Distorted Capturing

[bakura82]

Hell everyone. I am a first time recreational camcorder owner. I purchased the Panasonic PVGS85. I am experience some problems capturing video that I am hoping someone may be able to help me with.

Specs
Rec Speed: SP
Pict. Quality: High
12 Bit Audio: ST1 (Stereo)
Aspect: 16:9

OS: WinXP SP2

Software Available:
PowerDirector
ShowBiz DVD 2
Nero Vision
Windows Movie Maker

Problem

• Upon plugging in the USB and IEEE1394 cords, XP recognized the devices and installed drivers automaticaly.

• Two Issues
  • USB capturing simply does not work. I may exchange the camera for another to make sure it is not the camera.
  • DV capturing is distorted. Color splotched appear and dissapear. Audio distorted.

• USB capturing errors
  • PowerDirector - (An error has occured. Unable to start the recording function.)
  • ShowBiz DVD 2 - Attempts to make contact. Small preview box shows still frame and seems ready to recorded. The frame jumps and is distorted.
    • Avi set - (Device Record Error)
    • Mpg set - Pretends to record. When you hit stop: (Invalid File Name)
  • Nero Vision - (No supported camera device detected)
  • Windows Movie Maker - Works! Sometimes distorts though. Can't change any recording settings other than file type.

• DV (IEEE1394) capturing problem
  • All software works. However, video has "color static" if that makes any sense and the audio is distorted.
  • I attributed this to a cheap firewire cable that I bought long ago which exhibited the same problem on an older Sony Digital8 of my father's. So, I purchased a new cable with gold connectors. I guess this wasn't good enough as it still has the same problems. I intend to take this one back and get another more expensive cable with better shielding.

With all that said, what do you all think? I am at a loss.


Thanks!

Esteban

[anonymez]

Welcome to the forum

USB capturing simply does not work. I may exchange the camera for another to make sure it is not the camera.

Chances are the USB connection is for transferring stills only; video must be done via firewire (IEEE1394)

DV capturing is distorted. Color splotched appear and dissapear. Audio distorted.

May be the decoder, camera or drivers; you do not state which program you used to capture the video. Try WinDV or DV Capture Live, both freeware.

[gonwk]

Hi Anonymez,

Do you know of a "Good" and not so expensive "Capture Card" ... or better yet a "USB" type ... for capturing stuff off of DV or VHS Player?

Thanks,
G!

[anonymez]

For DV, any firewire PCI card will do. I do not do any analog (VHS) capturing myself, though many people seem to like the Winfast cards for that purpose. But let's not hijack bakura82's thread.

[bakura82]

Welcome to the forum

Thanks! I am glad I found this joint!

Chances are the USB connection is for transferring stills only; video must be done via firewire (IEEE1394)

It does indeed transfer the stills, however, they can only be retrieved when the camcorder is set to still mode. When in playback mode, I should be able to capture the stream. As a note, this camcorder is supposed to function as a webcam as well (although I haven't tried that nor do I intend to).

May be the decoder, camera or drivers; you do not state which program you used to capture the video. Try WinDV or DV Capture Live, both freeware.

I am sorry. I may not have been clear. I am using those four programs I listed above (PowerDirector, ShowBiz DVD 2, Nero Vision, and Windows Movie Maker) for both DV and USB capture. The only one that can do both is Windows Movie Maker. The other three only do DV capture. See above for the results of such captures.

Thank you for your thoughts! I hope this might shed more like.

As for the other posts... well, um. Maybe we should start a new thread for that since they are great questions.

THanks guys!

[Chewy]

Firewire relating to dv capture is real picky and I have found that few manufacturers of cams or cards/chipsets seem to implement it to any "working" standard reliably. A TI chipset solution seems to be the least troublesome.

Initial capture required raid stripes, newer computers can handle it, but they need to be optimized and
allowed to do the process without a bunch of crap running.

[gonwk]

Hi Bakura,

Are you using the "Original" software that came with your Unit to do your capturing? If yes what is the program? If not what are you using?

G!

[pfloyd]

USB is only used for capturing photos off of the memory card. To capture movies you made, you must use firewire. Aslo, what format are you trying to capture in >(eg. AVI, WMV, etc.) Use AVI type 1.

Don't buy and expensive firewire cable as you will be just wasting your money. They are all the same no matter what the cost or how they are made.

Are you running XP SP2? If so, you may want to go to the Microsoft Download page and download and run hotfix KB885222. Fixes issues
with firewire when SP2 is installed. Hope this helps and let me know.

Steve (aka PFloyd)

[bobofett]

Some clarity on the gs85

I actually just purchased this camera recently myself.

The USB has two uses. The first is just to transfer digital pictures saved on the SD card a la a regular digital camera. It also allows the camera to act as a webcam. But only if you have windows, and you need to get drivers from their site (Info provided in the manual). You must switch the camera to either tape record or tape playback mode...then you connect the USB (NOT before turning on cam and switching to one of those two modes). The display will show WEB in one corner, and if you have the drivers installed (In theory you don't have to download or do anything if you have XP), any program that uses a webcam should show you a pic of whatever your cam is pointed at. If you had a piece of webcam software that could also capture video you could get some very rough clips that way.

But you can not digitally transfer video using USB only firewire.

As per you video capture problem...Try to capture a bunch of video, and try just dropping the dv or .avi (dv type 1 or 2) that you captured into the dvd creation program of your choice. Most should accept as that type and then transcoded it to mpeg2 for you and burn a dvd. Put said dvd in your favorite dvd player and see if you then still have problems with the quality you are seeing.

I suspect you will not...and it's most likely a matter of your computer having problems keeping up with the data rate of these very large dv files, as well as the raw file being fully interlaced and a few other things that will complicate playback on many systems. Even a transcoded mpeg2 file may have problems playing on your system. I have exactly the same problem. But rest assured any video transcoded to mpeg2 and slapped on dvd should look just fine.

If you want to create a good quality file of resonable size just for playing on computers...I would suggest transcoding using xvid (do a google search) with an avi container.

Hope that helps.