The VideoLAN Forums

I am using VLC and the VLC ActiveX component to display a stream from a camera, all is file except that if I place a clock in front of the camera, the displayed image loses time to the extent of several seconds per hour.

Anybody know why?

The sound controls the video for sync. The clocks in your computer control the sound and video follows sound for motion video. The refresh of the video for your monitor should be an exact multiple of the frame rate of the video. But even if this is all correct and everything works reasonably well thermal changes over time will create drifts in the clocks and everything resyncs or moves off the real speed of the video either faster or slower depending on your machine and setup.

Try another player and I believe you will find the something is true. This is not a VLC problem and is a known issue for all digital video.

Try having a look at ReClock on the web. The author gives a very reasonable explanation of the problem.

This is NOT an endorsement of the program. I have gotten the program to work with VLC, but I would suggest starting with a Direct Show player first and get it working before spending the time to get it to work with VLC. It requires allot of time a Patience, following the instructions and beginning to understand how it works and what works for your machine before attempting to get it to work with VLC.