Studio - Capture

Re: Capture problems Studio 12 Ultimate - MovieBox - VCR

Marc P. — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:23:25 GMT

arysrus:
Yes it is the hard drive light...the light that Dell puts on the front of your system so you can tell when it is accessing the hard drive. And I'm using Studio 12 to view the video in the preview window. I just start the VCR tape and let in play and sooner or later it freezes up in the preview window... I have tried capturing without preview and the same thing happens, its just that I don't know when it happens until I play back the captured video. I have tried everything that I can think of and ALL the suggestions you guys have supplied. It is strange that the AMCAP capture works for the HI-8 (Digital tape) and works for the VCR capture, except that it is at 1/2 or 1/4 speed for the VCR. It NEVER locks up..... What is the difference with the AMCAP and the Studio capture????

To answer your question, AFAIK Amcap uses minimal resources as it captures unlike Studio runs several processes. But this shouldn't be a resource issue on your end as you have sufficient specs to do captures. Maybe a software conflict, perhaps you could run a clean boot and attempt to capture again.

Re: Capture problems Studio 12 Ultimate - MovieBox - VCR

arysrus — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 10:42:30 GMT

Yes it is the hard drive light...the light that Dell puts on the front of your system so you can tell when it is accessing the hard drive. And I'm using Studio 12 to view the video in the preview window. I just start the VCR tape and let in play and sooner or later it freezes up in the preview window... I have tried capturing without preview and the same thing happens, its just that I don't know when it happens until I play back the captured video. I have tried everything that I can think of and ALL the suggestions you guys have supplied. It is strange that the AMCAP capture works for the HI-8 (Digital tape) and works for the VCR capture, except that it is at 1/2 or 1/4 speed for the VCR. It NEVER locks up..... What is the difference with the AMCAP and the Studio capture????

Re: Capture problems Studio 12 Ultimate - MovieBox - VCR

Marc P. — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 04:43:11 GMT

arysrus:
I have noticed that the capture\video freezes when the disk access light comes on. This happens whether capturing or just viewing the video.

Do you mean the hard drive light? What software do you use to view the video?

Re: Capture problems Studio 12 Ultimate - MovieBox - VCR

arysrus — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 20:50:36 GMT

Have spent the weekend trying to update my video drivers and tried MPEG with same results. I have noticed that the capture\video freezes when the disk access light comes on. This happens whether capturing or just viewing the video. Tried to make Studio 'Top Priority' in task manager, but that didn't work either. I still think there may be an issue with the USB device possibly. My old XP system works with the Studio 9.5 and the internal H/W card from Pinnacle. I guess the next resort would be to getting a Mac as I have heard there is no issue with their video software...even the stuff that comes free on the machine.

Am disappointed that I can't seem to get any support from Pinnacle on the issue..... The ususal reinstall drivers is all I get.....Very frustrated....

Re: Capture problems Studio 12 Ultimate - MovieBox - VCR

Marc P. — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 09:36:19 GMT

FriendlessNerd:
I have the same problem now. My first cap was a 55-minute vacation movie (only thing on the tape). 29 dropped frames--all in the first minute--but clear sailing after that.
My second attempt was a series of home movies all on the same tape. About 4.5 hours worth. First 15 minutes started fine. At around the 15 minute mark, the video went away, but audio was still fine. Thousands of dropped frames in the next few minutes.
I've tried capturing as AVI in best, better, and good presets; same with MPEG1/2. Same issue. Plugged into front USB and back USB ports. Same issue. Started with Vista 32 SP1 machine and switched to XP Pro 32 SP3. Same issue. Uninstalled/reinstalled on Vista machine. Same issue. The mouse and keyboard are the only other USB devices.
I have not tried AMCap, but will now.
I do not currently have the miniDV option because I got rid of mine years ago. Converter boxes from component-to-firewire are not cheap and neither is buying another miniDV that I will only use for this. I only have about a dozen tapes (maybe 48 hours max) to move to DVD.
I believe this is a Pinnacle issue. The first 55-minute video capped fine. The first 15-minutes of the next tape capped fine. When I hit 'play' on the VCR, audio and video come across fine in the preview window. I've let it play for 30 minutes without capping to see if that would change and the feed was still fine. But once I start capturing...back to dropped frames and eventually locking up.

My Vista machine:
AMD Phenom 9550 (2.2 GHz)
Asus M3N-HT (nVidia 780a)
4GB Corsair 8500 dual-channel mode
1.5 TB across 2 drives (one O/S, one storage)
XFX GeForce 9800 GTX+ (512MB)
Vista Ultimate 32-bit SP1
The XP machine is almost the same, except it has an Intel Core 2 Duo, a 750i Asus mobo and an XFX 8800.

I'd really like to see if there is a fix.

Are you able to capture properly the second time with the 1st tape that worked? It could be that the subsequent tapes may need a bit of winding for a more stable capture. Does the capture improve on the next reboot?

Re: Capture problems Studio 12 Ultimate - MovieBox - VCR

FriendlessNerd — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:42:40 GMT

I have the same problem now. My first cap was a 55-minute vacation movie (only thing on the tape). 29 dropped frames--all in the first minute--but clear sailing after that.

My second attempt was a series of home movies all on the same tape. About 4.5 hours worth. First 15 minutes started fine. At around the 15 minute mark, the video went away, but audio was still fine. Thousands of dropped frames in the next few minutes.

I've tried capturing as AVI in best, better, and good presets; same with MPEG1/2. Same issue. Plugged into front USB and back USB ports. Same issue. Started with Vista 32 SP1 machine and switched to XP Pro 32 SP3. Same issue. Uninstalled/reinstalled on Vista machine. Same issue. The mouse and keyboard are the only other USB devices.

