Stuttering audio/video stream capturing DV vid from camcorder to PC

spellbinder2050

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Sep 7, 2008
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I'm trying to capture some raw DV files from some DV cassettes I have from 2004-2007 for long term storage. I have a Samsung camcorder connected to the PC via a DV iEEE firewire cable. It's the same model camcorder I used to capture the tapes, but not the same actual camcorder.

In Windows XP 32 bit, I've tried VirtualDub, Windows Movie Maker, and WinDV. However, the sound and picture stutter in all three. For VirtualDub and WinDV, it's mainly the audio, for Movie Maker, it's mainly the picture. I also tried Virtualdub in Win 7 64 bit, with the same result. There's about 1.5 frames dropped for 60 seconds worth of video on different tapes.

I've tried two different firewire ports. My front port and my rear port. I've tried to use a cassette cleaner for the camcorder twice at different times, running it through for 10 seconds as specified on the instructions. The video and audio doesn't lag or stutter when viewing it on the camcorder's LCD screen, at least I can't tell, but It stutters even when it's playing in the preview window without saving in Virtualdub. I tried to set the save file to a hard drive as well as a solid state drive though anyway.

Anyone know what could cause this? Could it be the cable or the firewire controller's firmware? The only thing I could think of is if it were the tapes, the firewire controller on the mothboard, the camcorder itself, or the cable I'm using to connect the camcorder. It doesn't seem to lag on the camcorder's screen itself, I don't know if that makes a difference though. Maybe the small screen is just better at hiding it. I also just bought this firewire cable just for this purpose.

I've attached a photo of 60 seconds worth of dropped frames when trying to capture.

r1kkyq.jpg


My specs:

Core i7 950 @ 4.0ghz;
16GB DDR3 1600mhz
WD Blue 7200 RPM HDD / Samsung Evo 840 Pro 256GB
EVGA GTX 980 FTW
Dual boot: Win XP 32 bit / Win 7 64 bit
 

spellbinder2050

Distinguished
Sep 7, 2008
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I restored the default clock of 3.06Ghz. Hyperthreading was already off. I got 100 dropped frames for 60 seconds of video. How could an unstable overclock affect video capture anyway?

Btw, I'm assuming my dropped frames are abnormal. Is it even possible to get no dropped frames? What would be acceptable amount of lost frames to prevent quality loss?