Oh man, PTT probs from external harddrive.

DGrob wrote on 2/9/2003, 4:00 PM
You've seen me before. Just activated a new Maxtor 120GB, 7200rpm drive and Belkin firewire card and wire to my Dell I8200 running XP. Talked to Grazie and read this forum fairly carefully. Retained factory 1394 for DV camcorder in/out and plugged the external into the Belkin. Tested, i.e. capture to external went fine. V3 4-min project rendered to external with no problems. Cannot PTT from timeline or Capture menu. Get a few seconds of feed, then blue screen for a second or two, then a few more seconds of feed (with no loss of video or audio, the blue screen time is inserted into flow) and so on and so on. Pretty sure I've done my "preferences" et all. I have the sneaking suspicion I'm overlooking something pretty basic. Got all the background stuff shut down, got Fangui. Any input appreciated.

Oh, Just went V3 from VF. Been doing just fine rendering and PTT on the one internal 30GB drive. V4 likely, assuming I don't just go back to VF and 30gigs.

Grob

Comments

Grazie wrote on 2/10/2003, 12:54 AM
Hiyah, Grob - ME TOO!!!

You have seen my posts on the last month regarding this issue. Well, when I say this "issue" I can not assume anything anymore! Grob, you have a spanking new I8200 I don't? I have WinME on a 2 year old [nearly] Dell I8k - You have XP home/pro - yes? You will have the latest drivers and BIOS for your machine - yes? We could use this "opportunity" to determine once and for all what is at the bottom of this nonsense.

I've delineated some observations which you might use as a "controlled" experiment in this period to "nail" this sucker. I have placed my findings under a number of paragraphs below, so you could, if you are so inclined, respond to my "efforts" by Numbers - yes? I'm going to print this off so if/when you should get back to me here I can have a hard copy to refer back to - yes?

1 - I asked you "what were your preferred settings in FanGui?" -yes? - That's because I was getting little fan control. And thinking this was still the culprit was attempting to "knock" this out of the equation - yes? I can now get the fan/s to remain on! Still blue screening . . .

2 - Now I've fan control back, but for some reason, in all my NLEs, I have reverted to getting this darn momentary blue screen . .. AAARrrrgghhh . . .

3 - I can see the external hard drives whirring away, the PTT procedure doesn't hang.

4 - The Canon XM2 momentarily "blue-screens", STOPS waits for some more DV and then goes on its way again.

5 - I review the clip on my Canon, and yes I CAN see the "join" - and its is a join it isn't a "blank" piece of tape. Sometimes the audio will drop out OR there will be an ever so slight "judder" in the action going on - yes?

6 - In a hour long project to PTT I'll get 3 or 4 of these instances. Most infuriating.

7 - I've had terrific support from SF and our colleagues here on VV and the VF forum. I've also been lurking on the COW site to ask similar questions in my "quest" for a "Blue-Screen" free zone - yes? I've been asked to upgrade my BIOS and such like. Scary stuff! BUT until I can get a truly nutz 'n bolts view to this I am not going to fiddle any more with anything. I might be creating even more problems and still have this blue screen.

8 - Before you resort to going back to your HD as your combined video disc, I will tell you that I've done the following. I've captured fresh DV onto the HD and then without any editing sent back directly to the cammy - Yes you've guessed it -"BS" -ohhhh . . .. . I like the acronym.

9 - You say you cannot PTT from timeline in VV3? You get BS - yes? That's also what I'm getting too.

10 - And yes have tried with all background stuff shut down. No antivirus, no USB devices plugged in, no Broadband connection on etc etc. Defragged and Scandisked. My HDs are soooo clean you could eat your dinner off them!

11 - What is also infuriating, is that the BS happens at different points along the project. It does happen in the same place - yes? This would indicate to me that it is purely about DV flow, and it is NOT time specific. - Could there be some type of buffer or cache underrun - I don't know! I don't even know if I'm using the correct terminology!

