enable "Stretch to window" under the video tab. This allowed me to basically watch video via the "overlay" preview and capture at the same time. It was great, because the video picture would retain its aspect ratio automatically not matter how I stretch the window.

After:
I now have an ATI 9600 card w/256MB running on the latest drivers w/o Catalyst, along with a ComproTech VideoMate TV Gold+.

Problem:
The overlay picture on VirtualDub is now very pixelated when I try to "stretch" it to anything other than 320x240. I've since then set the video input to 320x240, and enabled "Stretch to window," but that becomes pixelated as well. Moreover, the aspect ratio is no longer maintained, and will be distorted after I stretch the window, unless I do it carefully.

Attempted troubleshooting:
Replaced ATI 9600 with an Asus Ti4200: No go.
Replaced Compro card with ATI TV Wonder PCI: No go.

 

[Jenova314]

bump

 

[Matthias99]

Are you capturing at 320x240 or 640x480? If you're capturing from the TV card at 320x240, nothing you can do will make it unpixelated when you blow it up to 640x480.

Aspect scaling should be controlled by VirtualDub -- most programs have an option to 'lock to aspect ratio' or something along those lines.

 

[Jenova314]

I used to capture at 640x480 in my before setup, but it seems like the Compro only supports 320x240 capture. In any case, that's not my concern. My main concern is only the preview overlay in VirtualDub becoming pixelated and grainy. Sometimes I want to watch what I'm capturing as well, and a small 320x240 picture is too small, so I would want to scale it up. After the capture, if I use Windows Media Classic to play the clip, I can blow it up however I want, and DirectDraw will maintain the aspect ratio for me no matter how I resize the window, as well as "smooth out" the picture, so it looks ok.

Again, my main gripe is just not being able to have a good overlay to watch TV with.

 

[rbV5]

Again, my main gripe is just not being able to have a good overlay to watch TV with.

To be fair, virtualdub is a nice proggy, but is is based on VFW and requires a wrapper to even work with these cards in direct show. When you watch live TV in Media Player Classic...how does it look?

 

[Jenova314]

Originally posted by: rbV5

Again, my main gripe is just not being able to have a good overlay to watch TV with.

When you watch live TV in Media Player Classic...how does it look?

No no, I meant I play the captured AVI clips with MPC, and then DirectShow takes over and makes the picture much nicer (i.e., aspect ratio + smoothing).

I just find it strange that there was a DirectShow surface for previews when I was using my before setup, but not after I started with the after setup. Thus it's making TV-viewing on VDub much less enjoyable. Does this appear to be a driver issue?

 

[rbV5]

I was wondering how live TV looks using MPC?

 

[Jenova314]

Originally posted by: rbV5
I was wondering how live TV looks using MPC?

Right, and again, I meant that I only used MPC to play the captured AVI clips, not to watch live TV. I was comparing the benefits of having DirectShow on MPC (AVI) versus not having it on VDub (live TV).

 

[rbV5]

Originally posted by: Jenova314

Originally posted by: rbV5
I was wondering how live TV looks using MPC?

Right, and again, I meant that I only used MPC to play the captured AVI clips, not to watch live TV. I was comparing the benefits of having DirectShow on MPC (AVI) versus not having it on VDub (live TV).

So, you don't want to try watching live TV on MPC and report back how it looks as compared to the live preview window in Vdub?..it may offer a clue.

 

[Jenova314]

Originally posted by: rbV5

Originally posted by: Jenova314

Originally posted by: rbV5
I was wondering how live TV looks using MPC?

Right, and again, I meant that I only used MPC to play the captured AVI clips, not to watch live TV. I was comparing the benefits of having DirectShow on MPC (AVI) versus not having it on VDub (live TV).

So, you don't want to try watching live TV on MPC and report back how it looks as compared to the live preview window in Vdub?..it may offer a clue.

Ok, I just tried it. Surprisingly, I managed to get the DShow surface going. Now the problem is, the audio/video sync isn't maintained if I capture using MPC. Where is the option for that, if it exists?

 

[rbV5]

Ok, I just tried it. Surprisingly, I managed to get the DShow surface going. Now the problem is, the audio/video sync isn't maintained if I capture using MPC. Where is the option for that, if it exists?

I'm not familiar with capturing using MPC, I just noticed that you were using it for playback and knew that it supported live viewing as well so I figured you could check easy enough. It doesn't look like a driver issue, maybe its a setting that you need to change in vdub, maybe look at a direct capture utility for your card?

 

[Jenova314]

Originally posted by: rbV5

Ok, I just tried it. Surprisingly, I managed to get the DShow surface going. Now the problem is, the audio/video sync isn't maintained if I capture using MPC. Where is the option for that, if it exists?

I'm not familiar with capturing using MPC, I just noticed that you were using it for playback and knew that it supported live viewing as well so I figured you could check easy enough. It doesn't look like a driver issue, maybe its a setting that you need to change in vdub, maybe look at a direct capture utility for your card?

That's sort of the last thing I want to do actually, since it most definitely won't support DivX capture, much less use my Radium MP3 codec.