Leviathan, what is the technical issue? Let's see if we can do something - yeah?

Grazie

Hi there,

Did I neglect to mention that the folks here on the forum are great? :D I guess I did. Here is the problem we've been having:

http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=315068&Page=0

Thanks.

Leviathan

I'm at a bit of a loss. The thread the link goes to refers to VidCap working fine on one system and not another?
If this is the problem you're having why do you think it's a issue for Sony tech support to deal with anyway?
I have VidCap 4.0e running on two machines and have never had an issue that I could blame on VidCap. If my clients were as capable as VidCap I'd be laughing.
I'm seriously thinking you have some sort of hardware issue, I've had plenty of those that VidCap brings to light, mostly with external 1394 drives.

Bob.

Leviathan . . . are you and "Kilroy" one and the same person? Or two different people? Your link - as Bob - points to an issue other than you? So what gives? Are you asking for someone else or for yourself? OR is it another link completely? . .. You've "captured" my attention anyway . . .

.. . in the Dark . . Grazie

Hi,

I'm the tech support guy, as well as the second editor. Any problems that the other guy can't handle gets bumped to me.

As far as the problem goes, it's a tech support issue (as far as I'm concerned) for several reasons.

#1 I asked them, if they're going to have a tech support section on the site they can expect to get asked questions, if they think it's strictly a hardware issue then I'd rather they just tell me that, rather then just not respond at all.

#2 It concerns an error message, most anything that doesn't concern an error message I can fix myself, but if there is an error message I generally assume that the people who make the software know more about it then me.

#3 I've done everything I can possibly think of to fix this problem (short of buying more software). When I can't fix a problem it follows logically that I'll contact tech support.

#4 I have my doubts as to it being a hardware problem, both the systems are *identical* in every aspect, and they both use the same capture device (Canopus ADVC-100). I've done a complete rebuild of both systems and the problem is still there....I'm stumped, if you can think of an alternative to contacting tech support that will yield results, then by all means let me know.

Leviathan

When you got the Low Memory message, you must've done a CTRL-ALT-DEL to see what was running at the same time as Vegas. Nothing out of the ordinary?

Mario

When you look at the situation logically....there are thousands of different systems using a similar setup with no problems.

So what makes your system different?

Hardware problem? Configuration problem?

Have you tried a bios update? Or checked the manufacturer's website for issues?
Have you set the jumpers correctly?
Have you swapped out components?
Removed a memory stick or changed it?
Changed cables?
Used default setting?
Read the manuals and readme files?
Updated drivers?
Are you using sp2?

What kind of machine do you have? How is it configured in the bios?

It is pretty hard for Sony to diagnose your machine compared to all the others that work properly.

I have not read the thread that was linked to above, so I am not going to comment on the technical side of this. Also, I have little experience with Sony's technical support (and SoFo's) [knock knock knock]. But I do agree that it would be helpful (and courteous) if they'd send a fairly quick confirmation that the message has been received, it has been assigned to such and such person (or department) and will be dealt with as soon as possible.
Tor

I think you are on it Torsie - " . . .. if they'd send a fairly quick confirmation that the message has been received, it has been assigned to such and such person (or department) and will be dealt with as soon as possible. "

When I've had dealings with Sonic/Sony I'd get the email response and updating system happening .. Just wandering IF the email service from our friend is accepting BACK stuff from Sony . . OR that the email is working correctly TO sony? . . ONly a thought ..

Grazie

Leviathan,
whilst I agree with you that not getting ANY response is a right royal PIA I think the core thing here is getting your problem fixed asap.

Now as a tech support guy and I've done my fair share of that including debugging uCode in minis in the dim past this should be a pretty easy one to track down.
If as you say you've got identical systems running identical code then it has to be a hardware issue surely. And one that should be easy enough to find, you're in a pretty fortunate position here.

Just start swapping bits between the two until you move the fault from one system to the other and then you'll know which bit to replace. If it was me I'd have been doing that well before I worried about Sony's tech support ( or lack there of).
From my experiences we basically gave up trying to debug hardware from error messages long ago. Modern OSs and hardware causes errors to occurs ages after the hardware fault which started the chain of events that ultimately cuased the error to occur. With prefetch and pipelines a misread bit from memory or a sick address bit may cause an issue that's not seen for uSeconds after the initial event.

PS, have you tried running a different capture program on the same machine? Even WMM, if that will not capture properly either then that's a pretty good clue.

