HDV caputre acts like it's working, does nothing

MattR wrote on 9/26/2009, 12:50 PM
I realize there have long been issues with capturing HDV in Vegas, and that people generally recommend other solutions like HDV Split, but before I give up on Vegas I thought I'd ask this here. I've seen other HDV capture issues addressed in the archives here, but I didn't find anything on this particular one.

I'm running Vegas Pro 8.0 on Vista 64bit, and have generally not had very many issues with it. But now I'm trying to capture from a Sony HDR-FX7 and it's not working. When I get to the HDV capture window, Vegas recognizes the correct camera model, and I can use the transport controls to play, FFW, REW, etc. Everything acts like it's working normally. When I press the capture button, the tape will start to play and again everything acts like it's normal (except I get no preview in the capture window, but my understanding is that's normal for HDV(?) but when I press stop or the capture button again to stop the capture, no file is generated.

I've double-checked the destination folder is set correctly and that I'm looking for the files there, but that's not the issue.

Is this just a general misunderstanding on my part about how to capture HDV in Vegas, or is this probably something esle?

Thanks!

Comments

rs170a wrote on 9/26/2009, 1:06 PM
Dumb question but I'll ask it anyway.
Are you sure the camera is set properly (HDV mode and not DV)?

Mike
MattR wrote on 9/26/2009, 1:27 PM
Yeah, I've tried it in "Auto" mode, and strictly "HDV" mode. No difference. Thanks though.

I suppose I ought to list other things I've tried:

- Reboot the computer.
- Try a different Firewire cable
- Unplug the external drive I had connected.
- Uncheck "enable HDV scene detection"
- Increase maximum RAM buffer size to 80%
- Switch between the camera's two "i.Link conversion" settings
- Set the destination folder to both the system drive and an external drive

None of that made a difference.

And also for good measure, here are more detailed system specs:

- HP HDX X18-118OUS laptop
- Windows Vista 64bit
- 4GB RAM
- Intel Core 2 Quad Q9000 at 2GHz
- Have tried to capture to the 500GB internal system drive and a Seagate 1TB external drive attached via USB
DavidMcKnight wrote on 9/28/2009, 1:28 PM
Hi Matt, I've seen this exact same problem, coincidentally, over the weekend. Had a guy call for a consult with this problem, came over, we systematically replaced every component in the chain and the only thing we can figure is it was something in his HP laptop / drivers / Vista 64 setup that was causing this. The system captured DV from the camera (in down convert mode) fine. This happens in both Vegas Pro 8c and Vegas Movie Studio on this machine. Same camera, on XP Pro & Vegas Pro or Movie Studio on our machines and it captured HDV without issue.

We even tried running Vegas in XP Compatibility mode. I just started searching the forum and found your post, wanted to let you know the configuration / problem exists in at least one other place.
johnmeyer wrote on 9/28/2009, 2:35 PM
This is not going to be one of my more helpful posts, but here are a few ideas.

I know that when capturing DV (not HDV as you are doing) from cameras that have the A/V passthrough feature that it is sometimes possible to get it into a state where the video from the tape wouldn't capture. However, I just tried this with my FX1 (enabled the A/V->DV Out) and it still captured the HDV just fine.

When you press the play button in the Vegas Capture transport controls, do you see video in the Vegas Capture preview? I just happen to have my FX1 set up and connected, and on 8.0c (32-bit, XP Pro), I pressed the play button and it showed up in the capture preview window.

The other thing I would suggest is to try, if you can, to capture using the 32-bit Vegas 8.0c under XP. Drivers for Vista have always been an issue.

While your FX7 probably has different menus than my FX1, here are the key menu settings I'm using:

VCR HDV/DV: HDV
Component: 1080i/480i
i.Link Conv: Off
TV Type: 4:3
A/V -> DV Out: Off
Multi-sound: stereo
Data code: Date/Cam

I would also try a different Firewire cable, if you have one.
Laurence wrote on 9/28/2009, 3:27 PM
By the way, I have exactly the same problem. Also with a Vista 64 system. I end up either shooting to CF card or capturing from an older computer.

Is anyone capturing HDV video with a Vista 64 system successfully?
DavidMcKnight wrote on 9/28/2009, 3:31 PM
Hi John, thanks for the info. For our scenario, we tried different fw cables and all manner of camera jugglery. It captures HDV fine in XP Pro 32 bit, but nada in Vista 64 bit.

Device control works fine but you never see any preview during "capture". Time code runs but no file is ever written. This holds true for HDVSplit and Premiere too, btw. Another sure giveaway that it's at the OS / hardware level.

I have not had time since then to see if his Vista is current but that could be the issue. Also found a post via Laurence from another thread, pointing to the Cow, that ultimately led to this article about FW support and issues in Vista 64.:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927827/en-us

I'll try this and the vista updates this week.
Laurence wrote on 9/28/2009, 3:54 PM
That article didn't help me even though it did look promising at first. Hopefully you have better luck. Just to be clear, I can't capture with any program in Vista 64. Not Vegas, not HDV Split, not Nero, not Roxio, not anything. My capture programs will work the Z7 transport, but no video is transported over the firewire connection.
MattR wrote on 9/28/2009, 9:58 PM
I never did have any luck, so I ended up bringing the camera home with me (it was a client's camera), and just captured it on my desktop. The desktop is also Vista 64-bit and running Vegas 8.0c. The first difference I noted was that when I played the tape with the transport controls, I could see the video in the preview monitor. I had thought I had seen a post here in the forums saying that HDV doesn't show up in the preview window, so that threw me off.

Well anyway, it captured just fine on the desktop. Based on David's post above, I'm going to just write this off as this laptop not being able to capture HDV.
Laurence wrote on 9/29/2009, 6:44 AM
What laptop is it? Mine is an HP.
jrazz wrote on 9/29/2009, 6:47 AM
Is anyone capturing HDV video with a Vista 64 system successfully?

I am.
DavidMcKnight wrote on 9/29/2009, 7:43 AM
"What laptop is it? Mine is an HP."

My client's laptop is HP as well. Will update this post when I get the exact model #
Laurence wrote on 9/29/2009, 8:20 AM
My guess is that the HP firewire driver doesn't support HDV capture. I wonder if I could capture if I just bought a SxS firewire card.
Tony Newman wrote on 10/1/2009, 10:01 PM
I'm running a Vista 64-bit computer with 12 gigs of RAM and when I went from from Pro 8 to Pro 9b I now get the dreaded "No Preview Available". Fortunately I still have Pro 8 on the desktop. So now I have to capture HDV from my FX1 in Pro 8 then edit in Pro 9. Incidently, Pro 9 does record the footage, I just have no preview while it's capturing.

Clients shake their heads and ask me how come I don't use FCP... ugh...
DavidMcKnight wrote on 10/2/2009, 4:44 AM
FWIW Tony, in my case (and I think the OP case as well) no tool is able to capture HDV at all on this particular PC w/ Vista 64.
Not Vegas Pro 8 or 9, not VMS, not HDVSplit, and not Premiere.
farss wrote on 10/2/2009, 6:46 AM
This sounds like a driver / hardware issue. Has anyone tried using a different firewire card?
It'd help I think if anyone whose using a non mobo firewire port that works if they could list what type of card they're using.

Bob.
MattR wrote on 3/30/2010, 9:35 AM
I figured I'd post this in case anyone found the thread in a search - I did finally get this to work on my laptop! And yes, it is an HP - an HP HDX X18-1180US. I found that the HP site had an update for the Firewire driver Sept. '09, and sure enough, that fixed the problem!