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Home: Video University Forums: Canon All Camcorders:
XL1 pixelated footage

X-Doug_Isom
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Apr 23, 2004, 12:38 PM

Post #1 of 9 (2031 views)
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XL1 pixelated footage	Can't Post

I have an XL1 that was giving me pixelated images upon capture.
I just had it in the shop for 2 months and and $325.00 dollars worth of cleaning, testing and new tranport mechanism and much to my dismay am still getting pixelated footage.
Playback in the camera does not show this, capture preview window in Premiere 6.5 does not show it either until I hit record.
I have not gotten to try a brand new tape yet but did shot on a new, unshot section of an older tape to no avail.
Am I jumping the gun here? Should a fresh, clean, brand new tape solve my problems or could there maybe even be some other problem such as my firewire cable or capture card? My cable is a heavy duty Belkin and capture card is is a Pyro Platinum which have both presented no problems previously.

X-don
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Apr 23, 2004, 9:36 PM

Post #2 of 9 (2030 views)
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Re: XL1 pixelated footage	Can't Post

: I have an XL1 that was giving me pixelated images upon capture.
: I just had it in the shop for 2 months and and $325.00 dollars worth of cleaning, testing and new tranport mechanism and much to my dismay am still getting pixelated footage.
: Playback in the camera does not show this, capture preview window in Premiere 6.5 does not show it either until I hit record.
If playback in the camera is OK, and initial capture looks OK in premier (including scrubbing the timeline frame-by-frame, the rpoblem is not capture.
In what way are the images pixelated? Please describe the setup and setps you took to get there in detail, inclluding your PC and configuration

X-Doug_Isom
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Apr 24, 2004, 7:32 PM

Post #3 of 9 (2031 views)
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Re: XL1 pixelated footage [In reply to]	Can't Post

Thanks Don.
Set up is:
Intel p4 2.4Ghz
Asus P4PE Mobo
1 Gig Kingston Ram
Matrox G-450
ADS Pyro Platinum Firewire Card
Adaptec SCSI controller
2 Quantum 9 Gig SCSI Drives
1 LaCie 160 Gig External Firewire Drive
M Audio Delta44 sound card
Sony CD ROM
Sony DVD Burner
Thermaltake Fans and Round IDE cables
Running Win2000Pro
Premiere 6.5
No IRQ conflicts or other PC problems
Playback in camera look fine. Capture preview in Premiere looks fine including scrubbing using Premiere's preview window's camera control.
I hook up camera via firewire, turn it on, boot machine, boot premiere. Start the capture procedure (problems occurs on both SCSI and firewire drives) scrub and set my in point and out point. Then click capture. As I watch the capture in the preview window I see every few seconds random color pixels covering the screen. The amount of pixelation appears random as does the length it appears but never more than just a couple of seconds. It does to seem to have pattern as to occuring every few seconds.
: : I have an XL1 that was giving me pixelated images upon capture.
: : I just had it in the shop for 2 months and and $325.00 dollars worth of cleaning, testing and new tranport mechanism and much to my dismay am still getting pixelated footage.
: : Playback in the camera does not show this, capture preview window in Premiere 6.5 does not show it either until I hit record.
: If playback in the camera is OK, and initial capture looks OK in premier (including scrubbing the timeline frame-by-frame, the rpoblem is not capture.
: In what way are the images pixelated? Please describe the setup and setps you took to get there in detail, inclluding your PC and configuration

X-don
Imported Account

Apr 25, 2004, 6:34 AM

Post #4 of 9 (2030 views)
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Re: XL1 pixelated footage [In reply to]	Can't Post

:...
: Playback in camera look fine. Capture preview in Premiere looks fine including scrubbing using Premiere's preview window's camera control.
: ... Then click capture. As I watch the capture in the preview window I see every few seconds random color pixels covering the screen. The amount of pixelation appears random as does the length it appears but never more than just a couple of seconds.
Hmmm. If I understand, the pixelation is only on the PC monitor during capture, not in file after they are captured or on the original tape. If that is the case, at least you can work with the video after it is captured. Sounds like something may be taking clock cycles during capture, maybe even anti-virus software.
From the 9 GB size, the SCSI drivs sound like they might be older models. Which Adaptec SCSI controller and which level SCSI are they (that is, which speed SCSI)?

