Every time I try to capture video (Cannon GL1) using any software on my PC.... the computer freezes. It freezes right as the first frame in the preview window is displayed. I have yet to try it on another machine, but I plan on it to determine weather its the camera or the computer. Does anyone know what might be causing this? I have 512 mb of ram, a 1.0ghz athlon, and 60gb HD space. This is really frustrating the hell out of me :(

Thanks

Welcome Joseph,
I'm going to make a guess that the GL2 is probably not the culprit. It's likely a problem to do with your computer's setup. So I moved your post here.

You're going to have to tell folks alot more about your setup to get much help.

Are you using the FireWire (same as Sony iLink) or the USB connection?

Jeff

The camera I am using is a GL1, not a GL2. I am currently using firewire to capture my video, as I just bought a 3 port 1394 adapter card yesterday. (manfactured by SIIG) The package came with the application program "Ulead VIdeoStudio 6.0", which I am quite sure sucks horribly (but I don't think the source of my problems). I am planning to switch to Premere very soon.

Computer Specs:

Processor: 1.0 Ghz AMD Athlon
RAM: 512 MB
Display Adaptor: NVIDIA GeForce3 Ti 500 (64MB) (AGP Bus type)
Hard Disk: 60Gb (2 30gb HD's with a RAID0 setup, SCSI)

Any help would be greatly greatly welcomed, thanks much guys.

Joseph

(Sorry for the GL2 typo.)

Joseph, have you ever been able to successfully capture footage from the GL1 with your current hardware and software configuration?

I'm not familiar with VideoStudio but I'm guessing that, like other editing programs, the capture process takes place through this program, correct?

No, I was never at any point able to sucessfully capture video from my GL1 to my computer. This is my first ever attempt at DV. And yes, the software program that I am using captures video..

I just today installed the newest drivers for my display adapter, and I tried switching the card into different PCI slots... all to no avail. I also tried using different ports on the card, all 3 return the same results. I also make sure to connect the camera before I boot... that does not help the situation either. :\

Anyway, any suggestions, any ideas... I am more then open. I hope I can get this thing to work. :|

thanks,

Joe

What version of Windows are you using? Also, exactly what model of 1394 adapter are you using?

I am not a PC video expert here. Mainly trying to collect enough info for someone else to perhaps make suggestions.

It's choking from the firewire to the software (duh =)

I'd try downloading the trial version of Vegas Video, and see if it has the same issue, if so, then we start back tracking your hardware.

if you are using a windows flavor, you need to check your HARDWARE setup in the DEVICE Manager.....you should let us all know what kind of OS you are Using, and if you are sharing IRQ's......
with win 98, you will need to juggle IRQ's and probably go into setup and force IRQ's to a particular slot.....dont share IRQ's in win98 ...your Fire wire card should have its OWN irq.....you dont have this problem with Win2k OR XP because they dynamically switch IRQ usage on the fly....but this is all conjecture since I dont know exactly what your setup is. you need to be VERY specific on what hardware your using, what OS you are using, and what exactly your device manager says, including any warning, exclamation points and shared IRQ's. Remeber, this is a digital device......a misplaced period can cause a problem; you need to get your mind into that metaphore when you troubleshoot.....

I forgot to mention that you might want to let us know what kind of Motherboard and chipset you are using, as well as what sort of hardware peripherals.......some chipsets were never meant to be used on video editing systems. I always reccomend to folks building a system to check out the compatibity lists on:
Canopus
Avid
Adobe
and to check out the user groups on these web sites to find out which board/chipset/display adapter combinations work and which dont.
Keep in mind that the GL-1 has only conditional support from Premeire, and Avid, and the list for Avid Mac version includes a lot of hardware that wont work at all....you really need to do your homework before hand to get good results. If you know someone with a system that works, you might try your camera on their machine first, to eliminate the camera as the culprit.....sometimes switching the camera on an off, after exiting the software, can clear up comm problems on the firewire bus by "rebooting" the firmware in the camera.

Excellent tic-list of things to check, Steve. Having been somewhat distant from the Windows world for a while I'd forgotten how IRQsome the world or IRQ's can be, particularly when it comes to specialized hardware.

Based on Joseph's description thus far I'm guessing that this (http://siig.com/products/1394/features/1394_DVCamKit.html) is the 1394 card card he's using.

Sorry for the delay in posting, I have been tremendously busy all weekend as my family and friends threw me a surprise birthday party :) (my 18th) I've been out with friends all weekend and the like.

