Which_way_is_up

Looking for some help in diagnosing a problem with my new DV camcorder. I recently purchased a Canon Elura 100 camcorder as a "kick around" camera. It works beautifully and products good quality video but I've got a problem. I hook up my firewire cable and try to use Windows XP's Movie Maker, I get an error "class not registered". It occurs at the point in the "capture from video device" just after it has successfully told the camera to rewind and start playing the video stream. Windows XP recognizes the camera, the firewire card works as I have an external firewire hard drive running on it. I've removed the firewire hard drive from the firewire card to insure that it wasn't interfering with the camera. It didn't help. In addition to trying to use Movie Maker I've tried to use Pinnacle's "Studio" version 7.15 and it gives me an error of "Studio cannot initialize the DV capture device. Please ensure that the camcorder is connected and powered on."

So I tried a different direction, I went into "My Computer" and click on the DV camera icon. The window that opens has a blank frame in the center and if you run the camera in playback mode the video streams into that frame. So in summary, Studio can't initialize the camera, Movie Maker can send rewind command successfully but can't capture the streaming video and the operating system "XP" can see the streaming video coming from the camera. Something is definitely screwed up but what?

So today I went to the Apple store and got a "Mac Talk" appointment. Boy when it comes to customer service Apple has got it's act together. I was given a hour of one on one time with a video specialist. I took my Elura 100 and my firewire cable along. We hooked it up and used Apple's "IMovie" to download some video from the camera. Needless to say everything worked like a champ. So I was able to determine that there's nothing wrong with the camera or the firewire cable. So where the hell IS the problem? I don't have a clue but I'm guessing that there must be a problem with the Windows XP interface between the firewire driver and the applications, in this case Movie Maker and Studio. But I don't have any idea how to proceed.

Any suggestions besides buying an Apple? I'm not about to buy yet another video editing program because if it doesn't work either I can't return the software.

Knight_74

Sounds like a driver isn't properly installed or has become corrupt. You could try canon for some better answers. They are very good at email support
http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/co...&modelid=12827

Which_way_is_up

Thanks for the suggestion but unfortunately Canon hasn't been much help. It's really Windows XP/application problem. []

DebianDog

I always find Windows to be a problem One of the many reasons I went Mac - especially since firewire is an Apple standard.

But Canon had a "bad rep" years back for not adhering to the Firewire standard. Is this an older camera?

Which_way_is_up

No, unfortunately it's the newest model of the Canon Elura series. I've also got Canon's very first DV camcorder the ZR but it was relegated to the museum shelf long time ago. As for the Apple, after the Mac Talk session I was about ready to buy a Mac just for the IMovie and IDVD programs that come with the operating system!

Craig-RCU

Which_way_is_up,

Did you figure out the firewire/Windows problem? I have Windows XP and have been looking for a "kick around" camera myself and was considering an Elura 100 along with the older ZR models. I downloaded and skimmed through the Elura100 and ZR-100 thru 700 manuals. I don't remember if all the ZR models have firewire. Does your old ZR model have a firewire hookup? If so, maybe it would like your firewire setup better than the Elura. If they both use the same dv tape and format, maybe you could use the ZR just for transfering? Did you try a different firewire card to see if the Elura just didn't like your specific firewire setup? Also, what ZR model do you have? I might be interested in buying it.

Thanks, Craig

Which_way_is_up

Did you figure out the firewire/Windows problem? - No

Does your old ZR model have a firewire hookup? - Yes and it has the same problem.

Did you try a different firewire card - No because I can get XP to see video streaming from the Elura 100. So I'm assuming that the problem is with the Firewire driver(s) within XP that the applications don't like. Just haven't had time with the holidays to investigate the problem any further.

what ZR model do you have? - The original, which was simply called the "ZR". Because of it's age and it's current incompatibility with my XP system I wouldn't try to sell it to anyone. I got the Canon Elura 100 on clearance sale from Office Depot for $227. So you'd be much better off keeping an eye out for a good clearance sale on a new camcorder. Though I'm lucky in that I live in the Dallas area and have lots of stores to work with when it comes to finding good deals.

I'm pretty sure that the problem is not the cameras. I've tested the Elura 100 and cable on an Apple and it worked perfectly. I don't think that it's the firewire card in my computer because XP can see the streaming video from the camcorder and display it on the display. One of the two programs can send control commands to the camcorder successfully but not see the streaming video. So my take on this problem is that there's a problem with the middleware, ie drivers. But not sure that I can figure out how to force a refresh of the firewire drivers into XP to see if that would fix my problem. After the holidays I'm going to call a XP expert friend of mine and see what he thinks.

lcacciatore

My Feedback: (2)

Are you running XP SP2?

