Sony PCV-R545DS VAIO Computer User Guide (primary manual) User Manual page 21

Do not use DVgate when the connected digital video peripheral is in
Timer Recording mode, as this could produce a malfunction in the
peripheral.
You can record only AVI files. MPEG files cannot be recorded.
To avoid recording problems, such as a single frame appearing in
multiple frames, close other applications on your system while
recording.
You cannot use different audio modes on the same tape. If you have
AVI files that use different audio modes, they cannot be recorded at
the same time, but must be recorded separately.
Do not attempt to work with AVI files that are smaller than 4 MB.
DVgate does not support hard disk compression. Do not use disk
compression if you are planning to work with DVgate.
In order to maximize recording capabilities, video and audio data are
not available while you are recording.
If DVgate indicates that frames have been dropped, close all open
applications, or defragment your hard drive.
In order to improve the performance of your computer's DVgate
software, the hard disk drive on your computer has been formatted with
two partitions, C and D. DVgate saves files to the D partition. This
prevents large video captures from consuming the available space on
your C partition. To maintain optimum performance of DVgate, you
should defragment your D partition regularly.
If you encounter frame dropping while recording digital video onto your
hard disk drive, defragmentation may be necessary. To defragment your
hard disk drive, click the Start button, point to Programs/Accessories/
System Tools, and then select Disk Defragmenter. Please note that it may
take more than a couple of hours to complete defragmentation,
depending on the data capacity and utilization of your computer's hard
disk drive(s).