Another Can't Capture Video Issue Thread

[butchn]

I did do a search but found nothing to help me.

 

Just installed EMC8 & right now it's not Easy at all.

 

PC specs, Gateway 8510GZ Notebook, 1.73 GHZ Centrino processor, ATI700 video card 100 GB HDD & RAM upgraded to 2 GB.

 

Windows XP SP2 with all updates.

 

Camera, Sony TRV 510

 

Here's what I do to try a capture a video from my DV camera:

 

Click the EMC8 Icon, click DVD & Video, Click capture, when Media Import opens, I see the preview window, select the only source to capture from, the DV camera, see the preview window & other "options", keep it set to AVI DV format, click capture entire tape & what I see next is the problem.

 

The time recorded numbers count up, The time left on Drive numbers do not count up telling me nothing is being sent to the hard drive, which is also evident by no HDD light activity, & the preview window doesn't show the preview in real time, it just sits there like it was on pause, even though the camera is running.

 

So after a few attempts I let the tape run its course & for a 1 hour DV tape it created a 32K file, but not an AVI file.

 

It put an icon in the right hand menu box, but it shows a HUGE question mark & when I run my mouse over it there are 0 FPS, 0 file size, 0 everything.

 

Help menus are sparse.

 

So what did I do wrong?

 

This is not my 1st time using a video capture type software BTW.

 

I used to use Studio DV & it was great for making web based sized files with small video viewing screens but I figured I have stuff on tape I want to transfer to a DVD so I can watch them on my TV & I wanted to use an updated software that would give me great quality so I can erase my tapes.

 

Using Windows movie maker only gives a .WMV file.

I want a program that will generate a high quality AVI file I can then directly burn to DVD.

 

That's not happening right now.

 

Thanks.

[teddyoh]

gg...

 

The problem described above is very similar to a problem I posted about in a recent help request.

 

http://forums.support.roxio.com/index.php?showtopic=1089

 

In that thread, you suggested to manually capture as a workaround and use scene detect. That's great and all, but like others, I bought Roxio for a reason. Bypassing incompetence was not what I had in mind!

 

I am wondering if this Windows update for FireWire could be the culprit. My question is, I bought my computer with Windows XP already installed in May 2005. Additionally, EMC 7.5 had no problems with SmartScan. If the only change I have made is upgrading to EMC 8.0, does a Windows update really apply? DoesEMC 8.0 use Firewire differently than 7.5?

[ggrussell]

If you have WinXP SP2, then you should install the Firewire update. It doesn't seem to affect everyone, but it certaintly wouldn't hurt anything if you didn't need it. I don't know anything about the technical aspects of how EMC8 use firewire vs V7. I do know that the above problem also affected those with V7.

 

To use smartscan:

Launch Media Import

Click on VIDEO

Select your video camcorder

To the left of the preview, pull down that list and select SMARTSCAN

You first must scan the tape. This is where it detects scenes.

When it is finished, click CAPTURE NOW in the lower right corner.

 

Personally, I never use smartscan because I feel it is too much wear n tear on the camcorder. It does alot of fast forwarding and rewinding, etc. I did find a small shareware app that does it totally differently - WinDV. It captures according to the date/time stamp and creates separate files for each scene. Media Capture does NOT.

 

Using Windows movie maker only gives a .WMV file. I want a program that will generate a high quality AVI file I can then directly burn to DVD.

DV AVI is as high quality as you can get from a DV camcorder. However when you create a standard DVD, those files must be converted to MPEG2 which is the DVD standard. Some loss of quality will happen because of the compression techniqies used in MPEG2. Some players on the market will playback DivX AVI files which some think has better quality even though it uses higher compression. IF you have a DivX DVD player, then that could be another option.

 

I NEVER recommend erasing your tapes. DVDs do not last as long as you would think. Any mishandling like scratches and your precious memories are gone forever. Properly store your tapes and they will last for a long time. DVDs is great way to share those memories with friends and family.

[butchn]

Found the problem, it was the drag & drop that get loaded upon startup.

 

Once I unchecked it in msconfig all was well.

 

BTW, I didn't need the firewire update, thanks anyways!

[ggrussell]

I have a Gateway laptop and I think I had to apply the Microsoft Firewire update:

 

 

Update for Windows XP (KB885222)

 

After you install Windows XP Service Pack 2, some 1394 devices (such as digital cameras that use S400 speed) may not perform as expected.

 

Find it here

[bimicher]

.

.

Using Windows movie maker only gives a .WMV file.

I want a program that will generate a high quality AVI file I can then directly burn to DVD.

.

.

 

Thanks.

 

You can use Windows Movie Maker to capture to avi, I do that quite often.

Also what do you mean by "high quality AVI file I can then directly burn to DVD"? Burning the avi file directly to a DVD will not create a video DVD but only a data DVD.

[teddyoh]

Every workaround I try seems to fail! The saga continues...

 

I used Videowave to Scene Detect after I captured the entire tape. I agree that this works much better than SmartScan, as you can delete scenes, and they are incorporated into the prior scene without losing the data (as you would if they were individual files from SmartScan). I was somewhat confused because you can't do this from within Videowave. You have to run the stand alone Media Center app to do it. I don't see why you can't do it directly from Videowave.

 

The newest problem arose after I tried to add the newly created scenes to a Videowave project. I see and can select all the scenes from the master avi file. However, Videowave will not allow me to place them into the project giving me some error that the selected data was not present. Sorry, I'm not sitting in front of my home computer right now and can't remember the exact error.

 

This is really ticking me off! It was so easy in EMC 7.5. Why is it now so hard? Is there some way to add the scenes directly using MyDVD? It seemed like it had a scene select option similar to the Media Center option.

[ggrussell]

Found the problem, it was the drag & drop that get loaded upon startup.

 

What is that? Was it Drag to Disc which is part of EMC8? That certainly shouldn't affect the firewire.

[bimicher]

Every workaround I try seems to fail! The saga continues...

 

I used Videowave to Scene Detect after I captured the entire tape. I agree that this works much better than SmartScan, as you can delete scenes, and they are incorporated into the prior scene without losing the data (as you would if they were individual files from SmartScan). I was somewhat confused because you can't do this from within Videowave. You have to run the stand alone Media Center app to do it. I don't see why you can't do it directly from Videowave.

 

The newest problem arose after I tried to add the newly created scenes to a Videowave project. I see and can select all the scenes from the master avi file. However, Videowave will not allow me to place them into the project giving me some error that the selected data was not present. Sorry, I'm not sitting in front of my home computer right now and can't remember the exact error.

 

This is really ticking me off! It was so easy in EMC 7.5. Why is it now so hard? Is there some way to add the scenes directly using MyDVD? It seemed like it had a scene select option similar to the Media Center option.

 

Google for a utility called WinDV. It will allow you to capture your DV camcorder video into individual files based on the timestamp on the tape. I find it much more convenient than trying to split a long avi video.