The freezing video thing revisited

joamoa wrote on 7/25/2003, 1:20 PM
Ok, so I've come to the conclusion that external Firewire drives just don't work with VV. The video feeezes while the audio continues to play. Then the video jumps to where it should be for a second then freezes again. It's a mess!

So, I'm about to give up on my 120GB Lacie external Firewire drive and try USB 2.0 anyone have any USB 2.0 experiences I should know about before parting with my hard earned money?
I need the portability of an external drive.

Also, Has anyone tried the USB 2.0 Drive enclosures? Seems like a cost effective way to go.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts on this matter. I just wish that VV woul work with Firewire. Is that so wrong?

Comments

AZEdit wrote on 7/25/2003, 11:03 PM
Firewire drives work fine with Vegas! Never had any problems...but, I did have a similar problem to what you are referring to- caused by windows media player. My player was having conflicts-and created havoc with Vegas. I deleted my media player and did a fresh install- never had that problem again....hope this may help
snicholshms wrote on 7/25/2003, 11:21 PM
Are you using a Creative Audigy card with the firewire port? That might be a problem, as well. Disable/disconnect the firewire on the Audigy card and buy a Sigg PCI firewire card @ Comp USA for $20.00. Firewire HDs work great with Vegas.
Have you defragged your Firewire HD? Your other HDs?
Checked for IRQ conflicts on the Device Manager?
rmack350 wrote on 7/26/2003, 1:50 AM
No you're not crazy. Some firewire drives work horribly with Vegas. It's not just vegas either. SoFo has tried to fix it but has never managed to find a cure.

It's probably not the 1394 card. I had three drives in three enclosures with three different bridge cards all running poorly on three different controlller cards in three different machines. The drives ran equally poorly on all cards. Each drive was consistent in its level of mediocrity no matter which system it was on.

Before you do anything else, open the enclosure you have and check to be sure that it was built with an 80 wire ribbon cable. If the manufacturer muffed it then it might have a 40 conductor cable. It makes a difference.

If you are to get a new enclosure just spend the $100.00 for an ADS USB2.0/1394 enclosure. Buy 5.25"->3.5" drive adapter rails while you're at it. Mount the drive on the rails so that it can have good ventilation underneath and then put it into the ADS case. The ADS case is tight on the underside of the drive and the extra clearance might stop a second stalling problem (Delayed Write Error) which can be related to heat (among many possibilities)

I found that I never have to use USB2.0 with this case. Even so, it's a nice security blanket. I've gotten a stall with it maybe once in the last month.

This case can handle disks larger than 137 GB.

Rob Mack
joamoa wrote on 7/26/2003, 9:57 AM
I am using the Audigy card for FW. I'll give it a shot. Thanks!
JakeHannam wrote on 7/26/2003, 10:52 AM
Joamoa,

Have you inserted transitions or effects at those places where the video freezes? In my short time using Vegas, I have found that you have to 'selectively prerender' events with transitions and/or effects (especially if you are viewing on an external monitor). The fact that your audio continues to play (smoothly I hope) while the video freezes indicates it may not necessarily be a problem with the drives. Now, if you are just using the video preview window and the video freezes, then this is probably not the case in your situation. This is just a thought ...
AZEdit wrote on 7/26/2003, 11:03 AM
Great info rmack...I have never had a firewire problem. I buy a drive for each major client with a large project. I have purchased QUE, ACCOM, Fantom, Buslink, Maxtor and Lacie external hard drives with no issues. I guess luck has been with me- listed manufactorers to help decide which ones seem to work with Vegas. All 120 gig, 7200 RPM drives
joamoa wrote on 7/28/2003, 7:31 AM
Picked Up the SIIG FW Card from CompUsa. Defragged the drive and I'm still having the same problems.
I'm running an Athlon XP1900+ processor, 768MB of RAM. The drive is a LaCie 120GB 7200 RPM Drive. I can play video flawlessly off this drive when I'm using premiere or Windows Media Player.
SoFo has admitted to a problem with FW and Vegas. Should I try a fresh install of Windows XP? Or just return the card, sell the drive on Ebay and pick up a USB 2.0 drive?

BTW: I have absolutely no problem playing Video in Vegas off my internal Eide drives

Ladies and Gentelmen, your comments please...
24Peter wrote on 7/28/2003, 7:00 PM
I had to trash my Acomdata firewire enclosure and get a USB 2.0 enclosure instead. I haven't used it extensively yet but in my preliminary tests no freezes at all (in the same time my firewire drive would have froze numerous times.) $45 at newegg.com

my enclosure: http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduct.asp?DEPA=&submit=Go&description=17%2D145%2D314

full list: http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduct.asp?DEPA=&submit=Go&description=hd+enclosure