Help. Dropped frames. Lots of them!!

[PJGS]

I've been trying to capture from a DV camcorder but I get an insane number of dropped frames.
I've tried:
- captured to both my HD
-WinDV, Powerdirector
- CPU usage never goes beyond 15%
- RAM usage stays at 250MB (I have 1 GB kingston)
- OS was installed a month ago
- Ran NOD32 and no virus

I'm new to this and i feel stuck at this point. I don't know what else i can do.


My system:
a7n8x-x
athlon 2100+ @ 2100 (temp is under control)
radeon 9600 (drivers up to date)
HD hitachi 160GB 7200
HD seagate 80GB 7200
1GB Ram kingston
I have this conceptronic fireware card.

Any ideas or suggestions?.

[musher70]

it is kinda a waste of time anyways....
i spent a year or so trying not to
drop "Frames"//
save ur soul and go buy a
dvd recorder, they kinda cheap now...

[jagabo]

https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=157660

esp #10

[redwudz]

DV is a simple file transfer. If you are dropping frames, it's usually a hardware problem.

First, try a different Firewire cable, and make sure it's plugged in securely at both ends.

If you know someone with a computer and a Firewire input, try your camera on it. If it works that way, it may be your Firewire card. Have you tried other Firewire devices on your card? Maybe borrow a friends camera and try it.

And if you do a forum search for 'dropping frames' in the DV forum, you may find some other ideas.

[Wile_E]

Try WinDV. It has a buffer that it uses to eliminate most dropped frames. I've been using it on my AMD64 3200+, with no drops. All other capturing software would drop frames if I was doing something while capturing.

[zoobie]

sometimes, depending on the camera, if you just stop it, take out the tape, and reinsert it, it will seat properly...but if it's old, the tape guides may need to be replaced

[gadgetguy]

The fact that you aren't showing excessive CPU and memory usage indicates that your system is strong enough to capture without dropping any frames. Which means that either something is interfering with the save to disk process, or there is a problem feeding the info to the computer. Do the dropped frames come in spurts or does it consistantly drop them. If it's consistant then the problem is more likely the firewire card, cable, or cam. If the dropped frames come in spurts (capsfers ok for a while the drops a bunch, then is ok again for a while, then drops a bunch again, etc), then it's probably something interfering with the write process.
redwuz offered some good test steps. Let us know the results of your tests and if you find the solution.

[PJGS]

I connected the camcorder to another pc, one with a firewire port on the mobo, and it worked flawlessly. Not a single frame was dropped.

Back at home, I wasted a lot of time running the antivirus and antispyware again, checking the ide cables, hardware setup in the device manager and when I thought the problem was the firewire card and was going to send it back I took a last step. I put the card in another pci slot and it worked. Not a single dropped frame!.

Is this a common thing or my mobo just has a picky or bad pci slot?.

I wasted hours when the fix was so easy.

[gadgetguy]

It is not uncommon for 2 PCI cards to interfere with each other. It is also not uncommon for the PCI slot next to the AGP slot to experience interference problems, but the symptoms in both cases can differ wildly, so it's not usually a first suspect.
Thanks for reporting back that you found the solution, and better yet, what the solution was.

[DokSoul]

best to turn off antivirus while capturing and rendering

[minko]

I connected the camcorder to another pc, one with a firewire port on the mobo, and it worked flawlessly. Not a single frame was dropped.

Back at home, I wasted a lot of time running the antivirus and antispyware again, checking the ide cables, hardware setup in the device manager and when I thought the problem was the firewire card and was going to send it back I took a last step. I put the card in another pci slot and it worked. Not a single dropped frame!.

Is this a common thing or my mobo just has a picky or bad pci slot?.

I wasted hours when the fix was so easy.

The fix was NOT so easy. I ditto gadgetguy's thanks for reporting back on the culprit. You are not the only one that is having this problem. That fix will help someone.