There are number of reasons for frame loss during capture. Dropping frames typically indicates that the
computer is having difficulty handling the data bandwidth required to transfer
the video from the camcorder/VCR, through the system to the hard drive, so the
problem could lie with issues like the CPU speed, the throughput of the USB
port, the data transfer rate of the hard drive, etc. This
document covers the most common causes of the problem.
1. Current version of Windows: Make sure you have the
latest Windows Service Pack installed for your operating system. If you have Vista, click here for instructions on how to get the latest service
pack.
If you are using Windows XP, click here for instructions on how to get the latest service
pack. This is
extremely important if you have a USB capture device (510-USB, 710-USB,
etc.)
To verify the Service Pack version that you have installed
follow these instructions:
- Click
on Start -> Control Panel
- Double-click
on System
- The
Windows version should be displayed here.
2. Latest version of Studio: As a general
troubleshooting rule it is always best to begin by making sure you have the
latest version of Studio installed. You can do this in Studio by clicking on
the Help pulldown menu and then clicking on Software Updates. If there is a
newer version of Studio available, you will be prompted to download
it.
At this time there is no update patch available for Studio
14.
3. Reduce the capture quality setting: This is just a
test to see if lowering the capture quality will reduce or eliminate dropped
frames. To lower the capture quality, do the following:
- In
Studio, go to the Import tab
- Select
the Capture Device in the “Import From” section.
- In
the Mode section on the right of the Import window select the right arrow
button to open the Capture File Presets.
Here is an image showing this button:
- Select
the MPEG preset and lower the Datarate.
The default is 6 Mbit. Here
is an image showing the Capture File Preset settings:
- Close
the settings and try to import again.
If frames are no longer being dropped, then there is
a bandwidth problem. The problem may be due to a slow
CPU, too many task running causing Studio's capture module to not
get enough CPU cycles or low USB bandwidth (for USB capture
devices). As a workaround as you troubleshoot this problem further,
please capture at the highest setting that does not drop frames and continue
editing in Studio.
Please follow the steps below to isolate the source of the
bottleneck.
4. CPU speed: For devices that are software MPEG capture devices,
such as the Pinnacle 510 or 710 USB, you must have a CPU speed of 1.8 or 2
GHz to be able to capture at the highest quality setting and not drop frames.
5. Troubleshooting USB capture devices: If you are using a
USB capture device such as the Pinnacle 510 or 710 USB, we recommend you run
the following test and after each step, try capturing again to see if the problem
is resolved.
- Try
plugging the capture device into another USB port on your computer.
Try capturing from all of the USB ports.
- For
our capture devices that require USB 2, make sure you have plugged the
hardware into a USB 2 port.
- Disconnect
all other USB devices from your USB port (excluding a mouse or
keyboard).NOTE: Pinnacle does not require other USB devices to be
disconnected for our product to work. In this step we are trying to
determine if an USB device that is connected may be misbehaving
(constantly using the USB path, drawing too much power, etc.).
6. Startup tasks/programs: While you are
capturing, don't run other programs to see if that fixes the
problem. Make sure there aren't any programs running on the task bar and
then start the capture. If the problem persists there may be a
background task running that can be turned off. On many computers
there are programs that are always running that use system resources
(i.e. CPU cycles, memory) which are not necessary. These programs could
have been installed by the computer manufacturer or when you installed
some hardware or software.
If you are familiar with Microsoft's MSCONFIG, you can use
this tool to disable these programs that are running at startup that are
using system resources that could inhibit the performance of capturing video
and lead to dropped frames. If you are not familiar with MSCONIG, we
recommend that you go to the following links on the Microsoft site to
learn how to use MSCONFIG:
Microsoft site: MSCONFIG
instructions
Microsoft site: Startup tab
in MSCONFIG
To run MSCONFIG do the following:
- Click
on Start -> Run
- In
the Open box, type MSCONFIG
- Click
OK
- In
the System Configuration Utility window, click on the far right tab called
Startup
- Click
on the button called disable all
- Then
click the OK button
- Restart
the computer when prompted to have the setting take effect.
If this helps, you can re-enable startup tasks until you
find what was causing the problem.
Some customers may prefer using a Startup Manager, which
performs similar task to MSCONFIG but may be easier to use. If you have a
Startup Manager, disable all unnecessary tasks and restart your computer.
If you aren't familiar with them, do a Google search for "Startup
Manager" and download one of the many freeware versions available in
the Internet. Pinnacle does not endorse or recommend any particular
Startup Manager. We do recommend you research customer feedback on
the various one's that are available to find one that suits your
needs.
7. Defragment the capture hard drive: Since hard drives
become fragmented over time, it is important to defragment the hard drive on a
regular basis. See this link to a Microsoft article on using the Disc
Defragmenter:
Improve performance by
defragmenting your hard disk
8. Capture to a separate hard drive: If you have a separate hard
drive with more available space than the C: drive, capture your video to the
secondary drive. Capturing video is a very "write intensive"
process. If you capture to your boot drive (the one where Windows is
installed), Windows will also be writing to this drive (a process called
paging) as part of its normal operations. Reasons for capturing to a
secondary hard drive are:
- All
captured video is in one location - easier to maintain
- Drive
fragmentation is less of an issue - and it is easier to defrag
- Windows
will not page to this drive
NOTE: It is not a requirement of Studio to capture
to a secondary hard drive but a recommendation that does help many customers
eliminate or avoid problems.