Incredible frame droppings with ADVC-300

[fatty4ksu]

This is like a $400 capture device, and when I cap football games, usually during a 3 hour game there are at least 3 times when ten seconds of the game is not captured.


My cords are pretty cruddy. Could bad cords be a problem? Thanks.

[Barnabas]

What software are you capping with? Have you tried WinDV?

Are you capping to DV or transcoding to MPEG2?

I NEVER see dropped frames from my Canopus 55

[Wile_E]

As Barnabas suggested, try WinDV or ScenalyzerLive. They both use a memory buffer to eliminate dropped frames. What are your system specs?

[edDV]

3hr transfers (>40GB) may be filling your partition. Also a fragmented drive will cause drops.

You should be transferring to a separate internal drive from the OS and the partition should be reasonably defragmented.

Give more detail.

[fatty4ksu]

Yes, WinDV. Capping to DV.

I am capping to a 500 GB hard drive in RAID. (250/250)

Should I defrag the HD?

[FulciLives]

RAID is most likely the problem.

RAID sounds good on paper but for video capture it can be tricky to set it up "just right".

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[JohnnyMalaria]

Yes, WinDV. Capping to DV.

I am capping to a 500 GB hard drive in RAID. (250/250)

Should I defrag the HD?

I doubt RAID is a problem.

During 3hrs or so, the chances are something else is going on with your system such as a device going into sleep mode only to be awakened again. Or you have a scheduled service doing something (like a spyware checker, virus scanner, email etc).

Try disabling all the power management - i.e., don't let Windows turn any of the hard drives off etc. By the way, are the 10 second losses at regular intervals. e.g., if it happens every 60 minutes, that would definitely point to the behind-the-scenes power management.

[FulciLives]

I am only guessing when I said it could be a RAID problem but RAID is not GOD ... I have seen many people have issues with a RAID system when doing captures/transfers of analog/digital video.

It is a valid issue to "look into".

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[edDV]

A single RAID containing the OS may be a fine gamer setup but video apps gain reliablity when drives are separated into OS operations and separate video capture.

Normal practice is to use a small drive for the OS + applications and a separate drive or RAID for video capture and processing. A single ATA-100 drive is plenty fast enough for DV video. Most sytems are fast enough to handle Huffyuv with a single drive. If you are running full SDI uncompressed then you will need a RAID. Just keep the OS off the RAID.

[vhelp]

fatty4ksu,

Are you capturing from VHS tapes ??

I can't think of *ANY* reason why you are having frame drop issies.. assuming
that you are capturing from satellite or cable. I think that you are capturing
from a VCR, and the source is vhs tapes. If you are, then its probably a host
of things that is causing your frame drops. But, one of the main things that
*could* cause frame drops (from vhs tapes) is the vcr's tracking. Say you had
recorded from an old vcr, and now, you have a new (or different) one, this could
be your problem, where your *other* vcr's tracking is not matching the same, as
your original vcr(s) used for those vhs tapes. You could have used a number of
vcr's during those vhs tape recordings.. and over the years.

Course, this is all based on the assumption that your sources are vhs tapes
(and, you left that fact (though, very important) out)

-vhelp 4078

[fatty4ksu]

Raid was the problem. Thanks to all.

[bendixG15]

Congrates to Fulci..........

[FulciLives]

Congrates to Fulci..........

Please ... my ego is big enough as it is ... LOL 8)

- John "FulciLives" Coleman