DV Capture Help

Giisty wrote on 7/15/2011, 11:58 AM

Hi Guys,

I lost a hard drive so am capturing some old tapes (DV not HDV).

All was working well but now I get a message 'The device "Microsoft AV/C Tape Subunt Device" could not be opened. Please make sure it is turned on and being used by another application or user'. I can see and control the camera fine if I select the HDV option but not when I select the DV option.

I have a Canon HV20 camera. Capturing via firewire to VMSP8 running on Windows XP.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Giisty

Comments

diverG wrote on 7/15/2011, 1:17 PM

Quick recap: You can capture HDV OK but not capture DV.

The camcorder needs to be set to function as a DV device via the camcoder menu.

I don't know HV20 but I suspect it is similar to sony A1E.

Don't forget to reset it back to HDV afterwards.
Geoff

Giisty wrote on 7/15/2011, 4:48 PM

Yep. Can capture HDV fine. I only realised that I had to use the DV capture program when I could not capture the DV using the HDV program. I then started using the DV capture program and all was fine for a few tapes and then I started to get the error mentioned earlier.

I did not change anything on the camera to capture the DV tapes - it just worked using the DV capture program. Now it does not :(

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Giisty.

Giisty wrote on 7/15/2011, 8:12 PM

Well I went into the camera settings and changed the output to DV as suggested by Geoff. All good. Not sure why I could do it previously without changing the setting but I'm away again. One of life's mysteries :).

Thanks for your help Geoff.
Giisty

Kimberly wrote on 7/15/2011, 8:59 PM

The HDV capture utility is a different utility than the DV capture. I believe DV is VidCap but I cannot remember for sure.

Choose File/Capture Video. You will be able to choose HDV or DV unless you have checked the box that says Always use the Selected Format. In that case your subsequent capture will default to whatever you selected last.

You can always go to Options/Preferences/Video and check the Use External Video Capture Application to make the VidCap application for DV available. You may have to browse for this application. In my case it is located in C:\Program Files\Sony\Vegas Pro 10.0\VidCap60.EXE but your folders will be different of course.

Kimberly

Giisty wrote on 7/15/2011, 11:13 PM

I was a bit too quick to claim victory. I could now see the device and the capture controls were no longer greyed out but it did not capture any files. I have searched the computer for them and none exist.

The bit I do not understand is that it worked fine one day and then not the next. I have not changed any settings in the camera or the capture program.

Any other thoughts?

Thanks,
Giisty

musicvid10 wrote on 7/15/2011, 11:17 PM

From the looks of your original error message, something has hijacked your 1394 port.

Remove the offending "device," in Safe Mode if necessary, reload your firewire drivers if necessary, and try again.

Giisty wrote on 7/16/2011, 12:35 PM

I don't disagree, but why does the firewire work ok to download HDV from the same camera?