Captured Video and Playback Quality

N

Norm & Debbie

Group,

I'm using a Sony DV Camera Model DCR-HC40 with a USB cable, MM2 with XP Home
as a platform. The capture video appears like the pixels are off, the color
is in shades of gray but the audio is clear. After processing through MM2
the playback in Media Play, Real Player and DivX Player is the same poor
quality. I have tried increasing the resolution on the computer to no
effect and changing the configuration in the capture wizard to no effect.
When the resolution is changed in the capture wizard, no image is displayed
on the computer during capture. Help!

Thank You!

Norm
 
R

Rich

Norm & Debbie said:
Group,

I'm using a Sony DV Camera Model DCR-HC40 with a USB cable, MM2 with XP Home
as a platform. The capture video appears like the pixels are off, the color
is in shades of gray but the audio is clear. After processing through MM2
the playback in Media Play, Real Player and DivX Player is the same poor
quality. I have tried increasing the resolution on the computer to no
effect and changing the configuration in the capture wizard to no effect.
When the resolution is changed in the capture wizard, no image is displayed
on the computer during capture. Help!

Thank You!

Norm
Click to expand...

Capture with USB is of low quality. You need to use FireWire also called
iLink or IEEE 1394 to get the best quality. Your camera has the capability
but it did not come with the cable. You also need a FireWire port on your
computer.

Rich
 
J

John Kelly

Hello there,

The capture of digital video in Movie Maker is done via a firewire
connection not USB. The USB option is for capturing still images (as far as
Movie Maker is concerned thaw is) In the capture wizard you should select
DV-AVI for the best quality capture. See the help file for further
information.
 
N

Norm & Debbie

Thank you group! What is a firewire and where can I get one. What is a
fire wire computer port? Is it like a serial or parallel port?

Norm
 
G

Graham Hughes, MVP Digital Media

Check to see if you have one by
Control Panel
system
hardware
device manager

look for ieee1394 bus host controller or something similar

If you have this listed you have a firewire connection already, you just
need to locate it. New pc's have some on the front and back, older ones just
at the back, If it's not listed you haven't got one and you need to look
insuide the pc to make sure you have a spare pci slot and you can buy a
firewire card and cable quite cheaply, check out amazon.

Here are pictures of firewire, there are two main sorts, 6 pin mainly found
on pc's and 4 pin should be on the cam.
http://images.google.com/images?q=firewire&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search
generally the cable you hget is a 6 - 4 pin version and should do you.

Graham

--
Graham Hughes
MVP Digital Media
www.simplydv.co.uk

Norm & Debbie said:
Thank you group! What is a firewire and where can I get one. What is a
fire wire computer port? Is it like a serial or parallel port?

Norm
Click to expand...
 
N

Norm & Debbie

Thanks for the reply Graham! Under the device mamanger a IEEE 1284.4 Device
Manager is listed, but the HP printer is listed as a subdirectory under the
IEEE Device Manager. That may be sufficient, correct?

Norm


Graham Hughes said:
Check to see if you have one by
Control Panel
system
hardware
device manager

look for ieee1394 bus host controller or something similar

If you have this listed you have a firewire connection already, you just
need to locate it. New pc's have some on the front and back, older ones just
at the back, If it's not listed you haven't got one and you need to look
insuide the pc to make sure you have a spare pci slot and you can buy a
firewire card and cable quite cheaply, check out amazon.

Here are pictures of firewire, there are two main sorts, 6 pin mainly found
on pc's and 4 pin should be on the cam.
http://images.google.com/images?q=firewire&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search
generally the cable you hget is a 6 - 4 pin version and should do you.

Graham
Click to expand...
 
D

Dana Cline - MVP

Thanks for the reply Graham! Under the device mamanger a IEEE 1284.4
Device
Manager is listed, but the HP printer is listed as a subdirectory under the
IEEE Device Manager. That may be sufficient, correct?
Click to expand...

Nope, that's a different port (maybe parallel port). You can pick up a
1394/Firewire card at most computer shops for under $20. Once you do that,
and have a cable, it's dead easy - you plug in the camcorder and up comes
Movie Maker (or a list of compatible programs).

Dana Cline - MVP
 
P

PapaJohn \(MVP\)

Norm,

Sony uses the name iLink, which is the same as firewire. Look it up in your
camcorder manual under iLink.
--
PapaJohn

Movie Maker 2 - www.papajohn.org
Photo Story 2 - www.photostory.papajohn.org

..
Norm & Debbie said:
Thank you group! What is a firewire and where can I get one. What is a
fire wire computer port? Is it like a serial or parallel port?

Norm
Click to expand...
 
N

Norm & Debbie

Thanks Dana! Is the card recognized by the XP hardware wizard upon
installation? Is there usually a driver CD that must be installed also?

Norm
 
G

Graham Hughes, MVP Digital Media

Make sure it is

OHCI compliant

and XP will recognise it and install the neccesary drivers
 
D

Dana Cline - MVP

Norm,

The firewire card I have for my 2000 system had drivers. The one in my new
system is on the motherboard, and (I think) came with drivers too.

Dana Cline - MVP
 
N

Norm & Debbie

Thank You Dana!

Norm

Dana Cline - MVP said:
Norm,

The firewire card I have for my 2000 system had drivers. The one in my new
system is on the motherboard, and (I think) came with drivers too.

Dana Cline - MVP
Click to expand...
 
N

Norm & Debbie

Group, I've done some further research on my computer I'm using for MM 2.
The USB is version 1.1. If I were to upgrade to USB Version 2, will that
allow the video to be clear/

Thanks Group!

Norm
 
P

PapaJohn \(MVP\)

I know that I can capture higher quality video from analog sources with my
computers that have USB2 ports than I can with those with USB1... using the
same Dazzle 80 device on them all.

So maybe yes, but there may be other parts of your system that limit the
data flow onto your hard drive.
--
PapaJohn

Movie Maker 2 - www.papajohn.org
Photo Story 2 - www.photostory.papajohn.org

..
 
N

Norm & Debbie

Thanks John!

Norm

PapaJohn (MVP) said:
I know that I can capture higher quality video from analog sources with my
computers that have USB2 ports than I can with those with USB1... using the
same Dazzle 80 device on them all.

So maybe yes, but there may be other parts of your system that limit the
data flow onto your hard drive.
--
PapaJohn

Movie Maker 2 - www.papajohn.org
Photo Story 2 - www.photostory.papajohn.org

.
Click to expand...
 
N

Norm & Debbie

Ok Group, the last entry in this string. I reloaded the Sony Picture
Package Software that came with the camera (Sony DCR-HC40) and the video
downloaded through MM2 is very clear. I can't tell the group what the issue
is, but now MM2 works just fine with the Sony Picture Package loaded. Go
figure! Anyways, my many thanks to the group members that posted messages
to help with the problem!

Norm
 

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