Cannot start the capture graph - again!

[Ken Berry]

I can understand your frustration that an aspect of the program is not working properly for you. But my attitude tends to be that life's too short to become too wrought up with finding a solution. I'd simply revert to VS 9 or take up Trevor and my suggestion of WinDV which we can highly recommend. It also has the advantage of allowing you to give your own name to the captured video, rather than using VS's arcane numeration system...

[jparnold]

Thanks Ken,

My frustration is heightened because I also had so many problems with VS10 (the last version I forked out for) that I stopped using it (reverted to VS9)

Also if I didn't have VS9 (or VS10) for capture and WinDV didn't exist or wasn't free what would I do? Would Corel refund my 'hard earned' money? I doubt it.


As I will try anything I have checked if I have the latest DIrectX and Pro X$.
I think that I have the latest DIrectX - ver 9.0c
When I tried to run Pro X4 SP1 it failed with a message something like "Could Not determine current version" - strange!
I then selected 'Check for Updates' in Pro X4 which returned "There are no updates available at this time'.
I then checked what version and it is 14.1.0.107. Is this the latest? How do I check if SP1 is installed? And if I don't have it how do I installed SP1? (see error above).

I wonder if the addition of a Firewire card (my firewire is onboard the m/b) would solve the problem.

TREVOR you stated that you also have a GS400 and use it with XP - do you use an 'add on' Firewire card or is it onboard your m/b?

[Trevor Andrew]

Hi John

Yes I have a GS 400 and have been trying to replicate your problem for a while now.

Current Version of X4 with patch applied is 14.1.0.107

If VS 9 is working OK and you have tried using Win DV then the on-board firewire / cables / camera are all working.
However if you have two terminals on the motherboard try using the other............
-------------------------------------------------------
John please do this, be patient the popup windows may take some time to show.
Please follow these step by step.

Start Video Studio X4 from the Start Menu-All Programs
Press Capture Tab
Select capture
Do NOT switch on the camera,

What do you see in the Source Box, if nothing
You may get No Capture Devices connected…..Ok to close window
Do you receive any other warnings.

Connect the camera via firewire
Switch on.
I get a message (Corel Capture Manager) referring to a new device being plugged-in do you want to use it.
Just wait do not close the window.

There may be another window Digital Video Device
Select Take No Action, then tick the Always perform the selected action
Select OK to close the window.

Now press Ok to close for the new device window.

Try to capture

[Ken Berry]

As for DirectX, yes you might have version 9.0c and that is, yes, the version that works with XP. But that doesn't tell you a thing. What you need to know is the *build* of 9.0c that you have. I had 9.0c and updated it regularly when I used XP. It is not part of the regular Windows updates. As we always say in the sticky at the top relating to DirectX, you have to manually update it and Windows Updates often upset things in relation to VS. So updating DirectX often corrects those anomalies. The same applies with DirectX 10 for Vista and DirectX 11 for Win 7. That is just the basic build, but Microsoft regularly updates the builds for each of these, and it is all done in the one update patch for which you will find the link above in the DirectX sticky.

And when you download it and start it, it checks which version (and build) of DirectX you have and only instals those bits of the update which pertain to your version. And when it is updated you get a new build number for the same version, be it 9.0c, 10 or 11... But the version number you see will still be 9.0c, 10 or 11 as the case may be.

And it is difficult to blame VS in all of this if VS 9 still works and the same copy of X4 apparently works on your wife's computer... You have to tell yourself that there is something else about your computer -- either the hardware and/or the software architecture -- which is causing this difficulty.

[jparnold]

Start Video Studio X4 from the Start Menu-All Programs
Press Capture Tab
Select capture
Do NOT switch on the camera,

What do you see in the Source Box, if nothing

Either no video capture driver is installed in this system, or no device is connected

You may get No Capture Devices connected…..Ok to close window
Do you receive any other warnings.

NO
Connect the camera via firewire
Switch on.

I get a message (Corel Capture Manager) referring to a new device being plugged-in do you want to use it.

A new device is plugged into your computer. Do you want to use it? I did not close this window.
Just wait do not close the window.

There may be another window Digital Video Device
Select Take No Action, then tick the Always perform the selected action
Select OK to close the window.

I did this

Now press Ok to close for the new device window.

I did this

Try to capture

Same problem.

