I cleared out my D drive, so now I have about 5.5GB of space. I'm realizing this is only enough space for like 20 minutes, huh... well, that blows, but what can you do? I have a notebook.

so what about the dropped frames? I dropped about 25,000 in 20 minutes of capture. That's a lot. Something is wrong. Do you know what it is?

As Grazie says you'll need lots of hd space for dv, as 1 hr on tape is equal (PAL) to approx 10gb hd space, plus on top of that there's extra space needed for editing and rendering.
Dropped frames is usually due to non-vital b/ground progs being on, especially anti virus.

yeah, but.... oh wait, antivirus? hmmmm, ok. but I have closed all programs, using ctrl/alt/delete, and I still got a ton of dropped frames. what else can I do?

Laz - A single HD thrashing about - IMHO - can indeed induce DV flow=capture problems. Ana says her (?) "D drive" is . . . .... this suggest to me a partioned HD. Ugh! - A system drive playing to itself a capture session .. not nice. Theoretically yes - let's see what others say -yeah?

Ana - 25k droppsies aint good - guess you realise that to. My setup is a notebook. I use a Maxtor firewire PCMCIA card to give me access to my external firewire cards - as I said I've got 4xMaxtor external firewire drives purring away. Ext f/w drives are real cheap now! - BTW - What pc laptop you got?

Give us some more details please? Your hd size? Partitioned? Size of your virtual drive - what Windows uses to thrash about with. Have you defragged latley? . . . Even so, I'll bet a pound to a penny it's gotta be real estate.

It's gonna be a budget call VERSUS doing something easy. Yeah, you might not 2need" all the real estate I have, but having at least one external 120gb will allow you to break free.

Keep us informed,

Grazie

I have a Sony Vaio notebook computer with 2 built-in HDs: a C drive and a D drive. The D drive is where I do everything Video Factory. Yes, Vaio has a firewire.

So, I can get an external drive that I can hook up to my firewire? And this will stop VF from dropping so many frames? are you sure, grazie? Are you sure it's a space issue and not something else?

ana

It is quite possible that your hard drives are too slow. Some laptops ship with a 4x00 RPM drives. As Grazie pointed out, you can get a faster external drive for video capture if you have a Firewire (aka iLink, aka IEEE-1394a) output

Is it possible to post the model number of your VAIO so I can check the specs out?

sure, The model number is VCG-630. There's some oter number on the back of the computer, but that's the # in the manual. Why are there always 2 model numbers for Sony products. this I will never know...

Ana - you appear good to go! - Have you defragged lately? How big is your D hd? You really wanna have 7200. If your C and D maybe 5400rpm - this could give problems. Is your Vaio spec for film editing? I know some Vaios are setup for this.

AH -yes! What cammy are you using to capture from? Maybe a cammy Sony driver conflict? Check out SoFO site for known cammy setup issues. What card are you using to capture?

There maybe other things now we could investigate, before you splash out on externals. Is the D drive detachable? Do you know there is enough "speed" allowing you to capture to it? - You could do a test and capture to your C drive - yes I know, I know it sounds like a contradiction to what we have said before - but, I wanna see if you can get at least a good capture to the system drive - try about 1mins worth - you got enough space for that? IMHO, you've gotta a bottle neck happenning - we don't know where yet - yeah? Give us some more details OR email SoFo tech for help - be very clear about your spec, lay it all on the line. Today is Friday - in the UK here it is coming to the end of the business day. So in US you may not get an answer until next week.

Laz - "4x00 RPM drives" typo? Meaning . . . ?

grazie

I don't really understand anything you said, Grazie, but thatnks for the help. I can capture about 2-3 minutes with no dropped frames, but after that, frames start dropping.

the computer came with a ton of video software, so I'm guessing it's set up to do video stuff.

Can't see the VCG-630 on the Sony Site? - can't get the spec?

Grazie

Sorry about my techie stuff - me bad!

I would suggest you email SoFO tech and get some assistance right away. 25k drop frames is far too much - no, it's worse than that. BUMMER!!!

