I've seen this topic mentioned quite often recently and i've even experienced it myself a few times. I decided to try some experiments.
1 - render to AVI, DV NTSC template
2 - connect computer's firewire port to DV camcorder
3 - connect camcorder's analog out to VHS VCR input
4 - connect VCR's output to television for monitoring
5 - blank tapes in both camcorder and VCR
6 - print to tape, enable DV device control, and also have VCR recording at the same time
Sometimes i would experience a few short (approximately .3 to 1.5 second) dropouts on the DV tape. These usually wouldn't start until after 30 minutes or so, and they would occur in different places each time. However, sometimes the tape would print perfectly, and the VHS copy NEVER had dropouts. I also never noticed the dropouts on the television during the printing process.
After printing 4 different projects (each in the 40 to 70 minute range) 4 times each, i came to the conclusion that it was neither Video Factory (or Vegas for that matter) nor my computer that was causing the problems. It appears to be the camera itself that is causing the dropouts. I've noticed similar dropouts once in a while on original tapes recorded in the camcorder too. The next test will be recording large amounts of live footage with the camera and passing the analog out to the VHS VCR. If i get dropouts on the DV tape and not on VHS, that should confirm that it's a problem with the camcorder's writing to tape.
1 - render to AVI, DV NTSC template
2 - connect computer's firewire port to DV camcorder
3 - connect camcorder's analog out to VHS VCR input
4 - connect VCR's output to television for monitoring
5 - blank tapes in both camcorder and VCR
6 - print to tape, enable DV device control, and also have VCR recording at the same time
Sometimes i would experience a few short (approximately .3 to 1.5 second) dropouts on the DV tape. These usually wouldn't start until after 30 minutes or so, and they would occur in different places each time. However, sometimes the tape would print perfectly, and the VHS copy NEVER had dropouts. I also never noticed the dropouts on the television during the printing process.
After printing 4 different projects (each in the 40 to 70 minute range) 4 times each, i came to the conclusion that it was neither Video Factory (or Vegas for that matter) nor my computer that was causing the problems. It appears to be the camera itself that is causing the dropouts. I've noticed similar dropouts once in a while on original tapes recorded in the camcorder too. The next test will be recording large amounts of live footage with the camera and passing the analog out to the VHS VCR. If i get dropouts on the DV tape and not on VHS, that should confirm that it's a problem with the camcorder's writing to tape.