"Capturing Failed"

jader · Post by **jader** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 5:53 am

I am getting the dreaded "Capturing Failed" error when trying to capture from my DV camcorder source. First, my info.

Here is my system:
Windows XP SP2
P4 2.8 GHz
1GB RAM
750GB HD

Ulead VS 11.0.0157.0 Plus (downloaded evaluation)

My camera setup:
Cannon Optura Xi > Firewire > PC

Ulead Setup:
Source: Canon DV Device
Format: DVD (have also tried DV and MPEG)
Capture Folder: G:\ (my 750 GB HDD, currently 688 GB free)

Capture Profile: Have tried many of them, all of them have the same effect.

Now, back when I first downloaded the evaluation version, I just had my camera plugged in via firewire, and was just testing it in direct camera mode, using whatever it was pointing at as footage. I noticed I wasn't getting any preview, but when I captured, the video appeared for 10 seconds, and then I got the error:

Capturing failed.
The file created is corrupted and unusable.
It will be automatically deleted.

I didn't think a whole lot of it, since I had just started. I tried a few things, and after about 5 minutes of doing things I honestly didn't know what I was doing, I suddenly saw a preview coming through. I then tried to capture, and everything seemed to be working fine.

I captured a few minutes footage of the cat, again, just testing the capturing and software. I was able to do a few things, and then quit for the night.

A week later (tonight), I get everything back going to see if I could start my real project of moving my VHS tapes to DVD. Unfortunately, I started getting the same error (and again, could not see the preview). I played with a few things again, hoping I could get the preview working, but nothing worked. I started searching, and found about the bug where VS11+ couldn't do analog using DV passthrough.

So I backed out of that, and went back to just trying to record a direct feed. Still nothing. No matter what encoding I use or format I select, I see no preview, and my capture yields this error after 10 seconds -- and it's 10 seconds every time (either 10.01 seconds, or 9.28 -- every time).

So here I am. I'm hoping it can be fixed, considering I had it working at one point. Even if I still have the issue w/ the whole analog-to-DV, I would like to get the direct feed working, since it was working last week.

This is my second editing software I've tried (after Pinnacle 9 that I bought a few years ago). Neither are working now, and it's becoming increasingly discouraging how hard it is to find stable, reliable video editing software (on a PC, anyway -- and I'm *not* buying a Mac, just to do video editing).

Thanks in advance.

Post by **Ken Berry** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 6:04 am

What went wrong with Pinnacle? If it were me, and I had two video editing programs that didn't work, I would be starting to suspect a hardware fault, rather than the programs...

I have nothing really substantive to suggest re your live feed issue. I have never tried that using VS11 so don't know if it will work. But have you tried re-starting the program and/or rebooting the computer to see if the problem goes away?

The capture plug-in was changed to an InterVideo one for VS11, and various other things that the previous capture plug-ins did no longer worked.

One of these relates to your other problem -- capturing VHS. If you were planning to use your camera as a pass-through device for that, forget it. There was a certified bug with VS11/11+, linked closely to the new capture plug-in, which meant it could not capture analogue source material from any source which used firewire. So that ruled out external firewire capture devices, mini DV cameras used as a pass-through and also Digital 8 cameras (which connect via firewire) either being used as a pass-through or else playing back analogue tapes.

This has been fixed with the 6 November patch, but unfortunately the patch will not work on the trial version of the software. Anyway, it fixed the analogue firewire glitch for everything except the Digital 8 cameras playing back analogue tapes (which is precisely the use I bought my Digital 8 for!!

)

jader · Post by **jader** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 6:29 am

Thanks for your quick response, Ken.

To respond to a few of your comments:

What went wrong with Pinnacle? If it were me, and I had two video editing programs that didn't work, I would be starting to suspect a hardware fault, rather than the programs...

I normally would too, except I've read too many experiences from users of both who complain about instability issues. Also, w/ Pinnacle, I couldn't even get the thing to install -- I never even made it to the hardware part. And w/ VS11+, my suspicions were software since I, at one point, had it working -- and nothing on the hardware has changed since then.

Having said that, I'm not 100% convinced it's software, but convinced enough to start there and rule that out first.

But have you tried re-starting the program and/or rebooting the computer to see if the problem goes away?

I did try restarting VS11+, but I haven't tried rebooting yet. I'll do that following this post. I'm not optimistic, but it's certainly worth a shot.

This has been fixed with the 6 November patch, but unfortunately the patch will not work on the trial version of the software.

Interesting, so the evaluation isn't necessarily a limited-time, fully-functional version as they state? I'm curious as to why they'd fix it in the full version, but not the evaluation. Having said that, I would have no problem purchasing the full version, if I were certain my problems would be fixed (that was my original intention, anyway). But considering I can't even get it to work w/ direct feed, I'm not optimistic, let alone certain, it would work w/ the passthrough.

