Problem with artifacts

[crmori]

I have sucessfully transfered numerous analog vhs tapes to my computer with my ADVC 300. I hadn't done any for a few months and went to do them and now I am getting artifacts in the output. This does not happen when I am inputting DV just the analog from the VHS player. It happens on both commercial and home video, I've cleaned the heads.... could something have gotten changed on the canopus? buttons pushed or knocked? I did not change the factory settings is there a reset or default? I found nothing in support or the manual that might explain things. I don't know where else to go.

I am capturing into Ulead VS-10+ which is working with everlything else. No recent changes to hardware or software except to change the internal cables in the computer from flat to round and get another external hard drive for storage.

Thank you

Carol

[kbosward]

Can you post a picture of the artifacts? And have you tried other cables for the analog input?

Ken.

[crmori]

I use composite because that is all the VCR has for output. I will include the picture of what I am getting . The video is very red anyway so that isn't the problem it is all the little boxes. This happens even with commercial video I try importing. It is a mystery.


uvs070624-001a.jpg

[kbosward]

Do you see these artifacts in the Picture Controller 300 preview window? Or is it only when you play back the captured DV file?

Ken.

[crmori]

I am not using picture controller 300 never have in the past. They show up in the DV file that is created. Note I do not see them in the Ulead capture preview sceeen as it is capturing only in the DV file

I was going to go out and get a new set of cables just to be sure something didn't happen to them.

[GrassValley_BH]

That looks like either DV corruption noise, or a failure of the disk subsystem to either read or write the DV stream fast enough.

Defragment your drive, make sure there's adequate space, and try capturing again.

Also check your FireWire cable - it may be faulty.

Does straight DV input still work OK?

[crmori]

Brandon


It works fine with DV input but not analog. I have established that it goes from the VCR thru the canapus 300 and to a DV Camera just fine. I will defrag the disk and get a new Firewire Cable. I am desperate to get it to work I have a pile of things waiting to be done and I want to do them while school is out ( I Sub Teach during the school year)

Thank you

[GrassValley_BH]

Hmm... Make sure your setup for analog capture is like this:
1) Only one DV device connected to the FireWire bus (only the ADVC300)
2) Nothing other than the PC connected to the ADVC's DV ports (ie, don't chain FireWire or pass a DV camcorder through).

[crmori]

Only have the composites coming into the front and the firewire leaving the back of the 300. Just bought a new firewire cable and am defragging so will leave it over night and pick things up in the morning. I'm not into watching disks defrag.... will let you know what happens. It has to be something silly ...

[kbosward]

It seems almost certain that this a problem with disk I/O. Are you capturing to the external drive? I would try capturing only to an internal drive, not the external drive (in fact unplug the external drive during capture just to make sure). Defragment the drive before capture.

If you are running Windows XP, check that your drives are still running in DMA mode. Go into Device Manager (right-click My Computer, select Manage, click Device Manager), expand IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers, double-click Primary IDE Channel, click Advanced Settings and check that Transfer Mode is set to "DMA if available" for all devices. Repeat for Secondary IDE Channel. If any devices were not showing DMA mode then reboot.

Also, there was an update released by MS for Windows XP SP2 to fix problems with slow Firewire speeds. See KB885222.

Ken.

[crmori]

I am capturing to an internal drive. I will check out the drives in the device mgr and I have been updating my xp regularly but will make sure I have that update. Would these things also effect DV input?

[antonsvideo]

I am capturing to an internal drive. I will check out the drives in the device mgr and I have been updating my xp regularly but will make sure I have that update. Would these things also effect DV input?

if the internal drive is not in UDMA5 or higher mode and has slipped back to PIO mode, then your capture will break up like seen in your screenshot

to fix, delete the primary and secondary IDE channels, then reboot twice and check and see that UDMA5 is shown

http://www.videoproductions.com.au/edius4/udma5.gif

[crmori]

I deleted and rebooted twice the primary came back fine with Utra DMA Mode 5 but the secondary came back with device 0 Utra DMA Mode 2, and device 1 was mode 4. What does that mean. I defraged the drive last night and there was some change but there are still many fragmented files. This is the drive I do my video capturing and storage to while working on projects then I move them when finished to an external.

[antonsvideo]

which channel holds your video drive?

if secondary and device 0, then it must be UDMA5 or better, if not, capture will a nightmare

DVD or CD drives are usually UDMA4 or 2

make sure your video drive is not connected with a flat grey ribbon cable and uses a proper shielded 80pin UDMA cable

[crmori]

I assume you mean my video hard drive. I think it is on the secondary. How do I tell. I did replace all my flat grey ribbons with new round cables a few months ago. As I recall this was not a problem with the old ribbon connections. I have cleanned off a piece of my C drive will defrag and try my transfer again since I think that drive is showing DMA Mode 5. This will be a temporary fix I would like to get my E dive back for collecting my captured video. I am venturing into new territory for me but something I wil need I'm sure to know and understand.