Video in Saw Full 4.1

[DavidandMary]

Forgive the novice question here. I am trying to get some video into Saw Full 4.1 so that I can add some audio and make a video to give my little wife. When I try and capture the video from my ADS Technologies PYRO A/V Link (API-558-EFS) analog to video converter, I get a message that there are dropped frames. This puts things out of sync. I have Vegas Video as well, but want to do this in Saw. Could someone point me in the right direction as I get started? Any advice?

[Arco]

what is the source?

the best format to work with is AVI. are you using the software that comes with the ADS box or from within SAW?

[DavidandMary]

Hey thanks for the reply. The source is a VHS played in a Panasonic GX4 that I got from a former studio owner. The material is of some old video when she was a child. I am sending it out of the Yellow, white and red to the converter and trying to capture that. I am new at this so haven't learned all of the terms yet. I assume that the captured file is an AVI like you mentioned but am not certain...

[Bob L]

The AV Link box generally works very well for me... is this a firewire version or usb?

If it is firewire... make sure you have doen the firewire patch if you are using XP Service Pack 2... it breaks the firewire... details can be found in a Google search or on the RME forum.

If it is usb... perhaps your usb is not up to usb 2.0 speed, which you will need to capture video.

SAWStudio will only work correctly with the firewire capture.

Bob L

[DavidandMary]

Thanks Bob!

It is Firewire so I will search out the firewire detail you mentioned.

[DavidandMary]

Okay, now what does the capture graph do? I am having trouble building the capture graph. I am really getting dropped frames now. I downloaded the patch from Microsoft but it seems even worse.

[DavidandMary]

Okay nevermind... I read the Saw manual again and understood it better this time. I was not using the right mode. When I changed it, things changed. It is working great now. I am soo happy! Thanks Bob!

[DavidandMary]

The quality is much better in SAW than anything I tried before. This is neat and I am going to capture everything in Saw from now on...

[Bob L]

Glad you got it working... now make sure to save the Video Preferences (in the Video menu)... this will retain the firewire settings for next time... rember... save Video Prefs... in the viewer menu... not in the SS menu.

Bob L

[DavidandMary]

Will do Bob. Your way of working is top notch. Really love Saw and your support is out of this world too...

[Mountain Media]

Will do Bob. Your way of working is top notch. Really love Saw and your support is out of this world too...

Amen!!! And releasing pre-SAC at the same time!! Glad you got satisfaction with SAW Video and thanks to Bob for the continued support!

[DavidandMary]

You are right. Truly amazing when you put it that way...

[Cary B. Cornett]

SAWStudio will only work correctly with the firewire capture.

Bob L This raises an interesting question for me:
My new digital camera is able to shoot video (not fancy, but probably usable for some purposes). It saves it to an internal memory card (2 gig capacity in this case), and the manual says that what it saves is an AVI file. The only interface for the camera, however, is USB.

So... given that the camera stores the file internally for later transfer (the only way it works, apparently), does that make the transfer speed of the file irrelevant? Could I simply copy the file into my hard drive (without using SAW), then have SAW access the file within the computer?

[DominicPerry]

Cary,

That should work fine, just copy to your HD over USB and then import into the video viewer, as long as it's the right kind of AVI file.

Dominic

[Bob L]

No Problem because you are not doing live video capture... you are simply copying an avi data file as if from a thumbdrive.

Bob L

[Ian Alexander]

This raises an interesting question for me:
My new digital camera is able to shoot video (not fancy, but probably usable for some purposes). It saves it to an internal memory card (2 gig capacity in this case), and the manual says that what it saves is an AVI file. The only interface for the camera, however, is USB.

So... given that the camera stores the file internally for later transfer (the only way it works, apparently), does that make the transfer speed of the file irrelevant? Could I simply copy the file into my hard drive (without using SAW), then have SAW access the file within the computer?
There are also standalone USB card readers available for low cost. I have one that reads several different types of memory cards. USB transfers from my camera really chew up the camera batteries. Google 'memory card reader writer' and you'll find a bunch for 20 bucks or so.

[Cary B. Cornett]

USB transfers from my camera really chew up the camera batteries. My current camera (a Samsung L73) has a special cable for connection to USB (the camera end appears to be some proprietary standard), and if the USB port has power available (as most should), the camera also gets power through the cable. There is even an indicator at the camera end that lets you know if the battery is charging, or is already fully charged. Transfers from camera to computer thus do not seem to present a "battery drain" issue for me.

My son Samuel has a different brand of camera, which he has used to shoot video of band practices. He has taken to borrowing my camera for file transfers into his computer (same kind of memory card), and IIRC the reason had to do with batteries in his camera running out before transfer was completed, which meant he had to start the process over.