Problem with Dazzle Hollywood DV-Bridge, please help :-(((

[NickmanXXX]

Hi,

I got this device yesterday and was impressed by the great Video-Quality I achieved during my first tests. But little later I found out that the Device crashes sooner or later while capturing. Well it not really crashes but it is simply no longer in my configuration, it's unavailable. This happened each time, the longest period of time I was able to capture was about 20 minutes. Why does this happen ??? I have tried both, Win2000 and WinXP. I captured with MainActor, Windows Movie Maker and Adobe Premiere 6, same problem.
Any ideas anyone ? Please help me !!!

Nickman XXX

[dezine]

Have you tried looking for the answer on the Dazzle board on their site? When Capturing do you make sure that your resources are freed up?
Close everything except for Systray and Explorer and make sure that your anit virus is shut off as well.
I had the Hollywood Bridge but had too many issues with it involving dropped frames on my system.
1.6 GHZ P4
80GB 7200 Hard drive 120GB external firewire HD
512 mb DDR Ram
64mb Nvidia GeForce Ti Graphics card

I went out and ordered a Canopus ADVC100 and haven't had any isues with it. The color seems a bit more vivid with it and the same VHS capture that I had a ton of dropped frames with worked perfectly with 0 frame drops.
I know this doesn't solve your problem but if I were you I would try to return teh Dv Bridge and get teh ADVC100, they are the same price anyway and the ADVC has audio lock which will enable you to capture a video over 3hrs of video with the audio still in sync. the DV Bridge will have problems with this too because it doesn't have an audio lock feature.
Don't get me wrong the DV Bridge is a good device too but as I have read on lots of boards that the Dv Bridge seems to have issue while the ADVC seems to have very few.

Best of luck,
Dezine (Michael)

[JPHenry]

I totally 100% completely agree.

I had the Dazzle Mojave device (basically the same thing as the Hollywood bridge - with some OEM tinkering that allows it to only work in Dell machines) and while it started out doing great - the more I learned about capturing video and the best programs to use - the Dazzle device just didn't cut it.

I too went out and got the Canpous ADVC-100 and absolutely love it. Works perfectly, images do look better, and it works great from within Premiere. The Dazzle device just seems to be of a cheaper build quality. As I was researching it, I read tons of posts about Dazzle devices overheating and requiring fans blasting cold air at them in order for them to work over 10 minutes.

Oh, and don't bother trying to email Dazzle tech support - I just got a reply yesterday after a three week wait! And all they did was tell me to call Dell!

Hope this helps,

[fewy24]

I also have the hollywood bridge and mine does exactly the same, sometimes its fine on other occasions I just disapears from my device manager to get it back on I just unplug the fire wire cable then plug it straight back in, I don't think its anything to do with your system resources, I have a athlon xp2200 and 1gig of ddr memory and it still does it on mine

[Greg12]

Try putting a fan in front of the dazzle. It seems to be fickle about getting hot and not working.

[NickmanXXX]

Thanx a lot for all the tips, but I'm afraid even the fan-solution doesn't make a change. So to backup VHS tapes it would be best to make some clips, each as long as possible, merge them together, cut out overlapping scenes and after that post-endcode the final DV-File I guess ? Okay, that's better than nothing, isn't it ? Again Thank you.

NickmanXXX

[Allan55]

Hi,

Two of us having been running DV Bridges for months now with no problems except: it crashes on me when I turn off my 36" Sony TV... which I presume causes spikes on the power lines.

Some things to consider:

1. We never turn them off... they seem to like this more than on-off activity (stable temperatures?)

2. Ground your Cablevision wire, VCR, Computer... (everything) together with short 14ga wire.

3. I use Scenalyzer for capturing, this is the first stable capture s/w I found.

Allan

[Allan55]

Hi,

Two more comments:

4. I've captured 4 hours (yes four) at a time with no dropped frames, no sound sync problems; just good captures.

5. Sometimes (randomly) I get a capture that TMPGE will process just fine but tooLame doesn't like the audio... so far unsolved.

Allan

[Betamax]

<snip>but tooLame doesn't like the audio... so far unsolved.

That's "normal" for toolAME to not accept (just crash) with some audio-samples.
If this happens then just use the internal audio-encoder of TMPGenc.

[NickmanXXX]

@Allan 55:

Thanks for your help, at least I was able to capture 30 minutes (new record for me) using a power supply from a different room. But I think this isn't the problem, I think it's my system.
Which OS do you use ?
I'm using Windows 2000 and I think the problem is that the IRQ my 1394-Card is using is being used by my Graphic-Card, my Ethernet-Card, almost everything. This IRQ (it's 11) is being used by too many devices whereas IRQ 10 is totally free. Now how can I change this in f***ing Windows 2000 ? I heared that the only possibility for this would be to uninstall ADCPI. Would anyone recommend this ?
On the other hand I might need a Bios-Update, but I can't find one for my Via-Chipset.

