A common and recurring problem I have been aware of (because I have suffered for over a year with this), is that when using the ADSTech capture program CapWiz to capture video, after about 6 minutes and some odd seconds (38 in my case), the audio drops out. When watching the preview, everything seems fine, the audio is fine, no apparent problems.
But when playing the mpg video back, the audio disappears after about 6 minutes and does not return.
As with many people, I tried all kinds of things. Uninstalled and reinstalled Capwiz many times.
After doing research over the past year, many people said the problem only arrived after installing more recent versions of Ulead VideoStudio, or Ulead DVD Movie Factory. Many people had uninstalled the versions of VideoStudio or DVD MovieFactory, but were still having the problem. The only people who successfully solved the problem were people who wiped their C drive clean, and reinstalled Windows, then reinstalled the ADSTech unit and Capwiz using the original CD that came with the unit. I take a dim view of people who think erasing the C drive and re-installing Windows again is the answer to their problem (especially when such advice is given to people by Customer Service Reps of large software companies, as to me that is just advice given by ignorant people), but in my life with these infernal machines, I have found there is usually a way to fix your problems without having to resort to such a scorched-earth policy, with two major exceptions, and that is if your machine has been incurably crippled by a virus, or (of course) if your hard drive has failed. But I digress.
I have had my DVD Xpress DX2 unit for 5 years, and for the first 4 years it performed flawlessly.
Then, about a year ago, I decided to try the trial version of Corel DVD MovieFactory 7. That was when my problem began.
Previously, I had Ulead DVD MovieFactory v5 installed on my machine, and using it in conjunction with the ADSTech unit was without problem.
SO....over the past year I had also uninstalled DVD MovieFactory 7 when trying to solve this, but to my disgust the problem remained.
Yesterday I once again got pissed off that my ADSTech unit was having this problem, and went back to researching.
This time, after looking around, at one point I saw a reference somewhere to a person having a problem after installing WinDVD (though it was a problem with video capture using a different product). As a majority of folks insisted the problem was with more recent Ulead products, I did not consider this to be the likely suspect, but I kept WinDVD in mind as a possibility.
I saw the familiar references to the fault laying squarely with a more recent version of DVD MovieFactory and/or VideoStudio (DVD MF 7 and VideoStudio 11 seem to be the culprits).
So I did what any self-respecting irritated geek would do. I went on the warpath. IN THE REGISTRY!
First thing I did was to uninstall the ADSTech Video capture unit. Then I uninstalled CapWiz. Then I did searches on my C drive and deleted every folder I could find that was labelled CapWiz or ADSTech.
Then I did the same for DVD MovieFactory. I uninstalled it and deleted all folders labelled Ulead, Corel, or DVD MovieFactory.
Then, I realized even though I had WinDVD 7 on my machine, I had never used it since I installed it several years ago. I deleted it, and any folders named Intervideo or WinDVD.
Then I went into the registry (don't try this at home, folks, unless you know what you are doing).
I did searches for ADSTech, Capwiz, Ulead, Corel, DVD MovieFactory, ULDVDMF, WinDVD, Intervideo.
I deleted all registry entries where they were listed. It took me 3 hours to do so.
Then I ran CC Registry cleaner. It naturally found about 500 fragmented registry entries after my campaign of destruction. I deleted them all.
Then I rebooted, and I re-installed the ADSTech unit and Capwiz that came on the original CD with the unit.
It now works flawlessly. I recorded to my hard drive a 2-hour-long VHS tape of some local rock bands I had videotaped in the 90s. The audio plays fine until the very end. I then set Capwiz to record 2 hours of video direct from my cable box and went to sleep. I woke up today, checked the video, and the audio plays fine until the very end.
My problem is solved. I had not been able to use DVD Xpress DX2 and Capwiz they way they were intended for over a year. Now I can get back to doing so.
Since I have obviously fixed this problem, and since the culprit is quite obviously a Ulead/Corel product (could be something to do with WinDVD as well), I decided to register here and post this info for anyone out there who, like me, owns an ADSTech DVDXpress DX2 unit who has had this same problem, and who is searching on Google to try to find a solution.
Many of the returns from Google searches I encountered about this problem were posts right here on these forums, as the original ADSTech install CD contains Ulead VideoStudio 9 SE, so this is the natural place for me to post this info.
It is not enough to uninstall the more recent versions of DVDMovieFactory or VideoStudio. One must delete every possible reference to them on the computer and in the registry. There is obviously some driver that Ulead or Corel created that gets installed with more recent versions of their software that causes this problem. IF it should turn out to be something to do with WinDVD (not likely but still possible), well, it seems Mega-Conglomerate Corel has bought out WinDVD now as well.
It would be nice if ADSTech would get with Corel to work towards figuring out exactly what it is that is causing this. Obviously Ulead was once partnered with ADSTech, and not only that, the DVDXPress DX2 unit is STILL being sold to this day, so there are going to be people in the future who will have this problem if they are also using Ulead/Corel software. One other thing I saw many references to in researching this problem was a complete lack of technical support at ADSTech, as well as some truly ignorant advice given to people by Customer Support at Ulead (stupid stuff like...."You can only use your PC to capture video, you must use a completely different PC to edit the video"). Yeah. Right.
As usual, it appears the users must help other users in the absence of any real solution from the people who actually produce and sell the software.
That is why this is a Ulead User-To-User board.
I probably will not post here again, as this is the only problem I have ever had with Ulead/Corel products, and as I stated above, I just wanted to post the solution I came up with so others could read it. As a disclaimer, everyone has a different configuration of hardware/software on their PC, so this may not work for 100% of the people who read this who are having the audio dropout problem. I am just saying it worked for me after a year of frustration.
Have a great computing life everyone, with audio and video for all!
