I use Studio 10 Plus, I have a Sony Mini DV, and I had no problems for a few years capturing, so I can't blame it on my system...it hasn't changed.  Now when I play back on Windows Media Player to check and see if it captured alright, it plays fine until somewhere around the 20 minute mark when the audio goes silent and an error message pops up talking about a possible codec problem.  I thought it might be the FAT32 vs. NFTS, but I don't know how to check the current status (and I'm not a strong PC user so Google didn't help me here).  I have reformatted since I captured some time ago, so this might be the problem, but why would Studio drop 7 frames in the first 4 minutes on a DV capture, but drop 0 frames on the highest MPEG capture of a one hour Mini DV tape?  Doesn't make sense.  I'm dropping about 60 frames when trying to DV capture the first 30 minutes (first half) of a tape.

I've read about defragmenting (done it), stop the background running programs (done it), don't do other tasks while capturing (done it).  I've seen people write about codecs, etc., but why should that be a problem now when I've captured dozens of videos before without problems.  Usually, all my problems come with editing and writing to DVD's so this is new for me.  I have unistalled/reinstalled twice.

I did search this forum and use Google, and I didn't find any answers specific to my problem and apologize in advance if this has been covered and I didn't find it.

But I really need some help here.  I've spent a lot of times searching on my own and trying different things.

 Also, just wanted to throw out a question of what's better: DV or MPEG capture?  I mostly just film my daughters for memories/fun.  A one hour DV takes up 13GB on my computer, but a one hour MPEG capture at the highest quality doesn't even take up 3GB.  You guys like Mini DV tapes or Mini DVD?  Just curious.  There are some really smart people on here.

Welcome to the forum.

To check for NTFS file system, click on 'my computer', right click on the hard disk you wish to check, then click on 'properties'. The first tab will tell you what the drive is.

As far as DV vs MPEG, unless you really have a problem with disk space, capture in DV. The files are larger, but the capture and editing is much more efficient. If you have 'capture preview' turned on, turn that off to save processor time. There might also be some other programs running taking up proc time.

Someone else may have more ideas.

Don

cuartetto:

To check for NTFS file system, click on 'my computer', right click on the hard disk you wish to check, then click on 'properties'. The first tab will tell you what the drive is.

 How I missed that I'll never know.  I'll check it when I get home to see what the setting is.  I googled on how to check and people were talking about all sorts of code.  Strange.  Thank you very much for replying. 

Please post back with your results or additional questions.

Don

Also, If you have S10, you can test the Data Rate of your Hard Drive: Setup / Capture Source / Test Data Rate & whether or not your Capture Drive has slipped from DMA to PIO Mode. 2 things to look at.

Do this before  Capturing: Go to: Start / My Computer / Right-Click on Capture Drive Icon / Properties / Tools / Error Checking / Check Now & do both Error Checks sequentially, in following "Pop-Up". You should be doing both of those on a regular basis anyway, to keep both your Hard Drive & Windows "Sweet".

Thanks, colour.  I'm running the error check now.  It's taking FOREVER on "phase 4", so I'll probably just let it go overnight and check in the morning. 

I was aware of the test of Data Rate of my hard drive and after doing some of the error checking I got a message saying

Read: 3150 Kbyte/sec, Write: 39268 Kbyte/sec, Drive G: is not capable of capturing DV data. G:/ is my second hard drive

I checked C: and it said Read 58014 Kbyte/sec, Write 62915 Kbyte/sec, Drive C: is capable of capturing DV data.  That used to be the message I got for G: too. 

DMA and PIO Mode?  The test deal didn't mention either. After using google I went to Device Manager, IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers, Primary IDE Channel, Advanced Settings, and "Device 0" was set to "PIO only" and "Device 1" was set to "DMA if available".  Should Device 0 be "DMA if available also?  What is Device 0 and Device 1?  For Device 0 it says Current Transfer Mode PIO even when I select DMA if available.

Thanks again.  Why do computers have to be this complicated? :(

scoahayn:

Why do computers have to be this complicated? :(

Only windows is this complicated, Microsoft claims it gives flexibility, but other flexible OS are much better organize. There just no money to be made in organization or security.

ghuck:

scoahayn:

Why do computers have to be this complicated? :(

Only windows is this complicated, Microsoft claims it gives flexibility, but other flexible OS are much better organize. There just no money to be made in organization or security.

Nicely put Ghuck. Very clever.

Read: 3150 Kbyte/sec, Write: 39268 Kbyte/sec, Drive G: is not capable of capturing DV data. G:/ is my second hard drive

I checked C: and it said Read 58014 Kbyte/sec, Write 62915 Kbyte/sec, Drive C: is capable of capturing DV data.  That used to be the message I got for G: too.

It may be that Drive G has slipped into PIO MODE. However: 

"Device 0" was set to "PIO only" and "Device 1" was set to "DMA if available".  Should Device 0 be "DMA if available also?  What is Device 0 and Device 1?  For Device 0 it says Current Transfer Mode PIO even when I select DMA if available.

