I don't think I did either but since the clean install to a new hard drive and SP1a it asks for drivers everytime I switch on the PC.

Windows xp has drivers for most things, like firewire cards, memory sticks, digital cameras etc. Camcorders don't have drivers.
The only thing I found related to AVC was advanced voice control device for pilots.
There is something windows is looking for, but it isn't for the camera.

Need more info on it.

Check device manager and see if anything is listed under avc.

edit - do you have an Adaptec VideOh! PCI AVC-2010 ?

No, just an old DHR 1000 I use as a DVCAM source on a secondary editing system. Funny thing is that PC never squawks about the DSR 25! Or the DSR 500 camera. Weird, eh?

Maybe I'll end up having to put in an Internet port and let the damn thing go to whatever site it yearns for.

Peter

Windows asks for drivers for devices that it recognizes that are hooked up at the time it boots. If there is no external device plugged in to the firewire card or usb then it doesn't ask because nothing is there. But when you plug in a printer or something with a memory stick etc. then windows sees it and asks for drivers if it doesn't have them.

If you tell windows to search for drivers (recommended) then it can search in it's database and install them automatically. If they aren't in the database it asks for a cd or search path so you can point it to the drivers.

If it can't find drivers, it usually puts the device in "other devices" with a question mark in front of it, and doesn't bother you again.

Do you have a tv tuner card (another device using AVC as its name).

I think your advice solved the problem. I had a spare high end Creative labs sound card leftover from our failed Pinnacle DC1000DV box and installed it into the PC in question, which came with "integrated audio and video display. In system -> Device Manager there is an AV/C device, which is now disabled. Knock on wood, the issue appears to be resolved and the computer can boot up and go straight to capture without demanding discs, CDs or an Internet connection.

Thanks again.

BTW: we decided to park our AVID at my day job and share its terabyte worth of SCSI drives amongst the three Vegas/Sound Forge work stations.

Peter

I have a pair of DHR-1000's and still have not been able to get them to work with Sony VidCap. All other software including Windows WM9CAP work with no problem. The device manager sees is twice, once as an "imaging device - Sony DV recorder" and finds the appropriate driver, and as a AV/C tuner, for which there is no driver (? unknown device). Worked fine with Sony VidCap under XP SP1, but will not work under SP2. Any ideas?

nickle's advice of If it can't find drivers, it usually puts the device in "other devices" with a question mark in front of it, and doesn't bother you again. is correct. We got the same message when we installed our JVC SR-VS30U DV/SVHS VCRs. We just ignore it as well :-)

Mike

Transco

Are you saying that AV/C tuner is sitting in the "unknown devices" and that the camera doesn't capture i.e. "no capture device" message?

Or are you saying that when you turn on the camera it shows under imaging devices AND tries to install a driver for an AV/C device?

I guess I didn't express myself very well. I don't have a driver problem in that all of my other video capture programs work perfectly. Unfortunately, Sony VidCap5 doesn't see the deck at all. Perhaps it is looking for a camera and not a DV recorder? Interestingly, from within VidCap you have full deck control via the Windows drop-down device controller, but the capture routine itself doesn't see the deck. The active driver identifies the deck as "Sony DV Tape Recorder/Player", but the only device listed in Vegas is "Microsoft DV Camera and VCR". When I select this device it first says "Device not found", then a black screen for several seconds, and finally a "Please load a tape" message. This is as far as I can get.. Since it doesn't "see" a tape, the capture controls remain grayed out.

One way you might be able to work around the problem is to disable DV device control and do a 'crash' capture. You'll have to put the DHR 1000 into play manually and DV scene detection will not work but neither of those are show stoppers.

Bob.

Unfortunately this is one of the situations where I start getting lost.

PB's problem was just that Windows kept asking for drivers while his deck worked OK.

I don't have a deck so I can't verify what is available in the vidcap window.

I do have an ATI capture card which is listed under the "video" tab with a number of "properties" settings as well as whether the connection is composite or svideo or tuner which I have to select before it works.

My camera, when connected then shows the ms dvcam and vcr.

Since your deck seems to be recognized I would blame it on sp2 unless someone else has any ideas.

Transco

There is one more thing you can try although it may not apply, I'll let you decide.

Since you did an "upgrade" and although your deck is listed, there is the unknown av/c device thing which may be a driver conflict.

This applies to problems installing decks and cameras that ARE NOT recognized.

Make sure explorer is set to show hidden files, and look in your Windows/inf folder.
Find the msdv.inf file and see if it was changed to msdv.inf.1 or not.

If it was changed rename it back to msdv.inf and the same for msdv.pnf.

That is a cure for those types of problems, IF the file got changed.

Unfotunately both msdv.inf and msfv.pnf are in the directory as are avc.inf and avc.pnf. As to the suggestion to "crash capture", there doesn't seem to be any way to have the program capture when it doesn't see anything to capture from.

Does anyone actually have a DHR-1000 working properly with VidCap5? If so, please tell me as much as you can about the drivers, 1394 interface, O.S., etc. that you are using. Thanks in advance...