Print to tape when tape is copy protected

johnmeyer wrote on 2/15/2004, 9:34 PM
I'm posting this, both so Sony can see the problem, and hopefully fix it, and so others don't spend twenty minutes fixing an obvious problem, simply because Vegas fails to provide an error message.

Here's the problem: If you use the "Print Video to DV Tape" option, and you insert a tape into your camcorder that has the copy protect tab enabled, when you get to the final dialog that normally is used to start the print process (the one that starts ... "Choose the device control mode"), the option to "Use device control" is grayed out. There is no error message, nor any suggestion that you might want to look at the protect tab on the tape in your camcorder.

I found this particularly difficult to troubleshoot because, as I reported a few days ago, one of my Firewire drives also causes problems with the print to tape feature and, even though it was not connected at the time, I started looking at my good Firewire drive, thinking that it was somehow causing the fault.

Sony, it sure would be nice to have an error message, or at least a troubleshooting icon that might suggest a few things to look for.

Comments

Spot|DSE wrote on 2/15/2004, 10:02 PM
Would be nice indeed, except that different cameras send different messages for a variety of problems. If you could get the camera manufacturers to agree on a communication protocol for this sort of error, Vegas could reasonably be expected to manage the reading of the message. It would be a valuable thing if all cameras would communicate the same way. It would make it much easier for NLE engineers.
johnmeyer wrote on 2/15/2004, 10:50 PM
Would be nice indeed, except that different cameras send different messages for a variety of problems.

I uderstand this problem, and that is why I suggest that they at least provide a troubleshooting icon that suggests several things that might be causing the problem.

I have also suggested, more times than I care to remember, that Sony should put together a FAQ for this forum and include these sorts of things in the FAQ.
craftech wrote on 2/16/2004, 4:41 AM
Sony should put together a FAQ
==============================
Actually much of it was put together by Sonic Foundry and Sony has been adding to it:

http://www.custcenter.com/cgi-bin/sonypictures.cfg/php/enduser/std_alp.php?p_sid=3c1GW34h&p_lva=&p_li=&p_page=1&p_prod_lvl1=17&p_prod_lvl2=%7Eany%7E&p_cat_lvl1=%7Eany%7E&p_search_text=&p_new_search=1&p_search_type=3

Here is where it should be added:

http://www.custcenter.com/cgi-bin/sonypictures.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_sid=3c1GW34h&p_lva=&p_faqid=306&p_created=989816400&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9ncmlkc29ydD0mcF9yb3dfY250PTI2MiZwX3NlYXJjaF90ZXh0PSZwX3NlYXJjaF90eXBlPTMmcF9wcm9kX2x2bDE9MTcmcF9wcm9kX2x2bDI9fmFueX4mcF9jYXRfbHZsMT1_YW55fiZwX3BhZ2U9MQ**&p_li=

John
rebel44 wrote on 2/16/2004, 6:10 AM
I guess that Sony assumed that you paid attencion what are you doing and in that case no error messages are needed. It does happen to me too.
We are only a humans and we all are allowed to make some mistakes.
johnmeyer wrote on 2/16/2004, 9:08 AM
Craftech,

Thanks for the link to their knowledgebase. It does indeed have some answers, but doesn't have items listed as they would normally be in a FAQ (with the most frequently asked questions at the top).

Also, I searched for two of the most frequent newbie questions: How to create slow motion, and how to play a clip backwards. The slow motion question did have an answer, but it was very brief and referred to Vegas 3.0. There was no answer to the play video backwards question.

I often wonder if there is a person at Sony with the title of "Product Manager" or whatever the modern equivalent might be. Maybe it is because I was a product manager for a long time before I started running my own companies, but I think it is essential to have a person who views the product as his/herr "baby." Such a person would get concerned when users didn't have an easy way to find answers to common questions (yes, I know there is a help system in the product, but it isn't organized around questions that are most frequently asked -- of course, it could be, or a FAQ could be added to the support documentation on the CD-ROM).