I'm no Expert re: that. I'm surprised neither Gerry or Marc P have answered that one. However: Drive 0 should be your C: Drive & Drive 1, internal Drive D:? Go to: Start / Right-Click on "My Computer" / Manage / Disk Management, where you will see which Drives are Disk 0 & 1.

If you are Capturing to Disk 0 & that's slipped into PIO MODE, changing it to DMA MODE, might fix your Capture prob.

For Device 0 it says Current Transfer Mode PIO even when I select DMA if available

There's a correct procedure for doing this (probably just Re-Booting), however I can never remeber, without checking it out. I'll Post-Back as an added item, in this Post.

ADDED - Have a look at THIS , although there's a simpler Post by me & others, buried in the Forums. A Search might bring them up. But try this anyway:

1) Change to DMA / OK / Reboot. If still PIO:

2) Change to DMA & Back to PIO again / OK / Reboot:

3) Change to DMA again / OK / Reboot.

Toggling between the 2  as above, might fix it.

 

In the meantime, anyone-else? - Jeff / Bittmann? 

Thanks for pointing that out. I missed that one. I agree with your suggestions, Colour. This could fix the capture problem.

Drive G:/ (Device 1) is in Ultra DMA mode 2 (is that good or bad?), I performed the error checking, and I did the Studio 10 test saying that it was okay to capture in DV format and it's still dropping the same amount of frames.

Drive G:/ (Device 1) is in Ultra DMA mode 2 (is that good or bad?),

Good.

I did the Studio 10 test saying that it was okay to capture in DV format

You previously Posted that Drive G failed S10 Data Rate test & that Drive C: passed, which had slipped into PIO Mode. So now I'm confused Have you got that back to Ultra DMA, as per my Post HERE ?

I'm assuming that you have a Laptop & you are Capturing to an External Hard Drive G?

it's still dropping the same amount of frames.

You now need to Post your PC's Hardware Specs, for further consideration. How to, in THIS   Post.

In the meantime, go to: Studio Setup / Capture Source & untick Capture Preview, to conserve System Resources. See if that helps.

ADDED - If S10 Data Rate Test for Drive G is now ok, it looks as though the Disk Check to detect Bad Sectors & repair them has detected some & repaired them..

Dell Dimension Desktop 8400, OS: XP Prof, Processor: Intel Pentium 4 3.40GHz, Memory: 1022MB RAM,

Display: RADEON X300 Series, Aprox. Total Memory: 128.0MB, Current Display Mode: 1280 x 1024 (32 bit)(60Hz)

 

G:/ had failed.  I ran the error-checking, but then it passed and I posted the figures.  Sorry for the confusion.  G:/ is an external hard drive I purchased for videos, BUT the POS Western Digital casing failed, my computer buddy (who is not into videos) tore the casing up and then I put it in my computer in an empty bay and it works fine.  I used to capture to this drive all the time when it was in the casing.

I'm scared to mess with regristry edit, BUT I think I'm going to go for it tomorrow anyway.  Maybe getting my C: out of PIO mode and capturing to it is the answer.  I have a laptop that is only a year old, but I don't have fire wire on it.

I did try the capture preview before. I'd seen that posted on this forum and other places.

Again, thanks for all the help and I will post back once I've tried to get the C: drive out of PIO mode.

Maybe getting my C: out of PIO mode and capturing to it is the answer.

I think that's your best bet. Do the same Error Checks on C: Drive (If you haven't already done-so). It may be that attempting to & Repairing any  Bad Sectors, will Reboot into UDMA Mode. It may be that the Disk is on the way-out. Disks slip into PIO Mode after several CRC Error checks, presumably to protect your Data. 

IMO, you should considetr getting a new & therefore reliable External HDD & Back-Up Drive C: to that ASAP, using a Back-Up Prog such as Acronis TrueImage. 

BTW - Apart from the monkeying-around with your External Drive, some older External Drives come Formatted to FAT32, which has a single File size limit of 4GB. You need to Re-Format to NTFS, which doesn't. If you're Capturing over 4GB to FAT32, maybe that's the cause of your prob.

RADEON X300 Series

IMO, Studio will struggle with Editing & Rendering with that card. Eventially you're going to have to upgrade to a better Card. I have an X600 PRO 256MB PCI-e Card, which functions Ok with S10.7 & S12 Ultimate. However Idon't use the 3 S12U Plugins & would need a 500MB Card for VitaScene, at least. S10 & 11 can only use DX9 Cards. S12 can use DX9 & 10. X300 & X600 are DX9. 

Good luck 

Again, I cannot thank everyone enough for all the help.  Colour, I don't have firewire on my laptop, which is the newer computer (1 year old).  It is awesome compared to that desktop bought in 2003.  What would it take to use my laptop?  Do you have to purchase a laptop with that firewire card?  I can't imagine being able to put one in.  Silly question I know.  If I could use the laptop I wouldn't worry about the desktop, which we rarely use anyway.  Laptop is Toshiba.