12 - FanGui is working as it should. From what I understand , FanGui was created by its author to give us Inspy users and option to control the fan/s to makes sure that they were not over working and to stop, or reduce, the incessant noise of them continually switching on/off. This was apparently a "feature" to ensure that the poor things didn't overheat. What I THINK I've discovered by using FanGui is that I believe I've eliminated the fan/s as being THE issue. In one sense because they now remain on AND I still get BS, it might not be the temp control going through the BIOS etc etc..... I say "might", but I can not now be assured that this IS still not happening. This COULD mean that the temp control could still be doing its "thang" BUT now I wouldn't know - are you with me on this one? It's a bit of double-think here, but do you see what I mean? - IF this is the case, there still may be a temp control/BIOS trip-up going on - AND I/we wouldn't know about it - yes?

13 - In your last para, you say working on your onboard has worked. Are you reeeeally sure that this is the case? Have you tried to repeat the experiment - i.e., how many times have you tried this? -Before you throw in the towel on your external, truly convince yourself that you can PTT back from your onboard. I say this because without some secondary video hd it will be very very limiting.

14 - Oh - just a thought! If we are getting BS issues on PTT - how do we know we aren't getting the same on Capture? You know the one "GIGO". But then again, the BS happens in different time sections. Can we Capture badly and PTT successfully? Or the converse?

15 - Grob, I'm very nearly getting to the point where I'm considering getting a dedicated PC to do my SF stuff. I can't be having this issue all the time. Apart from anything else, I'm getting knee-deep in DV project tapes! The other option I'm thinking of doing is finding a way to "transport" the pure DV-AVI PAL files to another system just to be able to PTT - Hey, if it gets me where I wanna be i.e. with finished projects and an assured process -YES.

As you say, "I have the sneaking suspicion I'm overlooking something pretty basic." - THAT'S what I'm also hanging on to.

Get back good buddy,

Grazie
TomG wrote on 2/10/2003, 4:42 AM
I feel your pain, Grazie. As I mentioned to you on the Cow and posted earlier in this forum (and I know how fearful you are of upgrading the BIOS), it was a combination of upgrading my Dell BIOS and turning on my DMA and shutting down all processes except for the basics that saves me from the dreaded BS.

The only correlation between doing a PTT to my Sony cammy and getting a BS occured when I heard a significant amount of disk "thrashing". We both use the same OS, I think you have in Inspiron and I have a Dimension. Now I have to admit that the longest PTT I've done is only 15 minutes, but since made those changes 2 weeks ago, I have been free from the BS (knock on wood). Also, I have not experienced BS during VidCap.

BTW, what is this Fangui you are talking about. Is this some kind of GUI which controls the comptuer fan? Is there some control which allows you to do this?

Good Luck,

TomG
Grazie wrote on 2/10/2003, 7:08 AM
Tom & Grob [don't wanna leave you out of the loop here Grob!],

DMA is ON for my onboard HD. Can't do much with the external MAXTORS. The BIOS thing really does scare me. I've turned off everything in MSCONFIG.

Yes FanGui is a freeware s/w GUI allowing me to "control" the on/off of the fan/s. It is meant for Inspirons especuially the 8000 range.

Tom, I've just done a "Render to New Track" [ got this from the COW site - was that you suggesting this?] - The render worked BUT the BS is still happenning [there is a pattern to this - more of this below].

However, Tom, I sat down with a pencil and paper and noted the "rough" episodes, noting this from the Canon timecode. Not very scientific, but there is a "pattern appearing:

EP = A BS "EPisode"

OUT = O
IN = I

EP1 O - 6:09
EP1 I - 6:11

EP2 O - 6:22
EP2 I - 6:23

EP3 O - 9:37
EP3 I - 9:39

EP4 O - 9:49
EP4 I - 9:52

EP5 O - 12:28
EP5 I - 12:30

EP6 O - 15:01
EP6 I - 15:04

EP7 O - 15:20
EP7 I - 15:24

EP8 O - 15:36
EP8 I - 15:38

EP9 O - 15:51
EP9 I - 15:53

EP10 O - 18:01
EP10 I - 18:02

EP11 0 - 18:49
EP11 I - 18:55

So, 11 Out and In BS Episodes in an 19min project. They tend to be in groups of "Pairs".

It appears that the flow comes and goes. Is there such a thing as a "buffer" control going on that I could adjust?

I've had complete 59 min project work fine. The same project didn't cooperate when I wanted to do another "copy" and then I re-rendered the files to produce another - still no good.

