DV Dropouts?

[Matthew Chambers]

Hi just got a DV capture card, and when capturing I will get "dropouts" like this http://gyazo.com/8ec700fac3fd518381d25ebcb868e844.png

My computer should be more than able to capture DV and it always seems to be at a different point when capturing.

Any ideas, Thanks!

[Don Bloom]

Looks like there might be dirt on the heads of the camera and/or the heads are out of alignment.
CAREFULLY run a head cleaning tape thru the camera (follow the direction to the letter)
IF that doesn't cure the issue then a trip to the camera doctor would be in order.

[Matthew Chambers]

I don't think it is because I set the computer to record the live output from the camera and still had these artefacts. However when I connect my camera to my DVD player to record the DV output Its flawless

[Don Bloom]

interesting. Do you have a way to ingest the footage without using the capture card, IE...firewire, USB? How about when you play it back in the camera and view it in the LCD? what does it look like? At this point you need to eliminate the capture card and try other methods to see if it actually is the cause.

[Matthew Chambers]

Yeah it seems to be the capture card, could it be the driver is there a generic one I can reinstall?

[David Stoneburner]

Here is a couple of things to check:
Roll back the driver to the generic driver that your operating system will usually find.
Try to find out if anything else is on the same bus as your capture card. That is a little harder to find and fix. I haven't had to do that for a while. Sometimes just switching the card to a different slot can fix that for you. I do remember vaguely years ago that some motherboards give priority to the top slot, second, etc.

Good luck

[Chris Soucy]

Hi, Matthew........

Could you be a bit more specific than "capture card"? Is this a Firewire card, or something else, and if so, what?

What, exactly, is your system spec and OS? Do you have firewall and virus software running?

What capture/ ingest software are you using?

How much free hard disc does your system have and has the drive (s) been defragged recently?

What speed is your drive(s) 5400/ 7200/ other rpm and how are they connected?

Graphics card and memory (type/ amount)?

Is system power via a UPS or straight out of the wall? If the latter, any blinking flouro's or air con systems nearby?

Every little bit helps.


CS

[Matthew Chambers]

Originally Posted by Chris Soucy

Hi, Matthew........

Could you be a bit more specific than "capture card"? Is this a Firewire card, or something else, and if so, what?

What, exactly, is your system spec and OS? Do you have firewall and virus software running?

What capture/ ingest software are you using?

How much free hard disc does your system have and has the drive (s) been defragged recently?

What speed is your drive(s) 5400/ 7200/ other rpm and how are they connected?

Graphics card and memory (type/ amount)?

Is system power via a UPS or straight out of the wall? If the latter, any blinking flouro's or air con systems nearby?

Every little bit helps.


CS

This is the exact card http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I am using Windows 7 with AVG virus software.

System spec is,
i5 2500k @ 4.5GHZ
8GB Ram
Ati Radeon HD5850
1tb 7200rpm x 3

I have defragged and tried each hard drive, I have tried it in a different port and with every piece of software I have, Vegas 9, Vegas 12, Premiere and Win Dv.

It's powered straight out of the wall with a kettle lead going to the PSU, I have a powerline adapter on the same circuit If that could mean anything.

Thanks

[David Stoneburner]

What about your anit-virus? Is that running when you are trying to do anything? That use to be a big problem.

[Chris Soucy]

OK, try this...............

If you play an affected piece of video from the NLE timeline 5 times, are the "things" always in the same place or simply random, ie always in a different place?

If it's the former, it's either

1. the firewire out of the camera

To prove, you'll need to write the data from your camera to another DV camera and see if the spots are on the second camera, if so, it's the original cameras firewire port or the "things" really are on the original tape.

2. The firewire card or it's drivers in the pc.

Pull the card out, clean the contacts on the board with an eraser, ensure all jumpers and chips are correctly seated. Replace in a different slot if there is one, re - boot, try the ingest again, still there, try another driver.

OR:

3. Interruptions to processing by something like your anti virus.

Can all other background processes you can find, including the anti virus. Disable the network connection.

Try the ingest again.

If the answer to the first question was "the latter", I'd pull your graphics card and do the eraser thing and chip pushing, replace in a different slot if there is one, re - boot, check for updated drivers.

If it's on-mobo graphics, do the driver thing on its own.

If none of the above nails it, I'm getting a bit low on ideas.


CS

[Ken Plotin]

This looks like the kind of artifacts I sometimes get when clicking "record" too soon after hitting "play" when capturing DV from my deck in Sony Vegas. It's like the tape needs a tad more time to get up to speed.
If I start the playback a few seconds before hitting "record"...no problem.
Try the card in a different slot, as has been suggested. I have a SATA drive connected to an adapter card (old PCI bus to SATA ports) that is guaranteed to drop frames and cause this kind of breakup.
Also, check which background processes are running (task manager?) ...sometimes stuff you don't realize is running can suck resources.
Hope this helps.
Ken

[Sherman Bahr]

What are you connecting to it? If it's a camcorder what model is it? Your problem could be with a malfunctioning camcorder...