Unable to switch to capture mode.. VS 12

[SUBARUNORWAY1]

I'm getting : "Unable to switch to capture mode. Check if your video capture driver is working properly"
15023:4:2

I'm trying to capture from a Canon HV30. It works in Pinnacle but not in VS12 or windows movie maker, capturing from my webcam works in those two though...I can play the camera from the software, but no picture.

What's wrong? Pinnacle sucked so won't use that anymore, help!

[Ken Berry]

Are you connecting the HV30 via Firewire? I have a HV20 which works perfectly with VS12 Pro (and VS11.5+). I usually turn the camera on to PLAY before opening VS., though some people find that opening VS first, then switching on the camera works for them. (That one works for me too! )

Are you trying to capture in native HDV format, or are you downconverting to DV?

[SUBARUNORWAY1]

Firewire yes. The buttons don't show up so can't press anything, just play and rewind the tape really, but no picture.

[Ken Berry]

Not sure what you mean by 'the buttons don't show up'... Which buttons?

When I connect my HV20, it takes around 20 - 30 seconds for the program to detect the camera and show its details. Do you wait this long? Or do you just do something else? Perhaps if you waited a little...?

[SUBARUNORWAY1]

The capture video capture and image buttons, they are just transparent so you can't click them at all.

Another weird thing is that the sound on the pc mutes.

It works just fine in Pinnacle 12(But i hate it cos it's insanely slow to use) but not Windows movie maker or VS 12 so there is nothing wrong with the camera anyway.

Tried waiting, pc beeps 5sec after i turn it on so that's ok.

I have gotten this error message before on my old camera, but that was cos the firewire card in it was broken, but since it works in Pinnacle it's not that either...

VS12 shouldn't have any problem with a HD camera either, wich i assume Windows Movie Maker has...

And like i said i can controle the camera with the buttons in the software so it has connection, just can't record.

[ULRICHOBIRCH]

After several sleepless nights in front of the computer and searching all kinds of forums, including this one, without any success, I decided to post my question here. Hopefully, there is some answer.

Problem:

When I try to capture from my Canon camcorder HV30, I get the error message: "Unable to switch to capture mode. Check if your video capture driver is working properly. The error code is [15023:4:2]. On the other hand, VideoStudio recognizes the camcorder as Canon HV30. But the capture button is greyed out.

The problem only happens when I try to capture HDV. Capturing DV is no problem and works fine. This means, as long as I set the camcorder to output DV instead of HDV (despite the recording being in HDV), then, VS can properly capture the video.

First, I worked with VS 11.5 Plus (i.e. including all the available updates) and suspected some problem there. Then, I tried with a trial version of VS Pro X2, but with exactly the same effect.

That's when I started to check all my computer and settings.

Here are the details

Computer
- Pentium 4, 2.8GHz, 3GB RAM, 2x320 GB HD (Raid 0), with 100 GB free on separate partition for video capture
- Windows XP Home, SP3 with all latest updates
- DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904); I even run the DirectX diagnostics, but everything seems ok. I then re-installed the latest DirectX, since I suspected that some other program still might have corrupted one of the files. But there was no success.

Camcorder
- Canon HV30
- DV output set to HDV/DV
- Playback STD set to HDV

Connection
- Firewire IEEE 1394
- The camcorder is recognized under the Device Manager as AV/C device, and checking the Device instance id shows the proper result for the HV30

VideoStudio (either 11.5 or Pro X2, both show same effect)
- Project settings =
PAL (25fps)
MPEG files
24 bits, 1440x1080, 25fps
Lower field first
(MPEG-2), 16:9


Of course, I have already tried all the small tricks like connecting and starting the camcorder first and then starting VS later, or the other way round. But nothing helped.

It appears that this is a common problem, and in many forums I found people having similar difficulty to capture HDV (with Canon and other brands), but I have not found any real solution anywhere.

(I wanted to add some screen shots, but it appears that this is not possible at this point in time).


Thanks in advance for your efforts and help!

Best regards,
Ulrich

P.S. 1: Well, finally, perhaps I should follow Ken Berry's advice to record only in DV (and not HDV), as long as I intend to make (normal) DVD's only. By doing so, I can avoid the "shimmer" that appears due to the down-conversion from HDV material to DV output on the camcorder.

P.S. 2: For the rest, I find VideoStudio X2 more attractive than the version 11.5, mostly due to the possibility to organize the clips in custom libraries, and since it definitely starts up faster.

[maxfrost01]

I had exactly the same problem as described in this thread - could not capture from my HD camera (Sony HDR-HC1E). I was also getting the error message "Unable to switch to capture mode etc".

Just to let you know that I followed Ken's switching off and switching on advice and that has worked for me. I needed to switch the camera off and back on whilst VS was already open - then it worked fine. VS is happily capturing my HD footage even as I write.

Now this bit could be completely irrelevant but as I've never had this problem before I figured I should mention it..........I had launched the VS12 application WHILST connecting my camera via the FireWire. Not like me to multi-task but on this occassion I did. So I'm just wondering if the fact that VS was being asked to recognise my camera during application launch perhaps made it want to sulk. Just a thought.

[Ken Berry]

I'm afraid I can't make any capture suggestions more than those you already know.

But if you do succeed in getting it working, you might want to change the project properties if actually capturing in HDV. It should be Upper Field First. Curiously enough, though, if capturing direct to DV it should be Lower Field First.

[ULRICHOBIRCH]

Thanks, all!

I will also try (again) the switch off / switch on trick. And I will try more as I find time (it's really boring!).

Let you know if there is any useful result.