As I said, I'm contemplating doing this whole business another way. Is there a way I can "tranport" the DV-AVI PAL files onto something else? I'm now contemplating "burning" an MPEG2 SVCD and use that as the "master" - yuck! I wouldn't be able to use this as an editable master - loss of quality ect etc. The other - I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M SAYING THIS!!!! . . . Is to use S-Video out to a VHS tape - Blasphomy!!! All that good DV being rubbished by these two options - All for not being able to fllllooowwwww the DV out of the 1394!

Anybody know how I can OR is there a piece of s/w that I can give control over the flow of DV-AVI?

Yes, I'm a little scared of the BIOS thing. I read and seen the problems for Dell Inspirons having this issue. What would be reeeally good is if one of Forum members has had same problem and what they have done to rectify it.

Help!

Grazie
Grazie wrote on 2/10/2003, 8:57 AM
Tom & Grob

Have just been doing some more [ 2 hours! ] of reading the Dell Forum support on BIOS [ absolutley frigthtening! ] poeple "back-grading" thier BIOS updates. INspy 8000 up to A21 AND with poeple going back to A17!

Oh here's another I gleaned off the heat issue - get this! . . . .

"One other thing to take note of is that when your system gets too hot, the BIOS will start dropping the processor speed back in an attempt to lower the temperature. If that doesn't help, it will ultimately shut the system off to prevent permanaent damage to the processor."

THE CPU GETS slower to take into account any heat rise - neat eh!!!

Soooo . .. . what's left?

Grazie
DGrob wrote on 2/10/2003, 10:01 AM
Holy smokes Grazie! Just read through your post for the first time, it'll take me a minute to untwist my knickers and begin to sort through. Back to you soon. Tom, I'm also still digesting your input. Thanks, misery so loves company. Grob
TomG wrote on 2/10/2003, 10:21 AM
Sorry to hear about the Inspiron BIOS, Grazie. I guess it is not very easy to go back to a former BIOS once you flash an upgrade (don't know if it's possible nor have I ever tried).

Unfortunately with computers, we haven't quite reached the "plug-n-play" nirvana stage yet. The cause of any problem may be linked to about a gazillion different things. It sounds like you have tried about "a gazillion minus 1" solutions. Hang in there.

TomG
Grazie wrote on 2/10/2003, 10:27 AM
AH c'mon Grob! It aint misery - it's pure frustration! And maybe . . .just maybe . . .

As I say - We will get to the bottom of this Sucker!

Vegas is brilliant. Just wished I could get some of my fine projects out of the D$%M Inspiron.

My best regards,

Grazie
Grazie wrote on 2/10/2003, 10:32 AM
Thanks Tom - I really mean it. I could do with some kind words at the present.

Regarding the BIOS thingy - It aint no picnic. As I said the reading on the Dell Forums was truly horriffic [spilling aint my best talent! ]

I'd also like to hear from Inspiron 8000 users who have had success with this stuff.

Hey ho! I really thought I'd killed this monster.

What do you think of the alternative ways of getting projects "out" of the laptop?

Everly hopeful,

Grazie
pdmath wrote on 2/10/2003, 12:58 PM
I have an Inspiron 8000 and am having good luck for some unknown reason. I do remember having BS a couple of years ago that seem directly related to the fans.

Here's my setup right now:
Vegas 4
Win 2000 Pro
512 meg ram
800mhz proc
This may be key: bios A18

I never went past this bios as most everything seemed to start working at this point.

I have my camcorder 4 pin to 4 pin using the Inspiron builtin in firewire port.

I also have an Adaptec pcmcia 3 port fireward card with 4 external firewire devices (DVD recorder, 160 gig WD drive, 75 gig IBM drive, 45 gig IBM drive...all of my devices are enclosed in firewire boxes I bought from firewiredirect.

I have a usb trackball explorer mouse connected.

I just edited a 20 minute video with a few graphics and dissolves and exported back to tape (Sony trv900 camcorder) and it worked flawlessly. I had Norton autoprotect running, networking to other computers, all sorts of stuff running in the background and it worked fine.

If you need my to try and find some additional info about my system, let me know.

Phil
DGrob wrote on 2/10/2003, 1:43 PM
I'm in Grazie, let's get this thing.

