Another thing to do is defrag the drive you are capturing to and to make sure you are capturing to a different drive than where the operating system and Vegas software are located. This helps the read-write function to go smoother and is the biggest thing I've found to reduce dropped frames. Hope this helps.
Randy

EEJackson:
I guess when you capture, you have to start the process within Vegas, and then, manually place your cam into playback mode. Is that correct?

Most of my drop frame issues (long time ago) had more to do with my OS and problems in earlier versions of Vegas than they did system resources. At 800 Mhz, your system, while fast enough, is probably older (mine is only 900 Mhz, and I only have 128 MB RAM - my system is probably four, maybe five years old).

If you are able to run XP, then I cannot think of any hardware deficiencies you might have that would prevent Vegas from capturing properly . . . and I don't think you should have to disable device control, either. It only starts/stops the device. During actual capture, device control wouldn't have any effect on your data stream. Depending upon the type of footage I'm using and whether the DV format is contiguous from capture point to end point I may get one or two dropped frames during a capture session (around the areas where the DV stream on the tape is disrupted - beginning or end). I assume you are capturing DV footage and not analog hi8, yes (I'm also assuming that your cam is a digital 8, yes?).

I'd be on the lookout for some program running in the background that is making demands on your CPU. You might be able to check for this by loading a video file that you know is good and playing it to see if it runs smoothly (perhaps a Vegas sample file if you have one).

I'd also check for mouse (pointer device) drivers - as I've experienced problems with mine (a Logitech marble ball). I cannot use the one that came with my device, as it causes exactly the sort of problems you describe. I deleted my "mouse" and let WinXPPro detect it upon reboot, and, instead of directing WinXP to the disk containing Logitech's driver, I let WinXP simply supply one, and that solved my mouse driver problem.

You might check for this by simply observing the travel of your pointer arrow over the screen as you move it slowly and smoothly. If you see interruptions in its travel that you haven't caused, then, that driver would definitely come under suspicion - and I would try the one that XP supplies.

One more question - is Vegas the only means by which you can capture video? If you have another way, I'd try it just to see if the problem shows up there - definitely a sign that some aspect of your system and not Vegas is causing the problem.

Keep working on it and you will overcome the problem. . . and do keep posting here. We were all newbies at one time. Vegas is a great program, and your machine, IMO, sounds up to the task. Good luck!

Caruso

Thanks, You have all given me some things to work on. Ill let you know how it comes out.

The advice about defragmenting your hard drives is golden! I've found that many problems involved with capturing video and burning DVDs comes from fragmentation on the HD. We defrag at least every other day. Start it before breakfast and you're ready to go to work right after coffee.

mpg files from Vegas will routinely crash in DVD Workshop if there is much fragmentation on the HD, for example and, like you, I've had problems with dropped frames on capture. Defrag -- no problems.

Another thing that can be causing capture problems is unstable source material. I recently had tapes from a client who had recorded themon VHS in extended play. Played them from a 1960 deck via SVHS, through my PD150 to Vegas via firewire. Lots of drop out -- audio but no video at all. Finally had to record the tapes to miniDV, then in from the DV deck to Vegas before getting a clean input.

Good luck.

I am still having problems but I will keep trying. Caruso was right, my machine is about 4years old. Increasing the capture start delay seemed to help, but only for the amount of time of the delay, then the frames start dropping like flys. I am wondering if the drive speeds are to slow.

Drives need to be kept defragged, and ideally to be 7200rpm with DMA enabled. Some 5400 rpm will capture ok, but slower than that could well cause dropped frames.

I have a 1.5 Mhz Athon XP processor and 1gig of DDR memory and use XP sp1 as OS. I capture via a Canopus 1394 card always with good results. If you not in the mood to do any upgrades then follow the already given advice on monitoring the system activity around the dropout times

Something else that helps a LOT:

If you can configure a dual boot system so that one partition/OS is just for video capture, then DON'T install a lot of fluff/extra stuff on it helps tremendously.

If you do this, you can capture for hours without a single dropped frame.

I do.