Recording video - occasional "doubled" like frames in avi output

[Photon]

I've tried WinUAE 1.4.0 and 1.4.6 a bit, but have mostly tried different configurations in 1.5.0b2.

PC: Core2Duo 2.4GHz, 2GB ram, SATA 320GB Samsung HD321KJ harddisk, ATi Radeon X1950Pro.

WinUAE 1.5.0b2 config file is attached.

I'm running an intro off an .adf archive and there is no loading going on. I run windowed 368x272 in 800x600@50Hz desktop resolution, no sync, and it is super smooth, no hiccups.

I'm recording 50 fps using the TechSmith codec, no sound. The resulting 25 second clip is 6 MB or so.

But after stepping through the frames, I see occasional "two equal frames after each other", making the scroller in the demo hiccup.


The basic question is this:

Any tips on how to generate avis that are as smooth as the frame output I see on the monitor? Could dumping 1000s of frameshots instead of encoding improve things?

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by Photon

I'm running an intro off an .adf archive and there is no loading going on. I run windowed 368x272 in 800x600@50Hz desktop resolution, no sync, and it is super smooth, no hiccups.

I'm recording 50 fps using the TechSmith codec, no sound. The resulting 25 second clip is 6 MB or so.

But after stepping through the frames, I see occasional "two equal frames after each other", making the scroller in the demo hiccup.

Are you 100% sure there is no duplicate frames when you run it without recording? (for example due to bad configuration) Easy to confirm by using fps adjust setting in display panel.

Recording will record every frame, it shouldn't skip any.

btw, no point in using vsync when recording, it will only make it slower.

EDIT: same with null filter enabled? (which is recommended, no slow VRAM reads)

[Ironclaw]

Yeah, recording shouldn't skip any frames, never happened to me though, only sound delay in every version I've tried, but if I record with "disable sound output while recording" checked, no delay ever.....

[Photon]

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

Are you 100% sure there is no duplicate frames when you run it without recording? (for example due to bad configuration) Easy to confirm by using fps adjust setting in display panel.

Recording will record every frame, it shouldn't skip any.

btw, no point in using vsync when recording, it will only make it slower.

EDIT: same with null filter enabled? (which is recommended, no slow VRAM reads)

Thanks Toni!

I'm 100% sure there were 0 skipped frames when I recorded. I was watching a scroll moving at 2px/frame. The only artifact was the usual tearing wandering down the screen you get when you don't use vsync, but such things are "between the gfx card and the monitor" of course. In fact, it is absolutely perfect if I use the same 800x600@50Hz with Fullscreen+sync. And in fact, I can choose pretty much "any" config settings and it still looks perfect in WinUAE

Working now, will definitely try null filter! Since it is perfect while recording, I was thinking it could be some .avi timecode aberration or keyframe thing in the output.

[Photon]

Enabled Null filter, exported uncompressed .avi, extracted all the frames as .tga, stepped through them with ACDSee - not a single doubled or skipped frame!

Encoded the known flawless uncompressed .avi with TSCC in VirtualDub, exported it as images, and perfect again!

Got a tip to get MPC (_not_ WMP!) - I've always sworn by VLC, and this PC is Microsoft-addon-free. But whaddya know, MPC played it near to perfect @ 100 Hz!

Upgraded VLC from 0.8.6c to 0.8.6d and spent 20 mins trying misc option for performance, still lags like hell - doesn't seem to be made for >30fps. It's forthwith been demoted to 'backup player if good player can't decode it' status.

Now to find out if encoding with h264 to .mp4 will cause framerate smoothness degradation, and if reducing to 25fps with motion blur will make it look better for people with crappy players

Feel free to label this thread "NOT A PROBLEM"

In the meantime, any recommendations for video players for 'above average' framerates?

[Ironclaw]

I use Media Player Classic (MPC) for all my video needs, no other video players ever, it does it all.

[Shoonay]

What Ironclaw said.
There are x86 and x64 versions and with Vista Codec Package and Vista Components x64 it play's *EVERYTHING*

[Photon]

*AHEM* I meant MPC, ofc. Not WMP. VERY sorry about that.

Well - for sure I can't put up with VLC's shananigans, was just scouting a little for people that have found "the ultimate" player. Unless someone that Microsoft bought developed MPC, I can't believe that they have made the ultimate anything. :P

[Photon]

Zoom Player was almost as good as MPC. Haven't really tweaked any settings yet, tho.

What good video players are available on Mac, btw?

[Shoonay]

Also IMHO worth checking:

ALLPlayer (direct download)
BESTplayer (direct download)
Subedit player (direct download)

Some may find some useful things in those, like intelligent subtitles/captions search&download

[Photon]

I'm on my XP 64-bit PC now. Fiddling with MPC Home Cinema, runs fine, however the ffdshow pack recommended on http://www.start64.com/index.php?opt...1376&Itemid=72 doesn't install properly (error when starting video config, and mp4 videos are Black.

I'm strongly against codec packs, but if you guys have links to ffdshow or h264/mp4 enabling codecs for XP 64-bit, I can test them... the player itself seems nice

Edit: Never mind, the one off x264.nl worked fine \o/ ... didn't think so, since there's always a hassle finding installers for XP 64-bit. MPC Home Cinema still didn't work, so I got the MPC off the same site above. Grrreat! (c) Tony


Edit: On my other PC, after installing the stuff on x264.nl, I installed WMP 11. It was actually a step above MPC and Zoom Player. Very doubtful if another player could be as smooth. I'm stunned. Maybe I saw a few single 'ticks' in the 50fps output, but very very close to perfect.

[Shoonay]

Before I had Vista x64 for my main system, I've tried both x86 & x64 Vista codec packages on both XP x86 & x64 and they worked just fine.
Don't mind the name
Those are the "cleanest" and most stable & compatible codecs I've *EVER* used with both (x86 & x64) newest MPC's, not to mention they contain the awesomnest AC3Filter that does wonders on 5.1 sound setup.
And I do mean most of those K-Lite packages that usually messed with everything back then on my XP x86

[Photon]

Yes, keeping a steady fps likely has nothing to do with codecs (unless they are awfully slow ofc) and all to do with the player. Right now, nothing beats WMP 11.

Wish I had a Mac so I could do some player testing there too In Quicktime on PC it lags like hell, dunno why. Same PC as WMP 11, DX enabled in Quicktime (and yeah I tried GID mode too).