Need help with my Sony DCR-VX2100 ASAP with Capturing Video

[deepbluevibes]

Ok, this has droven me up the wall.

I've been using camcorders and editing film since 2003, but i've never used a high quality camcorder such as this one until last x-mas (2005).

EVERY SINGLE PROGRAM I seem to use with this (adobe premiere, virtual dub, premiere pro, other programs) to capture video, captures the video with a HORRIBLE interlacing.

i.e. every pixel that should just be one pixel, becomes about two pixels in a still image (all diagonal lines are jagged as well) and during movement, said pixels can stretch as far as up to four or five pixel long, with an interlacing effect (i.e. this only happens on every other line).

The framerate is 30 FPS, i've tried capturing in every frame-rate I can think of, tried capturing in different settings all over the board, nothing's working. The only thing that seems to help is if I actually turn the sharpness on the camcorder down to nothing and keep it at 1/30 but who wants to do that? I paid 2,500 bucks for this camcorder and really, there must be something i'm missing here...

As a side note, the resolution on this camcorder was advertised at 720 x 480, but it almost looks as if putting it at a 640 x 480 resolution or some other pixel resolution would help it, but on said programs I just mentioned (virtual dub is crashing recently so thats out of the picture) I can't change the capture resolution from what i just mentioned, and the pixel rates available are only:

0.9 (NTSC)
1.0 (square pixels)
1.2 (widescreen 16:9)
2.0 (anamorphic)
and then PAL versions of all listed.

as a side note, I live in america, so I am not using PAL standards.

thanks bunches!

[deepbluevibes]

NO ONE knows?

[5lab]

what are you useing to capture - firewire??

tried capturing at a really low compression ratio (in case its a cpu related issue)

[deepbluevibes]

i'm capturing it uncompressed (unless adobe premiere compresses it automatically somehow?)

and i'm using firewire.

anyone have any capturing programs they reccomend if they think that's the problem?

[5lab]

tried using windows movie maker? *shrug*

otherwise, could it be your mobo? i'm guessing theres some reason why you'd want to pay top $ for a standalone firewire card?

[deepbluevibes]

my mobo? never heard of that before.

i paid only about 50 bucks for my firewire card, soo yeah.

Still, that wouldn't explain this, i don't think.

[fuddam]

I use a PD150, via firewire of course, into Sony Vegas. Never had to adjust any settings in the capture program built into Vegas.

where are you capturing to? System drive or separate media drive?

what programs do yo have running during capture that could be causing some sort of interference? virus progs etc.

tried reseating your firewire card?

have you tried Scenealyzer?

[deepbluevibes]

Originally Posted by fuddam

I use a PD150, via firewire of course, into Sony Vegas. Never had to adjust any settings in the capture program built into Vegas.

where are you capturing to? System drive or separate media drive?

what programs do yo have running during capture that could be causing some sort of interference? virus progs etc.

tried reseating your firewire card?

have you tried Scenealyzer?

i'm capturing to my system drive.

i'm running nothing else but adobe premiere to capture it. i have no virus programs running while i capture.

i've tried reseating my firewire card 100's of times.

i have no idea what scenealyzer is.

where do i get sony vegas?

[fuddam]

Try to capture to a different drive. Not essential, but is faster, more stable.

scenealyzer: http://www.scenalyzer.com/main.html

a lot of people swear by it, eg it does HDV scene detection where a lot of NLEs simply capture one huge clip.

Sony Vegas:
http://www.sonymediasoftware.com/pro...egasfamily.asp

software comparison: http://www.sonymediasoftware.com/pro...FeatureID=8357

worth trying out the demo, at the least. Is VERY capable, stable software. Very fast editor - arguably the fastest IMHO but has a different interface, which some people love, some people don't. Best audio tools bar none, absolutely.

[deepbluevibes]

still have no solution...

[5lab]

have you tried capturing through analog (ie, using the video/audio out on the cam to a vid/audio in)?

[deepbluevibes]

no, i'm pretty sure the problem isn't that, i'm pretty sure the problem is finding a program that allows me to capture in any pixel ratio/resolution that i want to, that would most likely fix things...

[Clunk]

something here might help?