Help Please!

tessbw · Post by **tessbw** » Sat Sep 29, 2007 6:54 pm

Hello!

Im a newbie, who's having some real problems.

Hope you would help me?

Ive got a samsung camcorder and I want to make my family films into video on my computer. I have done this before, but after my computer crashed and i had to reinstall windows, it wont work now?

Ive got Videostudio 7 and when I try to capture video it saying the source on the left hand side of the screen is 'Hauppauge' and not samsung as it should be to capture the video from the camcorder.

Ive re-installed videostudio, Ive added codec and drivers, tried different files, and now im totally lost. Ive tried to get help on the ulead site but it wont even register my product.

Any advice is greatly received, please put it as basic as you can though!

Please, please help!

heinz-oz · Post by **heinz-oz** » Sat Sep 29, 2007 10:58 pm

How do you connect the camera, AV jacks? Where do the cables plug into your PC?

For successful capture with VS I recommend a firewire port. These are also known under different names, depending on the hardware you use, IEEE 1394, iLink etc.

Post by **Ken Berry** » Sun Sep 30, 2007 8:07 am

Assuming you are connected via Firewire, try both of these things to see if one of them works:

First, with the camera switched off, open Video Studio and go to the Capture page. Then switch the camera on in PLAY mode. Wait to see if a message appears saying a new device has appeared and should you use it to capture from. If you get this message, of course, say OK.

If not, then try this. Do not open VS. Switch on the camera to PLAY and see if you get a Windows message asking what you want to do with the device -- if VS is listed in the suggested programs, select it. An alternative here is to switch on the camera, ignore any Windows message, open VS and go to the Capture page and see if the camera is now listed.

tessbw · Post by **tessbw** » Sun Sep 30, 2007 8:48 am

thanks to both of you, will give it a try.

tessbw · Post by **tessbw** » Sun Sep 30, 2007 9:01 am

Hi

I connect the cammera using the usb cable that it came with, this has worked before..

Im sorry but I dont understand the firewire bit?

Ive tried both suggestions from Ken, when I dont open VS but plug in and turn on the camcorder there is nothing. When I open VS and try to capture, this is what I get:

A box saying that the signal is weak, do I want to continue?

and then:

A box saying something about HW not correct, needing a codec on MPeg?

I hope this makes sense to you, it has lost me?

Post by **lancecarr** » Sun Sep 30, 2007 9:59 am

Is this a DVD cam?
Did the cam come with it's own software!
The part about installing codecs is particularly worrying as sometimes the "all in one/ every codec you will never need" packs are a disaster in themselves.

tessbw · Post by **tessbw** » Sun Sep 30, 2007 11:31 am

Hi lancecarr

Thanks for your reply.

Its a samsung vp-d352, it runs on little tapes. I got VS version 7 SE DVD with the camcorder.

I have made films before on my computer with it, but now it just wont work.

Post by **lancecarr** » Sun Sep 30, 2007 11:40 am

Ok then.
It is unusual for a DV tape cam to capture using USB due to its inability to sustain high transfer rates however if you have done it before then lets go with that.
I think you need to uninstall any extra codec packs or codecs you tried to install to solve the problem.
If VS7 was supplied with the cam and it worked before then it probably has everything you need to do it.
I would suggest a clean uninstall to try to get back to square one on this. The link here will show you how to do that:
http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic. ... 5773#55773

As a side note make sure when you are using the USB to capture that you have NOTHING else running in the background especially anything that might keep a hold of a USB port.

Post by **Ken Berry** » Sun Sep 30, 2007 12:05 pm

Sorry, Lance but her camera is a mini DV model. While she may have used the USB cable successfully before, you and I both know that with mini DV, that success is very relative...

Tess -- there is no option but to obtain a Firewire card and cable. Your camera produces high quality DV format, and it can only be captured properly with Firewire. I know that your camera only came with a USB cable, but at best, that can only capture low quality streaming video, and more commonly is used only for capturing the still photos you can take with the camera.

