Video Capture and Hard Disk Problem

Collapse
X
 
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
  • maiki
    Junior Member
    Junior Member
    • Jul 2003
    • 13

    Video Capture and Hard Disk Problem

    Hello--

    The question is rather long, I hope some have the patience to go through it, and can offer some insight and suggestions into the problem. I am a newbie to digital video and video capture, although I'm fairly computer literate.

    My computer is a Fujitsu laptop, Lifebook C series Model 2210, Pentium 4-M 2gHz CPU, memory expanded to 768 MB, 30 GB HD, running Windows XP Home, updated via Windows Update with all the newest patches. Video memory changed from 32 to 64.

    Just recently I purchased a simple external USB analog video capture device, a Dazzle DVC 80. I have tried recording movies from VHS tape through this device to the computer, with which I can later perhaps record them to CD (the computer's DVD/CDRW drive can only playback DVDs, only burns CDs), or compress them to Pocket PC format to watch on my PDA. I have tried this with different software, some that came with the device and other hardware I have, and others I downloaded.

    The capture seems to start OK, but then quickly runs out of space. It seems like most capture software captures first uncompressed, before encoding and compressing, and uncompressed video takes an incredible amount of space. So, even with about 8 or 9 GB left on my 30 GB hard drive, I quickly run out of space, and can't record very much, nothing close to a full movie.

    So, I decided to purchase a large external hard drive. I purchased an 180 GB Firewire HD over the Internet. My laptop has both Firewire and USB 2.0, and USB 2.0 is supposed to be a little faster than Firewire, and devices with USB 2.0 cost a little less than Firewire devices. However, I have read that there are still many problems with USB 2.0 devices, it being such a new technology, so I figured the Firewire would work more reliably.

    The drive should be a good one--Hitachi Deskstar (i think these were formerly labeled IBM) 7200 RPM, 8 MB cache. However, the external case is generic, no brand name at all, no company name or contact info, etc.

    I formatted it NTFS, all one large partition. I ran Scandisk and Chkdsk on it, including the sector checking, and everything showed up OK.

    However----when I try the video capture again, with the external drive set to for the video capture files, temp files, etc., it runs into a problem. It starts OK, but after a certain time the capturing stops, I see that the external drive doesn't exist any more in "My Computer", and some kind of error message from Windows saying that it can't write to the drive.

    I tried capturing with various software, and the same problem occurred with each. I turned off write caching for the drive, and the problem still occurs.

    To get the drive to be recognized again, I have to unplug it, turn it off, wait a little, turn it back on again, and then plug it in to the Firewire slot again. Sometimes i have had to re-boot to get it recognized. When I run error-checking on it again, still no problems.

    So, what I'd like to know is--what's causing the problem? Is this external firewire hard drive defective? (If so, I'd suspect more likely the housing and interface is defective, rather than the drive itself.) Should I call the company I purchased it from, and demand that they exchange it for another one?)

    Or, are there changes in Windows XP configuration, or in the configuration of the video capture software, that would make it work correctly?

    I would appreciate any feedback and suggestions. Thank you.
  • rsquirell
    Digital Video Master
    Digital Video Master
    • Feb 2003
    • 1329

    #2
    I bought a DVC-80, too...and no matter what I did I couldn't get anything but blurry video from it. MovieStar5 didn't seem to work with it...you get huge files by capturing in AVI (12 gigs/hr of video.) I finally got it to work by capturing with MS MovieMaker. It is a USB device...not a firewire device (Dazzle Hollywood Bridge and DV devices come in thru the firewire (ie. digital cameras). My advice is upgrade from the DVC-80 to the DVC-150. The 150 is also a USB device, but it captures in 720X480 resolution rather than the 80's 320X240 (which means the capture looks as good as the original VHS tape.) The 150 also captures in MPEG format which means smaller files (1 to 3 gigs...depending on bitrate...vs 12+ for AVI). You'll have nothing but trouble with the DVC-80. The Dazzle user forum is very active...go there and check out the posts... www.dazzle.com/home and click on support>>community forums.

    Comment

    • rsquirell
      Digital Video Master
      Digital Video Master
      • Feb 2003
      • 1329

      #3
      As to the external HD...you're going to need to check for driver updates...and how are you going to do that if you can't find out who the manufacturer/support provider is? Try to exchange it for a good old Western Digital 72000RPM external firewire ( so you can serial other firewire devices later on)...their reputation is stellar.

      Comment

      • shiny#3
        Digital Video Master
        Digital Video Master
        • Jul 2003
        • 1000

        #4
        doese the device manager in your system also state your HDD
        drive as generic HDD drive or does it give you more detailed information????

        If you want to play your movies in your pocket pda
        how does your application compress the movie??
        does it reduce resolution and bitrate??

        have you tried (if possible) to capture with virtual dub)
        choosing an mpeg 4 codec such as xvid or divx5.02?
        capture in uncompresed audio format first (pcm)
        and then recompress the audio!! with virtual dub!

        Comment

        • maiki
          Junior Member
          Junior Member
          • Jul 2003
          • 13

          #5
          Originally posted by shiny#3
          doese the device manager in your system also state your HDD
          drive as generic HDD drive or does it give you more detailed information????

          It looks like the generic brand name of the HD case might be ByteCC, although that isn't listed on the box or unit.

          There is a part number on the box, ME-320F. When I looked that up on the Internet, I found the ByteCC name, which might have also been on the return address of the box. (Although the retailer didn't have that name, but was called "Cooler Express".)

          The box says "Made in China". I found a web site for "bytecc", but it looks like it's in Chinese, no English. I didn't see any section to download drivers.

          Device Manager lists the interface, under "disk drives", as "Oxford Semiconductor Ltd.", "Oxford IDE Device", "IEEE 1394 SBP2 device".

          In fact, it didn't come with any drivers. No CD or software. Windows XP recognized the drive, and used those "Oxford" drivers.

          As I said, the drive itself (although not the enclosure) is a big name brand, Hitachi-IBM.

          Comment

          • maiki
            Junior Member
            Junior Member
            • Jul 2003
            • 13

            #6
            Originally posted by shiny#3

            If you want to play your movies in your pocket pda
            how does your application compress the movie??
            does it reduce resolution and bitrate??

            [/B]
            Windows Movie Maker or Windows Media Encoder has a profile to make two different sizes of .wmvs suitable for use on a Pocket PC, which will play back with Windows Media Player for Pocket PC. A full length movie might take up 150 to 200 MB or so. Of course that won't fit in internal memory, one has to have a large CF card.

            Some people use other media players in PPC which will play back DIVX, etc. Then you can encode with Virtualdub. Not quite as easy to do, though.

            Comment

            Working...