Dropped Frames problem with Sony TRV18 via Firewire, Help :)

[f13dfx]

I have a Toshiba 3005-s307 Laptop PIII-1.13GHZ w/256MB RAM and dedicated GeForce2Go 16MB Video Card.

I'm using the Firewire Port on my laptop to capture DV directly from my Sony TRV18 camcorder and I am using Ulead's Video Studio 6 as my software.

My capture starts out fine, but then when I get to about 3,000 frames captured, frames start getting DROPPED, around 10 frames for every 500.

At first, I thought it was my Firewire Cable (generic), so I bought Monster Firewire Cable (the best according to local Sony Store), but then I was still getting dropped frames, but not as much.

Somehow or rather, I think that I need to reconfigure something, but I don't know where to start

Can someone explain why this is happening and maybe suggest some steps I can take to improve my situation.

Thanks in advance!

[The village idiot]

There may be several factors involved in your dropped frames. First thing I would try is a more simple capture/transfer application. Try using DVio (lots of links posted in this forum, just do a search, I'm at work and don't have it with me), that will eliminate any CPU overhead problems. No preview, but it the capture that is most important.

The next thing might be the hard drive on your laptop. You may have to get an external hard drive. I would suggest getting one that connects to firewire. It works great with my 266 Mhz Portege notebook. If for some reason those 2 things don't solve your problem, then either your camcoder has a problem, or there is some kind of incompatible chips in play. Since you can get about 3000 frames before problems, I would think that either the capture app is bogging down, or your hard drive is bogging down.

[f13dfx]

the village idiot:

Thanks so much for your suggestions.

DVio is certainly a simple yet awesome product.

I found out that the problem was my Norton AntiVirus. I disabled auto-protect and everything went fine, even in Ulead Video Studio 6.
No dropped frames even using my cheap generic firewire cable, so much for Monster Cable

One question, I think I did find my answer in another post, but is the AVI capture Type 1 better than Type 2, or vice versa. Or is it all a software related thing?

Thanks again!

[The village idiot]

It would seem that type 2 works for most software. Though the better apps can use type 1. If your anti-virus is giving you trouble, you might try the free version from http://www.grisoft.com It works just fine with DVio, and as far as I know, has protected my machine from infections. Norton seems to have lots of problems playing nice with the other apps.