I just want to thank you all for helping me by the way, as I didn't realize the high magnitude of help that I would actually recieve.

All of my system information is located here:

http://members.cox.net/sidus/sys.nfo
http://members.cox.net/sidus/DxDiag.txt

Sys.nfo will open in System Information, and the DxDiag is the info saved from directXdiagnostics.

I hope this is somewhat more detaled ;)

Thanks again for all the help.

I've completely got away from GeForce cards because of the below example from your system specs.

<Resource><![CDATA[IRQ 10]]></Resource>
<Device><![CDATA[NVIDIA GeForce3 Ti 500]]></Device>
<Status><![CDATA[OK]]></Status>
</Data>
<Data>
<Resource><![CDATA[IRQ 10]]></Resource>
<Device><![CDATA[CMI8738/C3DX PCI Audio Device]]></Device>
<Status><![CDATA[OK]]></Status>
</Data>
<Data>
<Resource><![CDATA[IRQ 10]]></Resource>
<Device><![CDATA[VIA VT6102 Rhine II Fast Ethernet Adapter]]></Device>
<Status><![CDATA[OK]]></Status>
</Data>
<Data>
<Resource><![CDATA[IRQ 11]]></Resource>
<Device><![CDATA[Texas Instruments OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller]]></Device>
<Status><![CDATA[OK]]></Status>
</Data>
<Data>
<Resource><![CDATA[IRQ 11]]></Resource>
<Device><![CDATA[WinXP Promise FastTrak100 (tm) Lite Controller]]></Device>
<Status><![CDATA[OK]]></Status>
</Data>

Here are my thoughts; notice how you have several items sharing IRQ's 10 and 11 (most importantly in this example your firewire card) above.

I didn't dig too hard to find this, but if i had to guess from 1500+ miles away, your IRQ sharing is the issue.

Hmm... is there any way I can fix the IRQ sharing?

switching around the position of those cards 1st (if your GeForce is an AGP like 99% of them you can't switch it)

I'd also go to the extent of uninstalling them and placing them back one card at a time, update drivers and reboot on each.

Again, I'm just shot-gunning from here, so take my advise for what it's worth.

sharing IRQ's should only be a problem if you are not using Win2K or XP...I have 7 devices sharing IRQ 7, including my Pyro card, and I never have IRQ issues; of course, this is just Win2k nomenclature for "dynamic IRQ sharing", and this is all you need to know, as far as Microsoft is concerned.....I dont reccommend defeating the plug and play on such a system; however,this is the only way to force IRQ's with these os's as far as I know. Once you defeat it, you are back to a win98 type system, where you cant share IRQ's at all, except with devices that are very unlikely to make hardware calls at the same time. Generally to do this you have to turn off ACPI in the system bios first. Then you can assign an IRQ to a slot....check the motherboard manual to find the slot assignment numbers. This is a major hassle, and if it was me I 'd rather be installing a new OS. but, back in the days when I ran Win98, this is what I did, and it did address IRQ issues in win98.

<<<-- Originally posted by Steve Leone : sharing IRQ's should only be a problem if you are not using Win2K or XP. -->>>

You are correct.
But I've had major issues with VIA chipsets, Geforce, and Sound Blaster cards. I don't know what the issue is, but I know from experience that if you go to an ATI video card the problem goes away.......this is all in XP Pro and Win2K

I would bet if he takes out/un-installs all the other cards (I still can't figure out which sound card he has) and only puts his firewire card back in.......his problem will be gone (until of course he reinstalls the other cards)

Again.....just shot-gunning from here with my past issues along the same lines........

Chipsets and video drivers are a whole other can of worms.....you do get to the point with a problem like this when all you can do is offer conjecture without sitting down with the machine and hashing it all out yourself....seems this machine is running XP, so I would agree that the video driver or chipset might be a better place to start, rather than disabling PNP and forcing IRQ's....I'd start with the driver, since the chipset can only be fixed by replacing the Motherboard....its always a good idea to research chipsets before you buy, obviously. I have a VIA chipset, incidentally, and it works fine.....but its one of the few on the Canopus approval list, the KT133A, so not ALL Via's are buggy....the approval lists are a good place to look for starters. This problem illustrates why I always suggest to people that they research every single component before they buy anything, and design a PC system from the ground up to run video hardware and software.
step one might be to check upgrades for the video driver
step two might be a 4in1 driver update
step 3 a bios upgrade assuming the bios is flashable