The Nvidia VIVO card users should know this. I am using Asus GF2 deluxe, Asus GF3 deluxe and Gainward GF4 VIVO video cards with a report about the Windows Media Player version 9 performance of NVIDIA 23.11 through 44.03 reference drivers. WMP version 8 gives same results. The motherboard I used for this performance comparison is ASUS A7V with a 1300 MHz Duron processor. OS is Windows 2000 SP2. Via motherboard driver is version 4.43. Capture software is VirtualDub version 1.4.13. Codec used in all tests is the excellent PIC Video MJPEG version 2. NVIDIA WDM Capture version 1.06 is installed. By the way, NVIDIA WDM Capture versions 1.08 through 1.29 do not properly record all horizontal lines with VirtualDub. Approximately 240 horizontal white lines in the middle of the raster are incorrectly recorded when using VirtualDub set to 720x480. A white horizontal band is recorded in the middle of the video. But WDM Capture version 1.06 works properly. This problem is known to NVIDIA but still exists after eighteen months! Using Task Manager to profile performance, the 23.11 drivers can effect capture of NTSC video at 640x480 with CPU usage of 40%. Capture of NTSC video at 720x480 requires CPU usage of 45%. Using WMP, playback of 640x480 captured AVI file requires CPU usage of 30%. Using WMP, playback of 720x480 captured AVI file requires CPU usage of 35%. Using any NVIDIA reference driver above the 23.11 drivers including 44.03 can effect capture of NTSC video at 640x480 with CPU usage of 40%. Capture of NTSC video at 720x480 requires CPU usage of 45%. Using WMP, playback of 640x480 captured AVI file requires CPU usage of 30%. However using WMP, playback of 720x480 captured AVI file requires CPU usage of 100%. Playback of 704x480 captured AVI file also requires CPU usage of 100%. NVIDIA reference driver 23.11 VirtualDub Capture CPU Usage 640x480 ... 40% 720x480 ... 45% WMP Playback CPU Usage 640x480 ... 30% 720x480 ... 35% NVIDIA reference driver 44.03 VirtualDub Capture CPU Usage 640x480 ... 40% 720x480 ... 45% WMP Playback CPU Usage 640x480 ... 30% 720x480 ... 100% All NVIDIA reference drivers after version 23.11 carry the change that results in the CPU spending more than twice as much time blitting video when the raster resolution is greater than 640x480. I am reporting that this problem also has existed for over eighteen months! It really would be terrific to get this fixed in a future release. Bona fortuna, Mark Berlinger
It is my experience that this is a solvable problem. The white band in the captured video is a result of improper installatiion of the wdm capture driver. When installing in a new system, you should install the display driver and (WITHOUT rebooting) immediately afterwards install the capture driver! Doing this with a reboot inbetween or installing drivers in reverse order can cause nasty side-effects (crashes, exclamation points in device manager listings). Also, trying to update wdm capture driver incompletely will result in the "white stripe" in the middle of the screen. Try this: after removing wdm capture and display drivers, go to control panel and select multimedia. Under video capture devices, double-click microsoft wdm image capture, then select remove. Reboot, then reinstall display and capture drivers without a reboot inbetween. After the next reboot, the problem should be gone. Keep in mind that this is merely my experience and should not be taken as a definitive solution. Still, its something to try and it won't make the situation worse, now, will it?
