MM does not recognize Sony DCR-TRV950 MiniDV Camcorder

[David Eller]

MM and other movie making software packages do not
recognize my Sony DCR-TRV950 MiniDV Camcorder when trying
to capture video. They used to recognize the camcorder
before, but have stopped over the past several weeks (I
haven't tried downloading in a while). I am capturing
through an IEEE-1394 card using Windows XP. I have tried
an Adaptec AUA-3121 DuoConnect Adapter (which worked fine
before on the same system) and just recently installed a
Pinnacle Systems DV IEEE card with the same results. I
have tried two different fire-wire cables to rule that
out. MM and Pinnacle Studio both recognize the camcorder
to rewind and fastforward, and will even play the video
on the camcorder, but will not capture it on the
computer. When selecting the capture source in the
settings options of the software packages, my camcorder
is not an option. I can't recall installing anything
that may have lost the functionality for except some
Windows updates (searching the Windows Knowledge Base has
yielded nothing). Here is the system I am running
(which, again, worked before):

Sony DCR-TRV950 MiniDV Camcorder (with firewire
connection)
Dell Dimension 8100
Pentium-4 1.3GHz
512MB Ram
128 MB NVidia GeForce-4 4600Ti
Sound Blaster Audigy Platinum Ex
Windows XP (service pack-1 installed)
Microsoft Digital Image Suite
Pinnacle Studio v.8
Western Digital 80GB and 120GB Hard Drives
Pinnacle-DV IEEE1394 Video Capture Card (currently
installed)
Motorola SB5100 Surfboard Cable Modem
HP Deskjet 970Cxi Printer
HP Scanjet 4570c Scanner

Thanks for any suggestions you might have!

 

[John Kelly]

Hi there,

Well first I would take a quick look at www.papajohn.org and look at the
problem solving page.

In the event that you do not find your solution there, I would go take a
look for the drivers for your camera on the sony website. I pointed someone
else there only a few days ago. the sony-europe site had a driver for your
camera and I think it was not too old (released recently)

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the reply. I did check out the papajohn
information, but that didn't help. I'll try the driver
route, but I didn't need it before with my current setup,
so I'm not sure that'll help. Although, it is possible
it somehow got deleted along the way.

Thanks again!

-----Original Message-----
Hi there,

Well first I would take a quick look at

www.papajohn.org and look at the

 

[Guest]

John,
I tried the Sony Europe site and the only driver they had
available was the USB driver. My USB connection works
fine; it's the firewire that I'm having trouble with. I
installed the USB driver that came with the camcorder and
it downloads from the memory stick fine. I read a more
recent posting here which pointed someone to the WinDV
program on the papajohn site. I downloaded that and am
having the exact same problem. The program will control
the camcorder to fast forward, rewind, etc.; it just
won't capture. I must have deleted some type of file
accidentally; I just don't know how or what it could have
been. Codecs don't have anything to do with this do
they? I don't know enough about them to know their
function.

Again, thanks for trying to help. If you think of
anything else to try, I am all ears.

-----Original Message-----
Hi there,

Well first I would take a quick look at

www.papajohn.org and look at the

 

[John Kelly]

Hi there,

I just did a search using WebFerret pro, and got loads of replies to "Sony
TRV950 Movie Maker", but because I do not allow cookies I could not get to
view those with the highest probability of 85%. The pro version actually
ranks the results for you....maybe this will be a way forward. I would
normally have given you the actual links...but I wiped them off and tried
for a better match...and at that point everything it seems other than nntp
protocols have died here. So, do a search for "Web Ferret", grab the free
version and give it a try.

 

[John Kelly]

Hi there again,

My network is back up...

I don't remember if you had been to the Sony Knowledge Base or not, but in
any case here is a link straight to the articles covering Movie Maker and
your camera.

http://www.iq.sony.com/srvs/convers...elnum=&prodid=&q=&browser=msie&ver=6&res=high

Hmmm, that url did not look right so I cut and pasted it myself...it takes
you to the form I started with...so, when you get to the form the actual
question I typed was simply "Microsoft Movie Maker" and then fill in the
details about your camera...it produces a lot of results for me...hope it
does for you.

 

[John Kelly]

Hi yet again,

I forgot to mention...if at the end of the day you are not succefull I will
swap your camera with my Canon MV500i, I will even pay the postal costs!!!
...I read the reviews on your camera...WOW!!

 

[Dave Eller]

John,
thanks for the offer, but I think I will just buy a new
computer before I give up my baby!

On a separate note; I think I may have stumbled on the
right direction. I snooped around my device manager and
came across the "WDM Video for Windows Capture Driver
(Win32)". I started looking up references to this on the
Microsoft Knowledge Base and I found some articles
relating to "Video Port Extensions - VPE technology is a
DirectDraw extension that supports direct hardware
connections from a video decoder and autoflipping in the
graphics frame buffer." and "Video Port routines -
An interface to miniport drivers that are specific to
graphics adapters. The video port driver supplied by the
operating system exports these drivers. Video miniport
drivers call these routines to obtain all operating
system support required to perform I/O operations."

Anyway, when I try to look at the properties of the WDM
Capture Driver in the device manager the computer gives
me a blank look. I'm going to try reinstalling my video,
display, and directx drivers and see if that fixes it.
Otherwise, I believe I will probably just have to re-
install Windows (not my preference!).

If I do find the final fix, I will let you know so that
you might be able to help someone else with the same
issue.

Thanks for all your help; I really appreciate it!!

-Dave

 

[John Kelly]

Aw Shucks!!!

I am sorry none of it helped and hope your discovery on the WDM front works
out. I too had early problems with WDM, in fact installing the latest
graphic card drivers did not help (from NVidia) I eventually found that the
driver from Gainward (the cards manufacturer) did the trick...it was then
that I read the manual !!!! and discovered that it is apparently
acknowledged that manufacturers change parts of the instruction set in order
to achieve their own designs......since then all of the 3D and
DirectDraw/Show functions work perfectly.....