Odd capture problem on XM2
 

I have a general capture problem with my new XM2 and Scenalyzer/Premiere 6.02.

If shoot 3 scenes where the first is on a piece of blank tape, I can import the scenes fine to .avi files using "Scenalyzer" (which splits the capture up into individual files based on time code breaks).

When I subsequently try to import the files to Premiere, the first file always refuses to import. I get the error message: "unable to open that file. File uses an unsupported compression format"

It seems that there is indeed some format difference between the first file and the following ones. If I double click on the .avi files thus launching Windows Media Player, the first file plays straight away, while the following files stop media player for a moment while it says "changing media". After a brief conversion process the playback starts.

If I try importing directly to Premiere, I either get the same error message of unsupported compression format, or the video plays back with stutter ie. about 1-2 frames per second.

A solution is of course to always shoot a dummy scene first, but sometimes I forget, and thus lose the first scene.

I am using a standard OCHI firewire card, and capture to Microsoft DV Avi format.

Any bright ideas?

Hans Henrik

Ps. I should add that on my old JVC camera, I never encountered this problem.

Hello Hans Henrik,

This is no good, we're both here complaining on our new cameras *s*

I don't have any soloution for you, BUT I had the same problem when I captured video with the latest version of Movie Maker. Some files showed up as "unknown" in Premiere ( or the computer "hung" when importing them ).

Maybe, just maybe, the DV encoder codec is changed when installing either windows media player 9 or the latest version of Movie Maker ... and maybe, just maybe, Scenalyzer uses this "new" DV codec...which Premiere has difficulties with...

I'm not using Scenalyzer(is it for free?)...and I run Premiere 6.5

// Lazze

Hi Lars. Glad you got your camera... You owe me a report about the "christmas eve" :-)

I upgraded my media player from v.8 to 9 to see if that helped. The only change was that it no longer has to convert when I double click the .avi files, but the main problem still remains.

Keep me posted if you figure out something. I have messed around quite a bit with it to no avail.

You can try Scenalyzer for free. It will just stamp "Scenalyzer" over all your footage. I think it was 20$ to register and it works like a charm really, so I definately recommend it.

Hans Henrik

Hans,
I too have noticed this with SCLive and my GL2 w/Premier 6.5.
It's not necessarily always the first scene in my case, however one of the first few. It is repeatable as on subsequent captures it always farkles the same scene. Even building an index and then just selecting and doing a batch capture doesn't seem to make a difference.
Interestingly enough in the testing that I have done GSPOT shows that the audio is unable to be identified(UNKNOWN) .vs. PCM for the good captures.

As this has been bugging me of late also I put a question into the SCLive folks.

My SCLive build is:
ScenalyzerLive build Nov 15 2002 11:49:33
License-Key ID:xxxxxxxxxxx
Sclive Canopus Plugin
DS-Capture Plugin
RalCap Plugin Nov 15 2002 11:50:05

This is not XM2's fault.

I experienced the same problem with my Sony TRV-950E, through DV-RaptorRT.

exactly
 

agreed. this has nothing to do with the camera or the original dv; the problem lies in the software you are using at some point.

They sent me a new version to test and so far it is working like a charm. As soon as I hear back from them with my results I'll let you know what they say about availability for the fix.

Thanks for all the replys.

It seems that a new version of Scenalyzer will solve the problem.

Hans Henrik

Sounds like the new version will be released next week.
Tested several different tapes and it appears to be fixed.

Cheers

Thanks again Rob.

I'll keep my eyes glued to the Scenalyzer web page.

Hans Henrik