How to capture from JVC GY-HD200

Former user wrote on 6/18/2009, 3:55 PM
I have a client that recently purchased a JVC GY-HD200 and has brought the camera and his HD tape for me to capture into Vegas (8.0c). I've attached the camera to my system via the Firewire port and Vista tells me that it has successfully installed the necessary drivers. But when I start the Vegas capture utility I get an error "The device 'JVC GY-HD200' could not be opened." I've tried rebooting my system and re-starting the camera, and swtiched the camera between camera and VTR mode, but still no luck.

This is my first time attempting to capture HD footage and I've looked through the documentation that comes with the camera, but can't find anything about capturing footage...

I'm stumped. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Comments

Former user wrote on 6/18/2009, 7:27 PM
Well, I downloaded a trial copy of Cineform Neo Scene and was able to capture all the clips with no problems. Started up Vegas, imported the media and so far so good. The only thing I've noticed is that none of the clips have the original source timecode. Every clip starts at 00:00:00 :-(

Jim
goshep wrote on 6/18/2009, 7:41 PM
Not sure why your is working in another app in not Vegas but attempting to capture HDV with the firewire switch set to DV will cause similar problems in 8c. I have a JVC GY-HD-110 and make that mistake occasionally.
Former user wrote on 6/18/2009, 8:54 PM
Yep. I checked that and it's set to HDV. When I first ran Neo Scene the capture window said the camera was camera mode, but it was set to VTR mode. But, I switched back and forth a couple of times and it still said it was in Camera mode and the shuttle controls were greyed out. So I just clicked on the capture button and it started playback and started capturing. The timecode display was clicking along, so it was reading as it should.

I guess that was why Vegas thought the camera was not ready -- it thought it was in "camera" mode, but I couldn't figure a way to get Vegas to communicate with it...
Former user wrote on 6/19/2009, 9:18 AM
I found a Sony tech article in the knowledge base that indicated that I should put the camera into DV mode (I assume with a DV tape inserted) and check the system device manager to see if there was an "Imaging Device" listed and that it should have the camera listed there. It does. They also suggested updating the driver, which I did in the as the article outlined. So far so good.

I opened Vegas and was able to capture clips while using a DV tape and the camera in DV mode.

I closed Vegas. Replaced the DV tape with a HDV tape (and switched the camera back into HDV mode) and started Vegas back up. Opened the capture program and got a long wait while it tried to connect with the camera. After quite a while I just un-plugged the firewire cable and then got the same error as before about Vegas not being able to open the camera.

I'm using 8.0c and I noticed that version 9 has "improved HDV camera support" so I'm wondering if this camera / tape format isn't compatible with 8.0c, but might work with 9?

Anyway, Neo Scene works, although the lack of source timecode being captured with the clips is a pain, at least I can edit HDV footage.

Jim
goshep wrote on 6/19/2009, 1:05 PM
Jim,

Do you have the capture format in Vegas vidcap defaulted to DV by any chance? Normally it will prompt you to select DV or HDV/SDI but there is an option to 'always use the selected format'. If at some point you captured DV and ticked that box, you may unknowingly be defaulting vidcap to expect a DV input.

Shep
Former user wrote on 6/19/2009, 2:48 PM
goshep, I have discovered that there is a built-in capture tab (and not Sony Video Capture) that works great. I can now access the HDV camera and am able to capture HDV video directly into Vegas without using Neo Scene.

Are you talking about the built-in Vegas capture or some setting in the Sony Video Capture external application?
goshep wrote on 6/19/2009, 3:06 PM
Sorry for the confusion. I've noticed many here refer to vidcap as a separate animal which I suppose it is as it can be run independent of Vegas. I access it from within Vegas either by menu tab or clicking the little camera icon. At that point it prompts for DV or HDV but it also allows an option to automatically choose one of the formats at startup. I assume (I haven't tried it myself as I still use both formats regularly) that having DV automatically selected would produce problems similar to that which you were experiencing. Just a guess though. At this point however, I may be further muddying the water.

Shep