It is getting late I will try plugged the firewire cable into a different 'port' another day.

I am wondering could another program running in the background have an effect? In the system tray I see AVG (anti virus), AD-AWARE and REALTEK HD AUDIO MANAGER. Also there are other programs (running under my username in Windows Task Manager - Processes including DISKWIZARD MONITOR, HPLAMP (for my HP scanner). Any ideas here Ken?

[Trevor Andrew]

Sleep tight

John

When did you last re-install Video Studio X4?

Try this...........
First if you need to Backup your library by using Settings –Library manager Export Library

Navigate to this folder
C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\Application Data\Ulead Systems\Corel VideoStudio Pro\14.0

Rename the folder en-US
To
en_US copy

Start Video Studio X4 and a new en_US folder will be created.

Try to capture.

[jparnold]

Trevor
I installed Pro X4 on 21 June and did not use it for capture until a few days ago. In fact I only 'tried it out' by simply navigating around it to learn how it differed from X9. I never used it in earnest until a few days ago.

I was considering uninstalling it and re-installing but wondered if there is a technique to ensure a complete fresh install (I remember reading a post here a few years ago how to do a clean re-install of X10).

Anyway that will have to wait until another day as it is 10:15pm in Sydney and I go to work tomorrow.

[teknisyan]

Hello John,

If you have not called the Corel Tech Support, then I can definitely forward them your problem and they can investigate the problem themselves. To complete my report, please refer to the private message that I sent you.

Thanks!

[jparnold]

EUREKA!
The problem has gone!
What I did.
Uninstalled Quicktime
Uninstalled Flash player (note I am wondering if this may have been the culprit to my problem as earlier I had received automatic reminders that an update was available but when I clicked on 'update' I would get an error 'cannot upgrade')
Uninstalled Pro X4.
Removed (manually) all 'keys' in the register (REGEDIT) which referred to Pro X4
Re-installed Pro X4 (together with the automatic installations of Quicktime and Flashplayer)
Did NOT install the Pro X4 upgrade (SP1). Should I? Or does it only contain fixes for certain things I don't use anyway?
Restarted Windows XP
Connected Vidcam
Selected 'Pro X4' from the window which opened asking me what I wanted to do with the hardware plugged in.
I mainly let all the 'automatic' settings in preferences remain as they were (including where I wanted the Working and Capture folder which I usually set to folders on a second drive) only changing a couple such as Capture/Snapshot format from BMP to JPG and also 'ticked' Show dropped frame information.

Another question. Is it normal for McAfee Security Scan Plus to be automatically installed during installation of X4? I noticed this application on my desktop after I installed X4 the first time and also again today during re-installation. I'm not too happy if this is the case as users should be prompted if they want it not just automatically install it. I have always use the free version of AVG and very happy with it.

Thanks for everyone's feedback.

[Trevor Andrew]

Hi John

Congratulations, I would imagine that the fix was the re-installation, a clean install of Video Studio X4.
I did ask when you last installed the program, but as it was recent I didn’t think there would be a problem.

SP1 install-------For the time being I would not install. View the details of the patch on the Corel site to see just what it is supposed to fix.
So if things are working ok for you, leave well alone, (don’t fix it if it isn’t broken)

Installing Video Studio does not install McAfee, definitely not.
However there are some small programs that do, unless you uncheck the option during the install.
And that option may be to the bottom of the window, they hide it a little.
Not sure which program it is that offers this McAfee option but I have definitely seen it, I always uncheck, I use “Avast” free version.
If you are sure you do not use McAfee then simply uninstall.

[Ken Berry]

I too have seen the McAfee install but cannot remember the program(s) -- though definitely not VS. What is worse, it is not the full McAfee, just a free scanning device -- teaser, no doubt, to get you to buy the main program...

[jparnold]

Ken,

though definitely not VS

You're correct. I just installed X4 on my 'test' PC and McAfee didn't get installed. It seemed strange though that both times I installed X4 on my 'work' PC McAfee mysteriously appeared on my desktop a short time (within hours) later. Must have got there some other way. Just seemed coincidental that both times it appeared was a short time after X4 install.
I uninstalled it both times it appeared.
I am usually very vigilant checking every screen during any software install as I know how sneaky some are especially those which install annoying 'bars' on internet browsers.