1. Yes, fangui control in place, still BSing. Note that fangui did seem to settle down my PTT probs in VF. Several projects PTT up to 30 min. in length. I seem to remember that you just recently went V3 as well. Was your VF cooking fine? Including external drives et al???

2. "reverted" See above.

3. My external drive does seem to be fine. I've even imported the rendered .avi from the external into my timeline and it's intact and accurate when previewed.

4. My Canon also goes blue (with a tape rolling icon on-screen) then picks up where it left off. It's as if, rather than streaming, some sort of intermediate buffer is being exhausted and then refilled.

5. My tape is much worse than audio drops and judders, although I do see a few of them.

6. I haven't begun to approach a longer project than my initial "test" of about 4-minutes. Significantly more frequent than your report.

7. Agreed.

8. Hmmmm. Haven't tried the immediate, unedited, PTT. Will give it a look.

9. Correct. Both timeline PTT and "Files, Capture, PTT" have the same result.

10. Yes. Clean and quiet OS HD.

11. Same. 3-4 attempts to PTT will result in dis-similar occurance of the dreaded BS.
I think I follow your referance to a "cache." See my comment about streaming above.

12. Oh goodness. Don't let it be so. Some buried process running around compensating for lack of BIOS fan control by reducing processor activity levels, as suggested elsewhere? Oh goodness.

13. Yeah, you're right. VF on a 30GB, OS shared HD. Very limiting indeed. Especially since I really enjoyed V3, and assume V4 to be just as amusing.

14. I think my capture and rendering are just fine. Like I said, I imported my rendered .avi into my V3 timeline and it looked and played just as I wished.

15. I guess we could probably just unplug and walk with our HDs. How would the other system PTT? What program, V3 again?

Having Crow for din-din tonight. Persistance and determination, and to all a good night. Grob
Grazie wrote on 2/10/2003, 3:19 PM
Phil - This is exactly what I was after. Someone who is using an Inspy8k with success.

"If you need my to try and find some additional info about my system, let me know." Oh yesss please!

For starters, what do you have in your msconfig STARTUP pool? I'd like to do a straight comparison with my own - yes? What is Power Profile anyway? I've got 2 of them in my startup group.

I'm running WinME [ yours Win 2000pro ] with 256 ram; 1ghhzt CPU. You've got more ram but your clock-speed is a tad slower.

What else do I wanna know? Hmmmm . . . So whats with A18? Did it come with it OR did you upgrade to it?

"I do remember having BS a couple of years ago that seem directly related to the fans." - And how did you resolve this?

Do you use the Dell Video 1394 qualified 4-pin port?

I have a few follow up questions, but I think this will do for the moment.

I really, really do appreciate your interest. "I KNOW WE CAN BEAT THIS SUCKER!"

Very many thanks,

Grazie
Grazie wrote on 2/10/2003, 3:26 PM
Grob - Thanks for the feedback. Read Phil's [ pdmath ] above. I think we may be onto something.

It is now 9:30pm. I've been at this wretched business for the past 14 hours. I'm tired and tommorrow I'm going to a Video Forum Expo here in London. I'll do some digging around the boffins there. I've got 3 days with them. I'm attending some camera work seminars and DV editing workshops. May even spend some cash - oops!

I'll need to read more your feedback in the morning - about 5:30am onwards.

"WE'LL GET THIS SUCKER!"

Cheers, mate,

Grazie
pdmath wrote on 2/10/2003, 5:31 PM
1.For starters, what do you have in your msconfig STARTUP pool? I'd like to do a straight comparison with my own - yes? What is Power Profile anyway? I've got 2 of them in my startup group.
.....you'll have to tell me how to check this

2. What else do I wanna know? Hmmmm . . . So whats with A18? Did it come with it OR did you upgrade to it?
...........I upgraded to A18 - I forget what was the original bios, but I was having some problems is all I remember and A18 must have fixed it. If you are at a higher bios, I don't think it's that hard to flash back to an older version. There are plenty of threads on the Dell Inspiron forum about this...at least there used to be.

3. "I do remember having BS a couple of years ago that seem directly related to the fans." - And how did you resolve this?
........I think A18 must have done it...I also have Fangui but it was just in "normal" mode when I PPT'ed earler..I didn't force the fans to stay on or anything.

