FireWire capture problem

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Hi group,

I have a problem while capturing a miniDV-tape from camera to PC using
FireWire.

It works okay for a while and then suddenly goes wrong. Sometimes after 1
minute, sometimes after 15 minutes. The preview-window in Vegas show colored
blocks, a bit like snow on a TV, but colored. The original image is gone.
The LCD on my camera keeps on playing the tape like there's nothing wrong.

It seems that sofware is not to blame because I'm getting the same problem
in WinDV.

How do I start troubleshooting? Can I check my software settings (I'm
running XP Pro SP2)? Or should I look at the hardware?

The FireWire-card is a cheap 2 x 1394, 4 x USB 2.0 PCI card. Same goes for
the cable. Does replacing one of these makes any sense, because capturing
can work okay for 15 minuten, without one dropped frame? The cable is 6 to 4
pins. My FireWire-card also contains a 4 pins connection, should I try using
a 4 to 4 pins cable....?

With kind regards,

Steven

- - -

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Steven Spits wrote:
> Hi group,
>
> I have a problem while capturing a miniDV-tape from camera to PC using
> FireWire.
>
> It works okay for a while and then suddenly goes wrong. Sometimes
> after 1 minute, sometimes after 15 minutes. The preview-window in
> Vegas show colored blocks, a bit like snow on a TV, but colored. The
> original image is gone. The LCD on my camera keeps on playing the
> tape like there's nothing wrong.
>
> It seems that sofware is not to blame because I'm getting the same
> problem in WinDV.
>
> How do I start troubleshooting? Can I check my software settings (I'm
> running XP Pro SP2)? Or should I look at the hardware?
>
> The FireWire-card is a cheap 2 x 1394, 4 x USB 2.0 PCI card. Same
> goes for the cable. Does replacing one of these makes any sense,
> because capturing can work okay for 15 minuten, without one dropped
> frame? The cable is 6 to 4 pins. My FireWire-card also contains a 4
> pins connection, should I try using a 4 to 4 pins cable....?
>
> With kind regards,
>
> Steven
>
> - - -


Not sure if it'll help but this is from the Sony Knowledge Base article
(#1133) titled "Problems capturing from DV devices after installing Windows
XP Service Pack 2":

Mike


Question:
I recently installed Service Pack 2 for Windows XP and am now having
problems capturing from my DV device. How can I get it working again?

Answer:

We have received some user reports of various problems with DV capture after
the installation of Service Pack 2. These can include problems with device
detection, NTSC vs PAL formatting issues, and general glitches that were not
apparent before the upgrade. Microsoft made some changes to the MSDV.sys
file that comes with Service Pack 2, and the new file may cause problems
with some devices.


Microsoft will be releasing an updated MSDV.sys driver in the future to take
care of these problems. The following workaround was posted by a Microsoft
representative in their Movie Maker newsgroup. If you are experiencing
problems after installing SP2 then give these instructions a try.

"Be forewarned that this isn't a "supported" workaround, and you are
encouraged to back up your system before proceeding! These steps assume that
you have a machine that has been upgraded from a previous version of XP to
XPSP2 -- If you have a PC with an OEM install of XPSP2, you'll need to find
a friend with the old copy of MSDV.SYS.

Here's what to do:

1. Attach your [camera] to your PC.

2. Uninstall your [camera] drivers as they currently exist:
a. Choose "Start" | "Control Panel" | "System" | "Hardware" Tab |"Device
Manager"
b. Go to "Imaging Devices" | "[camera brand] DV Camera" and right-click;
choose "Uninstall"
c. On the "Confirm Device removal" dialog, choose "OK"
d. DISCONNECT your camera from your PC!!!

3. Now, we need to roll-back your MSDV.SYS file:
a. Reboot your PC into "Safe mode" and log in as the Administrator
account. (You can choose "Safe mode" by hitting the "F8" key during your
PC's boot sequence.)
b. Launch Explorer and navigate to Windows\Driver Cache\i386
b1.Right-click on the "driver.cab" file, and choose "Explore"
b2. Find the old "MSDV.SYS" file (it should have version number
earlier than 5.3.2600.2180). Right-click, and choose copy.
b3. Paste the old MSDV.SYS file into the following directories:
Windows\system32\drivers\
Windows\system32\dllcache\
Windows\LastGood\System32\Drivers
b4. Navigate to Windows\Driver Cache\i386. Find the SP2.CAB and
rename it.
b5. Reboot your PC normally.

4. Once your PC is rebooted, and you've logged in, re-attach your DV camera
to your PC and confirm that the device enumerates in the control panel. If
you've done everything right, you should be able to check the version number
on MSDV.sys via the Control Panel driver details."

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

>Hi group,
>
>I have a problem while capturing a miniDV-tape from camera to PC using
>FireWire.
>
>It works okay for a while and then suddenly goes wrong. Sometimes after 1
>minute, sometimes after 15 minutes. The preview-window in Vegas show colored
>blocks, a bit like snow on a TV, but colored. The original image is gone.
>The LCD on my camera keeps on playing the tape like there's nothing wrong.
>
>It seems that sofware is not to blame because I'm getting the same problem
>in WinDV.
>
>How do I start troubleshooting? Can I check my software settings (I'm
>running XP Pro SP2)? Or should I look at the hardware?
>
>The FireWire-card is a cheap 2 x 1394, 4 x USB 2.0 PCI card. Same goes for
>the cable. Does replacing one of these makes any sense, because capturing
>can work okay for 15 minuten, without one dropped frame? The cable is 6 to 4
>pins. My FireWire-card also contains a 4 pins connection, should I try using
>a 4 to 4 pins cable....?
>
>With kind regards,
>
>Steven
>
>- - -
>

If you can capture 5 minutes, then the cable & card are working perfectly.
Your symptoms are consistent with extraneous garbage running in the background:

1. Screen savers (turn ALL off)
2. Anti-virus (turn ALL off)
3. Pop-up blockers ("")
4. Active disk managers ("")
5. LAN connections (disable software & physically unplug cable(s))
6. Defrag the HDD onto which you are capturing, whether it needs it or not.
(You DO have a dedicated, separate HDD for video capturing, right?)
7. Verify that your capture drive is operating in ultra DMA mode.
8. You cannot multi-task while capturing: You cannot read/download/send email;
view pictures, compose poetry, etc....nothing should be running but the capture
software.
webpa

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

"WEBPA" wrote:

> If you can capture 5 minutes, then the cable & card are working perfectly.

Isn't it possible that another device causes this? IRQ sharing? Or that the
cable signal is too weak, resulting in lost information from time to time?

> Your symptoms are consistent with extraneous garbage running in the
> background:
> 1. Screen savers (turn ALL off)
> <cut>
> 8. You cannot multi-task while capturing.

Would this not result in dropped frames rather then garbled images on my
screen?

Steven

- - -