I have a CitDisk HDV 80 gig drive.There's a 2GB (or something) limit and a new clip is made, but the clips after the original are missing frames (about 3-4 or maybe more frames between clips) and don't piece together smoothly.Any insight, anyone. I know this isn't how this thing was designed to work..

Have not noticed this problem with my CitiDisk, but not sure that I've ever checked the sequental files so closely. However, one thing which comes into mind is the edit software. Are you sure the frames are really missing or is it the software which is not able to show the first frames?

The reason to ask is, at some point I did try to import the m2t files (generated by XL H1) directly to Premiere, and observed that Premiere was not able to show the first frame(s). [BTW, the same happened also with the files generated by the Firestore device.] My standard approach is to convert the m2t files immediately to Cineform avi-files, and doing so I've never experienced problems with the first frames.

Thanks for the reply. I Use Final Cut Pro. I went to MPEG Stream Clip and played the actual M2T file and it seems to be the same as the Quicktime file that i converted and used in FCP (to the best of my knowledge)... simply put what happens is when i line the clips up, end to beginning in the sequence of the event, there is a jump as if there are a few frames lost as a result of starting a new clip. The master and subsequent clip should go together seamlessly correct?

Try shooting a stopwatch to see if you can get a more exact handle on the problem. With NTSC every frame will equal .033 second roughly (much easier in PAL :). If you have an NLE which can generate burnt in code (or a deck with an LCD counter) you could try recording the screen to get an exact frame counter.