Firewire is the ONLY way, regardless of what you have done in the past and how you felt about the results... A wonderful world of high quality awaits you!! I promise...

Post by **lancecarr** » Sun Sep 30, 2007 2:03 pm

Yeah...Ken is right of course.
If you look at your own manual it clearly states that the USB is for transfering still from any memory cards fitted or footage recorded to the memory card NOT footage from the tape. It can also be used for streaming.
The manual also states that to transfer footage from the tape to a computer you must use the iEEE 1394 (firewire) connection.

tessbw · Post by **tessbw** » Sun Sep 30, 2007 5:35 pm

thanks for your replys.

Where do i buy/find a firewire? Does it mean having to have my computer taken to bits to have it slotted in similar to a gaming card etc?

Your advice on a firewire and it purpose would be helpful.

heinz-oz · Post by **heinz-oz** » Sun Sep 30, 2007 8:35 pm

We don't know a thing about your PC. If it is a relatively new one it may already have one. Failing that, a PCI card with IEEE1394 port is relatively cheap but needs to be inserted into the box like a gaming card. Unplug your computer, open it up and insert the PCI card into a free slot. Secure it to the box and close the box. Start up your PC and, if it is running XP, you will not have to do anything, XP is going to find the new hardware, install generic drivers for it and you are off and running. All that still needs to be done, best while you buy the PCI card, is to get a cable to connect the camera to the card. It has to have the right connector for the camera and the card, usually 4 pin small square looking plug for the camera, and either 4 or 6 pin plug for the PC side. That's all.

It's a pain but I do not know of any camcorder which has a firewire cable supplied with it. They all only come with a USB cable. The quality you get with that is mediocre at best, if you get it to work. Since you seem to have done that in the past, I promise like Ken, you will be surprised at the picture quality you get with that connection. VS will also be able to control the camera while capturing, so, forget everything you used to do in the past. No need to get the camera rolling in order to capture, VS will do that.

Come back here for more specific advice if needed.

tessbw · Post by **tessbw** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 8:32 am

Hi heinz

my computer is about 5 months old:

Its a gateway GT5054b personal computer

250GB SATA II

9 in 1 memory card reader

nVIDIA GeForce 7300LE with turbo cache

intel d processor 915

runs on XP

Hope this makes sense to you of what the computer is? I didnt get a firewire with the camcorder. Ive got lots of slots at the back of the computer, any ideas what the card slot may look like?

Thanks

heinz-oz · Post by **heinz-oz** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 8:48 am

Just Googled for your PC and, among other spec's came up with this

7 USB 2.0 (2 in front, 1 in media manager, 4 in back), 3 IEEE 1394 (2 in front, 1 in back), VGA external connector, serial port, parallel port, 2 PS/2 ports (keyboard and mouse), 7 audio ports (2 in front, 5 in back), SPDIF

You don't need to buy a PCI card, just the right cable. To find out what these ports look like check this out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FireWire

More often then not the camera connector is the small 4 pin one and at the PC side you have the 6 pin one. Once you identify the connectors get a corresponding cable.

Post by **Ken Berry** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 8:55 am

If you look at this link, there are photos of the two types of firewire ports. http://www.jakeludington.com/ask_jake/2 ... _port.html

Your camera will have the smaller 4 pin port (it will probably be called an iLink port in your camera Manual). What you need to find on the Dell is the larger 6 pin port. If it is there, often there are two of them plus a small one.

If you can't find it, then Firewire cards are quite cheap these days. I have bought two of them in the past year (for different computers) for around US$20 each and that included a connecting cable.

As for the latter, try to get one with a cable which has a four pin plug at one end (for the camera) and 6 pin plug at the other for the computer. Otherwise, you would have to buy a cable separately and those are often more expensive than the card!

But they are quite simple to insert into a computer. You have to take the cover off the case. Then identify a free PCI slot on the motherboard. You slid in the Firewire card to that, affix it by a screw to the computer case, and that is all. When you next turn on the computer, the Windows drivers will be loaded when Windows detects the new card.