GS400 with CaptureFlux

[Ray1951]

Hello,

I\'m working on a timelapse. I read over at 3CCD User (never could get an account activated) that CaptureFlux is a good program to do this type of capturing and indeed it does seem like a good program.

I\'m not entirely versed on the GS400 DV format. When capturing video via Firewire with CaptureFlex the resolution is 720 x 480 (here in NTSC land). However, when individual frames are captured with CaptureFlux they are only 640 x480. Anyone know why this happens?

Also, is it normal that the capture video has 32 KHz audio and not 44.1 or 48 KHz?

Should I be using one of the other video modes, such as Wide/Pro Cinema?

Thanks.

[gbruner]

Ray,
640x480 is, in square pixels, the same as DV in 720x480.  The pixels in DV are .9091 times as wide as they are tall.  Apparently, CaptureFlux is converting the video to square pixels before capturing the frames.  Using widescreen is likely to result in stretched video.

As far as the audio goes, I\'m not sure why it would undersample the original.  Perhaps because of the same reason it converts to square pixels.  You are sure you have the GS400 set for 48KHz and not 32K?

You might send Paul an email.  I\'m sure he wouldn\'t mind explaining it.

[Ray1951]

With the GS400 powered off, no tape in the transport and the mode knob set to record video - I plug the Firewire cable into the GS400 DV port. Then switch on the GS400 power. The computer sees the GS400 by signaling with a system ding. I then start CaptureFlux which shows the \"Source\" panel with the following:

Video source....: DV Source - Video 720x480 - 29.97 fps
Audio source....: DV Source - Audio 32000 Hz 16 bits 2 channels
Capture Format..: DV type 2 (recomp)

In the \"Settings\" panel under \"Images\" tab has the following:

Format..........: BMP
IMG Deinterlace.: Yes

In the \"Settings\" panel under the \"DV\" tab has the following:

Frequency.......: 48000
Standard........: NTSC
Ratio...........: 4x3
Keep Native Freq: Yes

I think I have the CaptureFlux settings above correct. I checked the GS400 audio record menu and it shows that it is set to 16 KHz. According to the manual, this should produce 48 KHz audio. Yet, when the video is captured it has the following specs:

Video: DVSD 720x480 29.97fps 28771Kbps [Video 0]
Audio: PCM 32000Hz stereo 1024Kbps [Audio 1]

I don\'t think I overlooked any settings that could produce capture images @ 720 x480 or 48 KHz audio for captured video. Maybe I need a better program, but free image/video capturing programs are far and few between.

Anyway, I can try to send Paul an e-mail, but he makes it clear on his website and in the About screen that he seldom has time to respond. So, maybe the information above will help others who find themselves in my position.

Thanks Guy for the reply and any further thoughts on the matter.

P.S. The forum editor uses a fixed font and the forum itself uses a non-fixed font creating the above alignment issue.

[gbruner]

Ok, the file format is BMP which is square pixels. That\'s why the frames are 640x480.  It looks like you have everything set correctly, so I can\'t explain why the 32Khz audio.  Try sending Paul a note.  It may be a bug he is not aware of.

If you need to make sure everything is aligned...like a table format.  You could type your post in a WYSIWYG editor and paste it into the forum editor window.

[Ray1951]

CaptureFlux has only two image formats available in the Image capture settings. After reading your reply I went into the Image capture settings and changed the image format to JPEG with 100 percent quality. Captured a frame. Then went back and changed it to BMP and captured a second frame. The image size is the same, both are 640 x 480. The JPEG is expectedly a little more grainy between the two identical images.

Anyway, thank you for your help. I\'ll be sending Paul an e-mail as soon as I can. I\'ll include this thread as a reference to the issue, along with an independent explanation.

Thanks.

[Ray1951]

The e-mail has been sent to Paul. Now it\'s just a matter of waiting.

I\'ve also been looking at Virtualdub. That is a niffty program and does a fine job of capturing video. Unfortunately it doesn\'t do time-elapse.

[gbruner]

No, but Scenalyzer Live will do time-lapse.  There used to be a free version, but the trial version will work for a while. (EDIT: I see you can still download the freeware version.  Don\'t know if it supports time-lapse.) You might like it enough to pay for it.

[Ray1951]

Ray1951 wrote:

The e-mail has been sent to Paul. Now it\'s just a matter of waiting.

Just an update. At nearly 14 days, it seems Paul isn\'t going to reply. The project has been scrapped.  

I\'ve also been looking at Virtualdub. That is a niffty program and does a fine job of capturing video. Unfortunately it doesn\'t do time-elapse.

I looked into Scenalyzer, but the free version appears to be very limited. Which brings me back to CaptureFlux. At nearly a year since it was updated, it looks like CaptureFlux will remain, well, in flux.

Thanks for your help.

[gbruner]

Ray,
You can do time lapse by shooting in real time and decimating frames during editing.  If you need a long period of capture, say several hours, you can capture to hard drive on a laptop or desktop, then decimate frames to create the time lapse.