Hi,  a newbie question. If already answered elsewhere in the forum, please point to me the link.

I had S9 and the break-out box (version 2), for about 2 or 3 years but not used much. Recently upgraded my PC and the O.S. to MS Vista Home Premimum. Came to know that upgrade is required and so bought S12 Ultimate. Now, I am not able to capture the video from my Sony DCR-PC350E miniDV videocam. Its connected through the firewire port in the PCI card that came with the S9 Plus deluxe package. The videocam is visible in the list of input devices in S12 ulti and I am able to control the cam through the capture dialog box options. When I click play no preview and no audio. Capture works sporadically. Please help:

System spec: Intel core 2 duo 2.2GHz;  2GB RAM; West Digi Hard disk 320GB 7200rpm - 45% used; Maxtor 120GB 5200rpm sec hard disk 70% used; ATI Radeon HD 2400Pro (128MB mem I think); audio in built on the board apparently HD chipset- After searching through the forum I did the following but of no use:

- uninstall and reinstall the S12 ultimate

- uninstall and reinstall the IEEE driver (VIA and the other one)

- change the display resolution upto 800x600 with lowest refresh rate possible

- windows vista update - (no new updates)

- S12 ulti update - (nothing to update)

- tried with both the firewire ports; but did not try with any USB link to PC from the video cam

If I've missed out anything, please advise. I've like about 20hours of video to convert in a short period(not commercial purpose - all personal).  I didnot try with any other

Thanks in advance

Ram

Welcome to the Forum

Since no respopnse so far, I'll have a go.

1) The only Capture Device I use is my DV Cam.

2) I assume that your Pinnacle BOB has the option of Capturing both AV & DV.

3) Since both VIA OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller & presumably your Cam is showing (when connected) in Imaging Devices, in Device Manager & Cam is recognised  by Studio & you can capture intermittently, IMO you don't have either a Software or Hardware prob, except for possibly a faulty Firewire cable. Therefore:

4) Try Capturing in WIndows Moviemaker, to test the cable, using another Prog. If no go, it's possibly your Firewire cable (See below).

5)  

change the display resolution upto 800x600 with lowest refresh rate possible

IMO, that wouldn't have any effect. However Disabling High Resolution Preview in S12 would & Disabling S12 Preview & viewing via Cam's Viewscreen would be better.

6) Defragment your Hard Drive

7) Do both a File System Error & Hdd Error check. I don't Have Vista, however the route for XP would be:

8) Start / My Computer / Right - Click on Capture Drive Icon / Properties / Tools / Error Checking / Check now & do both sequentially, in following Pop-Up.

9) Do 6), 7) & 8) first. 

On balance, it looks as thougjh you have a faulty Firewire Cable., since it has 2 data transfer signals. One for cam recognition & control, which seems to be working & one for Video (with embedded Audio), which doesn't seem to be working.  

Hi Colour,

Many thanks for the warm welcome and the response.

1. I can see the Sony video camera under the Imaging devices with the name "Sony DV Camcorder"

2. I tried capturing a few minutes of the video using Windows Movie Maker. It works without a problem and I could create a decent AVI file - with audio!

3. Yes, I also felt that changing the display resolution  may not bring any result but tried anyway as I saw a similar suggestion in the forum elsewhere. BTW, please let me know how to disable the high resolution preview in S12.

4. I use the software diskeeper 2008 to defrag the hard disks - once or twice a month. 

I am still not sure the firewire cable is having problem - I use the one supplied as a part of S9 AV/DV deluxe  package.

Perhaps I'm missing some configuration setting somewhere.

Any other suggestions?

 Thanks in advance.

Try the ff:

1. Connect the camera (if its not connected).
2. Quit Studio (if its running).
3. Go to Device Manager.
4. Uninstall the Firewire port drivers (not the camera).
5. Disconnect the camera.
6. Reboot.
7. Let windows automatically redetect the drivers for the firewire port.
Note: If it doesn't install automatically proceed to Step 8.

8. Reconnect the Camera.
9. Attempt to recapture.

Marc P.:

Try the ff:

1. Connect the camera (if its not connected).
2. Quit Studio (if its running).
3. Go to Device Manager.
4. Uninstall the Firewire port drivers (not the camera).
5. Disconnect the camera.
6. Reboot.
7. Let windows automatically redetect the drivers for the firewire port.
Note: If it doesn't install automatically proceed to Step 8.

8. Reconnect the Camera.
9. Attempt to recapture.

And if that doesn't solve it, Capture to DV-AVI with WMM, to your "My Videos" Folder & Import AVI into Studio Edit album, via  the "Import Video from another location" Icon, using Windows Explorer (Empty Folder Icon - Top right in Edit Album). 

To the OP, keep us posted with your results.

Sorrry for the late response. I could work on this only during weekends...

Thanks Marc, but the suggestion did not work either .  The preview and audio are still not there while playing or capturing.

I had to follow Colour's suggestion of capturing the video using WMM.

 Not sure whether reporting to the pinnacle support team will help either..

I appreciate the co-operative sharing effort evident in this forum...

I'd keep checking the forum to see if anybody else had luck with such an issue....

Thx.

For what it's worth, my favorite DV capture program is still WinDV.  It's a good substitute for Windows Movie Maker, as it can capture DV AVI type 2 files (which all versions of Studio "like") instead of only DV AVI type 1 files (which is all that WMM will capture).

And it's fast and lightweight as well.

It's what I use, anyhow.

BittMann

May WinDV + "Run as Administrator" + Win XP SP2 Compatibility mode is worth a try.

I too am having a problem with preview & capture when using S12 Ultimate.  All my hardware works with S9.  Therefore I think it a problem with S12.  I have an intel processor running 2.8 ghz, 1.5mb ra, video card with 512 mb ram. My video dv is Spny TRV520.   Matter of fact I adde additional ram & a new video card at suggestion of tech support.  No resolution.  I have tried uninstall of S9, uninstall of S12 & reinstall.  Nothing seems to work.  I have reached the conclusion of returning the software to Pinnacle and asking for refund.  I am still hpeful that some will have a solution.  However seeing all the post with similar problems, I don't that will happen.

WayneB

You are responding the a thread that is very old. However, there seems to be a spate of "firewire not working" posts at the moment. Just to check, you have St9 and St12 installed and the firewire capture works in 9 but not in 12? What about MovieMaker?

Is your firewire capture a part of a Pinnacle capture device or a seperate card/onboard device? What OS are you running? Is XP set to automatically accept Windows updates?

WayneB:

I too am having a problem with preview & capture when using S12 Ultimate.  All my hardware works with S9.  Therefore I think it a problem with S12.  I have an intel processor running 2.8 ghz, 1.5mb ra, video card with 512 mb ram. My video dv is Spny TRV520.   Matter of fact I adde additional ram & a new video card at suggestion of tech support.  No resolution.  I have tried uninstall of S9, uninstall of S12 & reinstall.  Nothing seems to work.  I have reached the conclusion of returning the software to Pinnacle and asking for refund.  I am still hpeful that some will have a solution.  However seeing all the post with similar problems, I don't that will happen.

If you still have S12 installed, try updating your chipset drivers or if you have a separate firewire card that has its own drivers try updating that as well.