Problem revisited: Dropped frames in video capture

[Michael Klinger]

I am using, G4/466 OS9.1/QT 5.0/Pt 5.1.1/Miro DC30Plus with 2.0 drivers/Promax DH-MAX dual head card with 2.1b drivers and Premiere 6.0.

Okay, a couple of months ago I had to resolve a problem by upgrading Premiere 4.2.1. All that was commercially available was 6.0. I went through a zillion permutations of drivers/version etc. to get the video capture stable, because as many of us G4/DC30 plus users know, we are caught in the Bermuda triangle of a discontinued unsupported product, and the Fuse alternative has its own set of issues on G4.

So the bottom line question is a re-hash of many older questions by many others:

Is there any trick out there or some combo of drivers QT version or whatever to avoid the dropped frames? I am consistantly getting two or three frames either dropped or doubled frames over the course of a 1 hour show.

Your help is appreciated.

-Mike

[MarkP]

You will pretty much always get 1 or 2 dropped frames and they are usually at the start and end of your capture.

[Michael Klinger]

Thanks for the response. Actually, The dropped frames (and even doubled frames) that I experienceare always within the middle of the program

[MarkP]

Have you tried capturing at different file sizes? Under the capture settings I always have the limit rate selected to maintain a steady file size. Just Guessing!

[JohnGalt]

Try doing your captures with AppleTalk
off. I have a Fuse card, and had the
same problem. Turning AppleTalk
off solved it.

[Michael Klinger]

Thanks for your replies.

Mark,

Yes I do have a file size limit to 500k/per sec. The quality at that rate is good enough for us, and also by doing it at that size, the movies for hour long shows remain under 2 gigs, which makes them available for backup through Mezzo. Anything larger than that and we would have to break it up into two pieces, and because of the nature of how these shows are worked on, shuffling between two movies all the time is not a reasonable option for us.

John,

I do have it set up to deactivate appletalk while digitizing. Is this enough, or do you think I should turn it off outside of Premeire as well?

I'll try that on the next round of picture digitizing

[jimlongo]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by bigsound:
I do have a file size limit to 500k/per sec. The quality at that rate is good enough for us, and also by doing it at that size, the movies for hour long shows remain under 2 gigs, which makes them available for backup through Mezzo. Anything larger than that and we would have to break it up into two pieces, and because of the nature of how these shows are worked on, shuffling between two movies all the time is not a reasonable option for us.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

If you have QTPro, (and probably Premiere, although I only use it for capture) you can always edit together 2 or more movies into a small reference movie and they will play together seamlessly. You can also use this technique to split big movies into smaller reels if you want.
Perhaps you will have better luck at a higher data rate

[Michael Klinger]

I just tried the suggestion of turning Appletalk off (outside of Premiere). On our latest picture.

I still got i dropped frame about 3 mins in -- no duplicated frames. Just luck of the draw I am sure.

Jim,

Thanks for your reply. I haven't taken the time to learn Premiere beyond capturing, and exporting, But doesn't all of that stitching and duping in Premiere require a real time (or near real time) output editied files etc? We are working on stuff that gets loaded in the morning, and is a done deal by the end of the day. We're not really in a position to spend time fussing over several movies. Unless I am missing the point and there is an easier way?

Thom,

Sounds like you have your method nailed, So are you convinced that Miro is culprit? I don't have FCP or the firewire capture. That's a big investment, for simple movie capture to PT.

Also, has anyone tried BTV or hackTV as an alternative to Premiere? I've downloaded both, but haven't had the chance to try them yet.

Thanks again for your replies

-Mike

[Michael Klinger]

I just tried the suggestion of turning Appletalk off (outside of Premiere). On our latest picture.

I still got i dropped frame about 3 mins in -- no duplicated frames. Just luck of the draw I am sure.

Jim,

Thanks for your reply. I haven't taken the time to learn Premiere beyond capturing, and exporting, But doesn't all of that stitching and duping in Premiere require a real time (or near real time) output editied files etc? We are working on stuff that gets loaded in the morning, and is a done deal by the end of the day. We're not really in a position to spend time fussing over several movies. Unless I am missing the point and there is an easier way?

Thom,

Sounds like you have your method nailed, So are you convinced that Miro is culprit? I don't have FCP or the firewire capture. That's a big investment, for simple movie capture to PT.

Also, has anyone tried BTV or hackTV as an alternative to Premiere? I've downloaded both, but haven't had the chance to try them yet.

Thanks again for your replies

-Mike

[thom furbee]

I capture firewire into final cut
then render with miromotion compressor
in a new sequence - export as QT half size 320/240
medium quality
import into PT
never get a dropped frame
bounce the audio to disk instead of make new movie
import SDII file back into final cut
drop it into the DV sequence
record back to dv deck or camera
works like a dream
works the same in premiere
I never use the miro card to capture
it will always drop frames