MovieBox DV

[chako]

I made the mistake to personally buy this 350 miles from where I live. Guess where I'll be headed this weekend? The thing is dead on arrival. I have an AMD Athleon 1.1 ghz with Abit Kt7 Raid motherboard. I plugged the camcorder, VCR, Radio and even considered plugging the fridge to it and no capture. All I got was "Device Not Ready, make sure camcorder is connected." I need help with this thing. I have enable DMA capabilities Have URQ for firewire at 11, they recommend higher than 9. I have installed Movie studio 8.6 a gazillion times while the box is plugged and unplugged. I should had stuck with my Dazzle 100.

Support is also horrid. They don't even know what they're talking about. Maybe I'm missing something. If someone has a guide I sure can use it. Following their diagram is not doing squat for me right now.

[ap9]

Chaco, I had the moviebox dv which I returned due to some other issues. See my minireview in the forums. I never had the problem which you mention - but M66 (Who is also on the thread of my minireview) did have that problem (Dead on arrival). I know that this is VERY OBVIOUS but there is a little button I remember which switched the capture between ANALOG IN and DIGITAL IN.

Question-
Is windows seeing the moviebox dv? ie; When you turn it ON - do you see it listed as a DV camcorder/DV device in Device manager of windows. or atleast the pop up box which says DV device found and installed. If thats the case - then try hitting the ANALOG/Digital switch and play the tape.

Remember that the CONTROL buttons on the STUDIO 8 (PLAY/STOP etc) WILL not work for analog captures. You have to do that manually on your analog camcorder.

Just my 2 cents...
AP

[chako]

Ap9, I had read your mini review, pretty good. I don't know which button you're talking about that switches it from digital to analog. On the Movie box there is a button that lights on port A where I have the analog cables connected to. With this device you can either highligh the composite, analog or Firewire ports with the LED display to tell you which you're hooked up to. So let me tell you my set up first. I 'm trying to capture from the VCR tape and I have the output cables going into the Movie Box input side which is side A. I have the Firewire cable on side B outputting to the Firewire port in the computer. The Device is recognized by the windows under Imaging Devices but it has an exclamation point which only means its not working properly. The exact message is AV/C Subunit!.

I spoke to Pinnacle and here is their response: "There is no driver loaded for the movie box DV device the Movie Box USB does require a driver to load. It only uses the OHCI firewire driver". They also said the Firewire card should have an IRQ higher than 9, mine is 11. I will try my analog camcorder tonight.

[ap9]

Sorry - i was thinking of the RESET button - Lil circular thing> I thought there was one more button next to it. As I dont have the box any more cant be sure. Anyways - Now I see your problem. Looks like the device did NOT install correctly. (You see a bang on install). What OS are you using? XP? have you installed SP1. I had ALL the patches from MS installed on my system when mine worked. Also - Do you have any other 1394 card in the system. On another machine I had I had a Soundblaster Audigy which has a 1394 port... No matter what I did the Scanner I installed would not get recognized. AP

[chako]

I have Windows XP installed. I do not have the SP-1 patches. I also have the Audigy Platinum card which has the 1394 port. I disabled it and bought a new belkin PCI card with 3 FireWire Ports to which I plugged the unit to. I tried capturing with other software but the damn thing is not recognized. Kind of thinking about it, my daughters Sims stop working also. Maybe I need to re-install XP and start fresh. There's got to be a driver conflict I'm just not aware of. I'll be trying it at a friends computer at work. I'll let you know how that goes. If not, I see myself Saturday Morning driving back 350 miles to Buffalo, NY. That's the last time I buy a $200 unit so far away but damnit, there are no CompUSA stores here in North Country USA.

[ap9]

Chako, Here is my story.. Moral of the story -- Windows XP has inherent issues with 1394 device consolidation. On my pc - my Epson scanner was on a 1394 port.. SIIG card with 3 ports. The scanner worked Like a champ. Now comes audigy. I Installed audigy.. I knew better - so On install itself - I disabled 1394 on audigy. Windows XP booted - installed the new card -- everything was GREAT!. Expect one slight problem - The scanner which was working PERFECT - all of a sudden became - CANNOT COMMUNICATE with device. Device not found. From that day - i tried every single thing from REGISTRY HACKS to Removing audigy physically - but no luck No more 1394 scanner. I took scanner on my #2 computer - plugged in the same SIIG card -- again running XP - Guess what - Scanner detected perfectly. I have not gotten to reinstalling XP on my main PC - but I am sure it will start working if I try. So I think your best bet is REINSTALL XP. I would recommend REFORMAT during install to NTFS that way you have clean install. I am sure that in next 2-3 years after Windows 200X comes out, we will finally get 1394 devices to work like USB with Windows Plug and Play.

[chako]

AP9, I think you're onto something and there's more to learn from the IRQ business. i reinstalled my three firewire Belkin into different PCI slots and on three of the slots it assigned the IRQ of 05 which is the same IRQ as Audigy. One one of the slots it assigned the IRQ of 11 but guess what, my Raid hard drive is already using that IRQ and the system does not let me reassign the IRQ manually. Although there are no conflicts, who knows what's happening. I know that the Audigy is screwing something up with the help of XP. So if If I'm understanding you correctly:

1. Install XP first to NFTS formatted hard drive standard.
2. Re-install FireWire PCI card
3. Install Movie Studio 8 next
4. Install Audigy Card
5. Install Audigy Software

[ap9]

Chaco, In my experience Windows XP is GREAT at picking up and installing ALL hardware it finds. It just has a problems when you add/remove stuff(Hardware) later. I think you dont have to go thorough that much hassle. Put all the stuff in the computer (HARDWARE wise) - Your 1394 card, Audigy etc etc. Then Install XP. When XP asks for drivers- tell it to go search on the net. If it dont find it then supply disk/CD. Once all the h/w + xp is installed - I really recommend you install SP1. I think there was a DV update patch after std. XP which is helpful. After XP is ready to go and running... Dont install Studio or any software. Plug in your Moviebox DV and turn it on - see if XP detects it (Dont use the Audigy DV port). If it does - you are in business -- Then you can install Studio8 last. Cheers AP

[chako]

Ap9, I don't have SP-1 yet but I'll try to get it soon. I do have another PCI firewire port which recognizes the box. When you unplug it the firewire disappears and reappears upon connection. The software is not recognizing it. I tried the unit at work on a computer using windows 2000 and an AMD chip similar to mine and it worked like a charm. I have the latest vt chipsets but I''ll try to find if there is specific drivers for my mother board. I'm using the following:

Abit KT7 Raid mother board with AMD 1.1ghz chip. 256 ram. The latest advice from Pinnacle was to disconnect the Zip drive.