New Computer Dropping Frames

[bthig]

I've read the sticky posts and didn't really find an answer that fit my problem. I just bought a new computer specifically for the purpose of video editing and I'm having problems with dropped frames when capturing. (I'm guessing that's the issue. The video looks fine on the camera but after I try to capture, it appears glitchy.) I've tried all of the common fixes for this problem but it doesn't make sense to me seeing that this is a new computer and I believe it has more than enough power to handle video capturing. (Let me know if I'm wrong or if Vista is somehow causing this) I have tried capturing with several different programs and the problem remains. I've tried different cameras & firewires and nothing changes so I'm guessing it has to be computer related. I use the 2nd hard drive solely for capturing. Any help is greatly appreciated, this problem is driving me crazy especially with this being a new computer.

Computer:

Components
• Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 1 (64-bit)
• Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Quad processor Q9300 (2.5GHz)
• 4GB DDR2-800MHz dual channel SDRAM (4x1024)
• 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT DVI-I, VGA, HDMI
• 802.11 a/b/g/n Wireless LAN card
• 1TB RAID 0 (2 x 500GB SATA HDDs) - performance
• LightScribe 16X max. DVD+/-R/RW SuperMulti drive
• 15-in-1 memory card reader, 2 USB, 1394, video, audio
• ATSC-NTSC TV tuner with PVR, FM tuner, remote
• Integrated 7.1 channel sound w/front audio ports



Thanks in Advance

[edDV]

I've read the sticky posts and didn't really find an answer that fit my problem. I just bought a new computer specifically for the purpose of video editing and I'm having problems with dropped frames when capturing. (I'm guessing that's the issue. The video looks fine on the camera but after I try to capture, it appears glitchy.) I've tried all of the common fixes for this problem but it doesn't make sense to me seeing that this is a new computer and I believe it has more than enough power to handle video capturing. (Let me know if I'm wrong or if Vista is somehow causing this) I have tried capturing with several different programs and the problem remains. I've tried different cameras & firewires and nothing changes so I'm guessing it has to be computer related. I use the 2nd hard drive solely for capturing. Any help is greatly appreciated, this problem is driving me crazy especially with this being a new computer.

Computer:

Components
• Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 1 (64-bit)
• Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Quad processor Q9300 (2.5GHz)
• 4GB DDR2-800MHz dual channel SDRAM (4x1024)
• 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT DVI-I, VGA, HDMI
• 802.11 a/b/g/n Wireless LAN card
• 1TB RAID 0 (2 x 500GB SATA HDDs) - performance
• LightScribe 16X max. DVD+/-R/RW SuperMulti drive
• 15-in-1 memory card reader, 2 USB, 1394, video, audio
• ATSC-NTSC TV tuner with PVR, FM tuner, remote
• Integrated 7.1 channel sound w/front audio ports



Thanks in Advance

Just to be clear, you are capturing DV?, HDV? over Firewire through what software? Details help.

[bthig]

Sorry about that. I'm capturing DV over firewire. I'm mainly using Canopus Edius 4 but I've tried several other programs to see if my capturing issue was program related and still had the same problem.

[edDV]

Sorry about that. I'm capturing DV over firewire. I'm mainly using Canopus Edius 4 but I've tried several other programs to see if my capturing issue was program related and still had the same problem.

WinDV? Really bare bones.

Obviously, this shouldn't be happening.

[bthig]

Yeah I've tried WinDVD and no luck. I'm wondering if it's a hardware problem.

[edDV]

If you have a warranty, get a full evaluation.

A PII can cap DV.

[aedipuss]

i'd get rid of the raid 0, no real world performance gain and twice the probability of losing all the data on both drives. if the raid controller isn't very good, performance decreases are seen.

did you mean you have tried winDV for firewire transfer? how many frames did it say it dropped? it's listed right on the main screen. if winDV didn't work there are serious performance issues with your hard drives.

[SCDVD]

It's worth checking to make sure that your HD (or RAID) isn't badly fragmented.

[edDV]

Sorry a typo, I meant WinDV.

You are using RAID zero? Why do you think you need a RAID?

Are you secretly trying to build a game machine and wasting our time?

RAID zero for uncompressed video needs a hardware RAID controller card. I would never try this in a shuttlebox. If this is what you want you need an external video server and SDI.

[poisondeathray]

Is this Intel Storage Matrix RAID?

Check your device manager to see if there are any problems

Download HDTune or HDTach to test the throughput of your HD. HDTune also gives SMART data (diagnostics on disk health)

Are you running any background processes that might impair capture (like a few virus scans, or scheduled defrag..etc...)?

[lordsmurf]

RAID 0 often is a cause of dropped frames, not a solution.

[Ethlred]

I gave up on RAID myself. Didn't see much improvement in speed. However if you break up the array then you will have two separate drives. This would allow you to put the OS on one drive and the video on another. Otherwise you will have the OS and the Video player fighting for the same drive.

Also you say

The video looks fine on the camera but after I try to capture, it appears glitchy.)

What do mean by glitchy? It stutters? Or is it really missing frames. Theres a big difference between missing frames and stuttering playback.

[bthig]

I tried with WinDV and it never says it drops any frames so the problem is that the video stutters when I try to capture. Sorry about that, I wasn't sure how to word how the video appeared. I'm still new to this but I defragged and the glitchyness disappeared (before the video would appear as if small blocks were missing in certain parts of the picture). However, if there is a camera flash it still appears as if it's broken up into horizontal lines with every other line missing from the picture. The same problem happens with movement. If a subject is walking passed the camera right to left for example, they become broken up into lines.

