Are the black empty frames inherent of capturing as an MPG? Am I tied to capturing as an MPG using USB? Is there any way to capture as an avi using USB as Enhanced USB 2.0 is supposed to be as fast as FireWire?

Thanks for your input!

Black frames aren't inherent to the MPEG format. Let's say rather that the structure of the MPEG format lends itself to problems more readily when the MPEG encoder is poorly written (if you can see the difference). MPEG files created by a good encoder will work well in Vegas, although editing them will be a very slow task. I would guess that the software that came with your camcorder probably includes a very poorly written encoder.

Yes, it is physically possible to capture DV .avi through USB 2.0. However, everyone does it with firewire because all the good cameras and capture software are created to work with firewire, and all the good cameras and capture software are created to work with firewire because everyone uses firewire for DV .avi captures. There just isn't enough interest and practically no need for USB for this task, so no one invests the time or money to make it work. You can get a firewire card for your computer and a 4pin to 6pin firewire cable for probably less than $30 total. Just go for it and you'll be much happier.

Thanks for your time and input. I will go the FireWire route as this is quite frustrating!

Rick

YOu will be very happy with firewire capture, and the cards are not that expensive. I only paid about $20 each for my two and they have worked great will all of my software.

Dave T2

Your video stream is shorter than the audio stream. Set ruler format (Options menu) to NTSC non drop frame (or samples) and single click on the file in the explorer window. You'll notice that the times listed on the bottom of the explorer window aren't the same. Can also be seen on the timeline if you horz. zoom into it. Firewire captures can also have this problem. Sony/Sofo have never explained why this happens or if they can fix it. BTW, it also happens with DVCAM which has locked audio.
Simple fix is to trim the tails on files/events.

Craig H.

Do I need to trim the audio track in an external editing program by actually shortening it? Or can I just slip-trim the audio event?

Craig,

A question came to me...

When I place an mpg file on the timeline, the audio is grouped with the video. The damage is already done to the video. How will trimming the audio fix the added video frames?

Are the blank/black frames at the end of the mpeg clip only ? I assumed that was the case, but not sure after re-reading your original post.

Craig H.