I have not tried AMCap, but will now.

I do not currently have the miniDV option because I got rid of mine years ago. Converter boxes from component-to-firewire are not cheap and neither is buying another miniDV that I will only use for this. I only have about a dozen tapes (maybe 48 hours max) to move to DVD.

I believe this is a Pinnacle issue. The first 55-minute video capped fine. The first 15-minutes of the next tape capped fine. When I hit 'play' on the VCR, audio and video come across fine in the preview window. I've let it play for 30 minutes without capping to see if that would change and the feed was still fine. But once I start capturing...back to dropped frames and eventually locking up.

My Vista machine:

AMD Phenom 9550 (2.2 GHz)

Asus M3N-HT (nVidia 780a)

4GB Corsair 8500 dual-channel mode

1.5 TB across 2 drives (one O/S, one storage)

XFX GeForce 9800 GTX+ (512MB)

Vista Ultimate 32-bit SP1

The XP machine is almost the same, except it has an Intel Core 2 Duo, a 750i Asus mobo and an XFX 8800.

I'd really like to see if there is a fix.

Re: Capture problems Studio 12 Ultimate - MovieBox - VCR

Marc P. — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 11:31:56 GMT

arysrus:
Am away on business travel so will have to try the MPEG thing later. I have went over ALL the settings in Pinnacle and nothing seems to fix the problem. I was trying to find a way in VISTA to make the USB capture the highest priority when capturing, but haven't found that yet.

Please give us an update when you get the time.

Re: Capture problems Studio 12 Ultimate - MovieBox - VCR

arysrus — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 19:22:36 GMT

Am away on business travel so will have to try the MPEG thing later. I have went over ALL the settings in Pinnacle and nothing seems to fix the problem. I was trying to find a way in VISTA to make the USB capture the highest priority when capturing, but haven't found that yet.

Re: Capture problems Studio 12 Ultimate - MovieBox - VCR

Mon Roy — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 02:45:22 GMT

Can you change the capture format to MPEG and start capturing from the lowest quality up and use the back ports.

If AMCAPTURE works, this means that you may need to change a setting in Pinnacle.

Re: Capture problems Studio 12 Ultimate - MovieBox - VCR

arysrus — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 10:45:13 GMT

See my post earlier where as I was able to capture without a problem with the AMCAP utility that comes with the Studio S/W for my digital Sony camera. I was also able to capture the VCR tape, BUT when playing it back its at 1/4 or 1/2 speed with no audio. I've also disabled about EVERY background thing I can think of and it still doesn't work with Pinnacle capture device and their software, but the fact it does work like stated above with the AMCAP routine would seem to point to there being a problem with the Pinnacle Studio S/W and their capture device. The only other thing I've noticed is I think it freezes, 'hangs up' when the disk drive is accessed during the capture.....I've seemed to notice that it will be capturing fine and then I'll see the disk access light blink and the video freezes......its like the disk access is causing the glitch possibly, but I don't see how you can get around that as the video has to be stored to disk.....

This is VERY frustrating as I can no longer capture any old video VCR tapes. Luckily I captured 98% of what I had with the old Studio 9.5.4 S/W, but recently came across a few tapes I missed.

Am wondering why no one from Pinnacle has replied about the fact that the AMCAP works??? If it works for the camera input and doesn't freeze, why doesn't the Studio capture work?????

Re: Capture problems Studio 12 Ultimate - MovieBox - VCR

colour — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 02:45:55 GMT

MAYAman:

bumping this because

A. It is happening to a ton of people

B. All day the customer support site says its "under going maint"

How do you assign first priority to the pinnacle device? I have tried all previous remedies and have tried this on different machines both XP and Vista. Very frustrating.

Have you tried my solution HERE?

Re: Capture problems Studio 12 Ultimate - MovieBox - VCR

MAYAman — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 00:59:07 GMT

bumping this because

A. It is happening to a ton of people

B. All day the customer support site says its "under going maint"

How do you assign first priority to the pinnacle device? I have tried all previous remedies and have tried this on different machines both XP and Vista. Very frustrating.

Re: Capture problems Studio 12 Ultimate - MovieBox - VCR

Marc P. — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:25:46 GMT

You will need to contact support for this procedure.

Re: Capture problems Studio 12 Ultimate - MovieBox - VCR

arysrus — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:26:59 GMT

Isn't it possible that the USB device from Pinnacle is bad? How would I go about getting a replacement if it is defective?

Re: Capture problems Studio 12 Ultimate - MovieBox - VCR

Marc P. — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:09:05 GMT

arysrus:
I've tried installing the latest drivers multiple times with no luck. I've unplugged ALL USB devices except my wireless mouse\keyboard. This seems to ALWAYS be the canned answer from Pinnacle.....reinstall the drivers\reinstall the program. The fact that the AMCAP works to at least capture the DV input makes me think something is wrong on the Pinnacle side. If I could only figure out why the VCR capture from AMCAP was playing back at 1/2 or 1/4 speed, I'd just resolve to use AMCAP because it looks like it works. This is just like Studio 9.5.4 when the VCR stuff would work, but I had to resort to a freeware program for the DV capture. I guess I would have thought Pinnacle would have this figured out by now, but maybe I'm wrong. It's frutstrating that no one seems to have an answer.....

I wish I have the answer, but these cases have been the same ever since. It's either the drivers are funky, the device isn't getting enough USB juice or the hardware is being unpredictable. As for the software side, there are many factors. Background services could be a cause.

But that's just for me and how I look at the problem.