Can’t control the hardware using Windows Remote Desktop
If you are logged on using Remote Desktop, you must be the first person logged in. To force this (logging out other users) run Mstsc in a Command window with the following -v and -console options (replacing the server.ip.address with your server ip address):
For XP Service Pack 3: Mstsc -v:server.ip.address -admin
For XP Service Pack 2 or older: Mstsc -v:server.ip.address -console
Can’t “set project” on a dual-channel board
If a dual-channel DRC-2000 or 2600 board is installed in the encoder, and the "use external timing" option is turned on in the Stream project, it will fail to set project on the dual channel board. This is due to the fact that the shared hardware clock on the board cannot be generated for two instances of Stream.
Checking SD DRC-Stream hardware
If you suspect that you have a problem with your capture board, you can run the Test App that was installed with your Stream software. Open the Stream folder (by default it is in C:\Program
Files\Digital Rapids\Stream). If you have a DRC-500 board run the DRIdahoTest.exe file. If you have a DRC-1000 to 2600 run the DRColoradoTest.exe file. Run the automated test, and if you see any failures then please contact Imagine Communications Support.
Unable to select live source as an input type
Your capture card has not been properly installed or drivers have not been properly installed. To check on the capture card drivers right click on My Computer and choose Manage. Click Device Manager. Click the + symbol next to Digital Rapids Devices. Right click on the Digital Rapids device and choose Properties. The Device Status will be displayed on the Device Properties window.
No outputs are being encoded
No codecs will be enabled until the Encoder or Transcode Engine product has been licensed. Can’t encode: check codec profile
If you see this error, log on to the Stream Encoder box either locally or using Remote Desktop to access the software.
When you can’t encode you will normally see a red X next to the codec profile. Double click the profile to open an error window or hover your mouse over the codec profile to see the message as a tool tip. Common problems are no archive file name or other output modes selected, or trying to encode only video with a codec that is expecting video and audio.
When starting Stream software, a message appears saying that the hardware is disabled The product has not been registered within 30 days of the software installation and your grace period has expired. You can register your product on line from the web site by selecting Tools > Register Online from the Stream menu.
Video preview is not updating
Occasionally you will change a setting and the video preview will not update correctly. If this happens toggle the Monitor Source button off then on again.
Can’t preview the audio
You will not be able to preview the audio until you have at least one codec profile in your list. If you have more than one audio channel enabled in your source profile, each codec profile in your list can be assigned an audio channel independent of the other codec profiles using the Audio drop- down box on the input tab.
Buffer usage is higher than normal during encoding
Check to make sure you have selected Video Preview > Source. The Video Preview > Encoder option requires some buffering so it will increase your Buffer usage.
Dropping frames when encoding video
Not all codecs perform well in a real time environment. Codec factors include file resolution (width x height), data rate, encoder complexity, and codec type. System factors include CPU, memory PCI bandwidth and hard drive speed.
You should be able to encode a full sized (720x480 or 720x576) uncompressed AVI on most systems. Other efficient codecs include WM9 (Microsoft) and MPEG1 and MPEG2 (MainConcept). Less efficient codecs include QuickTime, Real Helix, MPEG4 and Flash 7 (with Sorenson ACE) or Flash 8 (with On2 VP6). With these less efficient codecs you should be able to encode to a 320x240 sized file in real time on most systems.
Should you need to encode to a full sized clip on a system that cannot encode to the file format you want in real time, encode to an uncompressed AVI in real time, and then transcode to your final output format.
When encoding the CPU status at the bottom of the Stream window will climb up as you put more demands on the system. If the CPU usage reaches 100% then the buffer will start to fill. If the buffer reaches 100% then the encoded file will start to drop frames.
If you are using a system with multiple CPU cores, but the codec you have selected cannot use multiple cpu cores, then your CPU usage may look low when the buffer begins to fill. For example, the Flash 8 On2 codec can only use one CPU core, so on a quad-core system, a CPU usage of 25% (or slightly more) during encoding indicates that 100% of 1 of the 4 CPU cores is being used by the codec, and since none of the other CPU cores can be used by the codec simultaneously, you have reached your processing limit for that codec.