Newbie - need help with video Capture

[adeel]

Hi,

I am newbie on this forum and my question may have been answered before. If so please point me to that thread. Thanks.

I bought a USB capture device to capture video from VHS and mini DV camcorders (Panasonic). It came with Visual Studio (VS) DVD SE v8.0. Everything went pretty well from installing VS to running and seeing the video in VS from connected DV camcorder using composite cables.

When i play the video on the camcorder it runs fine in VS preview window with sound and the quality is the same as well. However, when i start to capture, it becomes in slow motion. I don't know why before capturing its fine but when capturing it becomes in slow motion?? My PC specs are below:

Pentium 4 1.6GHZ
MAXTOR 40 GB, 7200 RPM, Ultra-ATA/133
256mb SDRAM
Win XP professional Service pack 2

I have read on other posts on this forum that minimum should be 512mb RAM. Well trying to find SDRAM is difficult and expensive but i managed to find 512mb. But to my surprise, it made only a slight difference. The video is still in slow motion when capturing but slightly better than before. After installing 512mb RAM i had total of 768mb so this should be sufficient. Could it be that i am using the same hard disk to capture? If so then would an external harddisk (USB 2.0) will be ok to use or will there be dropped frame/slow motion capture issues?

Any help would be much appreciated.

PS: I am capturing in DVD format for PAL (MPEG2 with 8000kbps, Varibale bit rate, UpperField first, LCPM Audio, 25 frames). I have tried with constant bit rate, with 6000kbps, 5000kbps, even 1800kbps but still the same.

Thanks
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[sjj1805]

USB is not our preferred method of capture as it does not always handle the high volume of data being passed along its cable. If your Panasonic DV camcorder has an IEEE1394 (firewire) output socket then you would be best advised to get a firewire cable and use that instead.

Similarly a USB hard drive will again be handling large amounts of data and might not be able to handle the load. An internal hard drive is preferably if possible.

If your stuck with USB then make sure there are no other USB devices attached whilst attempting to do any video work as the other USB devices can steal some of the bandwidth.

For more detailed information please view:
From camcorder to DVD with VideoStudio

[adeel]

Hi,

Thanks for such a quick reply! The help on this forum is truly great.

I've read your guide on "From Camcorder to DVD with Video Studio" and it is very helpful. The reason why i chose USB was to also be able to convert old VHS videos to DVD or VCDs. Another factor was the ease of mobility between two pcs.

I have tried another test to see if increasing RAM had helped. I took out the 512mb RAM and then tried capture again. I found that playing video on the camcorder was viewable just the same as when i had total of 768mb RAM. So 256mb RAM for capture might just be enough?? It could be that since i am using the same hard disk for capture as Windows, its not able to keep up and stuggles. I have also tried to capture at VCD quality and it has no problems so only high quality DVD is a problem, it seems.

I will try this with another hard disk to see if that makes a difference. I suspect it will!

Any other suggestions for me to try?

Many Thanks
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[heinz-oz]

Your problem IMHO is that your PC cannot keep up with the conversion to DVD compliant mpg2 in real time. On the other hand, the small HDD capacity does not allow you to capture to DV-AVI (~13 GB/hour of video). I would get a large HDD and add it to my system and then capture via FireWire (IEE1394) to DV-AVI format.

You don't mention the model of your Panasonic MiniDV camcorder but chances are it will have AV through capabilities. You can connect you VCR to AV - IN on the camcorder and capture DV-AVI via its firewire port.

[Bignosetw]

I would also just make sure that what you are seeing is not just a slowed-down PREVIEW while capturing ... this is not unusual. The capture may be fine, it's just showing you a limited preview because teh machine is putting all resources to capturing. Capture a piece of video and THEN play it back to confirm if it was recorded correctly or not.

Tobie

[adeel]

Thanks for your suggestions guys. My Panasonic does have a AV input which has a 3 composite out cables which i connect to my USB capture device. I have played back the captured clip but its the same as while capturing. I think my two options are to get another hard disk or upgrade all together to a new PC. I'll try the hard disk option first!

Again thanks to you guys for making suggestions. They are very helpful and i am reading the guide again to make sure i didn't miss anything.

Just incase there is something that could help please let me know