Print to tape - stutter problem

NickHope wrote on 7/14/2004, 10:13 PM

I printed out my first 35 minute video project to a VHS cassette (via a DV VCR) using the "print video to DV tape" command in Vegas 5 and unfortunately every 5 minutes or so the video and audio would "stutter" for a moment (less than a second) and then continue. The project is pretty simple. Just video plus titles plus 3 audio tracks.

Anyone have any idea how I should go about sorting this one out? I thought I'd left this fun and games behind with Premiere :(

Sony Vaio laptop
2Ghz CPU
512Mb RAM

Comments

John_Cline wrote on 7/14/2004, 10:23 PM

Do you have any programs running in the background, like an anti-virus program of some sort or something like an instant message program which checks at five-minute intervals to see if you are online?

John

Grazie wrote on 7/14/2004, 10:36 PM

BV - "I thought I'd left this fun and games behind with Premiere :( " .. yes you have . . give it and yourself a chance .. this is one of the on-brainers in Vegas activity . . Stuttering can be a heap of things . . the last thing will be the s/w . .. I've done PTT to VHS from Vegas3 thru a Dazzle Bridge convertor . .it don't get any messier than that, let me tell you. There will be a solution.

1 - Are you PTTing from the T/L?

2 - Is your project rendered and ready to go? Meaning are you working from a completed file or are you working with an unrenedered file? It really should not make a difference. But it will if you are lacking space and Mobo muscle ..

3 - Are you coming from a defragged video HD? How much work is your hd having to do to get the stream coming out constantly?

4 - Are you coming from a laptop or standalone?

5 - Uggghhh .. Does this happen when you hear the cooling fans switch on? - I'm very serious about this .. .

Grazie

NickHope wrote on 7/15/2004, 4:54 AM

Thanks for the answers John and Grazie. I'm sure too I can get this sorted and that it will just be a case of configuration and not the software.

Grazie, I did exit my virus and spam programs, but I just remembered that I left Windows update running as I haven't been editing for a good while. Maybe that could cause it???

1 - Are you PTTing from the T/L?

Sorry to be thick, but what does "PTTing" mean? I'm no newbie to editing but I am to "Vegas-speak". And I am aware that I need to spend some serious time with the manual.

2 - Is your project rendered and ready to go? Meaning are you working from a completed file or are you working with an unrenedered file? It really should not make a difference. But it will if you are lacking space and Mobo muscle ..

Well at first I did a "prerender" but it went off re-rendering everything in the timeline. Then I realised that was because I had "always recompress" set (so I could preview transitions on TV during my editing). So I unticked "always recompress" and did a prerender before I printed to tape, yes. Does that answer your question?

3 - Are you coming from a defragged video HD? How much work is your hd having to do to get the stream coming out constantly?

Haven't specifically defragged for a while but all the clips had only been captured the day before so should not be too defragmented. I will try defragging but I don't get the feeling that this one is the culprit this time.

4 - Are you coming from a laptop or standalone?

I'm using my Sony Vaio laptop, Windows XP updated, 2MHz CPU, 512Mb RAM, external 7200RPM firewire drive. I'm using the Microsoft DV codec, not Sony's.

5 - Uggghhh .. Does this happen when you hear the cooling fans switch on? - I'm very serious about this .. .

Very difficult to check on my laptop as the fan is so quiet. In fact I've never been aware that it turns on and off. Does it?

As I never got over print-to-video glitches in my 3 years with Premiere too, I'm starting to wonder if the problem is just down to the firewire cards and housings that I'm using. Once in a while a drive will just vanish from Windows Explorer, and I've never found the reason for that. This may be related too.

Grazie wrote on 7/15/2004, 7:01 AM

1 - PTT = Print TO Tape . .so... PTTing . .neat eh?

2 - I'll let others deal with your, "Then I realised that was because I had "always recompress" set (so I could preview transitions on TV during my editing). So I unticked "always recompress" "

3 - How full is your video drive? Have deleted stuff recently to do this project? If so you could have a high % of defragged HD. Do an XP Defrag test to see what it comes back with. It'll advise you if you need it - yeah?

4 - "Microsoft DV codec, not Sony's." . .again I don't have an opinion on this. My question was about Laptop or Standalone - nothing to do with CODECS?

5 - The fan thing banjaxed me for 3 years . . that's another story.

Ok, your final sentence concerning the fact you've had this with Premmie too, and using the same set, might point to the signal flow. OK do a test. Have you got enough space to stick a long enough file on your C: drive? And is your C: defragged? if you have enough space see if you can replicate the fault then .. yeah?

Grazie

NickHope wrote on 7/15/2004, 8:37 PM

Good idea Grazie, thanks. I'll run all the clips off my D drive (partition on same internal disk as C) and see what happens.

apit34356 wrote on 7/16/2004, 11:20 AM

I have a firewire drive that doe a temp cal about every 12 mins. This varies from drive to drive, based on heat build up.

AJP

DGrob wrote on 7/16/2004, 12:40 PM

Is your laptop docked? I had a Dell Inspiron 8200 that I had to unplugg my external keyboard, printer, mouse, and DSL connection - in addition to shutting down extraneous apps - and running fangui to manually control my fans - and copy my file to C from an external E - all to reduce the IRQs and allow PTT to flow enough data to proceed without the dreaded Blue Screen. (Thanks to Grazie for seeing me through it all. Darryl