Capture problem with Canopus ADVC50 and VS 11+

[jfeldmeier]

I have an ADVC50 installed in a DELL8400 with XP SP2 that has worked fine for years. Recently I upgraded from Ulead Video Studio 9 to Video Studio 11+ (with all posted patches). As part of this upgrade I also installed the latest DirectX updates from Microsoft. As a result I am no longer able to successfully capture with the ADVC50.

To try and debug the problem I have been using WinDV as a simple capture program. To verify the problem is with the ADVC50 I first tried to capture from my Canon DV recorder over a different port on the same Firewire board that the ADVC50 shares. This capture was successful and the .avi file works fine in any of my other programs.

When I try to capture from the ADVC50 source WinDV appears to be working. I see source file playing in preview window and an .AVI file that looks to be the correct size is created. The problem is that this file is not
usable. windows Media Play and the Real Player will not play it back. VS 11+ and MS Movie Maker 2.1 both reject it as an incompatible file format.

I have tried two different analog sources connected to the ADVC50 a High8 recorder and a VCR. The High8 recorder is what I have used successfully in the past. Both produce the same results.

Another piece of data that might give a clue is that When trying to capture with WinDV it will only create the .avi file if the DV capture is set to Type 1. If I set it to Type 2 WinDV creates a temp .AVI file but when I complete the capture the temp file disappears. This leads me to believe that nothing is actually being captured when Type 2 is selected.

Any help on this issue would be much appreciated. I have spent hours trying to debug it.

[Ken Berry]

When VS11 was first released, a recognised bug was that it could not capture analogue source material via firewire whether from a mini DV camera being used as a pass-through device, an external firewire capture device like yours, or a Digital 8 video camera, whether it was being used as a passthrough device via firewire or whether it was actually playing an analogue 8mm or Hi8 tape (playing a digital tape was OK). The 6 November patch was supposed to fix these problems, although it definitely did not fix the situation of Digital 8 cameras playing analogue tapes. (I have such a camera and others also reported that still did not work.)

I seem to recall that at least one user with an external firewire device -- though I cannot recall if it was a Canopus (I seem to think it was a Plextor) -- reported that he could now capture correctly when the patch was applied. But that was all the feedback we got from users of such devices. It is thus possible that the 6 November patch may not have been a fix for all external firewire capture devices after all.

There is also not much joy I can offer. I suspect it is unlikely that Corel will fix the problem with a further patch -- it took 6 months or more for the first patch to appear, and in another six months, VS12 is likely to have been released -- though whether that will fix the problem is also still moot.

What is surprising in your case -- though not absolutely clear -- is that WinDV also seems not to be capturing correctly using the Canopus since VS11 was installed. In my own case, and that of others, I could always capture correctly from my Digital 8 or my mini DV being used as passthrough, using WinDV (and either Type 1 or 2 DV Encoder). It was only VS itself which could not capture... This tends to suggest that somehow or other your DV codec(s) may have been corrupted somehow. As far as I am aware, these are part of the Windows installation and should not be affected by VS in any way.

[jfeldmeier]

Ken,

The problem with WinDV is different depending on whether I select Type 1 or Type 2 for the DV capture. When I select Type 1 WinDV will capture and create an .avi file that appears to be correct but is unusable. When I select Type 2 WinDV will not capture anything.

I am not able to capture using the ADVC50 using VS 11+, MovieMaker 2.1 or WinDV so I believe as you do that the problem is at a lower level than 11+. It just happened that the problem started at the point that I unistalled VS 9 or installed VS 11+, or updated DirectX or updated Real Player. To many changes

Is there any way to force an update to the Windows DV codec(s) to see if that helps?

thx..john

[Ken Berry]

The simple answer is that I don't know how one would go about reinstalling the Windows DV codec apart from inserting your XP disc and trying to use the Repair function. Hopefully others might have better or easier suggestions.

However, in doing a Google search for that codec, I found (a little to my surprise) that Canopus itself has its own DV codec which I assume is what your device uses. I knew the Canopus had its own encoding chip, but had assumed it used the Windows DV codec. It could thus be that that has become corrupted. So I guess a reinstall from any CD that came with the device would be in order.

If there was no CD, then the ever-helpful site videohelp.com has a free download for the codec at http://www.videohelp.com/tools/sections/dv You might also note that the second item on that page is also related to Canopus DV conversions. That could also be worth experimenting with...