Am away on business travel so will have to try the MPEG thing later.  I have went over ALL the settings in Pinnacle and nothing seems to fix the problem.  I was trying to find a way in VISTA to make the USB capture the highest priority when capturing, but haven't found that yet.

arysrus:

Am away on business travel so will have to try the MPEG thing later.  I have went over ALL the settings in Pinnacle and nothing seems to fix the problem.  I was trying to find a way in VISTA to make the USB capture the highest priority when capturing, but haven't found that yet.

Please give us an update when you get the time.

I have the same problem now.  My first cap was a 55-minute vacation movie (only thing on the tape). 29 dropped frames--all in the first minute--but clear sailing after that.

My second attempt was a series of home movies all on the same tape. About 4.5 hours worth.  First 15 minutes started fine. At around the 15 minute mark, the video went away, but audio was still fine. Thousands of dropped frames in the next few minutes.

I've tried capturing as AVI in best, better, and good presets; same with MPEG1/2. Same issue. Plugged into front USB and back USB ports. Same issue. Started with Vista 32 SP1 machine and switched to XP Pro 32 SP3. Same issue. Uninstalled/reinstalled on Vista machine. Same issue.  The mouse and keyboard are the only other USB devices.

I have not tried AMCap, but will now.

I do not currently have the miniDV option because I got rid of mine years ago. Converter boxes from component-to-firewire are not cheap and neither is buying another miniDV that I will only use for this. I only have about a dozen tapes (maybe 48 hours max) to move to DVD.

I believe this is a Pinnacle issue.  The first 55-minute video capped fine. The first 15-minutes of the next tape capped fine. When I hit 'play' on the VCR, audio and video come across fine in the preview window. I've let it play for 30 minutes without capping to see if that would change and the feed was still fine. But once I start capturing...back to dropped frames and eventually locking up.   

 

My Vista machine:

AMD Phenom 9550 (2.2 GHz)

Asus M3N-HT (nVidia 780a)

4GB Corsair 8500 dual-channel mode

1.5 TB across 2 drives (one O/S, one storage)

XFX GeForce 9800 GTX+ (512MB)

Vista Ultimate 32-bit SP1

The XP machine is almost the same, except it has an Intel Core 2 Duo, a 750i Asus mobo and an XFX 8800.

 

I'd really like to see if there is a fix.

FriendlessNerd:

I have the same problem now.  My first cap was a 55-minute vacation movie (only thing on the tape). 29 dropped frames--all in the first minute--but clear sailing after that.

My second attempt was a series of home movies all on the same tape. About 4.5 hours worth.  First 15 minutes started fine. At around the 15 minute mark, the video went away, but audio was still fine. Thousands of dropped frames in the next few minutes.

I've tried capturing as AVI in best, better, and good presets; same with MPEG1/2. Same issue. Plugged into front USB and back USB ports. Same issue. Started with Vista 32 SP1 machine and switched to XP Pro 32 SP3. Same issue. Uninstalled/reinstalled on Vista machine. Same issue.  The mouse and keyboard are the only other USB devices.

I have not tried AMCap, but will now.

I do not currently have the miniDV option because I got rid of mine years ago. Converter boxes from component-to-firewire are not cheap and neither is buying another miniDV that I will only use for this. I only have about a dozen tapes (maybe 48 hours max) to move to DVD.

I believe this is a Pinnacle issue.  The first 55-minute video capped fine. The first 15-minutes of the next tape capped fine. When I hit 'play' on the VCR, audio and video come across fine in the preview window. I've let it play for 30 minutes without capping to see if that would change and the feed was still fine. But once I start capturing...back to dropped frames and eventually locking up.   

 

My Vista machine:

AMD Phenom 9550 (2.2 GHz)

Asus M3N-HT (nVidia 780a)

4GB Corsair 8500 dual-channel mode

1.5 TB across 2 drives (one O/S, one storage)

XFX GeForce 9800 GTX+ (512MB)

Vista Ultimate 32-bit SP1

The XP machine is almost the same, except it has an Intel Core 2 Duo, a 750i Asus mobo and an XFX 8800.

 

I'd really like to see if there is a fix.

Are you able to capture properly the second time with the 1st tape that worked? It could be that the subsequent tapes may need a bit of winding for a more stable capture. Does the capture improve on the next reboot?

Have spent the weekend trying to update my video drivers and tried MPEG with same results.  I have noticed that the capture\video freezes when the disk access light comes on.  This happens whether capturing or just viewing the video.  Tried to make Studio 'Top Priority' in task manager, but that didn't work either.  I still think there may be an issue with the USB device possibly.  My old XP system works with the Studio 9.5 and the internal H/W card from Pinnacle.  I guess the next resort would be to getting a Mac as I have heard there is no issue with their video software...even the stuff that comes free on the machine. 

Am disappointed that I can't seem to get any support from Pinnacle on the issue.....  The ususal reinstall drivers is all I get.....Very frustrated.... 

arysrus:

I have noticed that the capture\video freezes when the disk access light comes on.  This happens whether capturing or just viewing the video.

Do you mean the hard drive light? What software do you use to view the video?

Yes it is the hard drive light...the light that Dell puts on the front of your system so you can tell when it is accessing the hard drive.  And I'm using Studio 12 to view the video in the preview window.  I just start the VCR tape and let in play and sooner or later it freezes up in the preview window...  I have tried capturing without preview and the same thing happens, its just that I don't know when it happens until I play back the captured video.  I have tried everything that I can think of and ALL the suggestions you guys have supplied.  It is strange that the AMCAP capture works for the HI-8 (Digital tape) and works for the VCR capture, except that it is at 1/2 or 1/4 speed for the VCR.  It NEVER locks up..... What is the difference with the AMCAP and the Studio capture????

arysrus:

Yes it is the hard drive light...the light that Dell puts on the front of your system so you can tell when it is accessing the hard drive.  And I'm using Studio 12 to view the video in the preview window.  I just start the VCR tape and let in play and sooner or later it freezes up in the preview window...  I have tried capturing without preview and the same thing happens, its just that I don't know when it happens until I play back the captured video.  I have tried everything that I can think of and ALL the suggestions you guys have supplied.  It is strange that the AMCAP capture works for the HI-8 (Digital tape) and works for the VCR capture, except that it is at 1/2 or 1/4 speed for the VCR.  It NEVER locks up..... What is the difference with the AMCAP and the Studio capture????

To answer your question, AFAIK Amcap uses minimal resources as it captures unlike Studio runs several processes. But this shouldn't be a resource issue on your end as you have sufficient specs to do captures. Maybe a software conflict, perhaps you could run a clean boot and attempt to capture again.