i still can't find any button for DMA.. i went to My Computer, right clicked my C: drive and went to properties... None of the tabs have anything about DMA...

I think some of the newer hard drive models are hard-wired for DMA. As we get more new computers in fewer of them have a DMA setting available.

Right Click on "My Computer." Select "Properties." Then, click on the Hardware tab, and then on "Device Manager." Expand the "IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers" branch. Double-click on the "Primary IDE Channel" (unless your drive is connected to the secondary drive, in which case you double-click on that). On the "Advanced Settings" tab you will find the setting you are looking for. Also, the current mode will be displayed. What you DON'T want is PIO Mode. If you have any form of DMA, you will be fine.

If you have an Intel motherboard, especially one from Dell, you may need to check/change DMA settings by using a utility that comes with the Dell. If this utility is installed, you will find that you cannot set DMA using the above procedure, and that you must use the utility. I can't remember its name, but if you search on my name in this forum and use Intel as the search word, I think you'll find it.

Was XP installed over everything? I've heard that this causes problems but don't have any experience directly.

See last entry on your original post about 1394 by (johnmeyer)

It says, "DMA if available" Im not sure where my motherboard is from but i have an alienware computer. I selected DMA if available and tried capturing again and still no success.

http://www.custcenter.com/cgi-bin/sonypictures.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=306&p_created=989816400&p_sid=OgBmf8hh&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPSZwX3NvcnRfYnk9JnBfZ3JpZHNvcnQ9JnBfcm93X2NudD02NzMmcF9wYWdlPTE*&p_li=


In case you didn't see the other one I left on your original thread. Check above for info.