SP2 and Firewire Issues

rgwarren wrote on 4/29/2005, 1:43 PM
Since I've upgraded to XP SP2 I've noticed that I get dropped frames always in groups of 4's during captures. I've seen this using a variety of 1394 cards including the ADS PYRO cards. I didn't see this when I reverted back to SP1.

My main concern is that SP2 sets the 1394 cards into a default 100Mb/sec mode that is causing the problem (this may cause camera ID issues as some cameras can't even communicate at that speed). Even though 100mB/sec is fast enough to capture DV25 (25 Mb/sec) it really doesn't leave any room for operating system interruptions.

The workaround description on the Microsoft site is cryptic and the download doesn't even run on my SP2 machines.

Here is the link to the "hotfix" on the Microsoft site. Is this a real issue or are my dropped frames in V5 and V6 from something else I need to check out?

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=885222

Comments

Spot|DSE wrote on 4/29/2005, 2:31 PM
I think it's related to SP2. Search the forums, this has come up a lot. John Meyer made a great addition to the Vegas FAQ regarding Firewire, you might want to read that, as it's chock full of great info.
rgwarren wrote on 4/29/2005, 2:58 PM
Thanks. So far with Vegas 6 that's been my only issue. Things got weird when I upgraded to SP2. Should have left it at SP1.
bevross wrote on 4/29/2005, 3:04 PM
The Vegas FAQ states: "XP’s Service Pack 2 includes this driver fix." Perhaps that's why it doesn't run under SP2. Still doesn't explain why dropped frames in SP2 and not SP1, though. Here's a link explaining how to install SP2 and then go back to old SP1 drivers, if that helps:

http://www.rme-audio.com/english/techinfo/fw800sp2.htm
johnmeyer wrote on 4/29/2005, 4:34 PM
There is an update to SP1 that fixes many Firewire/1394 issues. This was supposed to be included in SP2, and maybe it was. However, SP2 introduced its own 1394 issues.

Read about it here at the Microsoft site:

Performance of 1394 devices may decrease after you install Windows XP Service Pack 2

This link leads you to an SP2 patch you can download.
jlafferty wrote on 4/29/2005, 4:37 PM
n/m
Harold Brown wrote on 4/30/2005, 9:17 PM
This looks like it is for Firewire 800 only (1394b). Is that correct?
Jeff_Smith wrote on 5/13/2005, 1:38 PM
Has anyone installed this patch?

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/885222#kb1

It says: "After you install this update, if you add a host controller for a new 1394 device to your computer, you must add or modify the SidSpeed entry in the Windows registry for the new 1394 host controller. To do this, follow these steps:..."

I am a bit dense...does this mean you must tweak the registry only if you add a new firewire card?

Jeff




alk3997 wrote on 5/13/2005, 1:48 PM
On all of my 1394 enabled computers (3) I've installed SP2, installed the Microsoft fix *and* fixed the multiple occurances of SIDSpeed in the registry. SIDSpeed should be set to 4 to make SP2 work like SP1.

So far everything has performed as it did during SP1 with transfers to/from DVHS decks.
jkrepner wrote on 5/13/2005, 2:11 PM
Is it safe to assume that one should stick with SP1 if they haven't yet switched to SP2?