New User, Dropped Frames Issue

whmcniven wrote on 2/19/2005, 1:33 PM

I'm brand new to Vegas and to NLE (other than some I-Movie experimentation) and in the course of capturing my first video, I experienced dropped frames. It was only about 7 minutes worth of video in the capture but there were dropped frames nonetheless. Is a separate hard drive really that essential for successful capture in Vegas? If so, what is the recommended brand and type and connection? Any guidance would be much appreciated.

Comments

Spot|DSE wrote on 2/19/2005, 1:43 PM

Couple things to look at, first, how big was your preview window? If it's large, and you have an older/slower/shared resource video card, it's highly likely your card couldn't keep up.
Next, what's running in the background? Antivirus can cause lots of problems if it's running at the same time as you're trying to write files.
Separate hard drive isn't essential, no. It's good, but not critical.
When was your drive last defragged? Defragging before capture can be a good thing too.

Check these two things first. Also, on the VegasFAQ pages on the VASST site, you'll find a huge list of causes of dropped frame issues from myself and John Meyer, www.vasst.com/training/vegasfaq.htm

Liam_Vegas wrote on 2/19/2005, 1:49 PM

Welcome

There can be MANY reasons why you might get dropped frames. The bottom line is - that you should never HAVE to put up with dropped frames - something just needs to be fixed. Finding out what that something IS can be a bit of a problem... but there are a lot of suggestions.

First thing we'll need to know before any real specific help can be given is some specs on your PC. CPU/speed? How much RAM? How much hard disk? How fast is the hard drive? What Firewire card are you ising (is it onboard or PCI card)?

Do a search of this forum for the words "dropped frames" and you will get hundreds of posts about this issue.

The fact there are so many posts does not indicate a failure on the part of Vegas. This is simply an issue of tuning yout PC so that it is optimized for the task you want to perform.

Just to answer your first question. Yes... it is generally better to capture to a dedicated video hard drive. Capturing to the system (or C:) drive is fraught with problems. Not least of which will be how defragmented that drive is (system drives tend to be much more fragmented due to the type of use it gets than dedicated video drives).

As for what type of drives we use for video. I use external hard drives (7200rpm) that are connected to my system using USB2 (although my drives also support Firewire). Depending on who you talk to - some will tell you that you MUST use Firewire as that is more reliable (I have found the opposite to be true... but YMMV).

B.Verlik wrote on 2/19/2005, 6:10 PM

Also, if you could tell us how you're capturing. If you're coming right from a Dig Camcorder via Firewire or USB or if you're using an A/D converter/ Pass-thru camcorder or if you're capturing through a Video card. Or even if you're transfering old VHS tapes. The better the description, the better the response.

DGrob wrote on 2/19/2005, 7:25 PM

THE fundamental article in the Sony Vegas Knowledge Base:

http://www.custcenter.com/cgi-bin/sonypictures.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=306&p_created=989816400&p_sid=mEDM*wyh&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPSZwX3NvcnRfYnk9JnBfZ3JpZHNvcnQ9JnBfcm93X2NudD03MzImcF9wYWdlPTE*&p_li=

Darryl

scifly2 wrote on 2/19/2005, 10:03 PM

that link brings me right back to the top of this same page. ???

DGrob wrote on 2/20/2005, 5:43 AM

Sorry! Just copy and past the address above while I go back and look at clickable links.

Darryl

whmcniven wrote on 2/20/2005, 9:39 AM

Okay, thank you for all the good info. FYI. I performed the capture video a second time and it all worked well. I experienced zero dropped frames on the second go round. The only difference was that I created a new folder specifically for the captured media versus letting it go to the default setting on Vegas.

The camera I used to transfer the media was a Canon Optura hooked up via firewire to the computer. I am using Vegas 5.0. My computer has 2GB of SDRAM (Window XP Pro) and 250GB of hard drive space (Serial ATA Raid 0, Dual.... whatever that means!)

Anyway, my anti-virus program was running each time (so I will disable it for all future video captures). Also, my computer is hooked up via ethernet to a DSL internet connection. I don't know if that would have any effect. Perhaps that too needs to be disabled during capture (?).

The short and long of it is... I agree that an entirely separate hard drive is the best way to go. But for now, I am just trying to learn Vegas 5.0 as fast I can. My hats off to Douglas Spotted Eagle's "Vegas 5.0 (2nd Edition), his DVD series (4.0) and Instant Vegas 5 (co-authored by DSE) all of which I have been jumping back & forth between in my quest to learn Vegas.

Last (for now) in the Options Menu and Preferences, where should I set the Dynamic RAM Preview MAX if I have 1918MB available?

Thank you again, all.

Spot|DSE wrote on 2/20/2005, 9:54 AM

You can set the RAM to where it's most convenient. With 2 gig of RAM, I'd allocate half that to the RAM preview, that leaves you RAM for Photoshop or other tools that eat RAM. Glad you're finding the books useful!

johnmeyer wrote on 2/20/2005, 2:56 PM

Your network connection should not be a problem with capture, unless you have it set so that people can jump in and do things on your computer (file copy can be a problem; instant messenger can be an issue, etc.). However, merely being connected is not in itself a problem with capture.

DGrob wrote on 2/20/2005, 5:32 PM

You are in for one of the most engrossing and enjoyable episodes ever, and this forum is part of that experience. Enjoy! Darryl