Just Pinnacle studio captures

[joelson]

HI all!

I've just bought a Pinnacle Studio Deluxe capture card.

The manual says that after I plug it, I should reject the Windows' messages, telling it found the new hardware and to install its driver. It says I should install the software Pinnacle Studio 8, that comes with the card, and this software will install the driver.

Well, I did so, and JUST Pinnacle Studio captures. I've tried VirtualDub and VirtualVCR, and both tells I have no capture card installed.

Anyone knows what can be?

[piano632]

That's the one big problem with Pinnacle cards - no software recognizes them except Pinnacle's own (and other people have said that SceneAnalyzer works too). But that's it, just those two I know of so far.

But on a positive note, the capture quality can be great with Studio Deluxe card (which is actually Pinnacle's AVDV card with Studio 8/9 software). It uses the LSI chipset (which is probably the best one out there).

[joelson]

It's annoying to depend on Pinnacle's software. It generates an AVI file, that can't be opened neither in VirtualDub, nor in TMPGEnc, unless I run a codec called cinepak (in Pinnacle Studio), which takes an eternity to convert, and degrades the video quality.

Does anyone know a way to force VirtualDub to recognize my card?

[piano632]

I know VirtualDub doesn't work, but TMPGEnc should work. Pinnacle Studio makes DV files and I've been able to open them with TMPGEnc.

[joelson]

No, TMPGEnc can't open the AVI files generated by Pinnacle Studio. By the way, I'm capturing from a VCR. Does it help?

[piano632]

Are we talking about TMPGEnc the MPEG encoder or DVD Author? TMPGEnc DVD Author probably wouldn't work, but the MPEG encoder should have no problem opening any DV file. I've done it many times using DV files created by Pinnacle Studio 8. It's still in DV format when you try to open in TMPGEnc, isn't it?

[joelson]

Sorry, piano632 , but I'm not acquainted with this term "DV file". What do you mean?

I didn't even try TMPGEnc DVD Author.

I meant TMPGEnc for encoding. I tried opening a file in .AVI format, which was generated by Pinnacle Studio 8, via my capture card, and it didn't open...

[piano632]

Ahh, I see you're new at this.

DV is a video format with .AVI file name, though not all .AVI files are in DV format.

But anyway, Pinnacle Studio Deluxe captures in DV format (like many camcorders do).

I am mystified as to why your video won't open in TMPGEnc. Have you tried more than 1 file? It's possible the one you tried was corrupted somehow.

There is a forum for Pinnacle Studio 8 users, where you can get answers to most anything:

http://webboard.pinnaclesys.com/read_forums.asp?WebboardID=1&SectionID=143&lng=1

[joelson]

I am capturing from an analog source, a VCR (video-cassete).

Will it be the reason?

Thanks for the explanation and the link to the forum!

[piano632]

Capturing from analog source shouldn't make any difference.

A digital source (miniDV camcorder) is already in DV format and analog would be converted to DV by the capture card.

If you close the Pinnacle Studio program and re-start it, are you able to open the video file it just captured?

[joelson]

No. Just if I apply a codec called cinepak, that comes with Studio, which take hours to encode and degrades the video.

[piano632]

It must not be capturing correctly then. You could try updating the software:

Click "Help" at the top of Studio 8 and then "Software Updates" and see if there is a newer version of Studio 8 available to download.

Other than that, I don't know why. You can ask on the Pinnacle forum.

[joelson]

Oh, sorry... Pinnacle Studio CAN open the file it generated itself. Others programs can.

One program that opens it is Ulead DVD MovieFactory, by the way.

[Calico]

I had the same problem with the Studio 8 Delux I bought last year. I love the card and the capture quality, but not being able use anything else except for Studio to capture is annoying.

My Studio does not capture all the time, sometimes I have to try several times for a successful capture.

However, my AVI files are read by every program I use, including TMPGE