Distortion, Distortion

[Jim Cornelius]

I purchased myself a Sony HC9 and am attempting to capture in Hdv. I'm using Premiere Elements 4 and have both software and camera set to HDV capture. I've been over every setting I can think of and I get distorting before even attempting to capture. I increased the RAM in my computer to 2GB and I purchased a new video card with 512mg video ram. My computer is a 2.2 GHz with XP pro and I have been playing and capturing SD without any problems, even before I upgraded my RAM and video card. When I capture, and then play back, I get flashes of wide bright green bands across my computer screen. The sound is distorted and it goes without saying my video is choppy. Like I said, I start having problems even before I attempt to capture. I also tried the software that came with the HC9 but I have the same problems. I loaded Premiere Elements 4 on my wifes laptop, which also has XP Pro, and everything works like a charm, so I know my camera and cables are working. I've been working on this for about a week now and I'm out of ideas. Appreciate any advice, or suggestions you can give. I don't know if this is important but I can play DVD's on my computer without any audio or video distortion.

Thanks,

Jim

[Robert M Wright]

What CPU is in the computer (not just the clock rate of it) and what video card are you using (not just RAM size)? What software are you using for playback?

[Jim Cornelius]

Thanks for the reply. I'm using a Pentium 4 2.2 GHz, Socket 478 processor. The computer is a HP Pavilion 990c. The video card is an Asus AH 3650 with 512MB DDR2, AGP 4X. I'm using Premiere Elements 4 for editing video. I used this same computer to capture and play video from my Sony TRV25. I had absolutely no problems and I was using Movie Maker. My problems started with HDV. As I said previously I can't even play in Premiere Elements 4 without distortion in the sound and video. And then when I capture and play I get the bright green flashes across my monitor, stuttering sound and video. I'm now deleting everything I don't absolutely need, perhaps theres some software incompatibility.

JIm

[Robert M Wright]

You need a more powerful processor.

[Jim Cornelius]

That means a new computer unless I upgrade just the processor. I'm not sure, with a Socket 478 motherboard, if a satisfactory processor is available. What do you recommend, I can go either way, I just want to get this problem fixed.

Jim

[Robert M Wright]

You could get a faster P4, but it wouldn't be very cost effective (and AGP driver support for a 3650 is dismal). Even a 3.2ghz single core P4 is pretty minimal for working with HD. I'd suggest either getting a new computer or replacing both CPU and motherboard.

A low cost option would be to uprgrade to an Athlon 64 X2 or a Phenom (X3 or X4) and a motherboard built around the AMD 780G (onboard graphics are quite adequate). You would also need new RAM, but that can be had for under $30 for 2 gigs or under $60 for 4 gigs (DDR2 800).

[Robert M Wright]

Here's a 2 gig DDR2 800 kit for $20 (after rebate):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227139

[Harm Millaard]

Originally Posted by Robert M Wright

Here's a 2 gig DDR2 800 kit for $20 (after rebate):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227139

Are you running a 1600 FSB? If not, it may make more sense to look at DDR2 667 (for a 1333 FSB) and better CAS latency figures.

[Robert M Wright]

AMD uses Hyper-Transport. Memory controllers are built into the CPUs. I have serious doubts that fine tuning like that (even with an Intel system) is going to be very cost effective (and CAS 4 is pretty low latency for DDR2). I was suggesting a very low cost memory option that would work okay with a low cost upgrade to an AMD CPU and MB.