VCR via AVin DV Capture - no luck in Pro X2

[afvideonaks]

Hello folks.

I just purchased Pro X2, and I've been a long user of v7, v8, and v10+. I'm capturing my old VHS via the AV input of my Canon ZR60 camcorder then firewire to my Pro x2. Using the older versions, v7-v10+, I have no problem capturing the feed, and I've done it many many many times.

However, with Pro x2, it doesn't even provide preview of the video unless I press "Capture Video". It does detect the DV camcorder as the source. When I press "Capture Video", it stalls for a few seconds then captures the video - BUT, for only 10 seconds then it stops the capture and prompts the message:

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

It's consistent, and it's always 10 seconds. Then I tried capturing with 10+, no problem. Is this a Pro x2 bug or is it no longer supported?

I have an HP Pavillion dv9000CT notebook with dual core 2 T7200 (2 GHz), 2G RAM, 120G Primary HD for application and 120G Secondary HD for video data with NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600 video running Vista Business 32bit.

I did have the ever so popular DirectX issue with the "add chapter" grey button and updated using the forums solution. That solved that issue - wheewwww. Also, I've uninstalled/reinstalled Pro x2 twice already and no luck. Any response would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

afvideonaks

[Ken Berry]

I confess I have not tried a AV-to-DV firewire capture on X2. But that did not work in VS11 until they issues a special patch. It had to do with the new capture plug-in they are using instead of the old ones which worked well in the earlier versions.

One would have thought they would have included that patch in the coding of X2. One thing I know that is similar which X2 can't do and which VS11, even with the patch could not either, is capture from a Sony Digital 8 camera, connected via Firewire, but playing an analogue tape.

Anyway, please report your problem to Corel. And in the meantime, either use your earlier programs to capture, or what a lot of us here use anyway for capturing DV -- a small freeware program called WinDV from windv.mourek.cz It captures DV and only DV, but does it well and usually with no dropped frames.

[afvideonaks]

As always, thank you Ken. I sent Corel an email and this is their reply:

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Subject
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VCR via AV-in to DV Capture Error


Discussion Thread
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Response (Jill Kristy) - 10/10/2008 04:11 AM


Thank you very much for your e-mail.

Power on the camcorder to reestablish connection.

Camcorders may automatically shut down to save power, as such, losing the connection between the camcorder and Corel VideoStudio is common. When this happens, users need to turn on the camcorder to reestablish connection. There is no need to close and reopen VideoStudio, since the program can automatically detect capture devices.

¡P If VideoStudio cannot control the DV camcorder...

If VideoStudio cannot control your DV camcorder and locate specific timecodes accurately, select Tools: Select Device Control and click the Options button. A Device Control Options dialog box then appears. Here, you can fine-tune the control settings so that your camcorder and VideoStudio can work together more closely in the way that you like.

Note: Failure to locate the correct timecode may lead to unexpected problems (such as noise or delays) during capturing or recording back to the DV camcorder.

¡P If VideoStudio does not work properly...

Repair VideoStudio if it does not work properly. To repair VideoStudio, double-click Add or Remove Programs in the Control Panel. Select Corel VideoStudio, click Change/Remove, then click Repair.

Please do not hesitate to contact us for any further questions.

Kind regards,

Jill Kristy
Corel Customer Support

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My take on this is Corel's tech support "normal scripted" response to this related issue. The camcorder power issue is completely irrelevant, since I've already mentioned that the cam is continuously playing and feeding.

The second solution is just way out the left field. These settings are exactly the same as in VS 10+ so why change if it is the same setup. And the third solution is just their plain "reinstall/uninstall/repair" reply, which pretty much ignored what I mentioned in my email that I've performed this task twice prior to sending the email.

I sent them a reply asking to check/provide a different solution or just plainly put it out right that this is a bug or unsupported feature - and I'll be happy with that (not really), but there is closure, somewhat.

In the meantime, I'll continue to use VS 10+ to capture and check out the WinDV.

Thanks.

afvideonaks

[Ken Berry]

When VS11 first came out, we noticed this problem with firewire capture from analogue sources using either a dedicated Firewire capture device, a mini DV camera used as pass-through, or a Digital 8 used as pass-through or actually playing a Hi-8 or 8mm analogue tape. It turned out Corel had changed the capture plug-ins of previous versions for a single plug-in (InterVideo Capture Component, it is called) since they had bought out InterVideo which had bought Ulead a few months before.

At the time, they claimed they had to change the plug-in because of the advent of Vista. They said that the earlier plug-ins used the DirectShow technology, and this was not compatible with Vista. So they had to change it (even though a lot of their users still had XP or earlier versions of Windows).

The curious thing, of course, is that even with Vista, there are various editing programs which, as far as I am aware, still use DirectShow technology. I think even WinDV does, and that works perfectly under Vista. So my own personal theory is that it was change for change's sake, and was probably introduced when InterVideo was the owner of Ulead, and so decided to use some of their own technology.

Anyway, Corel eventually brought out a patch (6 November 2007) which correct most of the problem except for the Digital 8 playing analogue tapes via firewire. Since that was the way I captured my analogue video collection, it was annoying that they had not corrected this aspect, but I could live with it as I had trusty old WinDV!

But if indeed X2 cannot even use a DV camcorder as pass-through, then they have taken a step backwards.