Dropping Video Frames

[quincy]

I've recently bought a video camera, a Canon mini dv. The videos I have taken playback nice and smooth in the camera and hooked directly to a TV. When I connect to my computer and acquire the video through windows movie maker, I am dropping frames. The computer is 2.7 GHz with 756 Megs of RAM and 64 megs of video ram and I'm acquiring through a firewire port.

Any thoughts about what I can do to improve my transfer?

Doug

[Grandpa]

More POWER!!! More RAM is always better. Have you tested your transfer rate... Your camera is playing back at 30 frames per second. Make sure your hard drive can write more than you are sending it. There should be some software to test your drive, try cnet.com or newtek.com.

[quincy]

More POWER!!! More RAM is always better. Have you tested your transfer rate... Your camera is playing back at 30 frames per second. Make sure your hard drive can write more than you are sending it. There should be some software to test your drive, try cnet.com or newtek.com.

Good idea. I do have a utility from a program called Virtual Dub that tests writing rate.

[grd750]

More POWER!!! More RAM is always better. Have you tested your transfer rate... Your camera is playing back at 30 frames per second. Make sure your hard drive can write more than you are sending it. There should be some software to test your drive, try cnet.com or newtek.com.

Good idea. I do have a utility from a program called Virtual Dub that tests writing rate.

A second fast hard drive used only for video capture.

Also try these links

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertz...wsxp.moviemaker

http://www.papajohn.org/

[EBGB]

A second hardrive on a different controller channel is even better.

Also, make sure that nothing else is taking up processor time while you're capturing. Data comes off that fireware cable pretty fast. Your processor has to move it to the hard drive, and the hardrive has to get it written as fast as it comes in. If, say, and anti-virus program decides to read or write from the disk, the head has to move to another location, do it's job there, then go back to writing your video. If it gets behind, and can't get caught back up, it will drop frames.

So close everything else down. Check the "tray" for anything that might be making your computer work. Then it Ctrl-Alt-Delete. When the task manager pops up, check that the "Applications" tab is pretty much clear. Then check the "Processes" tab. There'll be lots of stuff in there, much of which need to be running for your computer to run.

If you click on the column header labeled "CPU Time" (twice, to show it sorted in descending order), it will show you what programs have been using up processor time. "System Idle Process" should be at the top - it shows the time when your computer isn't doing anything.

If there are other programs near the top, you can think about identifying them and shutting them down while you're capturing. Don't use the "End Process" button unless you know what the process is, and know you can do with out it.

[quincy]

Good suggestions. A second hard drive and more RAM. More money

Doug

[John F]

Good suggestions. A second hard drive and more RAM. More money <sigh>

Doug

Had the same problem of dropping almost 50% of the frames. Upgraded to a new computer with1.78 ghz and 2 gb of Ram. This did the trick. I am using Windows Movie Maker and all is working well.