Adobe Premiere Capture Settings

[scyzoryk]

I am running windows 2000 running Premiere 6.0 and am trying to capture video from a JVC digital camcorder. There are three options for "Capture Format" in Premiere:

Video for Windows
QuickTime Capture
DV/IEEE 1394 Capture

I notice that after capturing about a 100 frames or so with the DV/IEEE option... it freezes the entire machine. If I try to use the Video for Windows or Quicktime Capture it says "Unable to connect to capture driver".

Does anyone know how to get either VFW or Quicktime capture working for win2k? I am pretty sure this will solve my capturing problem.

[racer-x]

The best way to capture DV is to use DV/IEEE 1394. What are you running for your system?
What do you mean by freezing? You can't do anything else, or the PC crashes?
When ever you capture, you should turn off all background apps and leave the PC be. I use to capture DV with a P-III 500 Mhz running W2k and never even dropped a frame!
You should also defrag your drives before you capture.

Hope that helps

[racer-x]

One more point that I forgot.
If you don't use NTFS on the capture drive, Premiere will stop capturing when it hits the 4 GIG limit (usually around 18min).

Well good luck!

[scyzoryk]

I have a 1.33GHz athlon, 256mb sdram, and a Texas Instruments firewire.

When the computer freezes - everything does. I can't move the mouse of ctrl-alt-del, the entire system is unresponsive. I don't leave any background apps on while I capture.

What I believe MAY be the problem is the IRQ sharing. It shares an irq on 9 with many other devices. Although with Win2000 this is supposed to be 'ok'. I figure that may be the problem because it freezes at random intervals. Sometimes when capturing only 63 frames, then 205, then 136, etc. It may be because at that exact point it interferes with another device using the IRQ and causes it to freeze.

I used WinDVR and managed to get about 40 seconds of capture before a freeze! I don't know how the programs differ, but nonetheless, it doesn't change my problem.

I've tried it both on Windows2000 and XP. I'm run out of ideas...

[permission52]

I don't believe you can have a smooth DV capture because of such a low-end CPU speed.

[mkelley]

My hunch is it's a codec conflict -- this has been discussed on the Premiere forum (which you might want to visit). The speed of your CPU should be adequate for capturing via firewire, although I'd certainly consider capturing to a dedicated hard drive (put a second 7200 IDE drive in your machine for less than $100 for 120gig).

The first thing I'd do would be to use the capture software that came with your firewire card -- that's not where we want to end up (capturing inside of Premiere) but it will at least tell you if you can capture any other way. Or you can just disable the other codec if you're aware of which one it is. Once again, visit the Premiere forum for more info.

Lastly, Premiere 6.5 is a *lot* better when it comes to dealing with firewire captures, so I'd strongly suggest upgrading (if you're going to write to DVD getting MainConcept encoder alone is worth the $150 upgrade cost -- otherwise the titler is a good deal as well).

[scyzoryk]

Do you know the link to the Premiere forum with the appropriate thread?
I believe my CPU/HD is fine for the capture.

I don't think that Premiere is the problem, since it freezes with whatever program I use. Even if I capture to an uncompressed AVI (no compression) it freezes, so that means a codec shouldn't really help since it only compresses the uncompressed data..

I'm still thinking it may have something to do with the IRQs since the freezes occur and random times.

[mkelley]

No, what I'm suggesting is a conflict in codecs -- you have more than one installed and the system gets confused. As I said, there is more info on the Premiere forum.

All Adobe forums are located at the usual place, www.adobeforums.com.

[pharries]

The Adobe capture component is a joke.
It is even stated in Adobe's forums!
Go to www.scenalyzer.com
It is a great capture program with unlimited file size, excellent auto scene detect etc
To register is only $29! Bargain
I almost spent $29 on Tylenol attempting to capture with Premiere!

Premiere uses the standard Microsoft codec.
Try replacing it with the free Matrox codec
http://www.matrox.com/video/support/ds/software/codec/home.cfm
You have to register for emails to download it but it is superb!
Good luck

[scyzoryk]

What is the name of the .ini file with the Matrox info when I go to "Update Driver" for the "Microsoft DV Camera and VCR"?

I can't find it in \winnt\system32\ and there is no documentation with the download.

[pharries]

From memory just run setup!
Premiere uses the Microsoft codec by default (very bad write ups on line). You need to uninstall the microsoft codec (chech the adobe forums for details)
Then you can select the Matrox codec as your preferre codec.
It improved the quality of my output vastly
At start up in Pemeiere in the Project settings window
click on CUSTOM
Load
Drop down box go to video
Compressor box drop down to Matrox dv/DVCAM
SAVE "name it"
Whwn you subsequently star you can use these start up settings.
I have no idea why you want an .ini file.
This is NOT an upgrade for a Driver. It is a codec!

[scyzoryk]

You're right. But just as I suspected - that didn't work. I am still guessing that it is an IRQ problem, but I don't want to go to the hassle of doing a "repair win2k" or whatever just to get that working. I wonder why WinDVR let me capture a lot longer than premiere though.

[pharries]

Have you ried www.scenalyzer.com yet?
It is compatable with most camcorders.
If it works you will have a better ideaof your problem

[pharries]

You also need to post the following info
Make and model of PC
Memeory
Processor
No of hard drives
space free on each drive
Which drives are your swap file,OS and Video capture directories on?Service pack of your OS
Make and model of firewire card and Driver
How many PCI cards un your PC and what are they?
Which slot is each card in?
Without this we can all only speculate!
Version of Premiere
All of he above are well documented causes of capture problem

[pharries]

Do you have a sound card installed?
Quick time will not run without one

[scyzoryk]

sound card: sb live! value
amd 1.33ghz
256mb sdram
30GB hd.. 15gb free.
win2k (latest service pack)
swap/capture on c:\ (30gb)
texas instruments (basic TI driver w/ win2k)
3 pci exluding capture card (sound card, video card, network card)
premiere 6.0

[mkelley]

Capturing to the same drive is problematic -- I would *strongly* advise you to get a second drive and do all captures to that drive (with 120 gigs of 7200 going for less than $100 this is a no-brainer).

That alone may account for the capture process breaking down as it has to swap among your system drive, etc. (I'd also bump RAM up if you could, as 256 on a Win2000 machine is a bit small for this kind of work, but it should at least capture more than you've been able to).

[pharries]

1) You do not state your brand of firewire card, it should not make a difference but it does. The ADSpyro card is cheap and very good.
Which slot is your firewire card in? It needs to be in slot 1.
I would remove all PCI cards place Firewire in slot 1 Video in 2 and reboot.
Once configured shut down and installl the others.
Do you have a 100ATA Hard disk and card?
As stated I would not try capturing video to the same drive as the OS!
Check out www.videoguys.com
They are expensive but have some good info on setting up a system on their site.