[c627627]

You have an ATi capture card then? Drivers play a big role. For my old 9600XT, I tested not to install anything after Catalyst 5.12.


As for capturing video:
Multimedia Center will capture better quality video than any other program, simply because you are using an ATi capture card. This is from my test comparisons of about a dozen best, most expensive and highest rated programs in detail.

Here's the catch: Multimedia Center versions play a big difference AND default settings are such that if the task was how to set the program to record the worst possible video, you would use default settings. [And I'm only half joking.]


Multimedia Center 9.03 may be more stable than later versions:


MMC 9.06 & MMC 9.06.1 have a major flaw: Creating a new AVI setting and attempting to record with that setting CRASHES the system.

MMC 9.08 fixed the AVI flaw, however: The scheduler in MMC 9.08 and later versions uses the Windows Task Scheduler while earlier versions of MMC used their own task scheduler. GuidePlus+ does not filter characters like *.:\/ etc. from the event titles. This means that MMC 9.08 scheduler cannot always create a Windows Event (a .JOB file in \Windows\Tasks) because those are invalid characters for Windows filenames and so the task scheduler crashes.

All versions after MMC 9.08 have TV-on-Demand permanently enabled. Versions released after 9.08 time shift video content: there is a delay between audio/video output and what is displayed on screen. Versions released after 9.08 also take up more system resources.


By the way: The only way to disable TV-on-Demand in versions after MMC 9.08 is to edit Windows registry:
Start Menu > Run... > regedit >
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ATI Technologies\MultiMedia\Features\DTV\Channel Manager
Change the value of key LiveMode from 0 to 1

Some versions of MMC do not have LiveMode key. They require changing the value of the ENABLETIMESHIFT key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ATI Technologies\MultiMedia\Features\DTV\Channel Manager\TAL\Input Connectors\Phys
Change the value of key ENABLETIMESHIFT from 0 to 1


If using later versions of Multimedia Center and TV fails to initialize, try installing an earlier version of Multimedia Center, then use the Setup to 'update' Multimedia Center instead of performing a full install.

[c627627]

Other things I discovered about drivers:

ATi Catalyst drivers v5.6 and later appear to introduce a bug on my 9600XT where many .wmv files freeze after the initial frame. If this happens, right click on an empty space on desktop
> Properties > Settings TAB > > Advanced
> Options TAB (second tab from top left) > UNCHECK: "WMV Acceleration" > Apply > OK

or

Catalyst Control Center > View > Advanced View > under Graphic settings > Video > All Settings
> (scroll down) and UNCHECK: "Windows Media Video Acceleration"



Only after I installed NEWER 12/13/2006 Encoder Package BEFORE installing OLDER ATi Multimedia Center, did MMC finally work as it should for me.

1 Drivers
2 Remote Wonder II
3 Data Access Objects (DAO - MDAC)
4 DVD Decoder [Optional installation that is not required to be installed. There are better programs for playing DVDs.]
5 Encoder
6 ATI Multimedia Center

[c627627]

ATi TV Setup
========

• Video Recorder TAB > One Touch Record... > Disk Space...
• Display TAB > When Minimized > Minimize TV > UNCHECK: Crop Picture >
• Initialization Wizard...
• Closed Caption > TV Magazine Setup > Next > Select Folder then uncheck: Enable

• Display TAB settings of Aspect Ratio and Crop Video are not only for preview,
they also affect the way video is captured.
Set the correct Aspect Ratio and UNCHECK: Crop Video

* IMPORTANT * Recording Preset for capturing TV:
• Video Recorder TAB > Map Preset... > Create New...
(press Insert key on keyboard or
click on the first icon next to "Select the preset to use for your export.") >

Name: MPEG-2 DVD

• MPEG-2 DVD (not MPEG-2)
• NTSC (525)
• 704 x 480
[Use 704 x 480 to capture SD or HD TV, VCR, analog camcorder.
720 x 480 is used by commercial DVD discs and DV format camcorders.]
• Encode Interlaced, do NOT use De-Interlace.
• UNCHECK: Inverse 3:2 Pulldown
• UNCHECK: Record Cropped Video
• Audio Format: 48.000 KHz, 16 Bit Stereo, LPCM
(To capture best quality uncompressed audio which can then be compressed to Dolby 2/0 [L,R] audio when the DVD is created later. Dolby Digital audio is compatible with DVD players whereas MPEG audio is compatible with some, but not all DVD players.
If you intend to leave audio uncompressed later, use 1536 kbit/s for LPCM Audio Bitrate when using Bitrate calculators.)

Next > UNCHECK: Closed Group Of Pictures
(In theory, this is better but if you do leave it checked, the file may be compatible with additional video editing programs.)

Next >

• CONSTANT (not Variable) Bitrate for better overall quality.
(Although captured file size will be smaller with adequate quality using a Variable Bitrate.)

