Unstoppable Frame Dropping

[thedivine98]

i looked at some of the tutorials and other topics, but i just couldn't figure it out or understand them for that matter.

every time i capture video from my digital camera, it drops frames. after i tried and failed using window movie maker, i got adobe premier and i still had no luck. i wanted to get higher quality video for editing, so i bought a firewire card and cord. however, the frame dropping does not make for a high quality movie, as it cuts out huge chunks of conversation and everything. so anyway, aside from having to purchase a new hard drive (im not sure if the one i have now meets the transfer requirements), is there anything i can do? i was reading something about a process people were doing in BIOS, but i didnt understand it....so....
please help.

im sure my system can handle the transfer except for the hard drive, and i dont know exactly how to find out its stats...so...im in a real bind, considering i have 700 dollars of camera equipment and no way to edit the video. if anyone can help in laymen's terms that would be great. thanks

[daamon]

Hi thedivine98,

Welcome to the forums...

This link:

www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=157660

...is a "sticky" in the "Capturing" forum. It may well help you with your problem.

Some basics are:

1. Use a firewire card to transfer from a DV cam.
2. Make sure the hard drive is well defragged before transferring.
3. The faster the hard drive spin speed, the better. 7,200rpm is usually recommended.

Try using WinDV (free) - it's very good. Run the tape in the cam first, then press "Capture"... Otherwise, you'll get a few dropped frames where it can't read the tape starting to roll. This is normal.

Good luck...

[thecoalman]

Try to defrag as daamon suggested. See here for optimizing your system www.blackviper.com

The best solution for you IMO is another drive considering the fact that you only have a 30gb HD, even if it is capable. At best you can expect to work with about one hour of DV-AVI footage at a time if it's capable. Drives are fairly cheap and very easy to install. They even have external firewire drives that are plug and play.

[mikesbytes]

1. Defrag the hard drive.

2. Get as little as possible running on the machine. IE check for spywear, switch off devices not being used, shutdown anti virus software etc.

3. Use WinDV. It has memory buffering and stores upto 100 frames before loosing them.

[thedivine98]

thanks for the warm welcome....

ill try this WinDv, and try to get the system running even lighter, but i might have to buy a new HD. i have other systems that have better drives, so ill try the firewire in them first and see if the frames keep dropping. anyway, ill let you know how it works out...especially if it doesnt. LOL.

[mikesbytes]

I was running my DV captures to a second drive, which has since died. WinDV seems to be doing enough to capture to my primary drive, but it won't work for everyone. Try WinDV first and if it doesn't work, then pick up another drive.