Pyro A/V Link Questions

[Jan Hough]

I have several old VHS tapes that I want to edit in PE-3 and export to DVD. I just bought the Pyro A/V Link. I would very much appreciate your advice on the best approach to do this.

I have a Dell Dimension 8400 Desktop. It does not have the firewire connector. So, to use it w/the Pyro A/V Link, I will have to purchase a card/connector. I am hesitant about installing it–I don’t feel comfortable about opening up my pc and operating on it.

I have a Dell Inspiron 6000 Laptop (Model PP12L) which has the IEEE 1394 connector (4-pin). So, I believe that I can use it w/the Pyro A/V Link. I will have to purchase a 6-pin to 4-pin cable.

What I would like to do is use the Laptop to convert from VHS to Digital; copy it to DVD and then read the DVD into PE-3 on the Desktop. I have found using PE-3 on the laptop too slow.

Will this work?

If this isn’t the correct solution, I would probably prefer to purchase a DVD burner that I could connect to the Pyro A/V Link w/o using a pc…go from VHS to DVD w/o pc and then read that DVD into PE-3 on the Desktop. If this seems to be the better way to go, can you please recommend a good non-pc DVD burner?

I appreciate any assistance. Thank you, Jan

[Steve Grisetti]

It's not the best solution, Jan. In fact, it will probably ultimately drive you crazy, with all the possible problems it might cause.

The absolute best solution: Drop a FireWire card in that desktop and capture to where you want to edit.

Since you were going to buy a FireWire cable anyway, order a FireWire card/cable bundle. They can be had for about $20.

Like this one:
http://www.amazon.com/TRENDnet-TFW-H3PI ... 285&sr=8-1

[Jan Hough]

Thank you for your reply Steve. I had a feeling that would be the answer. A new adventure!

[Chuck Engels]

Hi Jan,
Here are some tutorials on installing PCI cards including Firewire, the last one is my favorite.

http://www.directron.com/fireguide.html
http://www.associatedcontent.com/video/ ... d_for.html
http://lifehacker.com/software/feature/ ... 135479.php

If the Laptop is to slow to run Premiere Elements it probably will be to slow to capture video.
The Pyro Link will work great with your desktop and you will need a 6pin to 6pin firewire cable for that.
I think you will find it easier than you can imagine to add a firewire card

[Steve Grisetti]

And, in case you're nervous, popping a new card in your computer is just a little harder than changing a lightbulb -- but not quite as hard as changing your own oil.

[Jan Hough]

As usual, thank you! Why couldn’t you two be my neighbors?

The tutorials are great–pictures always help. I’ll give it a try!

I need a Phillips screwdriver…let’s see…I think I can figure that one out–(only kidding…I’m not quite that bad.) (I hope).

I’ll video myself attempting this and if I end up throwing the pc out the window I’ll add it to the one w/all the men throwing their pcs….I’ll fit right in…

Thanks.

[Chuck Engels]

I have faith in your ability Jan.

[Rockdoc]

Go, Jan, GO!!!! You can do it!!!

[jackfalbey]

H Jan,

I have a Dimension 8400, and it is really easy to add a PCI card. Dell made it a very simple process. I've opened up my PC many times for many reasons, and each time I'm glad I bought a Dell.

If you got the SoundBlaster Audigy card with your 8400, it has a firewire connector. You may not have to add a card after all.

Also, you don't ever want to burn video to DVD and then try to edit it after. The DVD encoding process compresses the video to MPEG2, which causes some picture quality loss. If you then bring it in to your editing software and burn it to DVD again will result in very noticeable loss of quality, especially if the original source is VHS. Your plan to capture through the Pyro into the 8400, edit with Premiere, then burn to DVD is definitely the best way.

[Jan Hough]

OK...I did it! I installed the card...

BUT....

I don't understand what the following means in the Pyro instructions:

"Make sure your drive is DMA enabled"

And, also it states that I should close all 'unnecessary' programs and background tasks. When I looked at the 'processes' under Task Manager I was surprised to see how many there are. How do I know which are 'unnecessary'? Some are obvious; others I have no clue what they do...

And, again--Thank you so much for your help. I really do appreciate it.

[jackfalbey]

DMA stands for Direct Memory Access. It should be enabled by default, but here are instructions anyway http://www.onthegosoft.com/dma_setting_nt.htm.

To see what all the processes are, check http://www.answersthatwork.com, http://www.processlibrary.com, and http://www.majorgeeks.com. To streamline Windows XP's processes, check http://www.blackviper.com but
***WARNING*** be very careful when changing or disabling Services
because you can cause your computer to stop working if you change the wrong settings.

[Chuck Engels]

Way to go Jan!!

I would first try to capture, don't worry about the background processes for now. If you have problems with the capture then we can work on solutions, but I am thinking you won't have any problems anyway so why worry about it.

[Jan Hough]

Thanks Chuck and Jack!

OK…here we go…

I tried to capture and it worked for a little while and then PE-3 just stopped. I had problems closing it. Tried a couple more times and the same thing happened.

I checked all of the background processes so at least I know what they are. I didn’t try to do anything w/them.

[Paul LS]

IS your hard drive formatted NTFS or FAT32... it needs to be NTFS as FAT32 will only support 4GB files sizes so 14 minute of DV-AVI video.
Go to My Computer, right click on the hard drive and select Properties. What does it say for File System?

[Jan Hough]

It is NTFS.