Picture break up on fast motion in live feed
 

I am running my Z1 tethered to my desktop pc while I get used to it. I notice that there is always massive picture break up in the capture monitor whenever the subject moves at a quick rate. Fortunately the captured files show a lot less disturbance. What is everybody else finding?

What software are you using? Premiere PRo 1.5.1 uses the Cineform codec and transforms at capture. IF you are using this then your PC is not powerfull enough to capture the HDV data stream, encode and display a preview image. I have the same problem with my PC, AMD XP2500 capturing from my FX1. Try capDVHS as it does not have a preview screen and captures just fine. However if you don't convert this file to an intermediate codec like the Canopus HQ or Cineform wavelet then the PC will still not display an image on editing or playback. HDV requires a very powerfull PC a dual Xeon over 3G is recommended.

Ron Evans

Colvin,
I went through tech support with Cineform on this. It turned out my RDRam was too slow. I tried my notebook which is faster (has a desktop processesor) but it wasn't able to do it either.

I'll get a new PC as soon as Avid supports HDV and qualifies a system or two. Til then it's a guess as to who'what they'll support.

Gonna try CapDVHS and see how it works.

Thanks for the replies. I had a feeling it was the pc. I am not rushing to build a full hdv workstation yet for 2 reasons.
1: let the software stabilise and the prices drop.
2: try and find the lowest workable platform so I have an idea of what to look for in a future laptop to capture on-site.
To be honest, I am pleasantly surprised that my existing pc does so well because it was not even the quickest available to do SD video.
Any ideas which components will have the biggest benefit to edit HDV?

fast ram, fast CPU

Aspect HD 3.0 should help even the slower PC capture better. It is worth trying this download when it is posted next week.

Hmm, I have Vegas 5d on a 2.8ghz P4HT with 800FSB and 2 gigs of pc3200 ram upgradable to 4 gig and an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro agp 8x. I currently am using 2 ata100 drives but will be adding 2 Sata drives configured as Raid 0. Will this be fast enough for Cineform and capture?

I think I can upgrade to a 3ghz on the same motherboard. It's a very reliable Gigabit board that has never caused me problems.

I know I can download from Sony, but I don't have the camera yet and need to know if I need to upgrade my system.

Joe,

You system has plenty of speed, no upgrade needed. My office system is a 2.8 P4 and it works perfectly (you have more RAM and more disk speed than I do, so you are set.) Fortunately you have the 800Mhz FSB running Dual DDR that is where much of the speed comes from. Older 3Ghz systems running single channel 266 DDR, are effective running on a third the memory bandwidth of your system.

Others,

For older systems try can't use the Real-time capture and conversion option, the CineForm standalone capture tool (HD-Link) does allow you to capture as M2T then convert to CFHD as a second step. This will even run on a slow P3, so will should run on anything poeple want to use today.