Better Capture Device than Pinnacle???

[kuneo]

Hi;
I know it's not authoring,but it's close!

Here's the deal- I finally bought TMPG authoring tool,and it works great-
The problem now is-I'm converting SVHS to DVD,and when I use Pinnacle software along with it's USB Movie Box (what my vcr is hooked up to convert to hard drive) the file keeps getting corrupted as the movie transfer's onto the hard drive.

The error message reads something like "delayed write error".

I have had tapes transfer onto the hard drive with no problems using this Pinnacle device,but now that my authoring is working perfectly-I want to get rid of this "write error" if possible.
It's a major pain when you transfer in a 2 hour movie,and at the last moment you get the error!-what a waste-file corrupted.

I of course have all application's shut down.

Any better capture devices for SVHS to USB the Pinnacle???

Thanks for any help.

CC

[rdgrimes]

Your problem might be the USB interface. Does it capture to DV or MPEG? If MPEG, it's overworking your system and connection. Firewire or PCI capture is generally better for quality and stability. I use the MovieBox DV and capture to AVI, I get video quality that's comparable to SVHS.
Whatever you use, it must have unimpeded access to the HD for a continuous write, or you will get dropped frames or errors. I suspect you will have trouble with any USB capture.

[atifsh]

what i get frm ur post these things can be true....

1: usb link problem
2: ur harddrive failure to write properly.
3: ur capturing at realtime incase ur doing mpeg2, u need to do the long way, non-real time, then encode later.

[sfheath]

a nice big, fast, defragmented hard drive is essential. have you checked it's DMA enabled, probably is.

[ormonde]

"Firewire or PCI capture is generally better for quality and stability"

USB II is as good if not better than Firewire.

[sfheath]

Kuneo, are we talking USB1 here? The Movie box appears to support USB2 so investing in a PCI USB2 card if you have a spare slot might cure the problem.
Should be cheaper than a new capture device anyway

[geffroman]

Originally posted by ormonde


USB II is as good if not better than Firewire.

Gotta diagree on this one... USB 2 says it is rated at 480 when compared to Firewire at 400...

However, Firewire is actually 15 to 20% faster at sustainable rate (meaning large amounts of continious data)... and far more stable when it comes to potential corruption...

PCI kicks both of them in the @$$ when it comes to speed & secure data transfer...

Regards... Jeff

[ormonde]

"Firewire is actually 15 to 20% faster at sustainable rate (meaning large amounts of continious data)... and far more stable when it comes to potential corruption... "

May or may not be true, but in my own tests (I have both Firewire and USB II) USB II has generated Mpeg 2 faster than firewire–I have tested transfer times for 1–1 1/2 hour VHS video. Also, I've had no corruption with USB II yet, and I've done a lot of captures.

[Crashed]

What is your PC specs & O/S?

The USB device is OK but not as good as the ADS model
as it can only be used with studio 8 for capture, this being
a major P*** off.

Have you got the latest hardware installer & updates
for the capture device? Also make sure your chipset
drivers are up to date and USB2 drivers.

http://www.pinnaclesys.com/wwwmenu.asp?langue_id=2

Close all programs and tasks that is not needed
while capturing/encoding.

Unplug other usb devices to free up bandwidth on the usb bus.

Do you use a Maxtor Hard drive? what make/model is it?

Have you ran SCANDISK?
Do you DEFRAG?
Do you have enought free space?

"Delayed write error" can be caused from a number of things

Your file system is it NTFS or FAT32?

Is your hard drive connected by IDE or USB2?

[kuneo]

Thanks for all the "action" gents.

I'd use firewire if I could,but the Pinnacle device doesn't use it-only USB 2.0.
My puter is 2.0 capable,but I think that may be part of the problem.
Other issues may be changing the bit ratio when capturing.

I'm using an NTSF Maxtor external HD (120 gig),but have had failure's using internal HD too.

Last nite I transfered an hours's video to the Maxtor-with no problem.
Even left on all devices,and antivirus!!!Go figure.

Seems to have problems when I get into 2 hour movie transfer's,but have had the corruption start in the first 2 minutes also.

For now i'm going to keep fiddling with my setting''s,and see if I can get a 2 hour SVHS tape to capture.

Did anyone say if there are VHS capture devices that use firewire??? (ADS).

Thanks for all the responses.

CC

[Crashed]

http://www.adstech.com/products/API-752/specifications/api752spec.asp?pid=API-752

It's not cheap..

