The Capturing failed - VS10+

[Peta]

I have a 15 mins video segment that I have tried to download to Ulead from a Canon MV 750i DV Camcorder. I have downloaded many times from this camera previously with problems.

The settings used are: PAL 25fps; MPEG, 24 bits 720 x 576 25fps, lower field first, DVD PAL 4:3.

The space available on the PC is 102GB hard drive, 1.5GB RAM, 1535MB paging file size.

There is no image on the PC screen from the camera and I get the following message when I try to capture:
'An error occurred in the capturing process. The captured file may have exceeded the file size limitation of the operating system'

If I ignore that message and carry on capturing the 15 min segment at the end of the process - nothing has been captured (or in one instance 15 frames only) and I get the following message:

The capturing failed.
The file created is corrupted and unuseable. It will be automatically deleted.'

I tried to capture in AVI instead of MPEG and that was even worse. I got the message "Cannot start the preview graph"

I am not aware of anything I have changed from the last time I downloaded from this camera just before Christmas - and although i have had those messages once before I did manage to capture the video on that occasion and it was perfectly useable.

Any suggestions would be most welcome, I hope that i have provided enough information.

In advance many thanks

Peta

[Ken Berry]

A number of questions spring to mind.

First, how is the camera connected to your computer? It should be via Firewire. And if your computer does not have a firewire port, buy one. They're cheap, and usually come with the necessary cable (normally with a small 4 pin plug for the camera end and a larger 6 pin one for the computer end). Firewire is the only acceptable way of capturing high quality video from a mini DV camera.

Second, why are you capturing to mpeg? A DV camera, as its name suggests, shoots in high quality DV format. You will be far better off capturing in that format if you have room, doing edits in that, and only when editing is finished, go to Share > Create Video File > DVD to create a DVD-compatible mpeg-2 of your project which you can then proceed to burn.

Trying to capture direct to mpeg-2 is fraught with difficulties, particularly if your computer is now overly well endowed with resources.

Third, how much free space is on your hard disc -- which I note is rather small for computers these days. You will normally require at least double the space of your captured video to play around it, for temporary working files etc. Or is the 102 GB the free space which is still available on your hard disc?

[Peta]

Hi Ken

Yes I use firewire.

I will try DV capturing. The video I am downloading has come from an iMovie project, which was completed and then 'shared' back to the DV camera, maybe that is why this problem has arisen.

The 102GB is free space - the hard drive is 200GB - plus I have another 2 x 200GB drives, but they are now external for storage only.

I'll let you know the outcome of DV capture after lunch !

Thanks for your prompt reply

[Ken Berry]

Does the imovie project video appear to play correctly in the camera itself?

And do you still have the original file before it was exported back to the camera? If so, right click on it within VS and tell us the Properties.

[Peta]

Yes Ken, the imovie project plays perfectly in the camera window.

I have now managed to download it, and had capture set at DVD, but at the end of the download it did the following:

'An error occurred in the capturing process. The captured file may have exceeded the file size loimitation of the operating system.'

then

'Flushing DV Transcode buffer'

and then

'Change field order upper field first'

The project properties are currently:

MPEG-2 Video - Lower field first, 25fps, 24bits 720x576 4:3, variable bit rate 8000 max), LPCM audio.

The properties of the imovie project are a mystery known only to iMovie. The project is a mixture of still photographs and DV video which have been assembled on an iMac into an iMovie project and then played back to the camera for storage.

I have no editing to do to this project - just some titles to add, so I will continue and see what the final output looks like.

It was all very strange and worrying.

[Ken Berry]

Are you by any chance using an operating system other than Windows XP or if you are using XP, are your hard disks formatted as NTFS or FAT32? If the latter, then you can only deal with files which are a maximum of 4 GB in size. That could possibly account for the size error message.

As for the Field Order question, have you tried changing your project properties to Upper Field First?

Have you not succeeded in capturing to DV? In fact, capture is not the right word. It is merely transferring video from the camera in exactly the same format it has in the camera...

[Peta]

Hi Ken, sorry to be late in responding, was away at the weekend.

I did succeed in producing an acceptable DVD eventually by downloading as DV. Still had error messages, but at least it was there and useable.

The Upper field order message appeared and the program took some action but I couldn't detect any change at the end, I always use digital and therefore Lower Field First. I have never seen that message about changing upper field first or the flushing DV transcode buffer before

I am using XP and I think FAT32 (the System info says System32) so maybe that is right. BUT I have done much larger projects with this same configuration before and had no problems with size messages.

I am about to do two more projects tomorrow, I am apprehensive!

On a totally unrelated matter.

How do you stop the DVD when being played in a DVD player from starting again from the beginning automatically when it has finished playing. I'd like it to go back to the menu. I'm sure it's something simple but I haven't found it yet.

Cheers

Peta

[Ken Berry]

Well I remain mystified.

As for FAT32, it is not the same as System32, which is a standard Windows XP sub-directory, regardless of whether you have NTFS or FAT32. You can find out what filing system your various discs use by going to Contol Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Disc Management, and all your drives should be shown, together with the filing system used on them.

As for getting your DVD to return to the menu, it is easy but if anything has an even more complicated path than the previous one above! When you open the burning module, click on the Options icon (second in bottom left of screen). Uncheck 'Auto Repeat when disc playback ends' down at the bottom of the screen. The window to the right of 'Clip Playback' should no longer be greyed out. It will give you the choice of either 'Continue to Play the Next Clip' or [TA DAA! ] 'Back to Menu' ...

[Peta]

OK Ken thanks again. The system uses NTFS and is "healthy" 100GB free of 186GB. So we shall see what happens tomorrow when I set off on the next two projects!

Wonderful thank you so much for the DVD menu directions !!

Cheers

Peta