I am very new to the process of capturing VHS tapes to digitize them. I have a P4 with 1.5 GB and operating at 2.6 GHz. I have a second 7200 rpm drive (200GB) that is only for DV capturing and use an ADS firewire card (Pyro PCI 64) and video capture device (Pyro AV Link) with Adobe Premiere Elements v1.0. I have even booted up my PC in diagnostic mode and tried capturing with only mediocre results. I get enough dropped frames while capturing most of my original vhs tapes (not copied ones) that the resultant DV capture has points where it hangs and the audio sounds glitchy. When I try to capture again these hangs/glitches occur at different places in the movie. In fact, I have made it through a couple of movies without dropped frames and, since I am having so much trouble with the other flicks, I have tried to capture the error free ones a second time. And U guessed it, I get dropped frames. So far, ADS Tech support hasn't been very helpful. Their solution is that capturing from an analog tape (VHS) is hit and miss and one should expect dropped frames. So, tough luck. Funny, but I do not remember reading this on their web site before I bought the unit. I would be grateful for any advice that would aid getting around so many dropped frames. Even if it is go get a Canopus unit.
I'd return it and get the ADVC-110, or Datavideo TBC-1000. Never did hear much good about ADS or their tech support, sorry.
You Might want to Try a different DV capture Program Like "Scenalyzer Live" which has a very Good frame Buffering technique which seems to help Stop Dropped Frames, That is if the Dropped Frames are From your HD Not being able to write the Data fast enough.... Also Make sure your Capture Drive is Defragmented before Capture as Fragmented drives can cause Dropped Frames.... If the Tapes are somehow dammaged because they are Old or have been watched many times so the Tape is stretched then you will get Dropped Frames useing the Pyro AV Link because it Doesn"t have a TBC nor does it have a audio Lock Feature so you can get Sync problems as you Drop frames..... Devices Like the Canopus ADVC-110/300 have a Built in "Line TBC" which helps elinate any Dropped Frames and Stabilize the Image and with the locked audio support there are no Chance of sync problems, It isn"t as Good as a TBC like the "Datavideo TBC-1000" but good enough for Most tapes..... If you Can, get a Refund on the "Pyro AV Link" and Put a few extra Bucks on top of it and get the "Canopus ADVC-110" as the Quality should Improove and the Dropped Frames should stop and it has More Features, Or if you really want Improve yer results then get the "Canopus ADVC-300"(About $450) which has Hardware Digital Noise Filters and Line Filters that Really Clean up the Image and Make it much sharper and gets rid or Artifacts that are Introduced when converting Analogue to Digital so you can even end up with a Capture that looks better than the VHS Tape because of the Noise removal.... Good Luck
Thanks for the suggestions. I have defragged both my hard drives rather frequently. I think once ADS made it past the easy suggestions (defrag, eliminate all unnecessary background task or services and unplug all USB devices they just decided to ignore my dropped frames issue. After all, it couldn't be the pyro capture device so; it has to be the tapes. These tapes play and view just as good today as when they were purchased years ago; having said that I am sure they would be tougher to convert today than they would have been when new. I'll give "Scenalyzer Live" a shot but I don't think it is the new HD for capturing being to slow. If it isn't I guess I'll try to sell the pyro on EBay and get a Canopus device. I wish I had to come to this forum before I purchased. I did some reading on the cd-freaks forum (video-editing) and found some favorable comments on the ADS stuff. Of course the ADS web site is well polished too. I wouldn't recommend them either after this experience.
