Video capture doesn't work any more :-(

Gwydi wrote on 6/12/2002, 8:30 AM
Two days ago I bought Videofactory after confirming that video capture worked with the demo. That day, it worked fine with the "registered" version too.

Today, however, it won't work. It keeps telling me that the device cannot be opened. It's definitely not being used by any other application and rebooting the machine doesn't help. However, all other programs that capture video (Yahoo webcam, Vidcap32, etc) open the device fine.

My system; WinXP, ATI Radeon Vivo (latest drivers), Waveterminal 24/96 soundcard.

Nothing has changed - so why did it work two days ago and not now? Suggestions welcomed!

Thanks,
G.

Comments

kcarroll wrote on 6/12/2002, 9:04 AM
Are you trying to capture Analog Source Video? If so, make sure you go into the capture options and disable the option that pertains to Digital Device control.

An Analog camcorder or VCR will not acknowledge VF's digital commands, and it confuses the he?? out of VF.

kcarroll
Grazie wrote on 6/12/2002, 10:21 AM
Kcarroll - how can VF capture AV? I use a Hollywood Bridge to convert it to DV first. Am I missing something here? I DO know I can't control, say my VCR or AV cammy from VF - but there again I would not expect it to. Are you thinking Gwydi is expecting this to happen?

Hmmm... you've got me thinking.

Grazie
Grazie wrote on 6/12/2002, 10:23 AM
Gwydi - Have you got VF version 2.0 or the updated 2.0c build 125? You can downl;oad this from SF updating site. I run WinME and this VF 2.0c worked for me. BUT check out the XP updatability.

Grazie
kcarroll wrote on 6/12/2002, 12:18 PM
Sorry Grazie........., I wasn't as clear as I should have been. I was assuming (a bad thing to do!) that Gwydi would understand that an Analog capture implies some kind of converter, and it was this 'converter/analog camcorder' package that VF would be trying unsuccessfully to control. (Because VF see this package as some sort of digital camcorder.)

Upon re-reading my post, I can see how it could be worse than useless in some people's eyes. Thank you for mentioning it, as I try very hard not to mislead people through omission or ignorance.

kcarroll
Grazie wrote on 6/12/2002, 2:24 PM
Oh yes! Me tooo!...

I get very enthusiatic about this package and have at times gone overboard - sic: My Picture in Picture thing I did with a lot of Vfers on this Forum about a month ago. - But the other bit Gwydi was saying got me thinking... G's set-up had been working but now wasn't.... oh well let's wait and see if G comes back with a solution.

You got it very right when you said in your response to me, "..converter/analog camcorder' package that VF would be trying unsuccessfully to control" - sometimes I need to be told the obvious - really I mean it! I've been writing a procedural manual for a public service sector [local government] and sometimes - nah always - I have to state the obvious stuff up-front - and sometimes twice!

On another tack - have been seeing your posts (there can only be one Kcarroll, surely - "Yeah yeah and stop calling me Sherly!") - over on the "Dark-Side". Isn't it great to have a Forum [viz. VF] that everbody is trying to help and offer "creative" solutions and creative options, than the continual "Under-the-bonnet" (UK car-bonnet=car-hood US) angst that goes on and on and on and on ... over there!

See yah!

Grazie
kcarroll wrote on 6/12/2002, 4:25 PM
Yes...., as far as I know, I'm the only kcarroll.

You're absolutely right about the refreshing difference on this forum. I did like spin you put on things when you refered to "That Other Place" as "The Dark Side".

Maybe their motto should be: "May the Farce be with you!".

kcarroll
gogiants wrote on 6/12/2002, 5:21 PM
One thing I encountered:

I got the "device can't be opened" message even though it hadn't worked. Turned out that the disk drive letter that I had specified for capture had changed. (I use an external FireWire drive, and Windows 2000 conveniently often changes the drive letter.)

So, once I changed the capture disk to the then-correct drive letter, I didn't get the message. Misleading message, but this fixed it, at least in my case.

randy-stewart wrote on 6/12/2002, 8:36 PM
Gwydi,
I ran into the same problem last night while trying to print to tape. VF did not recognize the device even though Windows had it identified right along with the drives in control panel. To get it identified, I had to first reboot with Windows with the camera on and connected to the firewire, then start VF, click on the make movie, click on the print to tape, then when it errors out, go down and click on the capture icon by the library, let VF recognize the camera (don't know why that worked but it does, had to do it a couple of times), it then asks for permission to capture...don't do this, select don't capture any clips, then minimized the capture box, then go back to the print to tape box and click on the options button and select reconnect to camera. Believe it or not, this worked for me last night. I have to do it again tonight to finish the 45 minute show that I'm splitting into 15 minute parts (to get around the 4 GB file size as I am running Windows ME). I think the problem lies in which interupt the camera is showing up on. I did some scanning a couple of days ago and now my camera is showing up with a #2 in front of it in control panel. That makes me think I have a device taking up an interupt somewhere. Will trouble shoot tonight and post what I find out. This is a weird post but hope it helps.
Randy
Grazie wrote on 6/13/2002, 12:49 AM
Yup, me too!

I have to do several drive shimmies now and again as well. I have a laptop and if I have not replaced the floppy (A:) removable with my cd rw drive (E:) VF, as it should, goes into a frenzy - Can't find files on my (F:) drive etc etc. Connecting everything as per my original capturing settings prior to switching on anything normally cures this "split-personality".

Grazie
kcarroll wrote on 6/13/2002, 7:12 AM
From what I am reading, this sounds more like a problem with "Billy Boy", and not VF. How many of you experiencing this problem are running Windows ME??

kcarroll


>>"Please God, give me a version of Video Factory that will run under Linux!"<<
randy-stewart wrote on 6/14/2002, 12:19 AM
Kcarroll,

Running Windows ME also.

All,
As promised, I again tried to print to tape and again had the same problem...couldn't find the camera. I quickly reverted to the "work-around" technique mentioned in my earlier post, and sure enough...it worked. I must still have the conflict somewhere. Will try reloading some software to see if it clears up. I did run Video Studio 6 once before printing to tape the other night so maybe that has caused a conflict. I'll try reinstalling Video Factory to see if it fixes the problem and sees my camcorder the first time.
Randy