Importing DV

jeff1 wrote on 1/27/2010, 7:37 PM
I have not been able to find any previous threads on this... I have no problem importing HDV in Vegas Studio Platinum from my HC3, but when I try to import an older DV tape, the camera shows DVout, but Vegas says the HC3 "The device could not be opened" "Please make sure it is powered on, etc..." (1394 connection in both cases)

I switch over to Windows Movie Maker and the import works perfectly with no other changes at all. Vegas support had me do a "settings reset" then boot windows with no services/startup apps, but still not working.

Anyone see this before? Any ideas?

Comments

Tim L wrote on 1/27/2010, 8:50 PM
Vegas has two totally different capture applications for DV and HDV.

HDV uses the "internal" capture tab, while DV needs to activate a separate, external program called "VidCap".

Normally when you have the Project Media tab open and click the Capture Video icon (or select File > Capture Video), a window should pop-up asking if you want to capture DV or HDV. If you are not getting this choice, then go to Options > Preferences > Video, and tick the box that says "Use external capture application".

Now when you activate the capture icon it should open up a completely new program window that will perform DV capture.

PS: In the course of messing around with this, I ticked the "always use the selected format" box in the HDV - DV selection window, which makes that window go away. Anybody know how to get it back?

Tim L

EDIT: Ok, I found out how to re-enable the "Ask about capture app" in the hidden, internal settings.
jeff1 wrote on 1/28/2010, 6:34 PM
I have tried running that external capture app directly, without Vegas running and still get the same issue. My camera appears on the Video menu, but when selected I get the same old "Can't open device..." error message. Just running Movie Maker works! Sony Capture app 6.0 does not. Seems like a clear cut issue with the Sony app to me... anyone else get this to work with DV source?

Not sure if this makes a difference, but I do have a Happauge tuner card in my system that comes up on the Video menu as a device also... but that one shows the same error when I try to select it for Analog capture.
MSmart wrote on 1/28/2010, 8:47 PM
If you can capture the video with Move Maker, is that not enough? What's missing if you can't use VidCap?

You could give WinDV a try.
jeff1 wrote on 1/29/2010, 5:29 AM
Sure... Movie Maker works... and maybe WinDV would work... but I would like Vegas to work as advertised... I'd like to do it all in Vegas. No reason it shouldn't. I was just trying to find out on here whether this is a known issue that other people have seen or not.
jeff1 wrote on 1/29/2010, 5:34 AM
I actually just tried WinDV out of curiosity... and it does not work... but gives a different error than Vegas... anyone know what this means? My camera comes up in the list and if I choose it the error is shown on the bottom status bar.

Error: Can't find DV output pin.
jeff1 wrote on 2/1/2010, 8:07 PM
Can anyone shed some light on this? If I put the camera in live mode where HDV is coming out Move Maker and Vegas both work fine... but when playing a DV tape (DV out) Vegas will not work and WinDV gives the error I show above... ANY IDEAS? Hard to believe this is so difficult to get working!
MSmart wrote on 2/1/2010, 8:49 PM
DV tape.... as in SD video, not HDV, right? VMS obviously doesn't like something with your camera when it's trying to output SD video.

Have you reported the issue to SCS Tech Support?

I wonder how Movie Studio HD handles this.

Here is something I found that won't necessarily help, but shows what appears to be a problem capturing video from the HC3 with another app: HERE
jeff1 wrote on 2/1/2010, 9:23 PM
OK... Here's the answer! Hopefully will help someone else.

If you turn your camera on in HDV mode already plugged in, it will conflict with the camera trying to be used in DV mode!!! So, just leave the 1394 cable unplugged... put the camera in Tape Play mode... plug the 1394 in and when the driver recognizes the camera, DV capture in Vegas will work fine! I am guessing this is a driver or Windows issue, where the camera can only be accessed in one mode at a time and can't be switched after start-up.