See the site below with regards to 'dropped frames'. You shouldn't be getting any with the rig you have.

http://www.dvdoctor.net/cgi-bin/ubb/Forum3/HTML/000024.html

JTH

With a fast system like yours, you should actually be able to do many other things on your computer and not drop frames. If you are doing nothing else on your computer, you should never drop frames.

DMA is certainly the first thing to check. It is the most likely cause. Right click on "My Computer," click on "Properties," click on the "Hardware" tab, and then click on "Device Manager."

Double click on "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers." Then, double-click on "Primary IDE Channel." Click on the "Advanced Settings" tab. Under "Transfer Mode" you should see "DMA if available" for Device 0. If you have a second hard disk, you should see the same for Device 1. Repeat this for the "Secondary IDE Channel"

Background processes are the second most likely culprit. See my answer a few days ago here:

http://www.sonicfoundry.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=4&MessageID=201585

for more information.

Ok I setup the DMA as you said, as the transfer mode (if available) but it lists the current transfer mode as PIO. What does this mean?

I also tried disabling everything at msconfig and restarting but the frames are still dropping like flies.

I appreciate your responses is there anything else you can suggest.

Thanls again

Marty

If the current mode is "PIO" - that means you will get dropped frames like crazy. You MUST install the proper drivers to get DMA activated.

I had this problem on a laptop running Win2K (DMA wouldn't activate). In the end, I had to use WinXP to get DMA working.

I am using XP Pro should it automatically be available ?

Marty

"Should" be. Sounds like you need an updated driver.

I had this problem also. In my case there was a conflict between what the preferance setting had as the default HDD and where I wanted it to go. I found that if I chose drive "C" to be the capture device it was fine. My dedicated video HDD (D) when selected would drop frames like crazy.
I ended up selecting DMA on drive D, then going back to PIO and finally going back to DMA before it would stay on DMA. I use Win2K.
You may want to "test" your system by capturing to your old HDD and see if it works okay. If it does work okay try going back and forth from PIO to DMA on your second HDD. Good luck....

You might want to make sure you have the latest chipset drivers for your motherboard (don’t know if you built your own machine or not) and try and install the Intel Application Accelerator if your motherboard supports it. This is the latest Ultra ATA Controller support and changed my Zip Drive PIO to DMA for me. I even got a performance improvement on my existing DMA drives.

Also, when you installed the hard drive, did you use the installation utility that came with it? Any hard drive greater than 160GB needs some extra support files. (My largest drive is only 120GB but I remember seeing this option when I got my new drive)

~jr

Hey, thanks for that W2K tip. Since re-arranging my HDDs and devices I couldn't find a way of enabling DMA on Primary Master - now I have.

cheers

I have no option for DMA on my hardrives only P10 available.
Is this what I need?

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&familyid=fb03c226-25e0-4936-8764-36e87876962b

That depends, does your computer uses the VIA Technologies VT82C686B chipset and an Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) hard disk and does your IDE supports the Ultra DMA Mode 6 transfer mode? If not, then that fix is not for you.

I hate to ask but did you set the jumpers correctly for the drive? When I installed my new WD 120GB drive, I set it for slave assuming the drive that was in my PC was set for master. What I didn’t know was that the drive that was already in my machine was set for “cable select” and I had all sorts of problems until I set the existing drive to master mode. I guess I could have set the new drive to cable select as well but the point is, don’t assume. Check!

Also, did you run the disk utility that came with your drive to install it? (or did you just plug it in?) Do you have an Intel motherboard and did you get the latest chipset drivers from Intel? Do you have the latest BIOS for your computer?

~jr

FWIW, just general info in case it helps anyone as Maverick has the prob solved...

Getting DMA turned on can be a bit of a prob sometimes with any version of windows. Often it's a matter of try and try again, & it can help (is almost mandatory with XP) to remove the IDE drive controller in Device Manager and let windows reinstall it. If the prob is really sticky, you might have to install a different driver for the IDE controller, then reinstall the correct one, usually after a reboot. Win XP adds a twist: if it detects what it thinks are prob with the drive using UDMA, it will black list the drive in the registry, and will *try* to defy all your efforts to enable UDMA.

Note that other drives on the same IDE channel can effect UDMA performance and selection of UDMA in Device manager.

In a worst case situation, in XP Pro SP1, per drive settings are stored under this key:[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} ... back up first by at least setting a restore point.

Thanks for the link to the Intel chipset drivers. I loaded them and captured 20 mins without a dropped frame. The only thing is I don't know what I've got running now, PIO or DMA as my advanced settings tab has disappeared in the 2nd hardrive properties.

Nevermind. It works.
I'll worry about it later.
Thanks to all

Marty