Comments

stepfour wrote on 12/4/2002, 10:12 PM
Install VV3 on whichever drive you don't intend to store your captures on, which would probably be your 10GB drive. Start calling that one your "system drive" and keep your OS and anything like VV3, your DVD software, etc. on it. You will then need to go into VV3 and designate your big (video drive) for your captures. Oh, and yes it does matter a whole lot.
Sab wrote on 12/4/2002, 11:03 PM
I might add that for my systems at least, all rendered files MUST go to the system or C: drive and all music must reside there. My capture drives are all removable and are configured as slaves. I'm not sure if this is common between all systems but that's the only way I could get everything working properly without dropped frames on output.

I also occasionally use a firewire hard drive. I never get the dreaded "cannot mix audio" message as long as any external audio such as music beds or voiceovers and all rendered files stay on the system drive.
swarrine wrote on 12/4/2002, 11:33 PM
In the configuration you have, I would use the 10 gig as your operating drive (primary master). VV3 would reside there.

I would configure your 120 gig as a secondary master for video files, etc. and the CD/DVD drive as secondary slave.

You will probably hear all kinds of configurations and what is right or wrong, so ultimately you need to experiment/decide for yourself.
stepfour wrote on 12/4/2002, 11:56 PM
If you are able to avoid the master-slave set and put the system drive on IDE1 and video drive on IDE2 video work and capturing should run smoother. Maybe you could slave your CD drive(s) on the HDD you put on IDE2. Mainly, having the two HDD's on seperate channels is a good idea. You could also get an inexpensive HD controller and seperate things even further. Some will say that I'm living in the past and that todays fast processors don't need all that seperation of drives.
snovosel wrote on 12/5/2002, 3:54 PM
Ok, I guess the consensus is that VV3 should go on the primary drive. I'm too new to VV3 to understand how separation of audio files from video capture (having those files reside on independent drives) will affect overall performance.

One thing I did notice out of the box was that the audio playback of a simple tutorial was jittery. That was running off of the primary drive. I've got a P3, 450Mhz, 768MB RAM machine. Thought that was ample to handle this software. Should I now upgrade the sound card? I've got an ATi Rage Turbo AGP2X.
craftech wrote on 12/5/2002, 6:07 PM
If your computer is a do-all computer, that may be causing the problems. Too many programs running in the background, too many codecs, too many programs looking to take over resources. Most of us have a separate computer for video editing. That seems to resolve many problems. Your processor isn't the fastest, but it should do the trick.
Your OS if you are using W98SE should be fine. Your resources can be checked by going to Start/Settings/Control Panel/System/Performance. It should be at least 60% free or better. If not Press Ctrl + Alt + Del to bring up the task manager and close any unnecessary programs or download "EndItAll" which will do it for you.
Get rid of screensavers and wallpaper. The biggest resource hog is often the mouse software. Disable the mouse managing software as well. You don't need it for running VV3.
Finally, ATI video cards are often really buggy. The problem is not with the hardware, it is usually with the drivers. ATI is very slow to update drivers except for their newest Radeon cards. They also have some of the worst tech support in the industry. They managed for years to live off of OEM sales much of that due to their onboard Cinemaster DVD hardware decoders. That is changing, but their attitude hasn't toward the end user. However, it's worth checking to see if you have the latest drivers. You can also try http://www.lightspeed2000.com/ for help with ATI drivers and configurations. Don't be scared off by the black background at the site. They aren't hackers.
Work at it until you can stream video (assuming you have a broadband connection). If not, download avi video files off the internet until WMP or RealPlayer will play the files without dropping frames or audio. Then try VV3 again and it will probably run smoothly.
As far as which drive to put the program on. The 10G for programs on Drive C and the other files on the 120G as Drive D. The temp files on Drive D as well. I assume they are both 7200RPM drives and they are being controlled by either an onboard ATA66 or ATA100 controller or by a controller card. Shouldn't be a problem. You can try downloading and installing Sisoft Sandra Standard:
http://www.sisoftware.co.uk/index.php?dir=&location=sware_dl&lang=en
That will diagnose many problems for you and give you indications of how you are utilizing your Windows resources.
Start with the above and let us know how you make out.
John
Lajko wrote on 12/6/2002, 12:45 AM
I always heard that to get 3 opinions on wine making was to get 2 wine makers in the same room. Seems the same is true with computers.

I found that all rendering and temp files should not be on C: because Windows likes to do its own thing with C: and that slows things down. Puting things on s slave still suffers fromj the access to C: So like suggested, put the new drive on the second IDE controller.

Then, locate the utility "enditall.exe" This will shut down EVERYTHING not necessary and really improves performance. All those useless background tasks are gone. Be sure to un-plug your internet connection as it also shuts down all that protection. When doing video, speed is important. It can double your rendering speed and make the drive issue far less important.

Get a Windows utility that rates the sped of your drives. Knowing the speed of your drives will tell you where to put things to get the fastest rendering.