Screenblast not recognizing capture device

gisxprt wrote on 11/26/2003, 1:31 PM
I have a Sony MiniDV Handycam TRV-39 and I'm having a problem capturing videos using Screenblast via firewire (ieee 1394) It does not recognize that its connected. I know it recognizes it becuase when i pull out the wire and put it back in the camera it seems that it connects and then it gives me a message "that the 'Microsoft DV and VCR' could not be open" I'm running Windows 2000 pro, i have the latest SP and Direct X9. I have re-installed Screenblast with the same resulting problem. I have installed and reinstalled the recomended MS drivers for my firewire card. I have installed & reinstalled the latest SP. I installed the USB drivers that came with my Sony camera. This is puzzling to me because i dont have a problem capturing videos using the Sonic's My DVD capturing program and Sony's "ImageMixer" software.

My system:
AMD Athlon XP1600 ghz
Asus MB
256 DDR Ram
80 GB HD
Windows 2000 Pro w/SP4 Direct X9
Screenblast Movie Studio 3.0

Thanks you in advance for your help.

Comments

Steve Grisetti wrote on 11/28/2003, 6:05 AM
If it's any cosolation, it sounds like you've done everything right, gisxprt!

The only issue I can see (and it's a shot in the dark) is that your firewire is committed to another program (since you say you've also captured in My DVD and ImageMixer). Usually a re-install of Screenblast (or an auto repair) will snatch it back. Sorry that didn't work for you.

Just so we can say you tried everything, try uninstalling Screenblast and then running a RegCleaner (a shareware program) to clean up the registry. Then try a re-install.

If your experience is like mine, Screenblast will capture -- at least until you open up one of the other programs competing for the capture device.

Good luck!
IanG wrote on 11/28/2003, 6:18 AM
I was having a similar thought! Before you do a reinstall, it might be worth checking that neither of those other programs is running a process to watch the firewire port. If there is one, try stopping it and reattempting the capture.

Ian G.
pojarnii wrote on 11/29/2003, 8:44 PM
I'm having a very similar problem, except that after uninstalling, running reg clean and reinstalling I have no luck. I also tried uninstalling the camera and now have an error on the reinstall for that. I successfully captured once but can't figure out how to get that back. Any help?

briggins wrote on 11/30/2003, 9:41 AM
In the video capture app, Under Options=>Preferences=>Disk Management, make sure the disk locations you're trying to capture to really exist. I inadvertantly renamed the directory on my hard disk that SB was set to capture to and the next time I hooked up my camcorder I got the same 'error'. SB throws up this insanely stupid message that it can't connect to the capture device when in actuality it just can't find the target location that the disk management options point to.

Bruce
Steve Grisetti wrote on 12/1/2003, 6:06 AM
Open your Device Manager (right-click on My Computer to find it) and delete (yes, UNINSTALL) your firewire device and reboot. Windows should automatically re-install the drivers for it. (Or, if you installed the firewire card separately, you should use the driver on the installation disk that came with it.)

This will give you a clean, uncorrupted driver whose virginity you can then hand over to Screenblast.

Sometimes this works -- but, don't worry, it won't break anything if it doesn't.
pojarnii wrote on 12/2/2003, 6:07 AM
Those were good ideas, and I tried them. SB is set to capture onto a dedicated hard drive. I un-installed fire wire and rebooted, but alas. Any possibility that it's my firewire card? It's a dynex, their web site is pretty bare and has no contact info or drivers to try updating. I might try a different brand of card and see if that helps.
Steve Grisetti wrote on 12/2/2003, 10:49 AM
As long as the firewire card you are using is an OHCI-compliant IEEE-1394/DV capture card, you should have no problems.
pojarnii wrote on 12/5/2003, 7:39 AM
Previous card was OHCI compliant but when I traded out for a different manufacturer everything worked much better. Thanks for the tips.
laz wrote on 12/5/2003, 4:48 PM
Just another shot in the dark. I had a few capture probs since going from 98 to w2k. In the end an updated chipset driver seemed to do the trick.
gisxprt wrote on 12/9/2003, 9:57 PM
Woopie!

Bruce's advice about disk location, that was the problem.

Apparently, it was pointing at a directory that did not exist. I just re-directed into a directory that did, and bingo it worked.

Thank you for everyone who replied
JodoKast wrote on 12/18/2003, 11:34 AM
I just went through the same problem. I had never had a problem capturing before. Last night I installed Sonic MyDVD which came with my new DVD burner. Seems it has the ability to capture video also, and it conflicts with VF. As soon as I uninstalled it, VF was fine. As more and more people get DVD burners, the authoring software may cause this problem to pop up. Just something for all of us to keep in mind.
Berniep wrote on 12/21/2003, 9:56 PM
I had the same problem with my VF tonight. I had been playing around with my general system settings and thought that It was something I did
It turned out I had deleted a file while cleaning up my hardrive that vf (and apparently screen blast also) looks for when it starts capture. The fix was suprizingly easy.
Just start a new project and click save. This will point the capture program to the right place and no more "Microsoft dv and vcr" could not be opened" problem. I did everything but physically remove the capture card and reinstall it. Power on reboot, power off rebooot, reboot conected, reboot disconected, unisntall devices, drivers,etc.
I found it in some old posts dated 2002. There was some conjecture then that it was a capture card or driver problem but I think its the capture software. Microsoft movie maker could open and contol the camera just fine.
Now that I know the problem its not a very big deal but a person could go bald pulling out his/her hair if you don't know what to do.