? about DV footage to PC capturing (HELP!)

[hsgamble]

Hi - I need help! I started making a X'mas video today, and uploaded a bunch of footage of our son, from my Sony handycam (DCR TRV33). I captured it to my PC w/Sony image mixer. Problem is all the mpegs are choppy and there is a time delay between the view on my handycam, and what the MPEG actually shows.... people are moving like robots! Then I tried to capture in windows movie maker - and had the same problem. I did a bit of this last year and didn't have this problem. Is there some setting I should change on my camera and/or pc to stop the delay -- or improve it when capturing video to my pc? I've been browsing through some forums and see mention of "fire wire" - no idea what it is, but I'm willing to buy it if it will help me put this thing together quick! Thank you in advance. Heather

[edDV]

Laptop?

Is there plenty of space on the drive? DV takes 13.5 GB/hr.

Try defragmenting the hard drive first before capture.

Turn off other apps before capturing. Even Anti Virus.

A modern desktop with two drives would work better.


PS: The jerkyness could just be slow playback. VLC is more efficient for playback on a limited computer.

[hsgamble]

Laptop?

Is there plenty of space on the drive? DV takes 13.5 GB/hr.

Try defragmenting the hard drive first before capture.

Turn off other apps before capturing. Even Anti Virus.

A modern desktop with two drives would work better.

Hi - its a laptop.

processor: 1.73GHz

795 MHz, 0.99 of RAM

Now that you mention it, I did last year's on my desktop. Could that be the difference?? Thanks.

[edDV]

Laptop?

Is there plenty of space on the drive? DV takes 13.5 GB/hr.

Try defragmenting the hard drive first before capture.

Turn off other apps before capturing. Even Anti Virus.

A modern desktop with two drives would work better.

Hi - its a laptop.

processor: 1.73GHz

795 MHz, 0.99 of RAM

Now that you mention it, I did last year's on my desktop. Could that be the difference?? Thanks.

Could be. A desktop with a second drive should give no problem. Capture to the second drive not the OS drive.

[hsgamble]

Okay - would you still recommend a defrag before doing this? What is the advantage of capturing to a second drive? Just curious ... Thanks!

[edDV]

Okay - would you still recommend a defrag before doing this? What is the advantage of capturing to a second drive? Just curious ... Thanks!

If a drive is fragmented the head needs to seek a blank patch and looses data in the process thus a glitch in the video transfer.

The OS is always doing things on the primary drive such as indexing, running virus checks checking email etc. look at all the tasks running under processes in the task manager. If the OS takes the drive, data can't be stored so you get a glitch in the video capture.

A second internal drive on the PCI bus can run independently of the OS drive. Both do their thing without stepping on each other during capture. External drives are different. They are still subject to CPU contention.

We are talking about a laptop on the edge here. Many newer laptops are often fast enough to do all this and still not drop frames. It isn't a CPU speed issue, it's about system throughput for data. If you are seeing dropped frames these are potential causes. Also the capture might be fine and you are seeing glitches during playback due to player settings or an inadequate display card. That is where VLC helps with a minimal CPU load during playback.

[Richard_G]

Two things make me suspicious, you say you are transferring with Sony Image mixer and also ask about Firewire. The Sony Image mixer software is designed for transferring still images and low resolution video over USB. Firewire, which Sony call i-Link, is for transferring full resolution video. If you are using USB, that is where your problems lie, it isn't intended to be used for video, but stills.

Other comments about size and speed of hard drives are relevant, but I don't think they are the actual cause of your problems.

[edDV]

OOPs: I missed that she wasn't using (IEEE-1394/ILink/Firewire).

Problem solved. What threw me off is she said it all worked before.