Bob.

"In the several times I've consulted Sony tech support, I have NEVER had a reply inside of three weeks, if at all."

You've had to contact tech support several times? Maybe this is part of the problem for the slow response time? Imagine if every Sony software user contacted them as much as you, then what your response time would be? Sony has only acquired the software now going on 2 years. I have been using Sony/Sonic Foundry software going on 9 years, in comparison within that time I have had the need to contact Sony/SF ZERO times for any problems related to my system. Yes, I have had problems but have been able to trouble shoot them myself without filling up the techsupport cue. You have a system problem, this is not a Sony software problem. This should be obvious if you have 2 identical systems and you are seeing the problem only on one system. You state that you like to "fix" things, well in doing this, you need to know something about configuring a PC and doing some logical deductive trouble shooting. From reading your posts, this type of trouble shooting to narrow down the problem has not been done on your part. Why would you consider this to be Sony's responsibility to do the trouble shooting for you?

Although, you say they are "identical", how are you sure they are identical? Although, they may have the exact same hardware installed on them, this does not make them identical. What about the hardware configuration as far as IRQ's are they also identical? Is the hardware installed in the exact same slots on the motherboard? What about the registries, are they identical? Are the Bios settings the same? Did you make a harddrive images of one system and install them onto the other system? If you haven't done any one of the questions I asked above, then they are not identical in no way.

You have a golden opportunity to do A/B comparisons between 2 systems to figure out what is the difference between the 2 systems and all the settings on each. You can even get some software that can create a hard drive image of the system that is working and load the images onto the system that is not working. This will therefore narrow it down to a hardware issue because now all your registry and IRQ settings will be "identical" if it still doesn't work. Then from there you could start swapping hardware to find the faulty hardware.

If you want a system which is guaranteed to work where you don't need to know anything about a computer, then you need to look into purchasing an AVID/PROTOOLS system and pay the $80,000+ associated with it. If you're like the rest of us, who can't afford to shell out that kind of money and are using Vegas, then you need to learn something about how to set up a PC and be able to do YOUR OWN deductive trouble shooting. Don't expect Sony to come running to your side everytime you cry wolf.

I understand you are frustrated because the one system is not working. You need to also understand that you have not comparatively paid a lot of money in putting together a system which is capable of doing video work and you will need to therefore do some trouble shooting on your own when that system does not work.

Farss,

Ah yes, that makes sense. I never thought to try swapping stuff (duh), I guess I just started out with the dumb assumption that it was a software issue. Before I start ripping my systems apart do you have a best guess as to what component it might be? Firewire card, ram, etc? Or is your guess pretty much as good as mine?

As far as trying a different capture program...I tried downloading the demo of Scenealyzer....but it was a corrupt download file....I'm attempting that again as we speak.

Oh, BTW....I'm running Windows 98SE.....personal preference thing, 98SE is nice and small compared to that monster XP :D.

Thanks for the help.

Leviathan

P.S. Still no word from Sony tech.....it would have been nice if they'd even just say, "It's probably a hardware issue, try swapping components around." It's the silence thing that gets my goat.

Running windows 98se????
You need xp or 2000.
http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/products/showproduct.asp?PID=913&FeatureID=7550

Vegas won't run on 98Se.
XP or Win2K.

Oh my! . . . Leviathan, why did you think it would work on your platform? Did you get a warning when you installed Vegas 5 saying you needed to have Win2k or XP? If not why not? .. Anyways, if you can bring yourself to uopgrade OR buy a separate PC just for NLE-ing then I would do the UG thang. . . You've PAID for and GOT a copy of V5, do the UG to Win2k or XP - all you've done is the right thing . .in the wrong order!

Why Sony haven't responded, . .. hmmm... interesting . . .

Best regards

Grazie

Ok, that was good for a laugh, sorry about that guys. My bad, I should have mentioned that I'm running Vegas 4.0e.....it runs on Windows 98SE. Again...sorry about the confusion....although it was funny...for me, but seriously...very sorry.

Leviathan

There's the corner, go stand in it . . and here's yer Dunce hat too! No ice cream for ... ooo 1 Week? - ;-)

G

Hi all,

Just thought I'd let you all know that I managed to download a (non corrupt) Scenealyzer demo....it works fine, captures with no hiccups at all. Any suggestions? I would still like to get the Sony video capture working, as there are some things I like about it. Plus it'll bug me if I never know what's wrong with it. Thanks.

Leviathan