Sorry about not being able to describe my problem more clearly from the start. I appreciate all the help. When I ordered this computer I didn't do enough research on the hard drives I was purchasing and just went for more room. Would the RAID 0 really cause that much trouble with video editing? Thanks again.


Edit: I'm reading up on RAID now and realizing I had looked into it before but for some reason didn't take it into consideration before making my purchase, feeling kind of stupid now. I can see how it wouldn't be the greatest set up for video.

[poisondeathray]

I tried with WinDV and it never says it drops any frames so the problem is that the video stutters when I try to capture. Sorry about that, I wasn't sure how to word how the video appeared. I'm still new to this but I defragged and the glitchyness disappeared (before the video would appear as if small blocks were missing in certain parts of the picture). However, if there is a camera flash it still appears as if it's broken up into horizontal lines with every other line missing from the picture. The same problem happens with movement. If a subject is walking passed the camera right to left for example, they become broken up into lines.

Sorry about not being able to describe my problem more clearly from the start. I appreciate all the help. When I ordered this computer I didn't do enough research on the hard drives I was purchasing and just went for more room. Would the RAID 0 really cause that much trouble with video editing? Thanks again.


Edit: I'm reading up on RAID now and realizing I had looked into it before but for some reason didn't take it into consideration before making my purchase, feeling kind of stupid now. I can see how it wouldn't be the greatest set up for video.

RAID-0 if properly configured wouldn't be the cause of your problems. In fact it's required if you are doing uncompressed HD capturing. If you run HD Tune or HD Tach as asked earlier it will tell you right away if there is a throughput problem.

"I defragged and glitchyness disappeared" would suggest you had heavily fragmented HD

You are describing "horizontal lines" with movement. Do you mean interlacement? Check this page out and see if it's similar to what you are trying to describe http://www.100fps.com/

"Small blocks missing" might mean pixellation or macroblocking artifacts - again difficult to tell without seeing it

If in doubt, post a small clip or screenshots

[edDV]

Normal video configuration is OS on a separate drive, with video capture/temp files to one or more separate drives.

If you are trying to capture uncompressed video, most use a lossless realtime codec (like huffyuv or lagarith) to reduce bit rates to single drive capability.

Alternately you need a RAID zero on two drives for SD uncompressed capture and more ( up to 5-8 ) for editing uncompressed HD. You ***DO NOT*** put the OS on the capture drives. You keep them separate. 98% of "video" users don't need RAID at all. They are dealing with compressed video not uncompressed. DV video has low system demand for capture and moderate-high demand for playback.

Gamers started the trend of loading everything on a single RAID because they crash/reboot a lot and want the fastest system reboot. Games put low demand on the OS. They are just loading a game and accessing textures from drives. Don't configure a "video editing" system this way.

It's beginning to sound like you are more of a newbie than we thought. Let us know your level of experience and your goals. Remember those news stories about the comedian that crashed a $230K Ferrari the first minute behind the wheel?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNVrMZX2kms

[bthig]

I probably should have stated my experience from the start. I'm not new to video editing but this is my first time buying my own system. Hence the difficulties that I'm clueless about. I am working for a wedding videography company and starting to edit videos and thought it would be convenient to have my own system to do so. I'm understanding now that I may have made some mistakes in my purchase but I'm wondering if there are any ways to solve my problems without additional purchases. I'm capturing DV and seem to experiencing interlacement issues (thanks poison). I'm going to run HD Tune tonight and try to post a clip of the video problem tomorrow. My OS is on a seperate drive from my video. My second hard drive is solely for the use of video. I've tried defragging and that helped fix one problem but the interlacement issue remains. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

[edDV]

If you have experience on other machines are we to assume you are aware of simple 480i line split during motion that is always present on a computer progressive display?

So the "interlacement issue" is something else?

What program are you using to play the DV files? I suggest you try VLC and experiment with the different video-deinterlace modes.

[edDV]

Example of normal 480i DV interlace line split (see her hand).


Also this example. Camera is panning down while actors move horizontally.


VLC playback with simple bob deinterlace. Each field is interpolated into a frame.
480i/29.97 becomes 480p/59.94 but with some diagonal artifacts. HDTV processors do this better.

[bthig]

Yes edDV, the pictures you posted are exactly what I'm seeing. I played my captures in VLC and they looked fine without even changing around the video deinterlace modes. I'm currently using Canopus Edius 4. Is there any way to get rid of the interlace line split when editing?

[edDV]

Yes edDV, the pictures you posted are exactly what I'm seeing. I played my captures in VLC and they looked fine without even changing around the video deinterlace modes. I'm currently using Canopus Edius 4. Is there any way to get rid of the interlace line split when editing?

Recommended practice is to monitor with a TV monitor* rather than a computer monitor. This gives accurate color reference and allows inspection of fields. I'm fairly sure the Edius supports monitoing off the IEEE-1394 port which then connects to the monitor through a DV camcorder or Canopus ADVC type transcoder or the Edius hardware would have a TV monitor out port. Computer display cards are difficult to calibrate for TV out and shouldn't be trusted.


* Adjust TV to the Edius reference color bar.

[bthig]

Thanks for all the help.