Hdv split won't capture

[edong]

Just bought a Sony HDR-HC3 and tried to capture some HD video but HDVSplit does not see the camcorder. This Firewire works with WinDV and Sony Digital 8. I read some posts saying they were able to do it using the HDVSplit and Sony HC3. Is there a setting that I'm not aware of? The camcorder's manual lists some instances where that problem will happen but they don't apply to me. Thanks.

[alegator]

Hi, in my case I installed HDVSplit and didn't have to tweak anything, it captured HC3 video out of the box (the generated captured file is in the m2t format). I'm also capturing successfully with Adobe Premiere 2.

[edong]

Thanks. I'll find another PC to try it on. If am successful, what software shall I use to play the m2t file? I read that it is possible to record the HD file in DVD-R (about 20 minutes per disc) with some capable DVD players. I just do not know the specifics.

I'm also thinking of buying a big hard drive for storing those HD files until such time that the HD-DVD or BlueRay recorders and editing become available within my budget.

[edDV]

Thanks. I'll find another PC to try it on. If am successful, what software shall I use to play the m2t file? I read that it is possible to record the HD file in DVD-R (about 20 minutes per disc) with some capable DVD players. I just do not know the specifics.

I'm also thinking of buying a big hard drive for storing those HD files until such time that the HD-DVD or BlueRay recorders and editing become available within my budget.

ULead Movie Factory 5 can be used to create 20Min HD DVD playable DVD-5. This must be played on a HD DVD player. Search the forums for the guide.

Otherwise you would need a special DVD player with MPeg 4 capability (divx, WM9, etc.).

[edong]

I believe my two DVD recorders and Philips642 can play Divx & MP4. Can you suggest a good encoder, preferably free ones? Thanks.

[edDV]

I believe my two DVD recorders and Philips642 can play Divx & MP4. Can you suggest a good encoder, preferably free ones? Thanks.

You are of course limited by that player as to which resolutions and bitrates it will play. Do you have the spec? Work backwards from what the player can do.

Maybe you will find a clue in the manual or here
https://www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers.php?DVDnameid=4117&Search=Search&#comments
or by searching the forums.

[edong]

Hi, in my case I installed HDVSplit and didn't have to tweak anything, it captured HC3 video out of the box (the generated captured file is in the m2t format). I'm also capturing successfully with Adobe Premiere 2.

After a search, I found that I need the driver for the Sony firewire.

Do you know how can I play the .m2t file created by HDSplit?

On the other hand the .mpg file created by CapDVHS plays jerky (like frame by frame) and without sound using Windows Media Player and Winamp. Using PowerDVD, there is sound but no video. I'm not sure if it's my PC. Dell P4 2.2Ghz, 512 MB RAM

thanks.

[alegator]

edong, if you rename the file extension "m2t" to avi, mpeg or mpg you should be able to play it with Windows Media Player.

[bobkart]

I can play *.m2t files transferred from my Sony HDR-HC3 with VLC.

[alegator]

Adobe Premiere will also play m2t files natively.

[albglez]

Hi,

In my case, I have a Sony HC3 and HDVSplit. I capture the video with a lapton Dell Inspiron, but sometimes HDVSplit advertise that lost of frames and then, if I try to capture it again, it shows jerky video (with blocks and a lot of errors).

I don't know why HDVSplit shows "lost frames" message, because the CPU don't reach 100%.

[edDV]

Hi,

In my case, I have a Sony HC3 and HDVSplit. I capture the video with a lapton Dell Inspiron, but sometimes HDVSplit advertise that lost of frames and then, if I try to capture it again, it shows jerky video (with blocks and a lot of errors).

I don't know why HDVSplit shows "lost frames" message, because the CPU don't reach 100%.

Transfer of DV or HDV streams isn't about CPU power. No encoding is going on. It's about continuous data stream throughput over long durations*.

IEEE-1394 -> PCI buss -> Memory -> PCI bus -> hard disk system

When your system is limited to a single hard drive, the OS or other applications are going to take sufficient priority on that drive to force data loss (lost frames) on the HDV path. Buffering is limited.

A second internal hard drive with second disk controller is the ideal solution. A characteristic of the PCI bus called "Bus Mastering" allows DV data flow through the PCI bus using dedicated memory to the second hard drive isolated from OS and application disk operations on the first drive.
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/mbsys/buses/types/pciMastering-c.html

If the second hard drive is external (USB2 or IEEE-1394) the CPU is envolved as the external hard disk controller (a software process) so total isolation from OS is lost. USB2 hard disk control is more CPU capacity intensive so is more likely to suffer interrupt losses.

An external SATA drive may enjoy equal isolation of an internal drive depending on how the system board drivers are implemented.

Notebooks are somewhat disk bound since they lack provision for a second internal or external SATA drive. Since CPU and transfer operations can't be separated, the solution is to minimize background operations (including anti-virus and disk indexing) during the transfer. The longer the transfer, the more likely these backgroung operations are to interupt data flow. Notebooks also need all power mangement operations turned off during a transfer.


* remember that DV and HDV transfer is a continuous 25-35 Mb/s data stream, not a file transfer. There is no provision for packet resends that would happen if this were a file transfer under the OS. To put this into prespective, most people struggle to maintain a 750 Kb/s stream off the internet.