4. Do you use the Dell Video 1394 qualified 4-pin port?
.......yes, (if you mean the built-in port) I connect my camera thru the builtin port...everything else in on the Adaptec pcmcia card.

I wonder...would PAL vs NTSC have anything to do with it? anyway, if you can tell me where and how to check the msconfig, I will try.

Phil
Grazie wrote on 2/10/2003, 11:59 PM
Hiyah Phil - it's now 5:30am in London, and I wanted to get this back to you before I started with the Video Expo today at Wembley.

1. IN WinME [ might be the same for WIn2000pro don't know ] GO>Start>Run>Open then type in "MSCONFIG" - not quote marks yeah! >Select OK> Select Startup tab . You will now see a load of programs. Just carefully scroll through them and make a note of them, noting all those that have a "check-mark" next to them, and those, if any, that are "unchecked" - DON'T ALTER ANYTHING! - Go Cancel - yes?

2. I can't see that A18 is still available. Have read horror stories of the A21 and people needing to BACK FLash - also horror stories.

3. So in essence we don't know what A18 exactly did to rectify the situation. If it did we could be precise about the correction. Bygones. Otherwise it would be a "coverall" to an issue without focussing on the problem - Hey, if it worked for you great - I'm jealous. But maybe just maybe, we could do apply some deductive logic to establish what our differences are - yes? Then possibly we could pinpoint the solution. You have the control - It Works - Grob and I don't. The other thing is that if it works for me we can't guarantee it will work for Grob. AND vice versa - yes?

4. Great! - I'm glad you have confirmed my thoughts that I can now "remove" the 4-pin on board 1394 port out of the "issue" equation - thanks. BUT I'm also interested in the use of the Adaptec PCMCIA card. I'm presently using the MAXTOR card to go with MAXTOR drives.

In essence, you have tested and successfully created a "longish" daisey chain that works - saving the WIn OS difference, you have a similar setup to me. And you a mix of firewire devices working. This is good.

Direct Memory Access - A Potential Conflict!
Now then - DMA - Direct Memory Access control. I do know that there has been an issue around having this enabled on an onboard DVD player. I know I have to have this "Disabled" when I want to play DVDs. If I had the the thread link to this I would include it here. BUT, for me to play smooooth DVDs I need to have this switched off. It is something to do with the UDMA or is it SUPRADMA - can't remeber. However, the two don't live happily together. So, I need to diable the one that works the DVD. Do you know if you have DMA enabled on your onboard DVD player? I know this is a long shot - but I was thinking that maybe this could be kicking in for me. AND - maybe just maybe A18 would have addressed this. I could take you through where and how you can determine this - interested? I am!

Phil, thanks for taking the time,care and attention to my - Grob's - situation.

Best regards

Grazie
Grazie wrote on 2/11/2003, 12:56 AM
Hiyah Grob!

Well, thanks for reading and responding to my post.

I've now compared your comments to my own.

What can we glean from this? It is all theory but here goes [new numbering!]:

1 - We have two different OS platforms on the same manufacturers machine - agreed.

2 - We are both being presented with the "same" issue or result. It would be enticing/seductive to think that we may be grasping at straws, attemtping to compare two "different" platforms. I think not. I think we have similar enough hardware to at least use each other as a controls AND/PLUS we now have Phil's successful experience, we can further compare our tests and results.

3 - I have no scientific/technical basis to say the following - but, there appears to be an underlying DV flow issue AND something "checking" that flow. It may be frustrating and crucial to us going "forward" with this, but this is an undeniable real world issue to both of us - are you with me on this?

My premises is this - SAME issue SAME cure. Okay, this is based on the fact we have very different platforms. OOooh I can hear those reading this going - "Ah, c'mon Grazie you can't do that!" - well folks, it's the best we got so far! And in any event if it is incorrect we can update my/our premise - THE other big thing in our favour is that VF, VV3 and V4 has been cleared to work with platform specifacations similar OR even LOWER than you and I have. That is we theoretically have the power and hardware to cope very nicely with SoFO's NLEs. That being said, it is here we can agree. We have both also taken the SoFO medicine to assure to ourselves to get everything working - defrags, scanisks, no or little background programmes [ hey Grob, Phil has other programmes working in the background, including Norton! ]

Grob, I've requested some specific answers from Phil on his successful working platform. That will be interesting. I'm off to this Video Expo today and will access this site sometime later today - yes?

