Embarassingly simple capture question

[eclipse95]

Relative novice here. I'm trying to capture Hi-8 home movies to burn to DVD. I’m using the ADS DVD Xpress DX2 hardware encoding capture device. Although I have followed most of the suggestions in the stickies for avoiding dropped frames (defrag, end TSR processes, disable anitivirus, etc.), I still get some dropped frames in the captured video, usually in scenes with substantial amounts of motion. (Strange thing is, there is no loss of audio/video synch. Perhaps it's dropping frames to keep the audio in synch). In any event, The system is a P4 2.54 GHz with 1 GB RAM, an EVGA FX 5500 256 MB video card, integrated audio, and a 60 GB HD (which is 75% free). I’m capturing to MPEG-2 at 640x480, set to the “best quality” setting. (This unit does not allow the user to set the bit rate to a specific number, at least for MPEG-2). I’ve read that a key issue may be to use a separate hard drive to store the captured video. Can I use an external USB connected drive, or even as an alternative a flash memory stick, and still get the benefit that would be associated with using a second internal drive (which I do not have)? Thanks.

[DB83]

Methinks No. The external HDD will be too slow(USB) for capture and you will drop even more frames.

Now 640 * 480 is not DVD quality - that should be 720 * 480 and also more dropped frames if your hardware cannot keep up.

What you can try is 352 * 240. The is VCD quality but also part of the DVD spec. The picture will not be quite so sharp but that will depend on the size of the viewing screen.

[guns1inger]

Using a USB capture device to a USB HDD is always going to an issue. You need to go USB to fixed HDD.

[jagabo]

Get an eSata drive. Something like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822709031

This isn't an endorsement of that particual product -- I've never used it. But it includes all the hardware you need in case you don't have an eSata port on your PC.

[Ollie6431]

... I'm trying to capture Hi-8 home movies to burn to DVD. I’m using the ADS DVD Xpress DX2 hardware encoding capture device. Although I have followed most of the suggestions in the stickies for avoiding dropped frames (defrag, end TSR processes, disable anitivirus, etc.), I still get some dropped frames in the captured video, usually in scenes with substantial amounts of motion...

Others have offered appropriate input on the use of USB-hard drive. Your PC specs and the MPG2 capturing hardware look fine for capturing Hi-8 video. I just wonder about the quality of your Hi-8 tapes (?). Old tapes may cause dropped frames regardless of your hardware/software setup. I converted a collection of Hi-8 tapes (some of them 10 years old) to DVDs a few years back and had to live with some degree of frame drops in some of the DVDs).

Just another factor to consider.

[eclipse95]

Thanks for the responses. The tapes are in excellent condition; I don't think that's the issue. One thing I've read in searching on this issue is that the integrated audio (as opposed to a separate sound card) may be the cause of the dropped frames. Thoughts? I'd rather try adding a sound card than a separate HD because it's less expense and because I really have no other use for a separate HD (as noted in the original post, the 60 GB HD is only 25% full). I have also read, though, that replacing the integrated audio with a sound card will render inoperable the headphone jack on the front of my Dell PC. A minor annoyance, but a factor. As far as capture resolution is concerned, I could back it down to the lowest horizontal resolution above 400, right? (My understanding is that Hi8 has around 400 lines.)