• About 8 M Bit/Second should be used for 60 minutes or less to fit on a single layer DVD if LPCM wav audio is used. [Use keyboard arrows to adjust. The bitrate may fluctuate in certain scenes even when Constant Bitrate is used.]

Use Bitrate calculator
http://www.videohelp.com/calc.htm
to help you set lower Audio/Video bitrates if you wish to fit more than 1 hour on a single layer DVD.

• Motion Estimation Quality: 99

Next > Select the VideoSoap type > None
(But for older VHS Sources, select VideoSoap > Next > Preview... button to see how it affects the picture.)

Next > Max File Size: Windows Limit (or 4GB for Windows 98/Me or FAT32 file systems that only support single files under 4 GB. Captures will then be spread over multiple 4 GB files on these systems. )

> Finish

(Start one capture.)


• Right click while recording to see additional displayed information options.

• Right click on the record button (camera icon) for additional options such as One Touch Recording.

• Reduce the size of the preview Window to devote more system resources to capturing.


• The sound will not be recorded unless Windows Recording properties are set correctly:
Double click on the speaker icon in the lower right corner >
Options > Properties > Recording > OK > CHECK: Line In

[If the speaker icon is not there, or to check additional properties: go to Start Menu > Settings > Control Panel > Sounds and... > Volume TAB > Advanced... button > Options > Properties]


• Try to mute everything not in use during capture. Master, Wave and Line In should not be muted.

• Line in should be a little less than all the way up to 100%, depending on the source.

• ATi volume slider can be adjusted using Numeric Keypad - and +


• More on video capture bitrate: The DVD specification says that the maximum multiplexed bitrate of a video/audio stream must be no greater than 10.08 Mbps (10080 kbps), so:

10080 kbps - 1536 kbps if LPCM wav audio is used = 8544 kbps for video bitrate.

About 500 kbps should account for most video bitrate fluctuations so about 8000 kbps should be selected as Constant Video Bitrate for 60 minutes or less.


Use Dolby Digital AC3 audio to allow for higher Video Bitrates to be used.
This is because Dolby Digital audio is compressed without significant decrease in sound quality.


10080 kbps - 448 kbps (if 448 kbps Dolby Digital AC3 audio is used) = 9632 kbps for video bitrate.

About 500 kbps should account for most video bitrate fluctuations so about 9100 kbps should be selected as Constant Video Bitrate. This can be lowered to be on the safe side, because once the video bitrate approaches 9000 kbps, it is more difficult to notice the differences in video quality.


Use bitrate calculators to reduce video and/or AC3 audio bitrate to fit videos longer than 60 minutes on one single layer DVD.


Note that some software that does not thoroughly analyze the capture, such as Sony DVD Architect 3 may incorrectly report video bitrate of the captured file being too high.

=====


Other Recording Presets:


* AVI 704x480
UYVY video format (native)
Audio Format: 48.000 KHz, 16 Bit Stereo, PCM (native)

720x480 can only be set if you create a new AVI 704x480 preset and give it an unusual, easy to search for name, then go to Start Menu > Run... > regedit >
Go to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ATI Technologies\Multimedia\Features\TV\Video Capture\AVI
then click on the yellow folder underneath.
In the right window, double click on the Width entry > SELECT: Decimal >
Change the Value data: from 704 to 720.


* MPEG-2 DVD with MPEG Audio
Audio Format: 48.000 KHz, 16 Bit, Stereo
Audio Encoding Parameters should be above 224 K Bit/Second.
(To capture compressed audio and leave more space for video Bitrate.
Note that compressed MPEG Audio is compatible with some, but not all DVD players but compressed Dolby Digital audio is compatible with all DVD players.)


* MPEG-2 DVD 352x480
(Lower resolution, lower but adequate quality, smaller file size.)


* MPEG-2 DVD Masked (no flickering side bars)
CHECK: Record Cropped Video
To capture Masked video where the sides are masked with a black bar to hide the flickering that some source material displays in the overscan area. This Preset also helps if there is a flickering sidebar visible on computer screens and 16:9 TVs. Cropped Video setting should be used with MPEG-2 DVD Format not MPEG-2 Format otherwise captured file will not be DVD compliant.
IMPORTANT: Display TAB setting Crop Video must also be CHECKED, in addition to Video Recorder TAB settings. So 'Crop Video' needs to be CHECKED in two places to work.


Note that some guides say you should never CROP and should MASK instead.
To crop = cut out part of the picture.
To mask = putting a black bar on the edge of the picture to mask flickering.

But ATi uses the term Crop Video even though Mask Video should have would been used to avoid confusion.
(ATi crops the edge of the picture and puts a black bar in its place.)



• Note about High Definition signals captured with standard video capture cards:
Gray bars are displayed on top and bottom of video. Capture using standard 4:3 settings (instead of 16:9) and later encode with standard 4:3 settings (instead of 16:9).
If using Media Player Classic to view these files, go to Pan&Scan > Scale to 16:9 TV
then double click on the capture to fill up the entire 4:3 screen nicely.
If using a 16:9 TV display, just press the zoom button and the entire original captured picture fills up the screen without anything being cut off or any gray bars.


