Dropped Frames, wrong capture card?

golferchris wrote on 9/14/2002, 3:41 PM
I have a Toshiba Satellite 2805 s402 laptop with a built-in Firewire card that I am using with my Sony Camcorder to get video. I am using the LE version of Vegas Video and have just started trying it out, but am getting dropped frames in my initial import to my harddrive. Any suggestions as to what is causing the problems? I'm a novice with this, but had used Pinnacle's Studio 7 & before and it crashed a lotso someone suggested I try this. I do have a 40 gig Maxtor external drive, but it's only a 5400 rpm, so not sure if I can use it for this.
Thanks...cjm

Comments

tadpole wrote on 9/15/2002, 3:29 AM
Going to need a minimum of 7200 rpm drive + lots of RAM (i say min of 256megs)

Before you go out and buy a faster external HDD, i would consider just getting a new system (desktop) - external drives just can't don't perform as well as internal drives (for videocapture that is)
rextilleon wrote on 9/15/2002, 8:50 AM
I beg to disagree----Your laptop with an external firewire drive doing 7200 rpm should capture flawlessly. Your problem is probably all of some of the following:

1. capturing to the drive that holds your applications et. al--you really do need a dedicated drive to capture video.
2. fragmented drive
3. drive not set to DMA

I use a two year old Thinkpad with a Maxtor external firewire drive and have never dropped a frame during capture.
Tyler.Durden wrote on 9/15/2002, 9:04 AM
Hi Chris,

I agree with rextilleon, yer external should be fine for DV footage, even at 4500rpm. I would check for other apps running, network interrupts and IRQ conflicts.


HTH, MPH
tadpole wrote on 9/16/2002, 1:06 AM
I will also have to disagree with myself -
Seems like everthing i have read always says "should have minimum of 7200 rpms for vid capture"

I myself have a 3000LE USB ext drive (5,400rpm) which i mainly use for backup.
Just fired it and started capturing video no problem -

sorry for the bad advice ;)
+ i just looked up the specs on your laptop - seems laptops have come along way since i last checked!