X-Bryan_Sliwowski
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Apr 26, 2004, 1:39 AM

Post #5 of 9 (2032 views)
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Re: XL1 pixelated footage [In reply to]	Can't Post

Something to consider...
I was having problems exporting footage to tape from Prem 6.5.
Running Win XP, turning ON the Firewall option for my network connection seemed to help the problem.
Good Luck
Bryan Sliwowski

: I have an XL1 that was giving me pixelated images upon capture.
: I just had it in the shop for 2 months and and $325.00 dollars worth of cleaning, testing and new tranport mechanism and much to my dismay am still getting pixelated footage.
: Playback in the camera does not show this, capture preview window in Premiere 6.5 does not show it either until I hit record.
: I have not gotten to try a brand new tape yet but did shot on a new, unshot section of an older tape to no avail.
: Am I jumping the gun here? Should a fresh, clean, brand new tape solve my problems or could there maybe even be some other problem such as my firewire cable or capture card? My cable is a heavy duty Belkin and capture card is is a Pyro Platinum which have both presented no problems previously.

X-Doug_Isom
Imported Account

Apr 26, 2004, 4:37 PM

Post #6 of 9 (2031 views)
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Re: XL1 pixelated footage [In reply to]	Can't Post

The Adaptec is model 2940 the Speed is Ultrawide 2.
The pixelation is still there after I render the final video. It does seem to occur about every second or so for about 3 frames.
I am starting the think I got screwed on the cleaning and "repair" job I just had.

: :...
: : Playback in camera look fine. Capture preview in Premiere looks fine including scrubbing using Premiere's preview window's camera control.
: : ... Then click capture. As I watch the capture in the preview window I see every few seconds random color pixels covering the screen. The amount of pixelation appears random as does the length it appears but never more than just a couple of seconds.
: Hmmm. If I understand, the pixelation is only on the PC monitor during capture, not in file after they are captured or on the original tape. If that is the case, at least you can work with the video after it is captured. Sounds like something may be taking clock cycles during capture, maybe even anti-virus software.
: From the 9 GB size, the SCSI drivs sound like they might be older models. Which Adaptec SCSI controller and which level SCSI are they (that is, which speed SCSI)?

X-don
Imported Account

Apr 26, 2004, 6:12 PM

Post #7 of 9 (2031 views)
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Re: XL1 pixelated footage [In reply to]	Can't Post

: The Adaptec is model 2940 the Speed is Ultrawide 2.
: The pixelation is still there after I render the final video. It does seem to occur about every second or so for about 3 frames.
If you can, try a capture from the camcorder on a different system, and try capture the tape in questionusing a different camcorder and see if that makes a difference. Also, try a capture from a differnt tape on the current system. Note that if the repair also resulted in a change in head alignment there might be an issue tracking some recently recorded tapes.

X-Doug_Isom
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Apr 28, 2004, 12:06 PM

Post #8 of 9 (2031 views)
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Re: XL1 pixelated footage [In reply to]	Can't Post

Don and Bryan thanks for your input on this, it is appreciated.
Problem seems to be related to my LaCie firewire drive and/or Premiere capture.
Reinstalled Premiere and firewire card driver no luck.
Removed network card, no luck.
Removed firewire drive and it got a little better, pixelation not occuring as often and not as severe.
Tried capture with Ulead DVD software on SCSI drive, perfect!!! No pixelation. Then tried capture again through Ulead onto firwire drive and you guessed it, pixelation like crazy!
So now I can at least complete the project and get paid! Then figure out the fix. Not how I want to have to do things as I was really wanting to get away from the SCSI drives and only use 1 program for capture/edit.

: : The Adaptec is model 2940 the Speed is Ultrawide 2.
: : The pixelation is still there after I render the final video. It does seem to occur about every second or so for about 3 frames.
: If you can, try a capture from the camcorder on a different system, and try capture the tape in questionusing a different camcorder and see if that makes a difference. Also, try a capture from a differnt tape on the current system. Note that if the repair also resulted in a change in head alignment there might be an issue tracking some recently recorded tapes.

X-don
Imported Account

Apr 29, 2004, 6:32 AM

Post #9 of 9 (2031 views)
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Re: XL1 pixelated footage [In reply to]	Can't Post

: Don and Bryan thanks for your input on this, it is appreciated.
: Problem seems to be related to my LaCie firewire drive and/or Premiere capture.
May be too many things on the same firewire controller to allow both capture from camcorder and recordignto a different firewire device. Also, worth checking to ensure all are using fastest method possible (e.g., DMA rather thatn PIO if that is an option and supported.) An apprach may be to capture to the SCSI drive then transfer tot he firewire after capture. YOu may have to reverse the proces if dumping to tape.
Personally I have switched to using modest cost large ATA100/133 drives. You can find them at around 50 cents/gigabyte these days if you watch for sales and rebates.