New Canon Mini-DV Camcorder, Problems capturing

[captain_tinker]

Hello all,
Ok, I have been researching this issue for months now, and have spent hundreds of dollars on upgrades that haven't worked, and have consistently come up empty. It is also keeping me from being able to transfer any of my family home videos to DVD! It is getting VERY frustrating, and tech supports have been no help either.

Here is the problem. I had a Panasonic Mini-DV camcorder for about 5 years, capturing via firewire to a homebrew machine, and it was working just fine. I would capture using WinDV to an avi file, and then using TMPGENC DVD Author 3.0, create my DVD, and it worked just fine.

Fast forward 5 years, and the camera finally wears out and breaks. So I purchased a new Canon ZR950 MiniDV camcorder, and figured it would work exactly the same as the other camera did. I figured it would because I had used a Sony Handycam at one point to capture something for my parents on their camcorder and it worked the same as the other did. But it did NOT work the same way. I was able to capture the AVI file, and able to play it using Windows Media Player just fine, but as soon as I put the file into TMPGENC DVD Author 3.0, it played at half speed! So I figured I would try another capture program thinking that maybe WinDV just didn't like it for some reason. I used Nero 7, Nero Vision. I tried the DV capture, both Types 1 and 2, and had the same problem! I tried the AVI format, and it refused to capture. I tried the DVD format, and it worked, but the audio was very choppy. So I tried the mpeg2 capture, and it worked, but the audio was off from the video by several seconds! Same with the Nero Digital format.

So then I tried the ilink import option in TMPGENC DVD Author 3, and it did the same thing, and on top of it all, it separated it all out into separate avi files, which I didn't want, but that't not the point.

I figured maybe the problem was that my computer wasn't fast enough. So I saved up for several months, and purchased an AMD Phenom quad core 2.5 Ghz, 4 gb ram, new motherboard with HDMI output, Widescreen monitor with HDMI input, 1.5 tb hard drive, etc, and used WinXP Pro x64. Lo and behold, I had the VERY SAME STUPID PROBLEMS!!!! I figured maybe the problem was XP, so I upgraded to Vista SP1 X64. I am STILL having the same problems!

At this point, I can no longer afford any more hardware or software, and I am extremely angry at this whole thing. I've contacted Canon Support, they can't figure it out and blame it on TMPGEnc, I've contacted TMPGEnc support and they blame it on Canon. Has ANYONE ever seen anything like this? Do I need some sort of a codec? Is there a configuration I've missed? I've really been over this a million times. I Just cannot figure it out. I need some suggestions, PLEASE.

-capT

[Soopafresh]

Since you can play the AVI fine on your PC, it seems like something is amiss in the encoding section of things.

Download a trial of ConvertXtoDVD and see if your AVIs convert to DVD Mpeg2 successfully.


Bottom line, not to worry (too much). Lots of people here will have some good suggestions.

[JohnnyMalaria]

Gosh - what a frustrating situation.

If you can upload (to a free file hosting service - not here!) a 5 to 10 second clip of a captured AVI file exactly as captured (i.e., no rendering out a portion from a larger file), I will take a look deep inside the DV data to see if the Canon is putting something odd in there.

[JimboS]

Have you tried a "real" paid for program ..??IE: Ulead, Corel etc...????
I have used Windows Movie Maker with mini-dv's with NO problem............
Mini-dv is most forgiving of all format's...
????? what your problem is...............
I assume your using firewire?????????

[minidv2dvd]

[edit] sorry, too many hours on the road and then in the bar.

[captain_tinker]

Oh man, it's certainly not user error, not when the only variable that changed was the camera. Everything else was the same. As for a "real" paid program, isn't TMPEnc DVD Author 3 and Nero 7 a real paid program? Certainly a HECK of a lot better than Ulead that I've also used and hated. Not going to go into why at this point.

I admit I haven't tried Windows Movie Maker yet, does it even handle DV, or does it only work with wmv's? I don't see Windows Movie Maker on my Vista box anymore anyway, so the point is moot. I also mentioned in my second paragraph, I was using firewire. It IS in SP mode, 1 hour long, 16 bit audio. I've run into problems using anything else.

I tried grabbing some codecs and installing them, but so far, nothing has changed. I got the Panasonic DV codec, and also the Cedocida codec. Nothing.

JohnnyMalaria, I will see if I can take a snippett and put it up on something. It may take a bit to find a good spot, but once I do, I'll PM you the location. I'd be interested to know what you can find in it. Thanks.

-capT

[zoobie]

yes, WMM handles DV but it's a very basic beginners editor
it comes with windows...
see if there's a X64 version of WMM

[schematic2]

I have 4 Canon miniDV camcorders. I have tried a few free capture softwares with little success. I finally tried Scenalyzer. Haven't had a problem since. Might be worth a try......

I presume that you are using firewire not usb.......

[captain_tinker]

Hmm, well, it figures. It always happens this way. The moment you ask a question, you find the answer. Or at least it seems like it anyway. I tried something I had not tried before, and it seems to do the trick. I'll know more with more testing, but it seems like it is working. Here is what I did. I used the same avi file that was giving me problems when I put it into TMPGENC, and imported it into the "Make Movie" part of Nero Vision, and used that to export it to an MPEG2 dvd file. I was able to take that *.mpg file and put it into TMPGEnc DVD Author, and it did not run slowly, the audio followed the video and wasn't off at all. So now I just need to finish creating the DVD and burn it and see if it actually worked.

I got the idea to try another program to convert the DV file to MPEG2 from Soopafresh, who suggested to use a different program. I just didn't realize until now that Nero Vision could do that. So, as a preliminary victory, Thank You Soopafresh!

-capT