 

UPDATE:  would something like this help me?  http://www.usbgear.com/Firewire_PCMCIA_cardbus/  If $30 would stop this insanity I will gladly lay it down! :)

Niether of my drives are set up on FAT32.  Actually, my G:/ (External) was FAT32 when I bought it and I reformatted it.  And the current C:/ is a replacement to the original hard drive that came with the desktop, so I hope it's not going out again.  I do back up though.

UPDATE:  would something like this help me?  http://www.usbgear.com/Firewire_PCMCIA_cardbus/  If $30 would stop this insanity I will gladly lay it down! :)

Nice find. However, since I have neither a Notebook or Laptop & know zilch about their "innards", I wouldn't know. Presumably you would need to have a PCMCIA Cardbus on your laptop, if you haven't, then you wouldn't be able to use an External Firewire Card, assuming that there is one for Laptops.

Whether or not your Laptop has a spare PCI slot, I also wouldn't know. If it has, fitting a Generic Firewire Card should be a simple task.

However your Laptop probably has Integrated Video & no AGP or PCIe slot for a separate Video card, which you would need for S10.

Your best bet IMO, is to get C: Drive into UDMA anyway & as per my Post.

You could try Capturing with Windows Moviemaker & or AMCap (Start / All Progs / Studio 10 / Tools / AM Capture &/or Splitting your capture into smaller segments. 

BTW - If you have XP, best Version of S10 is S10.7. If you have an earlier Version, Update to that. 

colour:

However your Laptop probably has Integrated Video & no AGP or PCIe slot for a separate Video card, which you would need for S10.

Thought I'd post the specs for the LAPTOP display.

ATI Radeon X1200 (ATI Radeon Graphics Processor (0x791F)

DAC Type: Internal DAC(400MHz)

Is that graphics card good enough?  I'll still try the C:/ PIO deal, but I didn't have time tonight.

I did use regedit per your post and get the C:/ Drive back to DMA from PIO.  Fewer frames were dropped.  I tried to capture half of a tape and it recorded 9 minutes and quit, which has never happened before.  I'll try again.  I wonder if reinstalling windows would do any good.  A buddy of mine used to just back up his data, wipe his hard drive clean and start over when something was bugging him.  I've done it before...might have to try again.  I'll update when I try to capture this again.

I did use regedit per your post and get the C:/ Drive back to DMA from PIO

.

You could try Capturing with Windows Moviemaker & or AMCap (Start / All Progs / Studio 10 / Tools / AM Capture &/or Splitting your capture into smaller segments

.Have you tried those yet? 

AMCap did not work.  Windows Moviemaker crashed.  Man, I'm buying a Mac next time...just to switch things up. :)

 Breaking the files into 10 or 15 minute segments worked, but frames were still dropped.  Didn't appear to be anything missing from the files when I played them in Windows Media player and it ran fine from start to finish, but still said frames dropped.

 I've almost read my Studio 10 manual (I did update to 10.7).  It said that that networks screw with capturing/rendering.  I have my laptop and my PC networked together.  Any thoughts here?  I just read this, so I haven't searched the forum for this.  I may have been shooting myself the whole time, or this may be nothing.

How about trying a clean boot?

I'll try the clean boot.  Thanks for providing that term so that I could google it. Makes sense with me having the network and everything.

I got a PCI card for my laptop, then later saw that I have firewire (4 pin) on the side of my laptop (I told you guys I wasn't that great with computers :( 

After searching message boards, a guy swears that if you use a 6 pin /4 pin firewire, you will most likely have problems because the Sony manuals (and SOME other manuals) say use only 4 pin /4 pin.  The guy said he knows it sounds silly and shouldn't matter, but he had two computers, two different operating systems, and the 4 pin / 4 pin cable solved his problem.  Strange.

So, I'm going to try a 4 pin / 4 pin firewire cable on my laptop and see if it works.  On my desktop I'll try the clean boot.  The firewire card I bought for $99 (I think) 4 years ago has 6 pin.

So that's where I am now.  We just had our toughest time of the year here at work, so I had to abandon the camera issues for a while.

I'll let you guys know how it goes, and again, appreciate all of your comments.  There are some really kind people on here.

ATI Radeon X1200 (ATI Radeon Graphics Processor (0x791F

Hmmmm........Well, since that GPU is integrated within your Motherboard, irrespective of whatever-else you try, IMO, you're still going to be limited by the fact that S10 requires a separate GPU not integrated within your Motherboard.

4/4 or 6/4 pin?? I'm not sure how that would make a world of a difference. IMO it should work the same, unless its a funky cable that you're dealing with.

4/4 vs 6/4, doesn't make sense to me, but then again udma ide cables have twice as many wires as standard and work better even though none of the extras are hooked up.

dma and pio, have seen that on other forums, and was always suggested to just reset it, because windoze can report it as dma even though it was in pio.  And of course they never solved the problem of why it kept reverting to pio

It was neccessary on my first P4 to go daul boot so pinn8 would have a clean machine to operate in( don't share your video machine with the family!!!!!!!!!). Otherwise it dropped excessive frames (30%)