Capturing DV video --- no video (newbie)

[ike2010]

Hello all. I'm new to the video camera scene and have a JVC MiniDV camcorder. I originally captured video from the camera using a USB port but this resulted in terrible picture quality and I could only get 15 fps. I just bought myself a 4-6 pin IEEE 1394 cable and a 3 port IEEE 1394 PCI card. I have tried multiple software packages (Windows Movie Maker 2, WinDV, Sony Vegas Trial Version, etc.), but none of them will capture the video. All of them recognize the camera and will start the tape when I click the 'capture' button in the software, but zero frames are captured and it is just a black box on my PC while the tape starts playing on the camera.

I can import using USB, but this is not acceptable. JVC support is really, really bad as well and I can't find any information on their website. Any tips on how to get this S.O.B. working? Thanks in advance.

[ike2010]

One more item to add....

When connecting via USB, it is displayed in software an Explorer as a JVC MiniDV

When connecting via DV FireWire it is displayed as AVC Compliant DV Camcorder

[edDV]

The way DV capture/transfer works is mostly Windows related, not the "capture" app. The Capture app makes calls on DirectShow (part of DirectX).

Your problem is somewhere in the path. Assuming you can preview the video ok, then look to.

1 JVC camera
2 IEEE-1394 cable
3 IEEE-1394 hardware card
4 Drivers for the card. If you are using XP and the card is OHCI compliant then the internal XP driver is probably being used.
5 Direct X (Direct Show)
6 Capture program.

Run the DirectX tests Start/Acessories/Sytem Info/Tools/DirectX Diagnostic Tool. Latest upgrade is v9.0c I think.

If you can preview the camcorder and shuttle tape, then maybe there is a HDD related problem. Try another drive.

PS: "AVC Compliant DV Camcorder" is a generic description.

My gut feel is something is wrong with the IEEE-1394 card or its driver.

[ike2010]

Thanks for the tips. I just bought the cable and the card tonight. In Device Manager it shows up in two places:

1. IEEE 1394 Bus host controllers
- OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller
2. Network adapters
- 1394 Net Adapter

The card didn't come with an install cd. I'm assuming because it is OHCI Compliant. The thing that I can't figure out is why I can start/stop the capture (and therefore actually start/stop the camcorder), but no video is being brought across.

[edDV]

All that looks good. Are you sure there's no avi file on the drive?

[catalin]

Thanks for the tips. I just bought the cable and the card tonight. In Device Manager it shows up in two places:

1. IEEE 1394 Bus host controllers
- OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller
2. Network adapters
- 1394 Net Adapter

The card didn't come with an install cd. I'm assuming because it is OHCI Compliant. The thing that I can't figure out is why I can start/stop the capture (and therefore actually start/stop the camcorder), but no video is being brought across.

You don't need any install cd's. Windows will recognize your hardware and install the proper drivers for it. You should be able to see your camcorder both in Device manager and Windows Explorer with its real name (i.e. JVC model etc) when you are using the firewire connection.
One dummy question: did you set your camcorder to VCR mode?

[EGrier]

Hello ike,

This has been a problem for quite some time with JVC camcorders and Win XP. Look around and you will find lots of people with JVC firewire problems. Some of the things that have helped people were: 1. Get a firewire card with a Texas Instruments chipset on it. 2. Update your DirectX to the newest version (this cured my problems with it) 3. Update XP to SP2. There are other suggestions also. Look at www.camcorderinfo.com and go to the JVC forums. There are some more suggested fixes there.

Good Luck

Ethan

[ike2010]

Thanks to everyone for their input. EGrier posted a link to www.camcorderinfo.com that had JVC forum. I found a link to a Microsoft website within that forum that provided my fix. Apparently the problem was SP2 related. I just downloaded a patch file and that fixed it.

[edDV]

Hangs head in shame.
I should have remembered SP2 problem
I've recovered.
Back to normal now.

[EGrier]

Hey Ike,
Glad to hear you got your problem solved.