Anyway thankfully I can now capture using X4 rather than having to use VS9.
Have now started editing with X4 - I am so impressed how much easier and quicker I can now edit. Some really great and useful features (for me anyway).

By the way (for anyone reading this post and not related in any way).
I recently checked the aperture setting on my VidCam when 'filming' in desert areas (my Vidcam is auto as well as manual) and I noted that the aperture had been set (automatically) to f16 the highest aperture available (the auto shutter speed is 1/50). I then manually set the shutter speed (leaving the aperture to be automatically set) and it wasn't until I set the shutter speed to 1/250 before the aperture changed (from f16 to f11).
The 'moral' of this is that I was OVER EXPOSING when using fully auto mode (1/50 f16). I had noted previously that some scenes/clips seemed over bright and had to adjust using a video filter during editing to darken them.
So I now use a X4 ND (neutral density) filter for brightly lit scenes.

[39_Steps]

I recently checked the aperture setting on my VidCam when 'filming' in desert areas (my Vidcam is auto as well as manual) and I noted that the aperture had been set (automatically) to f16 the highest aperture available (the auto shutter speed is 1/50). I then manually set the shutter speed (leaving the aperture to be automatically set) and it wasn't until I set the shutter speed to 1/250 before the aperture changed (from f16 to f11).
The 'moral' of this is that I was OVER EXPOSING when using fully auto mode (1/50 f16). I had noted previously that some scenes/clips seemed over bright and had to adjust using a video filter during editing to darken them.
So I now use a X4 ND (neutral density) filter for brightly lit scenes.

With the very short focal length lenses used on these small digital cameras, manual aperture control is a very difficult design challenge. Seems to be a physical size limitation. However, I still have a couple of windup Bolex 8 mm film cameras around somewhere that could manually control the aperture blades just fine. And then came that automatic "155" model Bolex Super 8 film camera that probably had a pellicle mirror for the viewfinder inside. Without knowing it, I had gone from a well made Swiss precision instrument to a device made in the Belgian lowlands that I came to regard in retrospect as the worst camera I ever had.

[jparnold]

Not sure what you are getting at 39_steps.

I was not referring to the capabilities of the camera but merely that when using fully automatic control my camera appears NOT to be able to handle extremely bright conditions and thus over exposes and that this can be compensated by using a neutral density filter.

Another way of putting it is that a with very bright scene (eg beach or desert) the exposure value/optimum camera setting (using an exposure meter) and for a particular (wet) film sensitivity or CCD sensitivity might by (say) 1/50 shutter at f22 . If the camera lens is only capable of f16 then it will overexpose. A neutral density filter can prevent this.

[39_Steps]

I started by thinking that the aperture of your Vidcam in bright might not be continuously variable in thirds of stops, but perhaps in only in "steps" of a couple of stops or more. I also wondered if it already had a built in ND filter that was used in certain light ranges.

But then I flashed back to the first movie camera I had that may have had such internal ND filters, not that it needed any to waste light. The very first Bolex Super 8mm film camera, with "155" in the model number, likely had a pellicle mirror in the light path as well. Only I do no recall ever being aware of the term pellicle mirror until the year 2010 when the Sony A33/A55 modified SLRs without a "prism" were marketed.

All I remember from that 1969 Bolex Super 8 film camera was the salesman saying that it had a prism inside, and that it never made any sense to me, and that I wasted a lot of high speed film at an indoor event one day because it was about two stops less capable than advertised. My comments had little to do with Visual Studio computer editing, which I cannot do successfully until I break down and buy a new computer and then study the program.

In the meantime I am looking for a new computer that does not come in a tower for editing purposes. I would have broken down and bought a 17" laptop with a 2nd gen Intel I5 2430m cpu and the embedded "3000" onboard graphics at a one day sale on Wednesday, but the reason the newspaper ad was in a plastic wrapper was that It was raining hard and the nearest store of that chain was 50 miles away. By the time it quit raining, I realized that the computer's included Blu-Ray optical drive was read only and did not have a DVD writer, and that all of the computers at the sale price would be gone by then anyway.

So, the features and designs of the cameras and editors may have changed over the years, as have I, but I wanted to give editing and splicing one more shot. Now, having read just about everything I could on the subject but remembering little, I will try to fade away just like a pellicle mirror and/or ND filter until I have a more powerful computer with better resolution to use with AVCHD files. What was the subject of this thread anyway? I may have forgotten.