GL1 Freezes comp
 

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.

sounds like
 

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.

GL-1 Capture
 

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.....

GL1 Capture
 

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 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.

Looks like IRQ issues to me
 

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?

I'd try............
 

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.