Capture Device Initialization Error

[Big Delo]

I’ve owned a camcorder for years & am finally attempting to transfer my videos to DVD. I have windows XP Pro, 2.0 GHz processor, & 1.0 GB of ram. My camcorder is a Sony DCR TRV-17 mini DV. I’m using Pinnacle Studio 9, but have also tried using Nero to capture the video. I keep getting a "Capture Device Initialization Error". I even deleted & reinstalled the drivers for my camcorder & for my "compliant" 1394 port. The both say they are "working properly". I don’t have a capture card, but am using the fire wire port that came with my computer. Below I attached a small screen shot of the error. I'm guessing it’s something with my computer & not with the camcorder or video software. I get the same error with Nero & Pinnacle. I also hooked up a different Sony camcorder & got the same results. When I tried with Nero it even let me play, pause, rewind, from my computer. I spent a couple hours trying to Google a fix for this, but couldn’t find anything. I just saw a lot of "taking stabs in the dark": reinstall windows, check the drivers, etc., etc. I’m fairly computer literate, just new to the video side of things. Could a codec cause such an issue? I have quite a few installed: Divx, ffdshow, etc. I guess I'm just looking for some ideas or was hoping one of the members here has had the same problem. I'd really appreciate any help you guys could give me. I’m sure you love nothing more than to help all us noobs out. XD Thanks again.

[Barnabas]

Try WinDV and see if that works. If that fails, unplug the firewire plug from the device for about 10 seconds and note if you hear a windows beep tone or not when you disconnect and reconnect the device. If that fails, reboot and try again in WinDV.

[Big Delo]

Im guessing it has to be Windows or something computer related because I got the same error on 2 different camcorders & 2 different video softwares. I just dont think the error is caused by the software Im using, but Ill give WinDV a try tonight. Thanks.

[harley2ride]

The software that came with the movie camera should have included a DV driver (my JVC had the Panasonic DV codec. If you already have done this, then try capturing with various softwares (huffyuv, virtualvcr, virtualdub, and there are others listed in the tools section).

Also, I know with my camera, that I have to have all digital video software shutdown, plug in the firewire cable, then turn on the camera in VCR play mode. A screen will then come up asking me to select a software to capture with.

If I just try to start the software, then turn on the camera, and try to capture, it is iffy. But it always works if I turn on the camera and wait for the prompts.

[JohnnyMalaria]

The software that came with the movie camera should have included a DV driver

That's irrelevant for a DV cam via Firewire. Windows has the necessary drivers built in to communicate with the device and the detection/control of the device is separate from the video transfer part.

Suggestions:

Without any of the video software running, connect the camcorder and make sure it is powered on. You should here a 'ba-dip' as Windows recognizes the connection of external hardware and, with Windows XP, it should create a new folder called "Sony DV Camcorder" or similar that you can access via My Computer. If it does, you can open the folder and you should see a live feed of what ever the camcorder is sending (e.g., tape playing). (See the start of this article for more: http://www.enosoft.net/products/enodvdec/How-To/VDub/HowToBurnWithVDub.htm)

If the above is successful, then at least you know the hardware and OS are behaving correctly.

The other thing to ensure is that you aren't trying to use one program to access the camcorder when another is trying to. For example, if you leave the "Sony DV Camcorder" folder open (which means Windows Explorer is using the DV device), trying to connect via an editing program will usually fail because the driver for the communication between the device and the computer is already in use.

We have a program that logs a bunch of stuff everytime you connect and disconnect a camcorder. It can help track down problems. If you are interested, just post back and let me know.

[Big Delo]

Thanks Johnny. It did list a folder in My Computer. Below I inserted an image showing the "Sony DV Camcorder #2" & also the error I received. It said "Creation of the video preview failed" "Please check the device connection and make sure that the device is not being used by another application or user". Definitely sounds like youre on the right track. If its not too much trouble I would be interested in that software that logs stuff when connecting or disconnecting the camcorder. I just wanted to thank every1 for their help.

[JohnnyMalaria]

I would be interested in that software that logs stuff when connecting or disconnecting the camcorder.

