Computer crash when I try to convert movies from my video camera - Hardware trouble?

[tobey.j]

Recently, I have purchased a Sony mini dv second hand video camera, unfortunately i didn't know that i will also need additional software for it. However, I could manage the situation but only up to a point. The movie it outputs is very large and from here lots of problems to handle or save to DVD appeared. I got an advice to convert to mpg video format and, after some investigations, I have downloaded and tried to used a video conversion tool AVS. Altough my computer is not a very new one, it seems to be compatible, the AVS video converter starts the job, but after awhile my computer freezes completely (not always at the same time) when trying to convert the video with this AVS video tool. Everything is blocked including mouse and keyboard I can't even restart or close it, the only solution is to un-plug it from the power source and then to plug in again. This is my only computer and my knowledge in both computers and video editing is very limited I'd dare to say it's almost zero, I think this the source of the problem.
I hope that you will give me good news that is not something wrong with hardware, so I'm wondering if you could help with the settings I should make or with other compatible software with my computer (AMD) and with sony video camera.

[CujoRbd]

what format is it in on the camera? is it AVI, or some Sony proprietary format, or what?
what model of camera is it?

are you converting it right off the camera? if so, try taking the file onto an internal hard drive and then converting it.
to where are you outputting it? how much free space is on that hard drive? you'll probably want 2 or 3 times the amount of space free as what the file will output to

what operating system are you using? Is it windows XP or what? if it's some flavor of windows, make sure to use the Disk Cleanup to ensure that you have no temporary files on the system prior to doing the conversion, as windows doesn't handle temp files very well. on XP, you can go to Start->Run and type "cleanmgr.exe" and then click OK to start Disk Cleanup.

again, if it's windows, try converting with no other programs running in the background, since it is possible that they are causing a conflict. use the instructions in the following document to correctly accomplish this:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310353


if your camera can connect with FireWire, try capturing the video file directly off the camera using a program like DVIO, which will make an AVI. then, if you want it on a DVD, some burning programs can use the AVI file to do this. otherwise, first use a program like bbMPEG to get into MPEG2 format which is what DVDs use.


HTH