Which_way_is_up

Yes, and current on all updates.

WYDAH

Hi,

You might try looking at the Microsoft moviemaker forum site.

It sounds like a common problem.

Hope this helps.

[link=http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/newsgroups/reader.mspx?query=registered&cboDiscussionGroup=en-us-ms-winxp%3Amicrosoft.public.windowsxp.moviemaker%3Aen %3AUS%3A%3AB0DE109D-10E1-4C3C-BCC9-8EB7A22FC6A0%3A%3A&=Go&dg=microsoft.public.windowsxp.moviemaker&cat=en-us-ms-winxp&lang=en&cr=US&pt=&catlist=B0DE109D-10E1-4C3C-BCC9-8EB7A22FC6A0&dglist=&ptlist=&exp=&sloc=en-us]HERE[/link]

Which_way_is_up

Well folks I have some good news concerning my problem. I threw my XP machine out the window and bought a Mac.

Not really but at times I was ready to do it. I do have to make an observation concerning Apple computers or more specifically the operating system. First of all the folks at the Apple store I went to are a first class act. When I go to buy my next computer I will seriously be considering a Apple product. Having said that, I must tell you that during the demo of what I believe is called the IVideo software, the software locked up twice and had to stopped and restarted. I was really surprised to see that happen. But I guess that all that really means is the Apple computers are "human" too and not some kind of super computers.

Back to the subject, after spending an afternoon on the phone with my XP expert and spending hours and hours checking and replacing hardware, reinstalling software, device drivers, etc. We didn't find an answer.

So it was back to googling and after several days of searching I found a post from someone that had found a post the described the exact same symptoms as mine. So with the execution of the following command. . . .

regsvr32 %windir%\system32\qdv.dll

Something about registering a class?

Just as soon as I did that the video came pouring into "Movie Maker"!


Having gotten to the point that I could actually get video into a program via firewire I was able to start actually looking at the features of various programs. First thing I did was get rid of Pennacle's Studio version 7. It didn't do anything that Microsoft'w Movie Maker couldn't also do and Movie Maker is more stable. Next I had to decide what new program I was going to buy because Movie Maker doesn't support 16:9 format video which my Canon Elura 100 can produce. And as a side note, 16:9 output directly from the Elura 100 really looks great on my new HDTV. So there were several programs who's latest version will support 16:9 video including Pennacle's Studio 10, Muvee, Ulead's VideoStudio and Adobe's Premiere Elements 3. After spending hours reading reviews from as many sources as I could find, it appeared that the best choice for my needs was Adobe's Premiere Elements 3. I go a copy, installed it and within a half hour of reading the help section I was busy editing video.

Here's four short videos I created from an afternoon of flying a prototype class of electric combat planes being looked at by the AMA SIG, the Radio Control Combat Association, RCCA. These planes are made out of Dow blue foam and covered with colored packing tape. There's nothing special or above average with these video, just my first attempt.

The first video clip is a beautiful P-38 built by Lee Liddle of Dallas, Tx. Here's a still shot of the P-38




Video link [link=http://www.rccagallery.com/video/E3696/Lee_P-38.wmv]E3696 Class electric P-38[/link]


The second video clip is another great build by Lee, a F4U Corsair.




Video link [link=http://www.rccagallery.com/video/E3696/Lee_Corsair.wmv]E3696 Class electric F4U Corsair[/link]


The third one is of Lee's P-51 and Ed Kettler's FW-190 dogfighting

video link
[link=http://www.rccagallery.com/video/E3696/FW-190&P-51.wmv]E3696 Class P-51 & FW-190 dogfight[/link]


The last one is of Lee's Corsair and Ed's FW-190 dogfighting

video link [link=http://www.rccagallery.com/video/E3696/Corsair&FW-190.wmv]E3696 Class Corsair & FW-190 dogfight[/link]

If anyone is interested in more information about RC Combat in general or the electrics in these videos you can go to the forum section of the [link=http://www.rccombat.com]RCCA Web Site.[/link]


Please no bootlegging of these videos to any other web sites including RC Universe without my permission.


So I guess this story has had a happy ending!

Craig-RCU

Which_way_is_up,
Thanks for the update. Very helpfull info and great videos! I'm still shopping for a DV camcorder, myself.