One step forward, two steps back....

[hapz]

Video editing turns out to be pretty frustrating so far.

My G400+RRG combination still gives me a hard time, and the most expensive editing software I have crashes. And we are expecting another 1 - 2 feet of snow.... ;(

1) Audio problem

Whenever I want to capture something from my tape deck with anything but PC-VCR audio disappears. It is back as soon as I get out of capture mode. Of course, that means that I cannot use all the tricks suggested in this forum, like AVI_IO, HuuYUV, etc. VERY annoying. Matrox insisted that the root for my problem is my not using an audio card, but instead relying on AC'97 integrated in my mobo. I refused to believe tat story, but that did not get me anywhere. So I finally caved in, bought a SB Live!, got rid of my Dxr3 decoder card, and replaced it with the SB Live!. The result was overwhelming, or should I say underwhelming.

I still do not have audio. The problems remain exactly as they were. Wasted investment and effort. But what really bugs me, I still have the problem. How can i get rid of it? Could it be that my RRG is defective? What else could it be?

2) Premiere crashes when adding clips.

Under Win2k it crahes gracefully, under Win98SE and WinME it takes everything with it. It happens after clips are already on the timeline, and I add another one. There is no obvious reason.

Initially I used clips created from several 2GB files (all captured with PC-VCR, mjpeg, full screen, highest quality). Then I recaptured essentially only the sections I wated to use in the final product. Did not make any difference, Premiere crashes after a while.

So, what good is a very expensive program with a multitude of capabilities under these circumstances? It is essentially unusable.

What is really galling, two other programs handle the same captured files very well.

VideoWave 4 has no problems, but the full screen quality of the final product is unacceptable. Quality of the other resolutions is good.

Microsoft's Windows Movie Maker under WinME also produces good results. But it cannot make anything but wmv files.

Why is Premiere giving me such a hard time?

3) Other hardware

I played wih the idea of getting a Sony media converter paired with a firewire card.

Aside from Doc's warning about the quality deficiencies of the 4:1:1 DV conversion, such a solution promised wide support, and getting away from the seemingly unresolvable RRG problems.

Well, that soup is not without hair either. Sony makes claims but does not back them up. And they refuse to provide information on which hardware and software works. Pyro said that they do not support the DVMC-DA2, but cannot or will not explain why the converter does not work with their products, or only works partially.

I hate to invest another $400+ only to find out that something does not work again.

It is amazing, how bad the products perform in this "low" price segment of the market. That leaves open the question whether the "medium" priced market performs any better. DV500 and RT2000 products are not without major complaints. And they seem to require their own PC build around them. And even that eems to be a risky proposition.

I still have hope that somebody out there has the insight and know-how to get my "cheap" solution to run propely

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Harald

[Phil Pugh]

Also - check that you are actually creating sound with the video when you create/render your final video. Ulead's MSP (for instance) tends to have a nasty habit of defaulting to no audio with video until you set it - it remembers it then.

[hapz]

Thanks guys for your input. Unfortunately I must say: been there, done that.

Just to make sure I recorded a session with SB from my video tape. Worked perfectly!!!

Recording audio with the MSP Audio Editor works too.

But as soon as I use video capture, audio is history!!!! The effect is very easy to observe. I am running my tape deck and I can hear the sound transmitted via the sound card (or mobo based sound chips) to my PC speakers. When I click the capture function in MSP, or Premiere, or AVI_IO, etc., the sound is muted. I.e., actual capture is not even initiated at that point. As soon as I switch to a different selection sound is present again.

This is what makes it so frustrating.

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Harald

[AndrewDV]

Hello,

I am not sure about #2 and #3, but #1 seems like a configuration issue with your sound card. If you want to record output from a rack component (tape deck), you should use a line level connection to the SBLive.

Check to make sure your connections are correct. There have been plenty of times when I confused the mic and line connections.

With the Marvel G400-TV (this is what I am using), there is an 'Audio Out' cable that goes to the 'Line In' connection of the SBLive card. Whenever I need to record from a rack piece, I temporarily remove the Marvel cable to allow the rack hookup. I am not sure how similar the RR-G audio hookup is to the Marvel.

Also, open up your Windows volume control. It is the little speaker icon in your system tray (bottom right of the screen). First, make sure the 'Line In' volume is at an acceptable level (high up) and is not muted. I've noticed with the Marvel that I can not have 'CD Audio' and 'Line In' active at the same time. They switch when you choose them (odd).

Next, go to the menu item 'Options' and choose 'Properties.' A 'Properties' dialog box should open up. Change the 'Adjust Volume for' setting to 'Recording.' Also, make sure the 'Line In' checkbox is checked. Click the OK button. You should see another set of volume controls. Make sure the 'Line In' level is at an acceptable level (high up for testing) and the 'Select' check box is checked.

After checking all of that, see if you can record with the standard Creative Recorder. When you go to playback, make sure that the 'Wave' and 'DirectSound' volume levels are on.

Hope this helps