Hi,
I wonder what standard editing computers can and cannot do simultanously while capturing video, without loss. Capturing DV doesn't seem to take up much memory nor CPU? But I suppose the hard disc writer head can't do too much at the same time if all the 0's and 1's of the DV stream is going to come in in realtime? Is it advicable not to touch the computer while capturing? I suppose "abort on dropped frames" will show? Cassette capturing takes long hours in big projects...

Capturing is a time best used for a coffee break.

I've comfortably captured 3 DV streams at the same time on the same computer while using Outlook and surfing the web....and outputting an existing DV file to a DV deck.

End result: 1 hour to capture 3 hours of tapes, email up-to-date, general bimble around the 'net and recorded an edited DV file onto tape.

I've comfortably captured 3 DV streams at the same time on the same computer while using Outlook and surfing the web....and outputting an existing DV file to a DV deck.

End result: 1 hour to capture 3 hours of tapes, email up-to-date, general bimble around the 'net and recorded an edited DV file onto tape.

What is your system setup?? I take a coffeebreak as well during capture.

I use our own Enosoft DV Processor (http://www.enosoft.net) for parallel DV capture.

Computer:

Refurbished Gateway 300DX (http://support.gateway.com/s/PC/DX300/1008558/1008558sp3.shtml) (Pentium D 2.8GHz/1GB DDR2 RAM) with the following:

1. nVidia 7600GS graphics
2. 3-port FireWire PCI card (the base computer also has a 3-port FireWire interface on the motherboard)
3. Two Seagate external hard drives connected by USB 2.0 (to keep the FireWire free for DV)
4. Windows XP MCE (pre-installed)

DV equipment:

Three Sony miniDV camcoders
Sony DSR-11 deck

I guess I have a contrary view on multi-tasking. DV and HDV are an order of magnitude different in resource use. I use Cineform Access HD to capture HDV and it uses 100% or resources as it captures in foreground and makes the larger intermediate files in background. These files which lack interframe compression make subsequent editing better looking than native .mpeg editing and is speedier then too.

If you want to surf and do email while capturing, get a cheapie notebook or refurbish an old machine!

I certainly agree about Cineform.

For straight HDV capture (i.e., to MPEG2-TS format files), the resource use is about the same as DV since the FireWire transfer rates are comparable. Plus the OP seems interested in DV only (I could be wrong!)