Hello. I've been trying to print to tape my first project
and am having the same difficulties as isaacb earlier, this
time with a Sony TRV310 Digital8 camcorder. The .avi file
seems to play fine on the P3 800 w/256 MB Ram, 45 GB
7200rpm HD running WinME. Resulting video as it's printing
to tape is very blocky with lots of major video and audio
dropouts. I've tried various adjustments such as starting
with first frame, then second, then resampling each frame,
even increasing Engage Delay time, all with same
disasterous results.

I'll be trying a friend's Sony DV camera tonight to see if
that is the problem, or if it's a bug in the DV encoding of
the .avi file.

Has anyone else solved this problem? Thanks!

As a follow up to my previous post, swapping camcorders did
not change anything (this was the DCR PC 100 - fairly new
and one of the top units). I also checked Microsoft web
site for updated drivers, but they show none for WinME.

Printing to tape seems so basic I have to believe that
there must be a setting out of place. Anyone found any
tricks?

I called the Sonic 900 number today and received 2 "call
back later" and three no answers. Anyone else having
trouble getting through. I'm getting emails from their
customer support, but they have just confirmed the driver
at this point.

If I fix it I'll let the forum know. Please let me know if
someone knows the settings to change. Otherwise it's going
back...

I'm going to assume that you are are using OHCI 1394 DV
cards and that you have followed the installation and
driver instructions.

Try this:

1) capture a short file and then try to print it back to
tape immediately from VidCap. Don't even open the file in
VideoFactory. If this doesn't work, its a system problem
(driver, drive speed, improper software installed etc.)

If this does work, open the file in VF

2) Render the file as an avi, using the NTSC DV template.
DO NOT MODIFY the template. This new file should print to
tape just fine.

The problems you are experience are almost always due to
improper render settings, or a conflicting codec.

More info here:
http://www.sonicfoundry.com/Support/Productinfo/OHCI.asp

Ok here is the deal. I tried printing a un edited clip that
i just captured to tape and it looked exactly the same as a
when i tried to print an edited clip to tape. I dont see
what configuration or hardware problems i could be
having... I have a SIIG 1394 firewire card(rest of my comp
stats in origial msg). Please does anyone have any
suggestions on what might be misconfigured????? thnx for
your time

Ok, I did the test suggested by SonicFoundry EPM (post) and
found that staying in video capture program worked just
fine, both capture and printing back to tape. I then opened
the same capture in Video Factory and rendered as an .avi
file using the NTSC DV template with no changes. I saved it
as a new name to be sure I printed the right one back to
tape. Unfortunately, exactly the same problem occurred -
major blocking and dropouts. I noted that the first test in
capture played back very smoothly, while the .avi file from
Video Factory was choppy.

Interestingly, I too have a SIIG card (1394 3-port PCI i/e,
model number NN2608), but the above test should clear the
hardware.

What next? Reload drivers? There are no drivers shown for
the SIIG card on their web site. Is it in the rendering
process? Should I uninstall and reinstall the program(s)?

Again, I'm running WinME, P3 800, 256 MB Ram, 45 GB 7200
rpm HD.

while I was checking the SIIG web site, I did not see
isaacb's TRV 520 listed under compatible camcorders, nor
listed under incompatible ones for that matter. The 510 was
listed as compatible. may be worth a call to SIIG.

My TRV 310 is listed as compatible, btw.

The 1394 driver should be "Microsoft Camera and VCR", the
driver that is installed by Windows. If it is anything
else, you'll need to remove it.

More info here:
http://www.sonicfoundry.com/Support/Productinfo/OHCI.asp

MarkB, did the above suggestion help you out?
I'm having the same problems you are.
I have a 1.0 GB Athlon Thunderbird
40 GB ATA 100 western digital hd
voodoo 3 3000 video card
Sound Blaster Live! sound card
SIIG 3 port 1394 card.

I figure that should be sufficient to do video editting. I
used the diskette that came with the card to install the
driver. So I doubt it installed the Microsoft one.

Most SIIG cards (not all) come with a disk that installs
dvcam.sys. This takes over the DV driver (msdv.sys) that
comes with Windows. You camera, in Video Capture, should be
identified as "Microsoft Camera and VCR". If it isn't,
capture, render, and print to tape may not work.

There is a new msdv.sys driver for digital video at the
Microsoft website for DirectX8 that was posted on March 1,
2001. Go to the folowing website:

www.microsoft.com/directx

Remember, you must have DirectX8 installed first before
installing the DirectX Digital Video update. Hope this
helps.

My drivers were all correct already. However, I fixed my
problem by enabling DMA on my hard drive. After doing that
print to tape was smooth.

how does one enable DMA on the hard drive? I'll check the
new driver on the MSFT site also. thanks everyone.

To Funk16: I'm able to print to tape if I merely capture
and immediately print back to tape. My problem is when it
is rendered as .avi from the Video Factory program (which
seems to go fine) and I try to print to tape. Was that your
problem as well, and cured by the DMA setting for the HD?

Mark I don't have WinME but I am sure it is similar to
Win98 and Win 2000 to change the settings for DMA. Here is
the setup. Right click on My Conputer. The System
Properties should appear. Under Win 98 you left click on
Device Manager and under Win 2000 you left click on
Hardware then Device Manager. WinMe ought to be one or the
other. Go to the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers and left click
on the + sign. Your hard drive contollers should appear.
Right click on the IDE Channels, left click on Properties
then left click on Advanced Properties and select DMA if
available under the Transfer Mode. That should do it.