Newbie with a frame dropping problem - HELP!!!!!

[rgfrost]

Hi

I am trying to capture DV using Pinnacle Express but am suffering with dropped frames.

I've connected the DVcam to my pc using the 1394 firewire connector on my Creative Audigy card and can play without a problem as soon as I hit the capture button......the problem occurs!

System config:-

Epox 8kTA3 mb
Athlon 1.2 processor
768mb ram
Creative Soundblaster Audigy (internal)
Creative Geforce 2 Ultra
Maxtor 60mb UDMA\ATA-66 hard disk (primary master)
Windows 2000 with SP3
Lite-on 48x16x48 cd-writer (secondary master)

I've tried flashing bios, loading lastest 4-in-1 drivers, device drivers etc, disabling applications in system tray, unplugging all usb/serial devices without success....

Any hints/tips will be gratefully received.

cheers

Rob

[Guey]

The main problem could be the transfer rate...I use Studio 7 av but there is no difference when it comes to frame dropping..it is usaully the hard drive transfer rate that is at fault. How big is youre hd ? You need to run the diagnostic program and run a data speed test. If that is not the problem then you need to defrag youre hard drive.

That seems to be a main problem,if youre hd needs defragged you will lose 9 frames to every 1 captured

[cdcox]

also check to see if you have enabled DMA for your HD. This fixed my dropped frame problems and I capture with Studio DV.

[rgfrost]

Guey/cdcox

Thanks, I'll certainly check out the transfer speed and defrag the disk just to be on the safe side. Any recommendation of which diagnostics tool I should use?

However, Windows 2K doesn't appear to allow you to set DMA like you can in Win98/me. I've checked in device manager and it's use "DMA if available" but shows the current mode is PIO (which I have set to the quickest i.e. mode 4 in the bios) but you cannot override and set to DMA

[Executioner]

In your bios, it should be set to auto, which explains why win2k has it at pio mode 4.

[rgfrost]

Hi Executioner,

BIOS was originally set to auto (I changed to mode 4 as this was supposed to be the quickest)....but either way W2K still reports current mode is PIO !!!

Defrag disk as advised and also downloaded diagnostic/benchmarking tool....what sort of HD write speeds should I be looking for? (On one drive I got 1.8MB/s and the other I got 18.2BM/s)

cheers

Rob