Using my HDR-FX1, connected by Firewire to a portable HP ze2020 Pentium M 1.5Ghz and linked to a USB 2.0 Maxtor 7200rpm 200Gig Hard Drive, I decided to test the "live" capture ability of HDVSplit version 0.75. I plugged the camcorder and started recording (without preview: my portable can't handle it very well) and was able to capture 12 minutes of HDV direct-to-disk without dropping a frame.

I'm sure it can capture more than that, but I rarely shoot takes that are longer than 5 minutes so, for me, it works pretty well and, being a free program, is better than DVRack at capturing using my HP. DVRack kept crashing every time I moved the window.

Of course, DVRack has a lot more utilities, but for cheap reliable captures, I'll stick to HDVSplit.

thanks for the report - i didnt know it can capture live..

i'll try it with my HD100...

I try all setting on firewire and none working to capture live
i read some portable HD capture on like FS or citidisk, JVC 's own HD recorder
but seems no way to make it work as Sony.

i try both HDVsplit and CapDvhs.

bad luck, now my last hope ( may be not the last!)is Black magic HD extreme
it's 4:2:2 and 10bits , perhaps makes better than HDV in mpeg2 format.

i can use DV tape but rather as backup than sole recording source. the play back is not so well, it drop frames often.

any Guru has a solution? PC is dirt cheap and i use a celeron 800 to capture live before in sony HC1. very good result, indeed
JY