VS Capture Options not working for mini-DV

[MikeMail]

I just installed X4 and hooked up two mini-DV sources to capture from mini-DV tapes. When I start the program, click the Capture tab, and click on the Options up-arrow, the options panel slides up, but it is completely blank. No place to select a source and start capturing from the devices. The devices are a Sony GV-D1000 DVR and a Canon GL2 camcorder, both connected by USB to my WinXP PC. The right drivers are installed, and the devices are recognized by Windows (Camcorder appears as a drive in Windows Explorer, etc.)

I'm at a loss. I have X3 at home and I sort of remember what that Options panel is supposed to look like, but I've never seen it totally blank. I'm travelling right now, and I need to dump these tapes to my HD ASAP.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. -=- Mike

[Black Lab]

Mini-DV should be captured via Firewire, not USB.

[MikeMail]

Ah... The mini-DV devices all have USB, but you're saying it's a limitation of VideoStudio that it will only support mini-DV transfer by Firewire?

My PC doesn't have a firewire input, so that's not an option. Guess I'll have to look for another solution besides VS, if that's the case.

Also, thanks greatly for the fast response.

[Trevor Andrew]

Hi

Mini DV device USB terminal is used for transferring images not video.

The best and recommended method of transferring DV is via Firewire.
The USB devices are not fast enough to transfer video, you may experience dropped frames, poor capture.

I have just connected my Panasonic DV using USB and the capture window shows as OK.
The “source” shows as USB Video Device.

1 / I selected the Capture Tab at the top
This opened the capture options panel
2 / I select Capture Video, this opens the Capture settings panel
My camcorder is recognised and shows in the Source, a frame shows in the preview window.

If you do not see this have you any other video capture programs running that may be taking control of the USB port.

[Black Lab]

No, it's not a limitation of VS. In fact has nothing to do with VS. Mini-DV should ONLY be captured (really it's transferred) via Firewire, no matter what editing software you are using.

A firewire card is cheap and easy to install.

[skier-hughes]

I have just connected my Panasonic DV using USB and the capture window shows as OK.
The “source” shows as USB Video Device.

If you do not see this have you any other video capture programs running that may be taking control of the USB port.

Trevor you will see that, as you have a panasonic cam and have no doubt installed their software. They use a driver for USB called the USB video driver, which will utilise the speed in USB 2 to enable people with fast pc's to be able to capture using the usb connection.
This didn't catch on, mainly as cams moved away from tape to solid state. I didn't work well either, there are loads of problems on the net.

Mike, this piece of your post "Camcorder appears as a drive in Windows Explorer, etc." shows that the camcorder solid state drive, the SD card in the GL2 is the only item that windows can see, not actually the tape.

As the others have said, installing a pci firewire card in a desktop or purchasing a pcmia or equivalent card for a laptop is the only way you'll do it, well unless you go and borrow a friends pc with an external hard drive. If you do it this way, capture to internal drive first, then transfer to the external.

[MikeMail]

First, thanks to all for taking the time to respond.

Trevor - When open the Capture Options panel, it is totally blank. Nothing in it to select, and particuarly no "Capture Video" button with a picture of a camera above it, which I remember seeing on my system at home. I really think something is buggy or corrupt with my installation, because on this traveling tablet/laptop that I'm using right now, no such buttons are showing up. And no "Capture Video" button with a picture of a camera, like I remember seeing on my system at home, even when no devices were attached to the system at all.

No other video programs using USB. Tried with a fresh boot and nothing running but VS.

I'll try to attach a section of a screen shot that shows the blank capture panel.

Black Lab - I'm traveling with a tablet PC (Fujitsu T4220) and no options to add Firewire. If I was at home with my desktop system, this wouldn't be a problem.

Skier-Hughes... I have an External HD already, storage is not a problem. I've searched the manuals for both mini-DV devices looking for some indication that the limitation is on their side, but haven't found anything. That doesn't mean the limitation isn't there, it could just mean they're lousy manuals (as usual).

