Laptop Capture Probs

[tarrickb]

Hello all.
I own a Canopus ADVC-100 (firewire), have WindowsSP2, and am capturing DV using Sony Vegas. I have a 120GB USB 2.0 HD connected to my hard drive which is where the capture file is being stored.
For some reason, after about 5 minutes of capturing, Sony Vegas crashes on me and stops capturing. I also tryed SceneAnalyser to capture the DV, and it too also stopped capuring after about 5 minutes.

So, I think I have ruled out a software problem, so i'm assuming there must be some sort of hardware problem. I was thinking it could possibly due to the fact that I'm using a USB HD, however I have never dropped ANY frames, so don't think its having trouble keeping up.

Please, anyone, help me out with any suggestions....THANKS

[redwudz]

I've used my ADVC-100 with my laptop in a similar configuration with no problems. Do you have anything else plugged into the USB ports?

I'm thinking some process or program is running in the computer and is interrupting the transfer, more likely on the USB side of things. If you have some space on your internal drive, try a transfer to it for a test and see if the same thing happens. Just delete it afterward to recover your HD space.

I usually use WinDV for transfers, but that probably wouldn't make any difference.

Also open Task Manager and monitor CPU, memory usage, along with the processes running in the background. Look for antivirus or other programs that may be jumping in. Watch your internal HD usage light also and see it it lights up when you have the problem.

One last possibility is a break in your DV stream. I've seen this on tapes when there is a blank spot between scenes. The transfer software will stop the transfer and not continue after the break. But that would not be in the same place or at the same time each transfer, so unlikely. Not likely with non-tape transfers, either.

[tarrickb]

Thanks so much for yours response...great info there.

However, the problem has been solved

I installed the SP2 Firewire fix from micrsoft that has been mentioned elseware on this forum, and 2 hours and a half have been captured without any probs.

Thanks!!! hope this helps someone.