Pinnacle do a Moviebox DV version that costs a bit
more then the USB version, if you USB moviebox is
not that old maybe you could exchange it for a little
more cash, the DV version works with other capture
software unlike theUSB version that is limited only
to snail studio 8.

I done a bit of a test, captured with USB1 while
outputting a VCD file to a USB2 Ext.. hard drive,
as the target dir..

I got the same error as you after 5 hours of capture,
glad it was only test.

I also got the same error while encoding a huge mpeg-2
file with TMPEG, the target (output) was to extenal hard drive,
when I tried the same thing but to external firewire drive
I got errors, (my external hard drive uses firewire or usb/1/2)

The drive in the external is a Seagate.

Microsofts answer

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;330174

I think not M$.

Also for firewire

http://www.bustrace.com/products/delayedwrite.htm

but USB has the same problem.

I found the safest way (less errors) is to make a nice size
NTFS partition on an internal IDE drive, you'll need just over
5 GB (NTFS) to capture 5 hours in SVCD, 15 GB for about 13
hours capture, if you keep getting the errors capture less
to edit/join etc for final movie.

Thats always baffled me..

05 GB (5 hours SVCD)
15 GB (13 hours SVCD)
one would think it will capture 15 hours not 13.

[kuneo]

Thanks for the Link-Crash

600 bones is out of my league for now (xmas recovery

Looks like a nice piece of gear with first rate software.

I was able to to Capture two seperate 1 hour video's tonite-without the dreaded error's.

Will try some "real" 2 hour vids friday.

Either i'm just lucky right now-or bumping the bit rate back up(6K) may have helped.
Will have to lower the bit rate to get a 2 hour vid on a DVD though.

CC

[geffroman]

Just the Facts MAAM

Originally posted by ormonde
"Firewire is actually 15 to 20% faster at sustainable rate (meaning large amounts of continious data)... and far more stable when it comes to potential corruption... "

May or may not be true, but in my own tests (I have both Firewire and USB II) USB II has generated Mpeg 2 faster than firewire–I have tested transfer times for 1–1 1/2 hour VHS video. Also, I've had no corruption with USB II yet, and I've done a lot of captures.

Rather than debate anecdotal stories I offer data. Make up your own minds folks...

Question: USB 2.0 is faster than FireWire...right?
Answer: No, actually FireWire is faster than USB 2.0.

Question: Hold on...USB 2.0 is a 480 Mbps interface and FireWire is a 400 Mbps interface, how can FireWire be faster?
Answer: Raw throughput rating numbers alone don't tell the whole story, as explained below.

The throughput numbers would lead you to believe that USB 2.0 provides better performance. But, differences in the architecture of the two interfaces have a huge impact on the actual sustained "real world" throughput. And for those seeking high-performance, sustained throughput is what it's all about (reading and writing files to an external hard drive for example).

Architecture - FireWire vs. USB 2.0

FireWire, built from the ground up for speed, uses a "Peer-to-Peer" architecture in which the peripherals are intelligent and can negotiate bus conflicts to determine which device can best control a data transfer


USB 2.0 uses a "Master-Slave" architecture in which the computer handles all arbitration functions and dictates data flow to, from and between the attached peripherals (adding additional system overhead and resulting in slower, less-efficient data flow control)

Performance Comparison - FireWire vs. USB 2.0
Read and write tests to the same IDE hard drive connected using FireWire and then USB 2.0 show:

Read Test:
5000 files (300 MB total) FireWire was 33% faster than USB 2.0
160 files (650MB total) FireWire was 70% faster than USB 2.0

Write Test:
5000 files (300 MB total) FireWire was 16% faster than USB 2.0
160 files (650MB total) FireWire was 48% faster than USB 2.0

FireWire - Still the Performance King!
As the performance comparison shown above confirms, FireWire remains the performance leader. And is the best choice for DV camcorders, digital audio and video devices, external hard drives, high-performance DVD burners and any other device that demands continuous high performance throughput.

Regards.. Jeff

[sfheath]

Kuneo, to backtrack a bit .. and save you money hopefully! ..

Are you uploading your video in a native DV format or running an MPEG2 compression realtime?
You'd get better quality I'm sure by converting to MPEG2 off-line when the machine can quietly churn over numbers in it's own sweet time?

[ormonde]

"Rather than debate anecdotal stories I offer data. Make up your own minds folks..."

Nice presentation. I will certainly not debate the technical data. I can only say, If you have success with a particular method, then go for what works for you.