I don't think I have ever used the advanced capture. I just capture starting before where I want and stop it where I want to.

I then use Vegas timeline to trim to what I need.

Never have had a problem with this method.

I use Advanced capture all the time using Batch capture with manually entered IN/OUT points. I've not seen a problem with corrupted files. I DO make sure I never capture before about 5 seconds into the tape.

Sometimes, on certain systems, the Vegas DV Capture winds up being a garbled, unusable patchwork. A second try often clears it up.

If you have a system that is having this problem, you might consider Scenalyzer for capturing until this bug is fixed.

Gary

Possibly other capturing software on same system that interferes with Vegas. Or maybe you're using your firewire port for different applications and some people claim firewire ports can be finnicky. Just suggesting possiblitlies.

Maybe click on Support in the menu above and submit a Vegas support ticket? I think they get paid to help you quickly. "-)

"Sometimes, on certain systems, the Vegas DV Capture winds up being a garbled, unusable patchwork."

Gary, in your experience, is this phenomenon specific to Vegas 6, or even a specific version of 6? I've encountered this a couple of times in recent months, probably on 6b & 6c. Never saw it with Vegas 5.

Another Vegas 6 user I know has also had it happen. It'd be interesting to be able to pin it down. Mine is an AMD system; his a Pentium 4 so it doesn't seem to break down along processor lines.

I think jetdv's suggestion of " I DO make sure I never capture before about 5 seconds into the tape" is one thing to consider. It's been reported here numerous times that, if the video is garbled in any way just before the beginning of the clip, it has resulted in bad captures. I've never had it happen to me but that's because I make sure that I have a minimum of 5 sec. of clean video before and after the clip I want to capture (a holdover from my analog editing days when tape machines required anywhere from 5 to 10 sec. of pre-roll).

Mike

"Sometimes, on certain systems, the Vegas DV Capture winds up being a garbled, unusable patchwork."

I had this happen with Vegas 5. I don't remember if it was from the camera or the Canopus 100. One of the shots had green patch work/garbled picture. I just recaptured that specific shot and it worked fine the second time. No clue why it did it.

II have seen it on Vegas 5 and Vegas 6, on several systems. The tape start position had little effect on the result.

Gary

I had logged a support ticket on a very similar porblem with VidCap.
If you start the capture with a dirty signal coming off the tape most decks revert the audio to 32K and Vegas locks onto that and all the following audio is resampled to 32K. You may not notice this UNLESS you check your audio properties.
The workaround was pretty much what I'd worked out for myself, always start the capture on good tape. Reason it's such a pain for me is I had the good wife trained to use the Capture Tape button and that's when you'll really hit the problem.
Can't say I've ever had the video get trashed though, just the audio being resampled.
Bob.

To all who responded a big thanks.

I am using a Sony VX2000 but this has happened to me on my Sony 730 as well and it never used to when Vegas 6 was first released. The PC is P4 2.8 HT Intel. I never had this problem on even Intel board that was replaced either. I do have a buit in firewire on the Intel boad and this port is daisy chained with two other firewire devices a DVD writer and an external HD. Regardless, when I capture using manual start and stop points the coruption never happens. Only when I use the advance capture and set up in and out points. This is a very handy way of capturing specific shots unattended and I reallly need to use this feature. If anyone can shed more light or offer suggestions, please provide whatever input you can.

Thanks again!!

"I think jetdv's suggestion of " I DO make sure I never capture before about 5 seconds into the tape" is one thing to consider."

I take it this means about 5 seconds from the physical beginning of the tape, not 5 seconds after tape rolls? If Device Control is enabled, the capture would strart immediately, wouldn't it?

I meant 5 seconds after tape rolls. As I said, it's something I did in the analog days and still do it even today. After I hit record, I make sure nothing critical happens for at least 5 seconds. Only then do I start shooting.
As far as the beginning of the tape, I record anywhere from 30 - 60 seconds of color bars before anything else. Once again, a holdover form the analog days. The thinking was that, if there was going to be a bad spot or a wrinkle on the tape, it would usually show up in this initial stretch.

Mike

Thanks for the clarification. That being the case, is it possible to leave device control enabled, press "Play", wait 5 seconds and then hit "Capture"? I usually just hit the Capture button, and don't know if it's possible to hit "Play", then "Capture."

That being the case, is it possible to leave device control enabled, press "Play", wait 5 seconds and then hit "Capture"? I usually just hit the Capture button, and don't know if it's possible to hit "Play", then "Capture."

Yes, you can do that.

I've never had any problems using the vidcapture tool in Vegas 4, and I usually capture from the exact start of the dv tape.

Can't speak to the tool in V5/6, whether it's buggy or not.

A good tip someone here gave me was to un-check where it said "stop on dropped frames", so I'd capture the entire dv tape vs a lot of segments..

Haven't tried scenalyzer yet, but it looks promising as a capture alternative utility.

ken

Thanks to Edward and Gary for direct answers to my questions.

I have had this when my camera complained of chronically dirty heads (was due to buying a batch of knockoff tapes - they said JVC but weren't - No more eBay tapes for me).

I used an official Sony head cleaner tape (stil do on a regular basis) and only quality tapes and that seems to ahve fixed that but to get to your problem, I found that when I recorded on these bad tapes I also got the pixelation you spoke of - To get around it (somewhat - not perfect) I used Roxio DVD Creator to capture in MPEG2 from the USB port and I was able to get usable video/audio.

Hope this helps.

Bruce

I've tried VidCap and the advanced feature on a long-form project but kept getting bogged down by having many steps to go through, but not a lot of options. My feeling is that VidCap has not been updated, or perhaps redesigned, to keep up with the advances in the parent program Vegas. Wish it could be interfaced better with the Media Manager.

I have used Scenalyzer which works fine and gives a set of 'thumbnail strips' similar to the Vegas timeline, for at-a-glance reference later. I read that Scenalyzer doesn't put a "corporate wrapper" around the digital signal so it's compatible with a variety of NLEs, e.g. you can hand off the source DV clips with a Vegas project to a post person running Avid or Premier.
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