As I said, I really think that even without a device there, the Capture Options panel should have stuff in it, maybe grayed out (remembering from my system at home). So I really suspect a problem with the installation, or some other buggy problem. Can you guys tell me that with no device attached, the capture options panel is blank like mine?

I think my next approach is to try to borrow someone's computer that has firewire. Not easy while traveling, but I'll check with my relatives. Then install VS on their system and try to do the capture from tape.

[Trevor Andrew]

Hi

No devices connected to my PC
The capture tab shows the menu

capture.jpg (10.59 KiB) Viewed 4411 times

Manually updating Direct X has been known to cure some strange issues with the earlier versions.
Don’t know if X4 would benefit.

There is a post at the top of his forum referring to this
The latest version is :-
directx_Jun2010_redist.exe

[skier-hughes]

I'll try to attach a section of a screen shot that shows the blank capture panel. That is weird!

Black Lab - I'm traveling with a tablet PC (Fujitsu T4220) and no options to add Firewire. If I was at home with my desktop system, this wouldn't be a problem. Does it have to be done while away?

Skier-Hughes... I have an External HD already, storage is not a problem. I've searched the manuals for both mini-DV devices looking for some indication that the limitation is on their side, but haven't found anything. That doesn't mean the limitation isn't there, it could just mean they're lousy manuals (as usual) Sorry, I was talking about, borrowing a friends computer, use an external hard drive, capture to your friends pc, then transfer the files to your ext hard drive to edit on your pc.

As I said, I really think that even without a device there, the Capture Options panel should have stuff in it, maybe grayed out (remembering from my system at home). So I really suspect a problem with the installation, or some other buggy problem. Can you guys tell me that with no device attached, the capture options panel is blank like mine? Shouldn't be as Trevors pic shows.

I think my next approach is to try to borrow someone's computer that has firewire. Not easy while traveling, but I'll check with my relatives. Then install VS on their system and try to do the capture from tape. No need to install VS if they have up to windows vista, use windows movie maker to capture, but make sure you chose the capture to dv.avi selection, http://www.myvideoproblems.com/Tutorial ... DV-AVI.htm If they have win7 installed they may have Windows live movie maker, which only captures to wmv

[Ken Berry]

...or to save time if they have Win 7, download a small specialised DV-capture program a number of us here use -- WinDV from windv.mourek.cz Needless to say, it too requires firewire to capture.

[MikeMail]

Skier-Hugues:
"That is weird!" --> Exactly my thought.
"Does it have to be done while away?" --> That's a really long story, but the short answer is yes.

Trevor: Good tip, I'm downloading it right now.

-=- Mike

[skier-hughes]

thanks ken, forgot to type that last little nugget in!!

[Trevor Andrew]

Hi

Does this window show ok or is this clear..?

[MikeMail]

Trevor - Thanks a million - mystery solved!

When I went from the edit tab to the capture icon, I saw the screen shot below.

And immediately realized that (boy, this is stupid) my window panels had been scrambled so that most of the capture panel was stretched way to the left, behind the preview panel. The real solution was settings > Layout settings > Switch to > Default, and all the right capture options were back.

OK, so that solved the "why can't I select capture anymore" mystery. No corrupted installation, etc. I am amazed that the scrambled panel configuration survived through an uninstall and reinstall.

Just to close out the thread, the rest of the solution was to borrow a laptop that had Firewire. Turns out that it also had vista and Windows Movie Maker, so, as skier-hughes suggested, I'm currently capturing successfully to AVI using Windows Movie Maker. Thanks.

One last question... I'm pretty confident that this approach (using Win MM to capture to AVI file) is not recompressing/resampling the video, it's a straight transfer of the digital format. Maximum quaity retention, Correct?

Thanks loads to all who helped with this. Lessons learned - check your layout and forget about USB.

[Ken Berry]

...it's a straight transfer of the digital format. Maximum quaity retention, Correct?

Correct!