Can not capture all DV

[briguys]

I have been trying to capture my DV onto my Pc and the computer will recognise my JVC mini dv recorder and I will start to capture video and it will start and capture for maybe 5minutes and then the screen freezes. My recorder keeps playing but the computer is froze. The cursor still moves but the computer is no longer capturing the video. After I press stop, the program freezes up. I then try doing this again and the pc wont recognize my JVC anymore. I have tried different programs and have started and restarted the computer. Usually on restart it will recognize my JVC but i still cant get all the video captured. Is this a bad firewire, and bad firewire card, or a bad connection to my JVC. (I have managed to get a video captured but that was about 9mths ago)

Please help

[guns1inger]

Using what software ?

If you are not using it, try WinDV. It is small, reliable, and well worth a try.

[briguys]

I have tried WinDV, Windows Movie Maker, and Windows Media encoder- all the same thing...screen freezes after a little while

[redwudz]

I'm assuming you have lots of hard drive space and you have defragged your 'capture' drive at some time recently?

Is it a 'on-board' FireWire card or a PCI add-on?

Does it stop in the same spot each time? If so, it could be a problem with the tape having a dropout. If it just seems to do it when about that amount of time has passed, did you check your Task Manager to see if something else is running?

That doesn't sound like a cable problem, but it could still be hardware related. About the only way to be sure is to try another cable or camera or computer and see if you get the same problem.

If it's the FireWire card or the computer, a different camera may do the same thing, then you would have a better idea where to look for the problem.

[vhelp]

This has been my experience with dv problems, similar to yours..

This usually happens when your tape has a blue screen* (non-recorded passage) and when
your dv cam or other dv type device hits this, either it triggers a stop/end or something,
or this could be a drop-out of some sort, and again, your dv (the software) 's stop or
end is triggered, and will not capture (transfer) an more video. (while still in the capture
phase) if you pressed the fast-forward button till a some video shows, the software might
continue capturing (transfering) as if nothing happend. This happens to me whever I put
in a vhs tape in my vcr and a passave (an area on the tape that was not recorded to)
is passted through, and the software goes into this bezare freeze -- much like yours'.

* this condition can happen (even when you don't perpuposely do this) when you are
recording something, and then press PAUSE, and then RECORD again, etc. Sometimes
a few micro seconds is enough to create a skip or blue passage. I'm not sure what the
correct term for this phenomina is, but that's about the jist of it

When you inadvertenly pull the plug or ctrl+alt+del out, you loose dv responsiveness. I'm
not sure how to explain this, but at least on my WIN98 system, this happens to me, and
I loose my DV sensary, and no matter how many time in unplug and replug the dv cord
back into the dv cam and/or i/o card on the computer, the dv is just no longer recignised.
And the only resolution is to shut down windows and restart.

This don't always happen, (when your cam/recording softare) intercepts a blue passage
or drop-out, and then freezes. But, when it does happen, you usually have to reboot
because you loose your dv sencitivity or something.

ahh, almost left this out..

But, there's a trick I used, to by-pass the rebooting route.. This only works on WIN98
systems, ( I didn't have w2k/xp at the time of researching/testing/discovering ) ...

** you have to know which .sys file is the controller (a device file) for the dv device,
** then, delete it,
** then dissconnect the dv cable from the dv cam or dv capture device,
** then restore the file back,
** and then re-connect the dv cable to the device

If you're adventurous, you might want to give this trick (a crude hack) a try. Search your
HDD for either the MDSYS.sys or DVCAM.sys file (its one of them, not both) and make a
copy of it in the same directory. I put a dash (the '-') at the end of the file so it is easy
to search (sort) the folder for the filename. This make it easier to go through the routine.

But the above is tricky, and you have to be highly familiar with your windows system and
dv device drivers, among other things. Prob not for the faint at heart, however. But that
was how I was able to recover without re-booting Windows 98 !!

-vhelp 4456

[briguys]

Thanks for all the replies, this has been a huge headache.

I have plenty of hard drive space (2nd hard drive 300gb). I have defragged recently. It is an add on PCI firewire card. It does not stop at the same spot all the time. I will try and find someone with another camera. I just moved out of state and dont know too many people around. Should I pull the card and reinstall?


Is there a way to avoid the breaks in the Dv?

[RickA]

Could it be driver / codec conflicts or your system overheating maybe? You could try capturing with VirtualDub, that is what I use. Good luck on your troubleshooting.

Cheers,
Rick

[jagabo]

Put the firewire card in another slot. It's probably having a DMA or IRQ conflict with another device.