Don't think that SoFo techs aren't reading this thread with not a little interest. I'm sure they are. If they have any input to give they would have done so already. But I'm not thinking that they aren't disinterested - they could also be at a loss too!

There is another test I want to run - see my latest post-back to Phil - it's concerning the DMA "on" conflict with SUPRADMA [ or SDMA which I know I have - this is a BIOS level direct memory access utility ]. I first came across this when I was getting "stuttering" on DVD playback. I find that if I disabled this - YES DISABLE - on the DVD player, the stuttering goes . . .. hmmmmm......

"WE'LL GET THIS SUCKER!"

Keep the faith,

Grazie
pdmath wrote on 2/11/2003, 8:37 AM
When I run "mscong" - nothing...says it can't find the file ...I think there must be something different in Win 2000. I don't know anything about WinME except I've heard people say it wasn't very good...could upgrading to XP or even 2000 fix up your system possibly?

To get to Dell previous bios copy and paste this link:

http://support.dell.com/us/en/filelib/versions.asp?sid=INS_PNT_P3CG_8000&lang=EN&lib=1&os=WNT5&searchtype=filter&devid=946&type=BIOS
DGrob wrote on 2/11/2003, 10:29 AM
Read all of the above. Agree, especially with the concept that our "similar" systems platforms are theoretically capable, more than capable, of handling the entire SF line with no problems.

FYI, my Belkin 1394 card has a plug adaptor that gives me 2 firewire, 6-pin, females. The Maxtor 120GB also supplied a 4-pin male to 6-pin male cable. I tried connecting my Canon ZR45MC to the PC via that system, eliminating the integral 4-pin connector supplied by Dell. Maybe just me, but it seems as if the BS situation improved, but certainly still rampant.

Will look into the DMA "on".

I'm following your discourse with Phil. Will try to mimic any other suggestions I see and will keep you both updated. Jeez, it'd be so nice just to get back to NLEing my spare time, but this is kind of perversely entertaining. Ask not for whom the Dell tolls, it tolls for me. Grob
Grazie wrote on 2/11/2003, 1:56 PM
Okay Grob. Do you think I should start a new thread, something along the lines of "VV3 Blue Screen on Dell Inspiron with XP or WinME?"

What do you think? We might get SoFo tech to take an interest. Two different platforms SAME issue - yes?

Grazie
deef wrote on 2/11/2003, 5:39 PM
Yes, we are intently listening to this thread...and you've probably already checked out the knowledge base article on ensuring successful capture/print.

For what it's worth, I've seen problems with capture and print when daisy-chaining Canon/JVC devices to external Firewire drives as there's a 1394 bus command/data problem with the chipset on some of these devices.

This Dell Inspiron problem is a separate issue most likely, since PTT problems exist with internal drives.
DGrob wrote on 2/11/2003, 7:29 PM
". . . problems with capture and print when daisy-chaining Canon/JVC devices to external Firewire drives as there's a 1394 bus command/data problem with the chipset on some of these devices."

Hmmmm. You have to go reeaaal slow with me here. I've gone through Dell's articles that address configuring external drives for max data transfer rates. Here I am with a single external drive and camcorder. About the only thing I haven't tried is "daisy-chained." Would that imply that the external drive accesses the internal thru one 1394 and the camcorder "daisy chains" into the external drive via the 1394s on the back of the external?

"bus command/data problem" My BSs seem to fit the image I get when I read this. The data transfer is being significantly interrrupppted (sp?) while something internal sorts itself out. Then it picks up again at the point of interrupt. As Grazie says, YES?

I donno Grazie, a new thread? Sure. It sort of seems awfully quiet out there, aside from pdmath. It would be comforting, maybe even instructive, to know if any other configs matching our commonalities are out there purring along purrfectly contentedly, PTTing all over the place. In the meantime I'm going to import my test *.avi onto "C" and have a shot at PTT from inside.

Not right off though. Too much work.