Our Enosoft DV Processor logs this information. It records "events" to the OS's event log. The log can be viewed and/or exported.

Here's what to do:

1. Download and install
2. Launch the program - no need to make it do anything
3. Attach your camcorder to the Firewire port, turn it on
4. Wait a few seconds
5. Turn the camcorder off or disconnect it
6. Wait a few seconds
7. Click the large "Configure..." button near the bottom/middle of the program's window
8. You'll see a dialog box that contains a group of buttons called "Event Log"
9. Click either "View" to look at the event log or "Export" to export it. If you export it, you can email it to me so I can look at the messages

When you choose "View", you should see a new window open similar to this:



and you can double-click on any item in the list to see what it contains. e.g.,



which contains this:

Information for DV device 1 of 1:

FriendlyName: Microsoft DV Camera and VCR
Description: Sony DV Device
DevicePath: \\?\avc#sony&dv-vcr&camcorder&dv#4731000401460008#{65e8773d-8f56-11d0-a3b9-00a0c9223196}\global
FriendlyName2: Sony DSR-PDX10
m_pDeviceFilter: 0x01EC0F74
m_pIAMExtDevice: 0x01EC06CC
m_pIAMExtTransport: 0x01EC0054
m_pIAMTimecodeReader: 0x01EC05FC

Capabilities:

AUDIO_INPUTS: N
CAN_MONITOR_SOURCES: Y
CAN_PREVIEW: N
CAN_RECORD: Y
CAN_RECORD_STROBE: N
CAN_SAVE: N
CTLTRK_READ: N
HAS_AUDIO: Y
HAS_VIDEO: Y
INDEX_READ: N
NEEDS_CALIBRATING: N
TIMECODE_READ: Y
TIMECODE_WRITE: N
USES_FILES: N
VIDEO_INPUTS: N
NORMAL_RATE: 29.97
TRANSBASIC_INPUT_SIGNAL: 525_60_SD
TRANSBASIC_OUTPUT_SIGNAL: 525_60_SD

The above test simply logs what happens when you connect and disconnect your device. The following does a bit more:

1. Close the event viewer and the program
2. Relaunch the program
3. Connect your device
4. Play a tape
5. Select it as the input for the program (use the drop-down list on the left - you should see "Sony DV Camcorder #2" listed
6. Either the program will display the video in a smaller window on the left OR you will just see black OR the program will crash
7. If it doesn't crash, you may see timecode data and other stuff. You may also see the transport control buttons change - i.e., they become enabled. If so, try using them and see if the device responds to them or not.
8. Stop the tape and disconnect the device
9. If the program is still running, close it.
10. Relaunch
11. Click "Configure..." as before and either View or Export the event log.

(All of the above is a lot easier to do than type!)

Feel free to email the exported log to me (john@enosoft.net)

[Big Delo]

Hi John. Thanks for taking all the time to type all those instructions. I really do appreciate it. I wasnt able to install the Enosoft software. Below I posted a screen shot of the error. Thanks for giving it a shot though.

[JohnnyMalaria]

Hi John. Thanks for taking all the time to type all those instructions. I really do appreciate it. I wasnt able to install the Enosoft software. Below I posted a screen shot of the error. Thanks for giving it a shot though.

The software requires a CPU that supports the SSE2 instruction set.

If you can wait a day or so, I can provide a version that will let you install it so you can try the various things I mentioned before. Please let me know.

(The next scheduled release will permit installation and disable any features that require SSE2 when SSE2 isn't available.)

EDIT - Re-reading this thread, I'm more convinced some software is hogging the MSDV driver that is needed for DV capture (you have two apps that complain AND Windows complains). Your screenshot showing the camcorder listed in My Computer also shows "Nero Scout". I did a quick google and came across this:

http://digg.com/software/How_to_disable_Nero_Scout

May be this is causing the problem? (Apparently it craps all over WIA - Windows scanner stuff).

Anyway, what video editing software and tools do you have installed?

