VideoStudio 10 cannot capture

gvp · Post by **gvp** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 8:39 am

I have VideoStudio 10 running on a Windows XP Home box with a 1.8GHz Athlon XP and 512 Mb RAM. I am trying to capture from a JVC GR-DVL520U over FireWire. When I click "Capture Video" in VideoStudio, after about 3 seconds, I get a dialog with the following error message: "No video was captured. Please check if there is any input signal. There may be no device selected."

In fact, there is definitely no device selected, because VS will not allow me to select one. When I click the "Options" pull-down and choose "Input Source...", the control that I would use to select my input device is disabled. It seems that VideoStudio is totally unaware of the presence of my camera.

But, the computer is aware of the camera. It told me about it when I plugged it in. And I can capture successfully in Windows Movie Maker.

Currently, I'm running a fresh install of VS (not patched). Before the fresh install, I had it patched, and when I tried to capture, I would get the error: "Unspecified error: Unspecified error: The requested user buffer is not valid for the current operation."

I have tried starting the capture with the camera stopped and with the camera already playing back the tape; both yield the same result.

I have the following options selected for capturing:
Source: Microsoft DV Camera and VCR
Format: AVI

When I try to select DV as the format, it switches back to AVI automatically. I can also select WMV, but the result is simply that it blissfully captures nothing.

I have also tried a second FireWire card, just for fun. There was no difference.

I have seen people in a number of different forums recommending using WinDV to try to narrow down problems, since it's so simple. When I try to capture with WinDV, it says: "Error: Can't find IAMDroppedFrames". Google tells me that IAMDroppedFrames is an interface exposed in DirectShow. I have re-installed Directx 9.0c 3 times. The symbols should be there in their little DLL, patiently awaiting the day that they can help me capture video. But alas, they cannot be found.

If anyone can help get this resolved, I would be eternally grateful.

-Greg

Clevo · Post by **Clevo** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 8:42 am

Do you set your camera to "play" mode?

Post by **Ron P.** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 9:58 am

So what codec packs have you installed? Codec packs includes such things as headaches, baldness, and frustration, and can lead to throwing computers out of 10 story windows..

If WinDV will not capture, my first guess is that of Clevo's did you remember to put your camcorder into playback mode? We all do forget this..

If you did put in playback mode, this is a system problem, and the ability for WMM to capture and nothing else also leads me to believe that you have installed some codec packs that are causing a conflict. If so uninstall them.

gvp · Post by **gvp** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 5:08 pm

I do have the camera in playback mode (although that is definitely something I would forget).

I will check on codecs and see what I can find (I'm actually working on my sister's computer, so I have no idea what awful things she's done to it).

Edit: I removed a K-Lite codec pack and tried again: still no dice. I'm still getting the "Can't find IAMDroppedFrames" error from WinDV; VS still thinks I have no input device.

gvp · Post by **gvp** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 6:16 pm

I installed VS on another computer I have and on that machine, everything works fine. I can capture video without a problem. Unfortunately, I really need this to work on the first machine. So, the question is: what has been done to the first machine to screw it all up? Any suggestions as to where to start would be great.

Post by **Ken Berry** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 9:35 pm

Does you sister's computer have XP Service Pack 2 installed? I ask since there was a problem with the original XP and Firewire which Service Pack 1 did not correct. It was only corrected with SP2...

gvp · Post by **gvp** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 11:07 pm

She did have SP2. I got impatient and decided to just reinstall the OS. The rest of the machine is running a little oddly, but I can capture video with VS now. So, thanks, everyone, for your help.