videostudio 11

[darron]

Help somebody please!!

Have been using Videostudio for several weeks but only just got round to trying to capture from DV Camcorder.

I have tried 2 different Sony DV camcorders via their docking stations which in turn attach to PC by USB lead. Have set both devices to USB stream & tried turning them on & off several times.

Cant get Videostudio to capture from either device. It says 'either no capture driver is installed with this system or no device is connected'

Its all a bit new to me, am I doing something wrong, what is a capture driver?

Thanks

Darron

[2Dogs]

Hi Darron,

it seems from your "system" button that you don't in fact have a pc! You might fill in the pc related info in your user profile to help us help you, and to save you some typing.

I know that Sony hard drive camcorders come with Sony software for capturing video onto your pc. It's really more of a file copying exercise than capture in the sense of the word applied to tape type camcorders.

If you hook up the camcorder on it's docking station to your pc with a USB cable, you should be able to see the device listed, with a drive letter, in windows Explorer or My Computer. Although the Sony manual seems to make no mention of it, you can apparently copy the files to a folder on your hard drive.

A recent user reported audio out of sync problems with a project using clips from a Sony HDD camcorder, and the advice given was to ensure that the clips weren't too short - I believe each one is saved as a separate file on the camcorder hard drive.

Hard Drive Camcorder Issues - long thread!

[RetlawThcerbla]

Not sure on the model, I had a Sony DV camcorder, which had both FireWire and USB, and I could not capture using the USB, only with the FireWire ?

[Ken Berry]

Yes -- I am not sure if the docking station for your camera has a firewire connection, but the camera certainly will have one -- look at the Sony manual and you will find it called the i-Link connection (IEEE1394). The problem is that your computer must also have a Firewire connection. And you will probably have to buy a Firewire cable if you don't have one. Make sure you get one with a small 4 pin connection at one end (for the camera) and a larger 6 pin one for the computer.

But Firewire is essentially the *only* way of capturing high quality video from a mini DV camera, especially if the docking station USB connection is not USB 2.0.

[darron]

Thanks for your reply.

It is a DV tape camcorder not DVD camcorder.

I thought it would be straight forward to capture footage from camcorder?

Perhaps I will have to use the camcorders software & then import file once its on PC.

Darron

[Ken Berry]

I can only repeat that, regardless of whoever's software you might use, the best way of capturing from a mini DV camera is via Firewire. Capturing in DV format will give the highest quality and it will be more easily editable than capturing in mpeg format (which is probably what you would get if you succeed in capturing via USB).

Don't say you weren't warned...!

[darron]

Thanks again

Frustratingly I have a great PC but it is one that we installed into our Hub Cupboard at home mostly for use with our Multiroom audio/video system. It is a flat desktop style unit that takes all the usual SD card/Memory Stick & USB devices in the front but everything else is at the back which is just not accessible on a day to day basis.

It has lots of memory & is mostly used for music & video storage so I guess I will have to import my home videos another way.

Regards

Darron

[Ken Berry]

You seem unwilling to accept the basic point that there *is* no better way of capturing from a mini DV camera than via Firewire. Believe me, if you use some other method (USB for instance), you are risking capturing in mpeg-1 which is at best streaming quality suitable for the web, but for not much else. Certainly not good quality, or even decent quality, DVDs...

You can get quite long Firewire cables (I have one 5 metres long!) And if you have a good multimedia computer, I would have thought it highly likely to already contain a firewire card. If it does, you would only need to move it out once to connect the firewire cable, and then you could simply leave that connected and hanging out round front, ready to be connected to your camera. That's the way I do it, anyway, with one of my computers whose only firewire connection is round back...

If it doesn't and the computer has a spare AGP slot, then Firewire cards are very cheap and easy to install in that slot. They usually also come with the right cable...

[2Dogs]

Sorry Darron,

for some reason I was under the impression you had a hard drive camcorder - perhaps it was the mention of the docking station that made me think that.

That'll teach me to post when I should be working!

Not sure what function the docking station would have on a tape based camcorder - and I didn't realise there were any such camcorders that had docking stations.

Having a pc in a cupboard doesn't sound like a practical arrangement for a pc that's used for other than home theatre type usage. When your editing video, you can spend quite a long time working on a project, so it helps to have good ergonomics.

[Ken Berry]

2Dogs -- I knew precisely what he was talking about, because quite coincidentally, the very day before I left on my current overseas trip, one of my brothers-in-law showed me a truly awful DVD he had made of a truly wonderful trip he had recently made to Moscow and St Petersburg. It turned out he had one of the same Sonys which has a docking station. The camera has a DV connection (as all mini DVs do) but the docking station connects to the computer via USB. It turned out he was capturing mpeg-1/VCD quality video. Although his computer appeared to have a Firewire port, it turned out it was just there for show. I quickly bought him a $20 firewire card and cable, inserted it, and he now has a wonderful DVD (he says) of the same trip...

[sjj1805]

SUBJECT: Please use a subject that describes your exact problem instead of making us guess what's in your post.

Sorry if you this sounds like I am telling you off - I am not.
You can alter the title by using the button on your first post.

The purpose of providing a meaningful title is this.
There are a number of members on the forum who try and help troubleshoot problems - myself included. In the early days of the user forum it was not too difficult to be able to read all of the posts submitted since the last time I (or one of the other troubleshooters) had logged on.

On the Forum Home page at the top right is a link
view posts since last visit In the forums early days this would perhaps range between 10-30 posts. Today however the board has grown in popularity and more products are now catered for including the former Intervideo products before the merger with Ulead.

There have been days when I have logged on to find over 70 new posts since my last visit. It is of course impossible to read each and every one of them and so it is necessary to look at the titles to pick out posts where I feel I am able to offer some worthwhile input.

if you are viewing perhaps the VideoStudio forum and a post is entitled
"VideoStudio" - it doesn't really give you a clue, similarly in the PhotoImpact forum a post entitled [PhotoImpact] is equally as meaningless.

Giving a post a suitable title is a means of helping us to help you.

[Black Lab]

Why do camcorder manufacturers insist on confusing people with the USB cable/port