[Big Delo]

This morning I upgraded to Pinnacle Studio 10 & I'm now able to capture the video from my camcorder. Im not sure why Sudio 9 wouldnt let me capture, but its finally working! Thanks again for all the help!

[Big Delo]

I spoke to soon. I hit "capture". My camcorder started playing, but there wasnt any preview. It stopped capturing after 1 1/2 hours, but when its finished there's no video. I had named the file Christmas Parade". I searched & theres no such file on my drive. I even tried capturing clips that were only a few minutes in length, but as soon as I click the "Edit" tab in Pinnacle Studio theres no video to edit. I went to the "Sony DV Camcorder #2" under my computer & I still get the same error that I posted previously. [Pulling hair out].

[harley2ride]

After the capture is complete, does the software ask you what name you want to save the file as? If not, try going to File and select save as..

[Big Delo]

It asks me to input the file name before start of the capture. Over the past few days I've tried capturing with 4 or 5 different programs & nothing works. I also installed a 1394 patch from Microsoft. Its really weird. It operates my camera when I hit capture, the timer scrolls, but theres no preview as if no video signal makes it from the camera. It detects my camera fine every time I turn it on: the icon appears in the system tray, I hear the "detect hardware" sounds. It seems like everything is fine except for the actual capturing of the video. I disabled Nero Scout, but it didnt help. I guess I'll try & find another computer to hook the camcorder to & try to capture. Im out of ideas......

[JohnnyMalaria]

Its really weird. It operates my camera when I hit capture, the timer scrolls, but theres no preview as if no video signal makes it from the camera.

Actually, it's not *that* weird.

The computer communicates with the camcorder via Firewire in two different ways and there are two different drivers that Windows uses to do it.

The first is the obvious - transmission of the DV stream - basically the audio and video plus embedded data such as timecode, recording data etc.

The second is the "AV/C Subunit" communication protocol. This is a protocol that defines how audio and video devices (not just camcorders) can talk to each other about their capabilities, status etc. The control of the transport mechanism (i.e., play, record, pause etc) is performed by sending AV/C protocol commands. There are also commands to request information such as timecode. (So there are actually two ways to get at the timecode - one using this AV/C protocol, the other to process the DV data).

The fact that you can control the camcorder, see the timecode changing etc but not see the video strongly hints to me that some unscrupulous program has hijacked the driver responsible for the DV side of the transfer. i.e., something installed by something has detected the camcorder and decided to stake a claim to it.

Any ideas what that might be on your system? Any peculiar icons in the tray? Any background programs that promise a great multimedia experience?

[Big Delo]

Im pretty good at keeping the background programs to a bare minimum. My anti-virus software notifies me when something is trying to modify the registry so it will run at start up. I just opened my task manager last night & stopped all background programs that I guessed werent necessary. Then I tried to capture again to no avail. Im sure there's still the chance that something slipped by & could be hijacking my DV driver. Ive been trying everything I can think of. I disabled my other imaging device (web cam), I re-downloaded the latest version of Dirext X, ran DXDIAG to check the settings, updated my Asus video card driver,amongst other things. Maybe most of this is pointless, but I'm new to this, so Im just taking some stabs in the dark. Hey, Im tryin!

[curser]

I wondered if there has been any resolution to this thread as I now have exactly the same problems as Big Delo in that I suddenly cant capture to Vegas 7c, Vegas 6d, Moviemaker or Blaze Media. I also am having the same problem trying to install enosoft (SSE2 not supported). I have a strong suspicion my capture is beng hijacked by another app. but i cant, for the life of me, find it. Any help gratefully received!!.

[Big Delo]

Sorry Curser, I never was able to resolve this issue. I own a DVD burner/VCR Combo with a DV input. I've just been capturing the video to DVD, then throwing it in my computer & using Pinnacle Studio 10 to capture it from the DVD. Just an extra couple of steps I wish I didnt have to do.

[curser]

WOW! Quick Reply! Took me by surprise. thanks but not good news. I need to try and get to the bottom of this. Any word on the new version of enosoft that Johnny Malaria was talking about?

[Big Delo]

No, never heard anything back on the new version.