Capturing from DV Camcorder while watching Media Center

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Guest

I set up my camcorder to capture Video AV to DV (hooked up to another
camcorder) into my computer using firewire, and about 15 minutes after it
started, I turned on my Media Center to watch a recorded program. When I was
done I closed MCE and noticed the capture had stop and had an error that it
wasn't getting the capture anymore and something about the resloution changed
(something like that). This happened twice, and the third time, I did not
use MCE and it worked perfectly. Is this a known problem, or a coincidence?
 
It's not a coincidence. As you've discovered yourself,
the best solution is to NOT run any other programs while
you are capturing.

Tuning your hard drive by freeing up disk space
and defragmenting may help a bit. But I still
strongly suggest that you do NOTHING else with
your computer while you are capturing DV-AVI
video.

--
-Bob
_______________________________
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP Media Center Edition
http://www.microsoft.com/ehome
 
Capturing video is a pretty heavy task for a computer and best left
alone.... if you switch to watching TV in your Media Center software, that's
another pretty heavy task.... I think you should let the capture process
finish without doing other things... even if it's successful you might end
up with dropped frames and other info in your capture.
--
PapaJohn

Movie Maker 2 and Photo Story 3 - www.papajohn.org
Photo Story 2 - www.photostory.papajohn.org
..
 
Why is that? It doesn't appear to use that much of the processor. I have a
Dell 8300 3 GHZ HT with 2 GB of memory. Will it also happen when I am
recording with MCE closed, or MCE open. I think it has something to do with
when MCE opens my monitor adjusts in full screen.
 
It happens because your camcorder is sending the DV-AVI
stream to your PC at a constant rate, with no flow control.
So if at any time during the capture your PC busy doing
something else that prevents that stream from being written
to the hard drive (or buffered in RAM), you have a problem.

You certainly have enough CPU power and RAM so that
you would think it *should* be able to do more than
one task at a time. But the reality is that it just
doesn't.

Recording TV in the background should also be avoided.
Even though that doesn't use much of the CPU, it does
use the hard disk. So I would try to plan your DV-AVI
capturing around your TV recording schedule just to
be safe.

--
-Bob
_______________________________
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP Media Center Edition
http://www.microsoft.com/ehome
 
Alinds said:
Why is that? It doesn't appear to use that much of the processor. I have
a
Dell 8300 3 GHZ HT with 2 GB of memory. Will it also happen when I am
recording with MCE closed, or MCE open. I think it has something to do
with
when MCE opens my monitor adjusts in full screen.
Click to expand...

Possibly. One cannot count on impressive-sounding
CPU speeds to change other realities of computing,
such as front-side bus speed, hard drive issues, etc.
If you bought your Dell "stock," I'm guessing it has but
one HDD -- that alone can cause problems with
capture, as the OS and the capture software both
compete for disk access.

What we should call video capture is "resource intensive,"
as it taxes more than just the CPU. You'll have the best
chance of problem-free video capture if you do it after a
reboot (assuming you've been using the PC for other tasks
prior to capturing), and with no other applications running.
..
 
Thanks, I did add another drive, my MCE records to 2nd drive and I was
capturing to my master, which also has the OS and that is where MCE is
installed. PArt of me believes (no scientific evidence) that when I have MY
MCE full screen the adjustment by the graphics card changes the resolution,
which causes the problem. Does the graphics card get involved in capturing
if I have preview off?
 
Alinds said:
Thanks, I did add another drive, my MCE records to 2nd drive and I was
capturing to my master, which also has the OS and that is where MCE is
installed.
Click to expand...

Ah, but you'd probably be ahead of the pack if you
were capturing to the second drive, and not running
other apps during the realtime capture process.
PArt of me believes (no scientific evidence) that when I have MY
MCE full screen the adjustment by the graphics card changes the
resolution,
which causes the problem. Does the graphics card get involved in
capturing
if I have preview off?
Click to expand...

Probably not, but the card *could* be making an
untimely demand on the system bus, and causing a
glitch in the capture process.
..
 
Hello,

Your IP address puts you in the USA I think. I was wondering why you bought
an MCE at all. I guess you know all about Tivo boxes.

The time before last when in the USA a workmate of my youngest son
converted my first DV tapes into a DVD...we had been on the US Wisconsin
when a tornado hit and he wanted the video I shot. I never saw any of his
equipment (but I have used Tivo) Apparently he replaced the existing modest
hard drive in the Tivo box and could store quite a few full length films on
it. From those he could pick what he wanted to keep and he would then
transfer that film to his computer where he could then do what ever editing
was needed and then burn his DVD. He can do that even when his Tivo box was
recording something else with no problems.

So I guess the question is Why buy an MCE machine with its inflated cost.
What does it do that you cannot do with a Tivo box and an ordinary
computer?

--
Have A Nice Day.....John Kelly
www.the-kellys.org
www.the-kellys.co.uk
Check out free video hosting at www.the-kellys.org
----
\|||/
(oo)
----------ooO-(_)-Ooo-------------
All material gained from other sources is duly acknowledged. No Value is
obtained by publishing in any format other peoples work
 
I needed a computer, getting MCE wasn't that much more. Plus its fun, and
easier to upgrade hardware then I imagine TIVO would be. It works great with
the AVCAST system! I have friends with TiVo, and MCE can do so much more!

Cheers!
 
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