PixeDV Capture Problems, Dropped Frames, Jerkiness

[Surfmaster]

I captured my first VHS tape (hour-and-10 minute movie) with PixeDV and I had no problems during the capture process. I was even able to create a VIDEO_TS folder using CaptyDVD and then burn the folder in Toast 6 to create a final DVD.

My second and third VHS tape captures didn't work out so well. During the capture process with PixeDV, it seems the video pauses in PixeDV's small "import" preview monitor screen. I thought this was just happening on the preview screen during the capture process. When I export it to my TV, I notice the pauses to be in the output. I also imported the movie to CaptyDVD and created a VIDEO_TS folder which I then burned to DVD using Toast. The pauses and slight jerkiness was still there. How do I fix this problem, which didn't occur with the first capture? (By the way, both films were movies I taped off regular tv. They do not contain any copy-protection.)

I'm using a Powerbook G4 400mhz with 384 mb of RAM connected to an external 200gig firewire hard drive with 8mb cache. The video is being captured and stored on the external firewire 200gig Maxtor drive. Is it the dreaded spindown problem? If so, here are two links to the spindown fix. Please confirm whether they are both sound programs.

http://www.macmaps.com/Macosxspeed.html#SPINDOWN
http://www.macmaps.com/software.html#spindown


In addition, the PixeDV and CaptyDVD program files are stored on the Powerbook's internal 10gig hard drive which rotates at just 5400 RPM. Should I store the application files on the external hard drive, which spins at a faster 7200 RPM? Or, do I need a faster Powerbook, such as the new 12" 1.33GHz. Please advise. Thanks.

[AntnyMD]

My guess is your VHS machine doesnt have a built-in time base corrector, and you just got lucky on that first tape.

Before running out and buying a time base corrector, try adjusting the tracking on the VCR to see if this cuts out the jumpiness in the capture. Also, don't view the video in the Preview monitor while its capturing. Also try lowering the capture bitrate ... you should let it max out around 5Mbps.

[Surfmaster]

Thanks for your fast reply and sharing of information. I'll try to turn off the preview mode during PixeDV capture and I'll use just a capture bitrate of 5 Mbps or less.

If this doesn't work, I may have to buy a new vcr. Are there any VCRs that you know of that have built in timebase correctors?

Or, do I simply need a computer faster than a Powerbook G4 Titanium 400 MHz with 384 megs of RAM? The new VCR route would be cheaper. Please advise. Thanks.

[AntnyMD]

I capture into a G4 TiBook 667 and I get by just fine. I think the higher end JVC VCRs have some sort of TBC corrector/filter built-in. I have such a machine and some problematic VHS tapes but I have yet to test this ... been too busy capturing stuff off digital cable.