Hey, thanks deef and pdmath. Good thoughts. Later, Grob
Grazie wrote on 2/12/2003, 12:09 AM
Okay - As Deef has commented here, I'll scrub the idea of a new thread - for the moment.

Deef:-

1) - BS when using Dazzle Hollywood Bridge [ SoFo tested & compliant ] IN conjunction with an analogue Panasonic - No Canon here! Bluescreening when going back out via DHB to VHS-PAL tape. No Canon in the loop at all.


2) - BS when using relative's Sony DV cammy


3) - VF,VV3 and now V4 all can be used in conjunction with WinME or XP. When SoFo tested this with WinME and XP - what were the settings in WinME [Grazie] and XP [Grob ]. Things like "Read Ahead"; DMA buffer settings - think of anything that would "trip-up" data flow - yes?

Deef, I look forward to your reply,

"WE'RE GONNA GET THIS SUCKER! - ONCE AND FOR ALL!"

Grazie
Grazie wrote on 2/12/2003, 2:25 AM
Okay dokey.

1 - Who Connects Cammy first SWITCHES Cammy on FIRST and THEN Boots up system?

2 - Who Boots up first THEN connects Cammy?

3 - Who Boots up First THEN Connects firewire/s THEN connects Cammy?

4 - What ORDER does SOFo reccommend out of these 3 above?

I bet I know the answer! BIG WINK!!!! ;-) . .. . . I think . . .

Grazie
DGrob wrote on 2/12/2003, 9:45 AM
Grazie, I start with a cold computer and pre-connect and pre-power both the camera and the external drive. Then fire the computer up. Have always (well, mostly always) done it this way.

Hope to try my ExHD-copy *.avi PTT from "C" tonight or tommorrow, depending on which way the wife and child drag my tired rear-end after work. How's the conference going?
Is SF there? Grob
Grazie wrote on 2/12/2003, 10:36 AM
"I start with a cold computer and pre-connect and pre-power both the camera and the external drive. Then fire the computer up. Have always (well, mostly always) done it this way." - Hmmmm . . . check to see if your order of "engaging" your camera is what I found out, early this morning.

I found this morning that I left the camera switched ON and connected. I then booted up the copmputer. The camera immeadiatley showed "DV-IN" Hmmm... I thought, what's going on here then? I started this process to confirm I was still getting BS, before I presented the laptop and camera to some of the boffins and looked silly. I then connnected the firewire drives in the strict order I usually do. Guess what - No BS!

I took my kit to the show, updated them on the "success" I had had in the morning. They then put me through a process to really push the kit. I rendered some dv to a new file. PTTed to the Canon - no BS. Repeatred the process, BUT this time did not plug the camera in UNTIL the pc had rebooted. PTTed to Canon - BS! Repeated the same, this time plugged the Canon in first and switched it on. Then rebooted - NO BS! Okay this was all done from C drive. But the stuff I did in the morning was from the firewire chain - yes?

We then looked in Device Manager to interrogate the Drivers that had been loaded under the Imaging Device section. Of course there was a mass of them, and one suggesting an NT driver had been loaded too! Anyway, the upshot of all this, was that it appears that the CORRECT drivers HAVE to be loaded in the CORRECT order to eliminate BS. What exactly what, or which drivers should or shouldn't be loaded could be a long term solution. In the meantime everything appears to be functioning as it should. In essence the Canon is "forcing" the the correct drivers in the correct order. Sooooo .. . what I'll do is present the Drivers I get when the Canon is pre-connected and "live". - So plug and play aint happenning!

SoFO was not there - c'mon chaps, get on over here. But I "pushed" the brilliance of Vegas - you reading this Deef? And other SOFO support and sales teams? - I told them that this software is truly magnificent, AND it shoud be taken up here in the UK as THE NLE software of choice - for anybody!

"How's the conference going?" - It's been great - learnt a mass of "basic" stuff - lighting, DVD authoring, the nuts 'n Bolts of camera set-ups, image control etc etc. Also a major opportunity to network and assist others - Oh yes, having, I believe got to the bottom of this BS BS, I treated myself to a Contour SHuttle Pro - show price offer at 50% - Had to do it Grob!

Have had a head cold for the past 2 days - taking medicine - Hey Ho!

I really hope we are on to something.

Grazie