Windows Movie Maker capture issue (XP)

[123fish123]

Having a capture issue with Windows Movie Maker (for Windows XP)

I have a Hauppague card and a Panasonic video camera connected via firewire. Yes this stuff is 5-7 years old but has always worked fine. All of a sudden, I am having issues capturing video from either source.

In windows movie maker for example, I click through the screens to select the device and then select the type of format to capture in and I click on the button to get to the screen to start capturing.

I keep getting "an unknown error has occurred". Cannot think of anything I have done recently. I wanted to possibly uninstall service pack 3 and reinstall it (the only way I believe I can re-install movie maker) but I have not gone that far yet. Some of the other freeware to capture doesn't even seem to recognize my panasonic video camera....

Any thoughts on what could cause something like this to occur and if you know of any way to re-install movie maker without removing the entire service pack?

Yes I know...time to get a new PC and software....but I am not convinced that's the answer as my video recorder is pretty old too (e.g. captures video via firewire) and I"m not sure that will allow me to capture on a newer pc.

[sanlyn]

The amazing part of your post is that you've been using Windows Movie Maker and find that the results are acceptable. Anyway, Service Pack 3 screwed up half my video software. Fortunately I'd made a complete drive image backup before installing it. Restoring the backup brought me back where my system belonged (and 10 years of software were functioning again!). Windows has a SvcPack 3 uninstaller, but if you've been making major changes to your system since then it might not work so well. I'd find some way to get rid of it.

A new PC isn't the answer.

[123fish123]

Well for some reason Vegas doesn't even recognize my Panasonic video cam and I cannot figure it out so I use windows which is absolutely fine for home movies...never had one issue until now. But why wouldn't Vegas recognize my cam for capture either? I did uninstall and reinstall the drivers but nothing. Not sure what the answer would be...

I should clarify that neither movie maker nor vegas will capture from the panasonic (vegas doesn't even seem to recognize it.) I also have a Hauppauge card and get the same error from movie maker and get an error from vegas saying the card is not "turned on" or something like that. So basically, all of a sudden, no capture is working.

VERY ODD! Why would capture from multiple sources just cease working on multiple apps?

[aedipuss]

what model camera and what type of connection to pc?

[123fish123]

It is a panasonic PV-GS120 camera attached via firewire (usb only works for photos not video...so it's older and non hd but still great). Again, windows movie maker gives me the same error for the hauppauge capture also. I just un-installed vegas thinking maybe that screwed something up since I installed it not too long ago (2 months) but that didn't fix anything. Re-installing vegas now. Perhaps just another reason to get rid of XP....

[aedipuss]

the program you should be using for miniDV capture is winDV. once captured then import into vegas.

[123fish123]

Right....but when I open windv I get two choices for devices. Microsfot DV camera/vcr and USB video device. The USB device is my web cam. The Microsoft DV Camera/vcr is a generic option right? SHouldn't I see my panasonic firewire device and/or my hauppauge device in the drop down list to capture from?

btw...thanks for the assistance!

[aedipuss]

try the m.s. dv cam option, the program doesn't identify cams. if it doesn't find the cam it says error-device not found at the very bottom. set the discontinuity to 1 if you want it to write separate files based on time code breaks or 0 if you want one long file. set it to type 2 avi. set max avi size to 1,000,000. leave the rest alone except for giving the program the drive/folder/file destination.

[123fish123]

I will try it tonight. I believe I did try this and got the "device not found" error. Again, not sure why on earth because the windows driver for this camera is working. I know this because when I plug it in the icon shows up in the bottom right of the windows tray and movie maker does show it as an option (just get the error when I click through). But I'll give it a shot tonight and post how it turns out. Thanks!

I'm not optimistic because I do believe it gave me the device not found error when selecting the hauppauge.

Very strange that all of a sudden, multiple devices are not found for capture by multiple programs.

[123fish123]

Well no such luck. Vegas doesn't recognize the video camera. Win DV doesn't recognize the Panasonic video cam. Not sure what the issue is but it looks as if the cam is no longer able to be used with this pc. Bummer as I like the camera but maybe it's time to invest in a new one. I appreciate everyone's help.

I am going, just for $hit$ and giggles, to remove and reinstall SP3 for XP to see if that does anything.

[123fish123]

Well, I was able to uninstall and reinstall both SP3 and windows movie maker. I am making progress because I am getting a new error..."class not registered" when trying to capture video. After a google search I executed the command:

regsvr32 %windir%\system32\qdv.dll

and got a "succeeded" message but that didn't seem to do anything as I am still getting the error in movie maker.

When going into WinDV, I get a "can't find output pin" error on any device I select.

Any of this mean anything to anyone?

[123fish123]

ANSWER FOUND!

A good search and I found the below thread. It solved my problem with all capture (not just movie maker). Not sure which part of it worked...I just did it all and it did the trick. Thought I'd give back and post it here in case others ever have a driver issue. Thanks again for those that took the time to respond/post. Much appreciated!

http://www.windowsmoviemakers.net/Forums/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=12304