=====


Remember that sound will not be recorded in Windows 98/Me unless you:
Double click on the yellow speaker icon in the lower right corner >
Options > Properties > Recording > OK > CHECK: Line In

* EVERY TIME BEFORE RECORDING *

This option does not stay checked under Windows 98/Me.


=====


Correctly captured DVD compliant MPEG-2 files can be converted to DVD quickly (in a few minutes) with other software. Just make sure that other software's MPEG settings are the same as the ones listed for the captured file and that it does not convert DVD compliant MPEG files.


• Default field order: * IMPORTANT * If using an ATi capture card with other software, SET the field order to "UPPER FIELD FIRST" because that is a REQUIREMENT for ATi cards for all video captures. Captured videos will be unstable on those capture cards if "Lower Field First" is selected (even if "Lower Field First" is "Detected").

* VERY IMPORTANT *:

• If captured AVI file is loaded into programs such as Sony Vegas, you should right click on it in timeline
> Properties > Media TAB > change Field order to 'Upper Field First'

In other words: The source AVI may have field order properties that need to be set to 'Top Field First' (TFF) in the source properties before encoding.


• If captured Encode Interlaced mpg file is not stable:

Use programs such as DGMPGDec (DGIndex) to demultiplex (demux) the mpg file.
Then use programs such as ReStream to UNCHECK 'top field first' to fix the problem of the unstable Encode Interlaced mpg.

=====


The Pros & Cons of using the Progressive Source setting and CHECKING Inverse 3:2 Pulldown


TELECINE can be recognized by using a program that can show individual frames. Look at five individual frames in a raw to see if interlacing artifacts show on the 4th and 5th frame. There should be 3 clean, artifact-free frames followed by two with interlacing artifacts. If interlacing artifacts are visible in all five frames (or not visible at all), the source is not telecine.

Telecine with continuous cadence is found on video that has been transferred from film. Telecine sequence (cadence) can be interrupted by commercial breaks, special effects, cut edits, title overlay, conversion and speed up done to allow for insertion of more commercials or to fit the program into a given time slot.


Inverse 3:2 Pulldown should only be CHECKED in combination with Progressive Source setting. This should only be used if the source is standard TELECINE with continuous cadence from either a standard or a high definition signal.

* Pros: *

• Smaller files (with more bits available per frame) created quickly on the fly, allowing multiple movies to fit on one DVD at higher quality.

• Captures may look better on computer displays.


* Cons: *

• The source may have a break in cadence, in other words there may not be a continuity of pattern required for this setting to be used, resulting in frame disturbance.

• These errors may be due to a temporary field reversal (bad edit) or due to special effects that weren't shot on film. Therefore, if the source is not pure, noticeable pauses or stutters in the video can result.

• This may not be as useful for some Progressive DVD players and HDTVs which are designed to switch between telecine and adaptive deinterlacing quickly.

• If this is not done on the fly and is instead done by reencoding later, original capture can be preserved to fix any errors.

• Resulting errors may look far worse than Telecine viewed at 1x speed on computer displays this is designed to help with.



Remember that Interlace artifacts clearly visible on a computer display do not show up when a DVD player is used with standard TV or an HD TV.

Deinterlacing software player can help by displaying minimal artifacts on computer displays.

[c627627]

• I traced my artifact problems to this:
C:\Program Files\ATI Multimedia\RemCtrl\ATIRW.exe

In my case, if REMOTE WONDER II Software Version 3.04.0.0 loads at Windows startup, video artifact problems may appear.

So I start this software manually when I needed it, instead of allowing it to load at startup.


Don't forget:
• After installing the driver on any operating system, you are asked to reboot.

When you reboot, you need to reboot manually one more time.

[c627627]

But by far the biggest problem solver for me was:

• In case captured video freezes after the first frame:

Make sure you first installed Drivers and THEN Data Access Objects (DAO - MDAC)
and THEN 12/13/2006 Encoder Package (REQUIRED component BEFORE installing Multimedia Center) and only THEN install Multimedia Center 9.03 or 9.08.

[c627627]

ATi MMC Multimedia Center 9.03:
http://ati.amd.com/support/drivers/common/mmc9-03.html


ATi MMC Multimedia Center 9.08:
http://ati.amd.com/support/drivers/common/mmc9-08.html


12/13/2006 Encoder Package (REQUIRED component BEFORE installing Multimedia Center)
http://ati.amd.com/support/drivers/common/mmc9-16.html
(ATi MMC Multimedia Center 9.16 sucks, but the newer encoder download is there and it can be used with older MMC versions.)

[OC Detective]

Wow a plethora of information - will go through it piece by piece but it will become largely redundant when I upgrade to quad core lol (how I miss my 9800 Pro - sigh!)