What else? Dropped frames on capture...

Hi Folks, I am new to the group, hope I can find help here!
I have an eMac, G4, OS 10.3.9., 768 mb Sdram. I am currently digitizing a lot of footage using Final Cut Pro 4. So far I have done over 85 hours of footage without a problem, filling 6 - 500 gig RAID drives (big project!).

However, with this latest batch of tapes I am having frequent problems with dropped frames on capture. I am capturing 10 to 15 minute clips, as per editor's orders. Nothing has changed from earlier digitize sessions so I am baffled as to the cause. I need clean captures as this footage is going to be onlined for broadcast.

I am digitizing using DVCAM tapes (124s), on a Sony DSR-45 DVCam deck, into my Emac, and stored on a new, 500g RAID drive. It's not yet one quarter full. The DV tapes have had some time code breaks, but it is relatively minor to deal with. I have all my capture settings on the RAID drive (auto-save, thumbnails, etc). I log a tape and then digitize the whole thing, then move on to the next tape.

It is getting so the whole thing aborts capture almost every clip - very time consuming! It will get it on a second attempt each time. I have used MacSweeper to defrag, and carefully close all other applications when I am going to digitize (or try to go straight to digitize on start up, without opening any other programs).

I have 30-odd tapes to go, so am facing a potential nightmare here. Any suggestions? I have been checking Apple, FAQs, etc, and haven't seen a clear aha! answer yet. The editing team here is doing a lot of head scratching.

Thanks for your help! Hope this isn't some dumb obvious thing that you've answered 1000 times (i.e. don't use the CD drive as a mug holder).
Shereen

How is everything connected?

For the best stability, you should not be connecting the drives and the deck to the Mac at the same time. For laptops, it's a PC Card for the deck and the built-in for the drives. For a deskside, it's a PCI Card for the drives and the built in for the deck.

If you're looping the FireWire connection or have two connections and are using both, this will eventually catch up with you in, what else, dropped frames.

Drive stacks that large become sloppy as they fill up and the machine just can't maintain the speed and stability needed for live video capture. You may find that you can't play back, either for the same reason, only that won't kill you until you get the show done.

This may be sticky as I don't think you can fix this problem on an eMac.

Others may disagree.

Others?

Koz