Any suggestions ?

[chopper20]

I have had my Dazzel Hollywood DV-Bridge since Jan this year and have no problems with it. My operating system is XP Pro and I didn't even have to load any drivers XP did it all for me. I use Premier 6 to record my tapes and sometimes and it is rare I may drop about 4 or 5 frames in about 90 mins of recording. Input is via a fire wire card.
It goes without saying but where you are sending the recorded info must be formated in ntfs or it will not record over 4g I think, fat 32 has a recording limit

[Allan55]

Hi,

NickmanXXX asked what OS do I use?

It's XP Pro. Scenalyzer works fine with a 1.2GHz Athlon, a 1600+ Athlon and a 1900+ Athlon all with Via chipset MBs (the 1900+ also allows me to frameserve from VirtualDub into TMPGE at low priority at the same time... haven't tried this on the other boxes)

(s)he also asked about IRQ setting. There is a note buried deeply in Ms's "fine" knowledgebase on how to do this but I can't find the reference. If memory serves, the subject was about trying to get a SCSI controller to work properly.

Allan

[NickmanXXX]

Thanks again, Allan55. I have both, Windows 2000 Pro and Windows XP Pro, same issue on both OS. At least I had two happy moments lately where it seemed to would have captured even longer than I needed to. Maybe the problem are my PC-Speakers. I unplugged them from the Power supply and it worked. Maybe the problem can be sound there. It can't be due to overheating, as in some cases it wasn't even warm when it crashed and in other cases it even went on capturing although it was really very warm.
It's not the system I think, I removed my old TV-Card, uninstalled all drivers, reinstalled Windows, the whole procedure. All with the same result: It works, or it doesn't, as if the decision was made randomly.

I'll continue experimenting, thanx again for your help.


NickmanXXX

[DVWannaB]

Hi all,

I also have a Hollywood DV Bridge for about 3 months now. I use it in a PIII - 500MHZ - 128MB RAM - 100GB HD - Win98SE. I have had ZERO issues with it and use it constantly with Scenalyzer as capture software. Just 2 weeks ago I recorded "Gone with the Wind", a 4 hour movie with almost ZERO dropped frames. Audio is totally in sync. I think for those who have had problems with this device, is not because the device sucks. Mainly, I think its just config, and set-up problems with individual systems. Just my 2 cents worth.

[NickmanXXX]

Finally I found out something really interesting: I'm quite sure that my problem lies within my soundcard. When capturing video-only, which can be done in Premiere 6, the device seems to be much more stable.
I don't have a standalone soundcard, I have a sound-on-board by yamaha. So, do you think the problem could be solved by using a low-cost PCI-Soundcard ?
I also realized, that my Cable-TV-Connection (RF-Cable) seems to send a too high voltage, there is a constant low-frequency noise (sorry for my bad english) whenever I connect my TV or VCR to my computer. How can this be solved ?

NickmanXXX

[steiggl]

I have been using the bridge for 1 1/2 years. I have been frozen during recording a couple of time. I find that if I reload the program being used rids the problem. I use imac with imovie, I don't see it's a problem with the bridge itself. Do you have enough memory slated for program use?

[Allan55]

Hi,

NickmannXXX wrote:

I also realized, that my Cable-TV-Connection (RF-Cable) seems to send a too high voltage, there is a constant low-frequency noise (sorry for my bad english) whenever I connect my TV or VCR to my computer. How can this be solved ?

Many noise problems can be traced to either poor quality cables or poor grounding.

Try grounding everything including the "cablevision" wire together with short 14ga wire and I mean everything: Cable, VCR, Computer, everything else; also try to route AV cables a right-angles to power cables or at least as far away as possible. Yes, I know some of these ground wires seem really close together but it works better this way for me.

Also (in N. America anyway) -- for two-wire line cords (especially if you can put them into a socket either way): One of the wires will have a "ridge" along its length, the other won't (this is the one with the wider prong if they're different sizes). The one with the ridge is the neutral and should be put into the left-side (wider) hole when the ground hole ("circular") is down. If you don't have three-hole outlets, you could have a real grounding problem and should consult someone who can tell you what to do in your specific situation. Those adapters with the short "ground wire" sticking-out may not do anything.

Try better cables. You don't need those super-expensive ones (info. from two different electronic engineers I know). The ones with a slightly bigger video cable than the two sound cables work really well for us; Radio Shack is the most expensive source I know.

Allan
[/quote]

[dannee]

Hi NickmannXXX,

I submitted a reply to your problem with the Hollywood-Bridge twice last night but for some reason my reply never got posted but I notice Allan55 was able to submit a reply. I must have done something wrong as this is my first post-reply.