One other thing I'll do to rule it out, is to try pulling from a DV tape. I will try the reboot first though.

Thanks again.

jader · Post by **jader** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 6:50 am

Ok, some new discoveries.

I rebooted my PC, but nothing was different.

So, I tried putting a DV tape in my camcorder, and I noticed as soon as I did, the preview on VS11+ immediately began to pick up the direct feed (without even having to play the tape -- it was still in camera mode). This must've been what I did last week to get it working.

So now I'm able to record via direct feed, as well as from my DV tape, but switching back to passthrough, the analog feed still isn't working, which was expected considering the analog-to-firewire bug still exists in the evaluation version.

Is there anyway to guarantee this will work for me if I were to purchase a license? What if I have other issues? Also, isn't the evaluation version the same as the licensed download? For example, I can go into my current version now and just "activate" it by entering in a purchased key -- does this go out and download some update? I'm still confused as to why the evaluation and licensed versions behave differently regarding this bug.

Thanks again for your help.

Clevo · Post by **Clevo** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 7:38 am

therer has been an ongoing problem with VS11 with capturing analogue with a camera as pass through device.

I doubt they will fix it.

It apparently works with VS10.

Post by **Ken Berry** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 7:53 am

Sorry to contradict you, Clevo but the ongoing problem i.e. the only one left after applying the 6 November patch, is as I described above -- with a Digital 8 camera playing analogue 8mm tapes for conversion of them to digital in the camera and transmission via firewire to the computer. The other analogue problems of using a mini DV as pass-through, using a Digital 8 as pass-through and external firewire capture devices were all fixed with the 6 November patch as tested not only by myself but a variety of other users.

But you are right in saying that they all worked in VS10...

Jader -- ah, but you didn't say you had no tape in the camera!

With some cameras, they will work without a tape, but others require to be convinced that they can work. But I am glad you resolved that side of things at least.

As for the trial version not taking patches, that has been the nearly 100% case since I started using VS at version 7 a number of years ago now. They seem to only every bring out 1 version of try before you buy, which (stupidly, I would agree) is never updated to take account of patches to fix known or emerging bugs... Other than that, though, plus the time limit plus some missing templates, it is in effect the full version of the original version 11.

But one thing you should NOT do is simply buy it and apply the key to the trial version. Too many people have reported problems with that approach over the years. Buy it, but uninstall the trial version before you do anything else. Then install the full version and apply the key to that -- and then the patch. Then register it on the Corel website, then you can download the Power Pack which is free to registered users and updates VS11 to 11.5 which has a number of worthwhile goodies, particularly if you are into, or are likely to get into, high definition video...

jader · Post by **jader** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 3:56 pm

Cool, thanks again Ken for your help. Yeah, I honestly didn't even think about the tape missing being an issue -- I thought the software would be "dumb" of this, and not even be aware of the missing tape.

I will likely make the jump, assuming that my issues will be fixed once I download/register the full version. Other than the issues that I'm having w/ capturing, the software seems pretty stable and sufficient for my needs.

Post by **Ken Berry** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 8:54 pm

As one other user has just found out, even not having their camera plugged into a mains power socket can affect, or stop, capture. Some cameras will not allow it when relying only on their own battery.

jader · Post by **jader** » Tue Dec 18, 2007 6:09 am

Problem.

I just purchased a license, after having uninstalled my evaluation installation, and I'm having the exact same issue w/ the full version -- can preview/capture direct feed and DV, but no passthrough.

The passthrough comes through fine on my camcorder LCD/speaker, but doesn't make it to the Ulead VS11+ preview/capture.

Any ideas?

jader · Post by **jader** » Tue Dec 18, 2007 6:42 am

Once again, I got it working without really knowing what I did. I did download the patch and install that, and it still wasn't working initially. Then, it seemed to pick it up after I opened and closed the tape loader (tape was already in it).

But even then, though the preview was relaying the passthrough video, it still wanted to try to pull from the DV tape once I tried to capture, because it automatically started the DV tape upon triggering the capture. I had to then disable the DV control from VS11+.

Anyway, I have it working now, finally. I hope it continues to work, as it still seems a little flaky at this point.

*crosses fingers*

Post by **Ken Berry** » Tue Dec 18, 2007 7:35 am

Normally, when using it as a pass-through, many (most?) camera won't work correctly if there is a tape in the drive. But that probably seems all a bit much at the moment, doesn't it? Tape in for one thing, tape out for another...!

But glad it is working ... well, sort of!!

Clevo · Post by **Clevo** » Tue Dec 18, 2007 7:51 am

Glad to stand corrected...