Strange problems with my DIY tapeless recording solution at DVinfo.net

Sunny Singh · October 27th, 2009, 08:15 AM

I film a lot of live music so my idea was to keep a netbook (Lenovo S10) in a backpack and capture directly to that with Premiere or WinDV. Kind of a clunky setup, but it was my only option given my budget.

This has worked really well in my test runs that aren't at live shows (walking around the house/outside), but it keeps failing me when I'm at a show. I'll get about 5 minutes captured before I'm hit with either a "lost connection to device" error (even though everything is plugged in securely) or just an "unknown error" . I've recorded at least 45 minutes continuously during my test runs, so it doesn't seem to be an issue with the netbook powering down because the lid is closed or anything like that. I also haven't had any frame drops during my extended test runs.

The only thing I can think of is that the vibrations from the sound system/PA at a show are causing the drive heads to skip or something. Could it be something else? Are there any easy solutions? I suppose upgrading to SSD would be feasible, but those are still pretty expensive the last time I checked. I'm considering wrapping the netbook in soundproofing foam, but that seems a little over the top!

Thanks in advance for your ideas/suggestions.

Aaron Newsome · October 27th, 2009, 09:46 AM

Sunny, I do the same thing but not live music,.. in nightclubs. The music is very loud and the vibrations caused my laptop to skip badly through the recording. I was only recording sound with my laptop but the skipping pretty much made the recording unusable. I was recording video with flash (no moving parts), and it was fine. Only the audio was ruined.

Lesson learned. Get an SSD if you can.

Aaron Newsome · October 27th, 2009, 09:52 AM

Sunny, I do the same thing but not live music,.. in nightclubs. The music is very loud and the vibrations caused my laptop to skip badly through the recording. I was only recording sound with my laptop but the skipping pretty much made the recording unusable. I was recording video with flash (no moving parts), and it was fine. Only the audio was ruined.

Lesson learned. Get an SSD if you can.

Sunny Singh · October 27th, 2009, 10:42 AM

Aaron, thanks for the validation. I had a feeling that was the issue! I just hope the much anticipated price drop in SSDs becomes a reality this coming year.

October 27th, 2009, 08:15 AM	#1
Sunny Singh Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Mt Laurel, NJ Posts: 37	Strange problems with my DIY tapeless recording solution I film a lot of live music so my idea was to keep a netbook (Lenovo S10) in a backpack and capture directly to that with Premiere or WinDV. Kind of a clunky setup, but it was my only option given my budget. This has worked really well in my test runs that aren't at live shows (walking around the house/outside), but it keeps failing me when I'm at a show. I'll get about 5 minutes captured before I'm hit with either a "lost connection to device" error (even though everything is plugged in securely) or just an "unknown error" . I've recorded at least 45 minutes continuously during my test runs, so it doesn't seem to be an issue with the netbook powering down because the lid is closed or anything like that. I also haven't had any frame drops during my extended test runs. The only thing I can think of is that the vibrations from the sound system/PA at a show are causing the drive heads to skip or something. Could it be something else? Are there any easy solutions? I suppose upgrading to SSD would be feasible, but those are still pretty expensive the last time I checked. I'm considering wrapping the netbook in soundproofing foam, but that seems a little over the top! Thanks in advance for your ideas/suggestions.

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October 27th, 2009, 09:46 AM	#2
Aaron Newsome Major Player Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Rancho Santa Margarita Posts: 251	Sunny, I do the same thing but not live music,.. in nightclubs. The music is very loud and the vibrations caused my laptop to skip badly through the recording. I was only recording sound with my laptop but the skipping pretty much made the recording unusable. I was recording video with flash (no moving parts), and it was fine. Only the audio was ruined. Lesson learned. Get an SSD if you can.

October 27th, 2009, 09:52 AM	#3
Aaron Newsome Major Player Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Rancho Santa Margarita Posts: 251	Sunny, I do the same thing but not live music,.. in nightclubs. The music is very loud and the vibrations caused my laptop to skip badly through the recording. I was only recording sound with my laptop but the skipping pretty much made the recording unusable. I was recording video with flash (no moving parts), and it was fine. Only the audio was ruined. Lesson learned. Get an SSD if you can.

October 27th, 2009, 10:42 AM	#4
Sunny Singh Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Mt Laurel, NJ Posts: 37	Aaron, thanks for the validation. I had a feeling that was the issue! I just hope the much anticipated price drop in SSDs becomes a reality this coming year.