I too had problems with my Bridge disappearing from my configuration - doesn't show up in the Device Manager. And just like fewy24, sometimes it was fine and on other occasions it just disappeared and all I had to do was unplug it and then plug it straight back in and there it was again.

I spent many hours trying to figure out what was wrong. I tried everything suggested so far, including having a fan on it and like yours, NickmannXXX, sometimes it worked fine when it felt very warm but crashed even if it wasn't warm. I also made sure everything was grounded.

Finally one day I noticed that the green & orange lights on the surge protecter were flickering when I was having trouble with the Bridge (it is hard to see since it is under a shelf). My TV, VCR, satellite receiver, & Bridge were all plugged into this socket. I live in an RV while we are building a house and there are several things on this same circuit. I asked my bf why the lights were flickering and he said it was because of all the things I have connected to this same circuit - fans, AC, refrig, etc.
He had run a dedicated line for me into my RV so that nothing but the computer and all the peripherals were plugged into it.

So when I unplugged the Bridge from the circuit in the RV and plugged it into the dedicated line with the computer, the Bridge stopped disappearing from the Device Manager and has not disappeared since then. Yesterday I captured a 2 hr. movie with no problems with the Bridge. I even plugged my Bridge back into the circuit in the RV to test if this truly was the problem and it began disappearing again. Since I have had it plugged into the dedicated line, it has not disappeared even once.

I hope this helps you out NickmannXXX. I don't know if you can run a separate line in from your power pole of not, or even if you can do it yourself, but it sure is worth a try. I am lucky to know someone that can do all of this stuff. The Bridge is great once you keep it from disappearing. When I think of all the hours I spent trying to fix this problem - I just didn't think that the Bridge would be so sensative!!! I wonder if Dazzle can fix this problem with their device.

[NickmanXXX]

Thanx a lot Dannee,

Well I'm from Germany, and I want to make sure that I have understood what you suggested:

You mean I should connect the power supply of my dazzle device to a socket, which is on a different line than the other devices I have running in my room.
I have plenty of devices connected to the same socket, that's right. I have my TV, my VCR, my TDSL-Modem, my Phone, my Computer, my Printer, my Speakers, my Monitor and some game-consoles in this socket.

So what I should do now is to connect my dazzle to a socket on a line different from the line these devices are connected to ?

I'll try that.

Another question, could you tell me what RV means ?

Thanx again,

NickmanXXX

[krusel]

Yes you did understand her right, plug it into another outlet which is seperat from the the one where you have all the stuff in right now.
When she is talking about an RV she means einen Wohn bzw Campingwagen. But dont think off it as we would in Germany, think in American Dimensions.
regards Sven

[dannee]

Hi NickmannXXX,

Yes Krusel was right. I do mean plug the Bridge in to a socket that does not have a lot of use. I mean a socket that is not on the same circuit as your TV, VCR, etc.

My living quarters is a recreational vehicle (small travel trailer). It is 35 feet X 8 feet. There are probably 4 or 5 separate circuits in here. One side of the trailer's sockets (receptacles) are on one circuit, the other side on one, the lights on another, and the AC on another. It has a kitchen, living room, bathroom, and a bedroom - plenty of room for one person to live comfortably. Coming from the main line at the power pole, the electricity is divided into separate lines - one to the well pump, one to the outdoor screened-in kitchen (I live in Florida) & tool shed, one to the outdoor bathroom(primitive), one to the RV main plug, and one to my computer and accessories. There was just too much stuff on the RV line for the Bridge to work properly and this is why it works without any problems plugged into a line with only the computer & accessories.

I hope you got yours to work.
Good Luck

[Allan55]

Hi,

Reading all the comments about separate outlets reminded me:

Most (all?) of us use "surge protectors" but very few (any?) of these things have really good EMI-RFI (electromagnetic interference, radio frequency interference). This could be your problem.

Also, many similar-sounding problems among our clients have been cleared-up by using a "line-interactive" or better UPS (APC SmartUPS models are line-interactive; none of the BackUPS series are.)

APC SmartUPS models create an error log that you can use to "bully" your power company into correcting problems in the source power (ours won't do anything without some sort of proof of problems).

You could also have loose connections anywhere in your electrical wiring (especially grounds) or even a flaky circuit breaker.

In N. America, miswiring is common; any electrical supply store (e.g. Home Depot) has a simple tester to detect miswired outlets, but not loose wires or power problems unfortunately.

Again in N. America, aluminum wiring was used in new construction about 20-25 years ago; if you have aluminum wiring you could have a real problem and may need an electrician to fix it. Example1: a nick in a wire that wouldn't cause any problem in a copper wire could cause an aluminum wire to break. Example2: aluminum wires need a flux on all connections; this stops (for a while) aluminum oxide formation at the connection (Aluminum Oxide is an insulator which raises the resistance through the connection which can cause all sorts of electrical problems and even, in severe cases, fires.

Am I wandering too far?

Allan