Help with capturing in Pinnacle Studio 8

[j1d10t]

I'm having a problem with the capture resolution for avi files in Pinnacle Studio 8.5. Let me start off by telling you about my set up: I'm using a Pinnacle PVTC Pro capture card, WinXP, P4 3GHz, 200GB HD with 169GB free, 1GB RAM. OK, here's my problem: I had Studio set to capture in SVCD resolution (480x480), but I wanted to capture something in 720x480, so I changed it, but now Studio won't let me change it back to 480x480. Every time I try to change it back to 480x480, it defaults to either 360x240, or 720x480. Has anyone else had this problem? I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling the program (as recommended by Pinnacle's tech support), but it didn't help. Does anyone know how I can fix this, or how I can hack the registry file for Studio to make it capture in the resolution I want?
I'd use another program to capture, but unfortunately Studio is one of the only programs that will capture to avi with my card - I've tried VirDub, and several others, with no luck. So any help here would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

[Bob W]

I had every problem on the face of planet earth with Studio8 including grayed out options that came and went at will. I just kept re-installing the program and patches until the day finally came when I threw in the towel and deleted the program for the last time. Maybe try a re-install is all I can offer sorry.

[j1d10t]

I've tried uninstalling, and reinstalling. I've tried upgrading from Studio 8 to 8.5. I've run out of ideas, so I was hoping that someone here would know of a fix, patch, hack, or something, because Pinnacle's tech support was of no help whatsoever.

Thanks

[Bob W]

Maybe try re-installing the drivers for the capture card is all I can think of.

[j1d10t]

I just tried reinstalling the drivers. No luck

[Bob W]

What happens if in the capture options you select "custom" instead of the preset quality settings?

[j1d10t]

Same thing. It will let me choose different codecs (about 5 of them), but it still won't let me use 480x480 as a capture resolution. I had it set that way, and it was working well, but I changed it (I'm kicking myself now for doing that) to 720x480, captured some video, then when I try to change it back, it won't let me. I can capture at 480x480 resolution if I capture to mpg, but the mpg capture with Studio 8 is pretty bad.

[donpedro]

Post here some print-screen with problematic setting window.... What do you mean by "won't let me change it back to 480x480". It is in the options but when you select it it..... what happens ??? I don't have this problem but I saw some options grayd out and then comming back. All I did is played with options... you know... click here, click there and it came back... Try screen shots so we can see how it looks.

BTW: Does PCTV Pro have some kind of opptions in driver or somethink like that ? Vision software ???

[j1d10t]

What I mean is that I type in the resolution I want, and then when I click OK, or anywhere else on the screen (like the audio format) it resets the resolution. I've tried to include a screenshot, so I hope that helps. My capture card doesn't really have settings, at least none that I've found, and I've looked. I've tried changing the capture format to mpg, with the correct resolution, then back to avi, and it still resets the resolution. I've clicked on just about everything I can on the capture format screen, and it is still having this problem. As I said, it let me capture at that resolution a few days ago, but after I set it to 720x480, it won't accept 480x480 again.

[j1d10t]

Let me try the image again

[donpedro]

OK. First, what is exactly your version ? My on Laptop is 8.5.21.0. Problem is that I don't have capture card. But here is what I tryied.

1. Setup / Capture Format
2. Setup to Preview / Custom Quality
3. It switched to MPEG2
4. Changed to DV again and back to Preview.
5. Now I can see option "List all codecs" and I can select from different codecs and resolutions.

So try somthing like that.

Another thing that you can try is take out your PDTV card, set options, cofirm that and put back your card. It just an idea

[j1d10t]

It will only give me the option of capturing in preview when I have DV camcorder as the capture device - I'm trying to capture from a TV tuner. My version is 8.5.21.0. I've tried uninstalling the card, then reinstalling it, and Studio is still having the same problem From what I've read on this site, Studio has a ton of problems. I haven't really noticed any, but I may be getting in to some of those problems now.

Thank you for trying to help
If you have any more ideas, please let me know

[j1d10t]

Success! I got it back to the SVCD capture resolution! The trick is to go in to Studio 8, click on Capture, then when it pulls up the capture screen, click on settings, instead of go though the Setup menu at the top. If you click on the Setup menu, then Capture Format, it would only let me choose 720x480, or 360x240 (under custom). But if I just clicked on Settings at the bottom, it let me put in any capture resolution I want! Thanks for your help, and I hope this can help someone else that may be having/will have this problem

[donpedro]

Great ! I am glad that you were able to find "workaround". And I am glad that you shared your findings and solution with us. It is not very typical.

[j1d10t]

Not a problem - These forums are a great resource for questions/answers and advice. If I can help in any way, I'm more than happy too