problems capturing through FW in serial hookup

[stanwa602]

I recently setup my 1.8Ghz Macbook Pro for editing: FCE, FW external drive, and XL-2. My 15" mac only has one FW port, but my external drive enclosure (VANTEC NST-360UFS-BK NexStar 3) has two. So I serial linked my camera through the drive (i.e. XL-2 to NexStar 3 via Firewire and then NexStar 3 to Macbook Pro via Firewire) for capturing.

This setup seemed to work fine, but after my first footage capture I noticed small skips in my video and audio. These skips do not exist on the tape -- just the imported footage.

Does anyone know whether my serial connecting could perhaps be causing my problem or not?

 

[ChemiosMurphy]

It's called daisy chaining... and yes... it will screw you up. Ditch the external drive for now and make your captures to the internal hard drive, or usb2.0 if your feeling dangerous.

You won't be able to use the ntsc output on your XL2 when your editing with the firewire hard drive hooked up... the price you pay for mobility.

BUT DON'T DAISY CHAIN!

 

[stanwa602]

Thanks for the advice, ChemiosMurphy. And thanks for the great term: daisy chain! So out of curiosity, do you have any idea just what is the technical issue with daisy chaining a HD and camera for capture?

 

[ChemiosMurphy]

I'm not too sure of the exact technical advice... but i'm pretty sure that it's just sucking up the bandwidth. the camera feed must go straight through the hard drive to the processor, and then this information is routed back to the hard drive, so essentially you're getting 3 lanes of information through the initial connection to the hard drive. I hope this advice works!!