Video Skipping During Capture

[oahuboy47]

Im new to video capture and editing so needless to say Im confused. Im using a sony dcr hc 42. when I attempt to capture the video it skips constantly. It skips also during playback but not as bad. I own a emachines with a 2.7 celeron, 750 Mb of ram, 40 gb harddrive and a fx 5500 video card. when I use some type of compression the playback and capture is better but still skips alittle. Could anyone make a suggestion or point me to some type of tutorial it would be greatly apperciated.

[oahuboy47]

First let me say thanks for all your comments and suggestions. Im using USB 2.0 right now, so Ill switch to the ilink cable. Bigger and better harddrive is on the way. Ill check my DMA settings right now. After I get everything Ill post and let you guys know how it went.

[The Highlander]

henningp001 Wrote...

machine with a 2.7 celeron, 750 Mb of ram, 40 gb harddrive and a fx 5500 video card

 

Hi henningp001,

Firstly id like to say, dont take these comments to heart but...

 

A few items to explain why this may be happening.

 

Intels celeron Cpu's dont have a full Maths Co Processer unlike the Full P4 Cpu, this is a very important part of the whole rendering and performance side of video production, allso the P4 has other Multimedia enhancment added to the core unit as well , giving it the capabilities to render frames fast and provide clean video, unfortunitly Celeron Dont Have Any of these features as intel made them as a budget Cpu for the lower home market, also they remove cache Ram off the cpu as well, So this is your first issue, As This will Not Help You To Render (should allways use a P4 or Similer)

 

Secondly the video card you are using, this is important as well,

The guru3d.com review of your card (have a look)

Here are a few snipets..

"Simplicity is what the product is about, it's dirt cheap"

"This product is made for the person that really doesn't care that much for gaming yet wants the best features available that are not gaming related, and all that for bottom dollar "

 

Although they give it a rating for older games, but say forget it on any new games, i suspect this also may be a bit of the issue to as just like high frame rate 3d games , so is the video processing side on images.

 

as to the rest of your system, id say it should be ok,,,

 

Here is the round up....

Video production at DVD product level require as big of CPU that you can get , Lots of ram, and a good Video card.

 

Im sorry that i cannot offer any other help on you frame loss issue...

[oahuboy47]

Sorry so long to post, major computer problems finally resolved. The answer to kity1kity is yes. But all I did was install a bigger harddrive. And now everything runs smooth. Havent got the firewire setup yet since everything looks good so I put that one on the back burner for now, but its coming. Once again thanks for all the help.

[ggrussell]

I don't think it's the video card. I was editing video just fine with an FX5200 which is even older. The 2.7Ghz Celeron should also be fast enough to capture via firewire which is what I assume you are doing. I see the weakest link is the hard drive. First, 40gig isn't very large for video capture and editing. DV AVI are about 13gig per hour!

 

Two things to check:

Free space and make sure it is defragged

Also make sure your hard drive is using DMA

 

To check DMA:

Right click on MY COMPUTER

Select MANAGE

In the left column, click on Device Manager and your hardware list will show up on the right

Click on the + beside IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers

Then right click on PRIMARY IDE and choose PROPERTIES

Click on the ADVANCED SETTINGS TAB

Device 0 should be your boot drive and look at the 'Current Transfer Mode'

 

I should have DMA or Ultra DMA.

[leecrystal]

Are you using USB 1.1 or 2.0 to connect the camera up?

 

I noticed lag when I used USB somethimes.

 

After switching to Firewire (i.Link or IEEE 1394) I no longer have that problem.

 

If you don't already have a port for this you can get one for your PC. There rather cheap now days.

[kitykity]

First let me say thanks for all your comments and suggestions. Im using USB 2.0 right now, so Ill switch to the ilink cable. Bigger and better harddrive is on the way. Ill check my DMA settings right now. After I get everything Ill post and let you guys know how it went.

 

What did you find out after checking these settings? Did you finally get it to work?

[ggrussell]

When capturing from a digital Camcorder, you should ONLY use firewire (iLink on Sony). The included USB cables are normally used for transferring still images or hooking up the camcorder to the computer as a 'webcam'. In some instances, you can capture using USB, but the resolution is limited to that of a webcam which is usually 320X240. Definitely not what you want for your home DVDs. Most manufactuers do not include a firewire cable so you will need to purchase one. Don't buy the cheapest one you can find. They can cause problems, too. Even Walmart sells a decent one from Belkin.