IEEE Capture drops hundreds of frames after installing Pinnacle USB box.

[Dale Van Brocklin]

My Computer is a Sony VAIO, PCV-RZ14G. It has a 2.53 GHz Intel Pentium 4 processor. It had 512 MB of DDR DRAM RAM,
but after the disaster, I added another 512 MB RAM chip, which didn't help the capture problem at all.
The operating system is Windows XP Home Edition with Service Pack 2. IT had a 120 GB harddrive. The
video card is an NVidia 64 MB GeForce4 MX 440 (Sony).
My Firewire connection is a NEC OHCI Complaint IEEE 1394 Host Controller.
The programs that came with the computer were Adobe Premiere LE, Click-to-DVD, GigaPocket recorder, Movie Shaker, and DVGate. I later added Microsoft Movie Maker.

THE DISASTER:
I've been using Adobe Premiere to capture MiniDV footage for three years, with zero dropped frames in any length
of footage digitized - I could record the entire MiniDV tape with not one dropped frame.
I could make DVD's in Click-to-DVD with no problems.
GigaPocket could capture analog video perfectly, and I could make DVD's using Click-to-DVD, but I couldn't import the files into
Adobe Premiere LE to edit them and put titles and such.

So I purchased Pinnacle Studio Plus 700-USB version 10 to capture analog video in DV-AVI format to edit.
I followed the instructions properly, loading and installing all the Pinnacle hardware and software in their proper order.
The Pinnacle program started to load up, but froze up during the first try.
I had to turn the computer off and try again, and this time everything loaded up properly, three CD's/DVD's worth of
digital and analog capture software, Pinnacle Studio 10, and a DVD writing program.
I clicked "capture" and was taken to the capture screen, where I started to capture some analog video, and it was working for about 10 minutes, and then the blue screen of death appeared.

I had to unplug the computer and plug it back in, at which point it went haywire, asking for the boot disk, and windows opening and closing at random. When I finally got it stable after two days, from then on, when I tried to capture, the second I hit the "capture" button in Studio 10, the program immediately went away. Not even an error message. Every time I tried to capture, I never ever made it to the capture screen again, it would just shut down as soon as I tapped the capture button.

I decided to use Adobe Premiere LE to capture some footage because I spelled a name wrong on a recent DVD I made.
I used the computers IEEE 1394 port, not the USB box, because it was malfunctioning.
As soon as I start capturing digital video with Adobe Premiere, it starts dropping frames every second - in a few minutes, I have dropped hundreds of frames, resulting in unusable, garbled footage. I unplugged the Pinnacle USB box, and returned it, because
it was crap!
But the damage it did to my computer has not gone away yet, and it has been a month and a half.

My computer takes longer to start up after installing the Pinnacle USB box.
Every digital capture program is affected, each one dropping hundreds of frames.
Click-to-DVD is extremely slow, and doesn't make DVD's any more.
GigaPocket would capture a few minutes of video, then the error "Gigapocket cannot record because of lack of memory or high load of Windows enviroment." Error Message # SMENC.
After everything I've done below, that error message has gone away, but the videos created are slightly jumpy
and unstable, starting up slow and sometimes shutting down.
After I captured video in Adobe Premiere, and it tells me there are dropped frames, I open up the "Data Rate."
It used to be solid red, with a white line running horizontally along the top. Now, there are bands of white every now and then, and the white line goes up and down every now and then, where frames were dropped.
Every tape I have tried to digitize is choppy.


THINGS I HAVE TRIED, THAT DIDN'T WORK:

-Used Add/Remove Programs to remove all programs (USB Capture, DVD Writer, Studio 10) that came with the
Pinnacle 700 USB Box - THIS DIDN'T WORK.
-Defragmented both the C: and D: Harddrive - THIS DIDN'T WORK.
-Ran Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware software - no spyware or virus' were detected - THIS DIDN'T WORK.
-I tried to do a System Restore, but system restore only shows a calender for September and August, but the problem
happened at the end of July.
-I deleted the remaining Pinnacle files and the folder they were stored in in C:/Programs - THIS DIDN'T WORK.
-I accessed the registry with REGEDIT and deleted any entries that I found that said "Pinnacle" - THIS DIDN'T WORK.
-I later ran the registry cleaner and got rid of all useless registry entries that were safe - THIS DIDN'T WORK.
-I ran MSCONFIG and disabled all start up items to free up memory - THIS DIDN'T WORK.
-I removed Service Pack 2 from the computer - THIS DID NOTHING
-I removed Windows Movie Maker from my computer - THIS DID NOTHING.
-I updated the NVidea Drivers - THIS DID NOTHING
-I removed the NVIDEA Drivers, then reinstalled them, then updated them - THIS DID NOTHING
-I reinstalled Service Pack 2 - THIS DID NOTHING
-Windows Movie Maker was reinstalled, but it still captures choppy video.
-I disabled, then renabled the NEC OHCI Complaint IEEE 1394 Host Controller - THIS DID NOTHING.
-I tried to update the drivers for the NEC OHCI Complaint IEEE 1394 Host Controller - THE DRIVERS WERE UP
TO DATE.
-I checked for conflicting devices for the NEC OHCI Complaint IEEE 1394 Host Controller - NONE WERE FOUND.
-THE COMPUTER SAYS THAT THE NEC OHCI Complaint IEEE 1394 Host Controller IS WORKING PROPERLY.
-I turned Hardware Acceleration for the graphics card each increment from "None" to "Full" - THIS DID NOTHING.
-I turned off the preview monitor in Adobe Premiere - THIS DID NOTHING.
-I enabled Direct Memory Access (DMA) on all harddrives - THIS DID NOTHING.

The computer came with 4 system restore CD's, it DID NOT come with restore CD's for Adobe Premiere, Click-to-DVD, or any of the other programs. If I wipe the harddrive and do a system restore, Adobe Premiere, click-To-DVD, etc. will be deleted.
The reason I want to fix this is to save the programs that I would lose with a system restore, and that's why I can't do that!
(Adobe Premiere alone costs over $500, Photoshop Elements costs $99, etc.)

Any one have any idea how to fix this?

[Ron Evans]

Dropped frames are usually hard drive related or sometimes PCI bus conflicts causing interupts. You might try reloading the drivers for PCi bus and sound as well as video card. Get the latest version from Sony. Make sure you are NOT capturing to the boot drive. Also check the MODE of both hard drives in the control panel>system>, it should be DMA for modern drives. A crash could have caused these to reset to PIO which would give you the problem you are experiencing especially if the second drive is on the same IDE as the DVD drive which Pinnacle might have set to its own driver in PIO mode.

Ron Evans

[Richard Alvarez]

Rons advice is good. IF that doesn't help, are you CERTAIN that your extra programs are NOT on your system restore discs? IF you purchased them preinstalled, then I'd be surprised if they were NOT on your system restore cd's.

[Sharyn Ferrick]

Check to see if file indexing is selected for your hard drive, if it is , make sure to turn the option off, sometimes that can cause a problem also

Check your cpu utilization and disk activity and see is you might have picked up something during the installs. There is a trojan Lop.L that has been showing up recently

Sharyn

[Denis Danatzko]

Originally Posted by Dale Van Brocklin

The computer came with 4 system restore CD's, it DID NOT come with restore CD's for Adobe Premiere, Click-to-DVD, or any of the other programs. If I wipe the harddrive and do a system restore, Adobe Premiere, click-To-DVD, etc. will be deleted.
The reason I want to fix this is to save the programs that I would lose with a system restore, and that's why I can't do that!
(Adobe Premiere alone costs over $500, Photoshop Elements costs $99, etc.)

Any one have any idea how to fix this?

Before getting Adobe Production Studio, I had Pinnacle Studio Plus Version 9. (Matter of fact, I still use it for "simple" miniDV-only projects).
I once had problems with that version, and learned a great deal from the Pinnacle User Forum(s). It/they are available at this site:

http://webboard.pinnaclesys.com/read...oardID=1&lng=1

While fixing the problem wasn't fun, the steps outlined WERE effective.

In order to post a question, you must register for the forums, but I think it's worth it, as I got answers to all my questions - AND the answers solved my problems. There are some folks there who participate who are VERY knowledgeable about the Pinnacle products. In some cases, you actuially get responses posted from Pinnacle technicians. (I'm not guaranteeing it will solve your particular problem, but it IS another resource dedicated to only Pinnacle).

If you try it, you must be resolved to be patient for an answer...something very difficult to do in the situation you describe. It's also very possible that your problem may already be described in an exisitng posted question, so be prepared to do an exhaustive search while waiting for a reply.

Lastly, be aware that the "key" information for your product is VERY important to Pinnacle working correctly. As you search for answers, you may learn some points to help you better understand how Studio works and how to use it.

Best of luck.