Keep us informed - please,

Grazie

I'll try to get their help, but they've been less than helpful. I'm not sure they know anymore than I do- than EVEN I do.

Actually it was me who said 4x00 RPM.

No typo, just replace the x with a number between 0 and 9.

My apologies DD & Laz. Me bad! - Too long at the laptop today..... Never seen that as a shorthand - will use in future.

Grazie

I checked DMA, and the box is checked so I'm assuming that means it's enabled.

I defragmented my D drive, which is where I do all the capturing and editing.

Sonic Foundry won't email me back anymore because I pissed them off.

I closed all background programs.

I still drop so many frames. Can someone please offer me another solution? Do you think I need an external 120 GB drive?

Ana - I'd get some further tech support, prior to purchasing an external drive. If you've contacted SoFo, try again.

Please list your ALL camera to pc capture process. Don't leave anything out:

Camera - Make & Model
PC - Make & Model
Capture Port - Make and Model

v
v
v
v

yeah? Get the picture? - Sorry you don't, do you ;-)

You really need to have your setup physically "crawled" over by a knowledgable and patient video/pc individual. Doing it here, via a forum, might not cut-it for you and where you are with your particular PC & Video learning curve - yeah?

Don't forget we are attempting to do one of the most pc demanding processes - capturing streaming data AND from an external device VIA a cable!!!

IMHO - If I was you, I would seriously consider getting a tailor made PC box, meant for the type of work we do here - yeah? This would ensure you might get the type of hardware and software support you also need.

I see you've posted on the VEGAS site too - this is good! You could read some of the "other" posts there and see the "level" of techie understanding is required to start to "inside" the box. I'm no techie - I'm in awe of some of the people on this forums, their knowledge is simply amazing . . . .

Yeah, spend time experimenting - that's a good thing! I don't see spending money at the moment - bigger/faster drives - will cut it for you. I still don't know from you the speed of your exsisting drives - if you've mentioned it above - apologies. I'd be concerned you getting a miss-matched speed external with your exsisting drives - yeah?

Ana - please take on board my concern I have that you don't - potentially - throw good money after bad.

Grazie

Ana, please click on "Help" select "About Video Factory", the "General" tab will give you the VF version number and Build number, who it is licensed to etc etc and report back here - yeah?

How old is the laptop you are using? You've said the OS is WInME - I'm interested to ascertain if you got it "new" and that you've been the only one using it - meaning that you have been the one installing and operating it. Somebody else may have "vanished" some important elements.

Ana - there's a lot to do yet - way before considering getting external firewire drives!! It will depend how pc "aware" you are to be able to rectify what is going on. I've made some major, MAJOR goofs on my Dell laptop - but I've had time and the where with all to correct it - mostly! I also had more hair than I do now ;-)

Oh, have you done a search on this and other forums on "dropped frames" and "capture" probelms? Thios might be a worthwhile piece of research . . it wont do any harm!

Grazie

Ana - also wanted to point out, - odds are good you only have one internal drive that is partioned into 2 parts (C and D). I have a Sony I know that is the case with mine and many others that I have seen.

Hiyah ZD!

Ana says,"I have a Sony Vaio notebook computer with 2 built-in HDs: a C drive and a D drive. The D drive is where I do everything Video Factory. Yes, Vaio has a firewire"

Now do you think Ana has EITHER 2 physical drives OR 2 partitioned drives on one drive? If it is the latter, then Ana's comprehension needs to be boosted a bit - yeah?

We're still waiting for some similar basic info from her.

Regards,

Grazie

Anna, are you sure you have actually dropped frames, as VF sometimes tells porky pies (lies) about frame drops.

My Compaq laptop has one drive, partitioned to a C: and a D: drive. I think that is quite typical. Quite likely that is Ana's case also, and if so this one drive is doing everything and runs out of time. Maybe she could borrow someone's external firewire drive and try it. That may be the key to success. Just my 2 cents.

Gus - Excellent Idea!!!

Grazie