Z1 to Vegas 5.0

[Ben Chancey]

Here's the story. I have my Z1 all set up and hooked up to the Firewire ready to Capture in Vegas 5.0. However, as of right now Vegas can't find the camera. I am editing my saltwater fishing show called "Chew On This." I don't need to edit in HD because I have to submit the show to the network on beta. Can I just capture the footage SD instead of HD like it was recorded in or is there some down conversion I need to do? Any help is greatly appreciated.

Regards,
Capt Ben Chancey

[John McGinley]

Set iLINK conversion to SD in the camera and Vegas should see it as a regular DV camera.

[Ben Chancey]

I keep getting an error code that reads Microsoft AV/C Tape Subunit Device could not be opened.

[Rob Lohman]

Two things:

1. Sony Vegas 5 cannot capture from an HDV device

2. If you use Vegas 6 you can have an issue where Windows doesn't install the device properly:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=44167

which links to this thread:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=45315

In that last thread there is a description + link to Sony that has a guide on
how to fix this issue.

[Ben Chancey]

Thanks Rob,

I spent about 5 hours yesterday trying multiple different things. You what doesn't make sense is the fact that Vegas 5.0 gives you the option of editing HDV but you can't capture it. One of the reasons I purchased it in the first place was because of it's upward compatibility. I appreciate the help.

Regards,
Capt Ben

[Steve Crisdale]

Originally Posted by Ben Chancey

Thanks Rob,

I spent about 5 hours yesterday trying multiple different things. You what doesn't make sense is the fact that Vegas 5.0 gives you the option of editing HDV but you can't capture it. One of the reasons I purchased it in the first place was because of it's upward compatibility. I appreciate the help.

Regards,
Capt Ben

The best thing you can do is get Cineform's ConnectHD. I was also disappointed at Vegas' lack of capture ability with my FX-1e the first time I tried to capture via it's capture utility.

Fortunately, ConnectHD's HDLink tool works well, and with the ability to save as both m2t and 'un-compressed' CFHD *.avi you not only get the option to save to either, but the CFHD *.avi clips can improve editing speed within Vegas with the added bonus of reducing artifacts in any render you make... and the HDLink tool allows you to write your finished edit (or work in progress - if you so want) back to the camera for viewing via component... Just render an m2t version of your project in Vegas, then run HDLink and write back to your camera.

Even with Vegas 6 adding extra support for HDV (including some Cineform components) you'll find ConnectHD is almost a 'must have' to supplement Vegas.

Done right, any SD downconversions you do from a CFHD *.avi file will be superior to working with native m2t and probably better (I've not even tried using DV conversion in camera) than the camera's own DV downconversion.

[Ben Chancey]

Steve thanks for the great info.

Unfortunately I had already bought and paid for Vegas 6 + DVD. For some reason I am getting sound now but no picture. This is becoming frustrating. Especially since I have deadlines to meet.

[Ben Chancey]

I have everything hooked up and the computer can now find my camera but when I play the HDV cam it only plays sound and not video. What's going on?

[Rob Lohman]

Can you elaborate on "play the HDV cam"? What do you mean by play? Play
back on a TV for example? Or are you watching on the LCD screen on the
camera?

In vegas (6) you should capture and it should start the camera. You don't
have to set it to play first or something.

Is vegas (6) capture seeing the camera when you have it turned on and
connected IN HDV mode? If not, see my original links above. You need to
install / update your drivers.

[Roland Clarke]

You need service pack two. The AV/c device driver is contained within that. If you go to windows update and install it your computer will be able to see the camera. I can't comment on Vegas as we are Premiere users here, but we had the same issue and after upgrading to SP2 the driver was installed and everything worked perfectly.

Regards



Roland

[Steve Crisdale]

Originally Posted by Ben Chancey

I have everything hooked up and the computer can now find my camera but when I play the HDV cam it only plays sound and not video. What's going on?

OK.. You've got the camera connected via firewire? And when you hear the sound on playback...can you see the video playing back on the camera's LCD panel? If you can see the video on the camera's LCD, you know the camera isn't at fault.

I don't have Vegas 6 to know for certain (I've got Vegas 5 which can't capture HDV, and doesn't like DV from my FX-1e either), but I'd suspect you may need to install WinXP Service Pack 2.

BTW... When you start 'capturing', do you get a progress bar? I doubt that you'll be able to watch and listen to the video on the computer whilst capturing... only on the camera's LCD... and you'll hear sound from the camera as well.

[Ben Chancey]

Thanks to all for trying to help. Sorry for not being a little more detailed about the failure. When I attempt to view or Capture the HDV footage from the Z1, I can view the footage on the LCD screen but not in Vegas Capture screeen. I attempted to capture a couple of clips and from what I can tell it is only capturing every 5th or 6th frame. Vegas will play the sound but not the video. This is really strange. I am on day three now and have performed all updates and everything else that has been mentioned here. Something seems pretty messed up here. Any help is greatly appreciated.

[Steve Crisdale]

Originally Posted by Ben Chancey

Thanks to all for trying to help. Sorry for not being a little more detailed about the failure. When I attempt to view or Capture the HDV footage from the Z1, I can view the footage on the LCD screen but not in Vegas Capture screeen. I attempted to capture a couple of clips and from what I can tell it is only capturing every 5th or 6th frame. Vegas will play the sound but not the video. This is really strange. I am on day three now and have performed all updates and everything else that has been mentioned here. Something seems pretty messed up here. Any help is greatly appreciated.

OK. So the camera is unlikely to be the culprit. Starting to narrow it down...

You have the capture (I/O) mode of the camera set in the on-camera menu correctly?

Do you have another Firewire port on your computer. It is a possibility that either your cable, or Firewire port itself is causing the 'dropouts', so trying a different port will help determine whether that's a likelihood.

You say that you think it's 'capturing' every 5th or 6th frame... what leads you to this conclusion? Are you seeing flickering frames that indicate it might be so?

Some users have reported 'flickering' video performance because of their Hard Disk RAID array controller... It may pay to check it also as a possibility.

Without being able to physically diagnose the problem, I'd suggest that there's likely nothing wrong with the camera, and it's highly unlikely anything's wrong with Vegas.

Download the demo version of ConnectHD from Cineform's web-site (it's free), and try the HDLink capture tool it will install. If it too fails to capture correctly from the camera, I'd be more certain that the problem lies in the Firewire connection (cable or port) or Hard-Drive/RAID Disk Array than I am at the moment.

Hang in there Dude!!

BTW.. I don't have a Z1 (I've got an FX-1e) but are you attempting to capture PAL to an NTSC project? Just a random thought... there's lots of permutations to what can be causing some of these problems and it's best to not leave any stone unturned...

[Ben Chancey]

Steve the I/O setting on the camera I am not familiar with. I didn't even know it had one other than the actual port. I took a break from figuring out if the ZR1 was going to capture or not. I plugged my GS400 into the same firewire port and captured roughly 3 hours of Fishing Footage to my external Hard Drive. I don't think it is the problem. I also don't think it is the Z1 either but I do think there is something wrong with the software and its relationship with the computer. I'll keep trying.