Unable to switch to capture mode

Kittyeater · Post by **Kittyeater** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 12:21 am

I just installed Videostudio again, and when i try to switch to capture it comes up with an error message that says:

"Unable to switch to Capture Mode.
Check if your video capture driver is working properly.

Cannot preview."

I have used videostudio before and have never had this problem. Any help is appreciated

GuyL · Post by **GuyL** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 12:57 am

What version of video studio are you using and what are you using to capture with?

I ran across this problem when I was using VS7 with an ATI AIW with new drivers. They didn't like each other very much.

Kittyeater · Post by **Kittyeater** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 1:05 am

I'm using Videostudio 8. How do I find out what I'm using to capture?..

shutterfly · Post by **shutterfly** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 1:05 am

I also am having this problem with the new Sony dcr-dvr403;
For some reason it does not want to seem to capture the fact that there is even a video camera hooked to the pc.
I've reinstalled the software that came with the camera, but there does not seem to be a specific driver... any ideas???

Kittyeater · Post by **Kittyeater** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 1:19 am

Does anyone know if this could be caused by a slow USB speed? when I plug the device into my port a bubble pops up saying "This USB device can perform faster if you connect it to a Hi-Speed USB 2.0 port"

Post by **Ken Berry** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 1:50 am

Kittyeater: Unless you are simply capturing still photos taken with your video camera or your camera has a streaming video capability, then you should not be connecting via USB at all, regardless of whether it USB 1 or 2 and regardless of what version of Video Studio you are using. (I should have added: unless your camera is one of the very few, very recent, very expensive models that actually can capture high quality video via USB 2). You need to connect your camera via the camera's Firewire port (called iLink on some cameras). And of course you will need to have a Firewire card in your computer.

Shutterfly: I think your camera may capture direct to a small DVD. Is that correct? If so, then you cannot 'capture' as such with Video Studio. You instead need to have the camera connected to the computer, and in VS9 point your mouse at the Library pane, right click and select 'Insert DVD/DVD-VR'. Your camera should show up in the directory tree which then appears. You might need to read your manual, though, as to whether you have to first 'finish' the mini-DVD.

Kittyeater · Post by **Kittyeater** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 2:07 am

The device that came with my videostudio is a USB plugin, so how else would you recommend that I plug it in? I am trying to capture video not still images off my video camera. How do I know if i have a firewire card?

heinz-oz · Post by **heinz-oz** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 2:40 am

Kittyeater, how old is your PC? Unless it is fairly recent or you did not put one in, chances are you don't have it.

Most digital cameras, in fact all that I have seen so far, come with a USB cable. That does not mean though that you should be able to capture full frame / full frame rate DV with it. Even USB 2 is not fast enough for that on a sustained base. This connection can be used to download images and streaming video (smaller frame size and reduced frame rate) for use on web sites.

Look at your cameras manual. It should point out the iLink port on the camera. You will need a firewire card or port in/on your PC and the relevant cable. Before you ask, this cable has never been supplied with any camera I know off, and, no, they are not cheap either.

If you have a desktop PC with a free PCI slot on it's motherboard, you can fit a firewire card in there. They are relatively cheap these days.

Kittyeater · Post by **Kittyeater** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 2:41 am

I just dont understand why I need to get this because when i did it before i just plugged my camera into the device that came with videostudio, and plugged that into the usb and it worked fine.

shutterfly · Post by **shutterfly** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 2:53 am

Thank you very much Ken. I finalized the disk and it worked like a charm... Can't thank you enough for taking the time to respond!

Post by **Ken Berry** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 4:05 am

Shutterfly: you're most welcome. I'm glad it worked!

Kittyeater: I think we could have been suffering under a misperception here. It has only just dawned on me that you may not be capturing from a digital video camera but an analogue one. Can you tell us exactly what you are trying to do, please. And if you can, tell us also exactly what this USB device is too i.e. its brand and model number, and anything else you can e.g. can it capture DV/AVI format or only mpeg? Does it have a hardware encoder built in or is it in effect just a passthrough transfer device?.

If indeed you are capturing from a digital video camera, then you don't really need any external USB device to do it. You should be doing it via Firewire as we have already suggested.

However, that being said, the device is clearly a USB 2.0 one, though, and that is good as it can transmit at high enough speeds for digital video. But fairly clearly you are plugging it into a USB 1.0 port, which is why you are getting the warning message. And it also means that the device, whatever it is, cannot transmit at high enough speeds to transfer high quality digital video to your computer. A USB 1.0 port can only transfer at a maximum of 12 Mbps while the USB can operate at 40 times that rate (48 Mbps).

Anyway, as I said, let us know what you are trying to do and exactly what this device is.

mikek · Post by **mikek** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 10:44 am

As an add on to the problem Kittyeater is having, I get the same error message and am talking to ULEAD tech support but no success yet. I capture via the DV socket and the firewire connection (USB capture did not work despite ULEAD saying it would). The capture works buthe error bugs me as I don't see why I get it. I'm using V9 by the way

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