PE 3, ADS Pyro A/V API 557 & Vista problems

[Bobby]

Cozzie, I am a bit surprised. That is a memory card slot - did you say you found a Firewire adapter that plugged into a memory card slot? Your PC may have a PCMCIA or PC-Card slot, but it is not the memory card slot that you described. Please tell us what you ordered.

[Cozzie]

Hi Bobby,

Sorry mate, that is the text that is printed on the top of the slot on the laptop, but there is also another slot below it, so I assume now that the 'memory card' text as I described above relates to the lower slot (sorry about that). I'm assuming the upper slot is actually a PCMCIA slot. I assume this because I took my laptop to the electronics shop & the bloke there seemed to know what he was on about. I actually asked him a couple of times if he's sure the firewire card I was talking about would fit the slot. I printed the photo & description from the website link provided in this forum. He read the whole page and assured me that it was the right card for the slot.

If its not, I'll be taking another trip to the store & asking some pointed questions.

Thanks again for your interest & ongoing help. I'll let you guys know how I go.

Thanks,
Cozzie.

[Bobby]

OK - sounds good - keep us posted.

[Cozzie]

The saga continues. I must say that the novelty is starting to wear off this little problem of mine.

The PCMCIA card I bought was not compatible with my laptop. (thanks alot to the bloke in the electronics store who assured me it would...). It seems my laptop has more advanced technology called an 'express card' which is the replacement technology for PC card (or so I'm told). So. In my frustration I lashed out almost 200 bucks for an express card (Belkin USB 2.0 and FireWire ExpressCard). This has 2 x 6 pin firewire ports and a USB port. The card arrived in the post. I gleefully plugged it into the slot as directed on the instructions. The computer recognised the card. Device manager was also happy and (up to this point) so was I.

Anywayz, I plugged in the AV box & was presented with an 'action box' that asked me if I wanted to import video via a number of applications, including Windows Movie Maker, PE7, some kind of Windows video importer and a number of other applications. So far so good right?

I selected PE 7 of course, which also fired up nicely. At this point I almost dared to hope that all would be well, and was even planning on doing an Irish Jig thru the house. But when I tried to import the media, PE7 'hung' (not responding). Over the ensuing hours I tried all manner of combinations of timing. (eg firing up PE first, then plugging in the card, etc, etc, etc.) All had the same result with PE not responding. I also tried a number of other apps, including Windows Movie Maker and all had the same result. Whenever any apaplication tried to import media from the firewire port, they all hung.

2 other things that are interesting:

1. I tested the USB port (on the expresscard) with a memory stick & it worked fine. I could see and manipulate data on the stick.
2. At one point, I tried to reboot the laptop with the express card inserted and the laptop would not start. It just hung at the initial 'Microsoft bar' screen. After trying to reboot a few times, it still hung. When I popped the express card out, the 'hung' bootup continued perfectly.

I have checked that the driver for the expresscard is the latest (and it is). Various other 'PC health checks' find no problems. The laptop works fine in every other way.

This just seems to get more and more frustrating with every new step. At least now the laptop is recognising the card. Obviously, the video applications are looking for something via the card firewire port and finding a clash of some kind.

Apologies for asking this again, but does anyone have any thoughts on this new element of my frustration?

Thanks again all, I really do appreciate your help. This is the only forum that has provided any ideas at all.

Cozzie.

[Bobby]

Sorry Cozzie, and it is a real shame that your local store didn't know the difference between an express card and a pc card. Almost all recent laptops, if not all, have moved to the newer format.

Obviously the card is being recognized and when you plugged in a firewire device (the Pyro) the system recognized it correctly. You might tell us what Device Manager shows, but I don't think we will find anything wrong there.

Please try another program, such as the free WinDV to read the video. In fact, many of us use WinDV anyhow as it has some interesting options such as the ability to slice video by time. If you can, try a different firewire device, such as a video camera.

[Chuck Engels]

WinDV would be a good program to try as Bob as said. Very basic and free but it does a great job of capturing video from Firewire and in AVI format so you can easily import the clips into Premiere Elements. http://www.videohelp.com/tools/WinDV

The problem you have may also be due to improper settings in Device Control/Options.
This is where you set the best option for you camera brand and model. What camcorder are you using and what is the device option set to in Premiere Elements?

[Bobby]

I think its a Pyro, Chuck.

[Chuck Engels]

I think its a Pyro, Chuck.

Yes, you are probably right Bob. If I actually read the subject line I might know that

In that case be sure that your Device Control option is set to ADS and Standard.
You can also try the Alternate1 option and even try the Device Brand of Generic too.

[Cozzie]

Hello again,

Thankyou all for your advice. I've tried it all, including WinDV. I really do appreciate your help. I wouldn't have known to try any of it & I've learned a lot in the process. Here's where I'm at....

My computer (device manager) recognises the ADS box when it is connected and turned on via the firewire express card (which it hasn't done before). PE7 has been set for ADS standard. PE sees the capture device as offline (when it is turned off) as expected. Soon as I turn the Pyro box on, the application hangs (not responding). It only continues when i turn the pyro off.

WinDV is similar. It recognises the pyro as a capture device but when I select it, the application also hangs. Again, it only continues to function when I turn the pyro off.

To ensure it is not my laptop, I tried the same thing with WinDV on my daughters Dell laptop (she doesn't have PE) and it acts exactly the same way. All I can deduce from this is that there's some issue with the pyro.

I've been at this for a long time now. I've tried everything I know and a great many ideas from you guys and am still having no luck. The only other thing I can think of is to try the pyro in an old XP machine to ensure its still working. Other than that, I think I've come to the point where I'll need to buy a new camcorder. I was really hoping to avoid that. My current camera works fine in all ways, but its not much use if I can't do anything with the recordings. Just on that, if I do have to buy a new camcorder, do you have any thoughts on what type is most suited to editing with PE? I assume a 'hard disk' style as opposed to mini-dvd or tape? I'd really like to achieve a direct connection from the camcorder to laptop.

Anyway, again, thankyou all a heap for your help and technical insight. Its always a learning experience for me whenever I visit these forums. I'll have to make sure I visit more often instead of just when I'm in trouble...

Thanks again,
Cozzie.

[Bobby]

Hi Cozzie - sorry your troubles are continuing.

You have done the right analysis by putting the Pyro on another PC. That eliminates any question of software in a particular PC and leaves the only question as to the Pyro itself or perhaps the cable. You can try a different cable, but I don't give that much hope.

But on the other hand it did work (as I recall) on your old XP PC. Yes, it would be a good test to see if that still works - I am betting to myself that it will not. Let us know...

It is unfortunate that Pyro support is not up to the task.

As far as new camcorders go, you may find some other threads here on tape vs. other media. Most of us here started on tape back in the old days and believe that tape is still the superior medium, but the consumer segment of the industry has not accepted that. Most product manufacturers seem to have abandoned tape (mimiDV or HDV) now so you choices may be limited.

I think the best thing to buy would be a Canon HV-40 or the older model HV-30 if you can find one. Many of us use this camera very successfully, but beware that it is HDV tape and so you may be buying down a dead end street in the long term. Stay away from miniDVD for a lot of reasons.

Could you give us an indication as to how much you want to spend, do you want HD or not, what you will be shooting, etc. We can help you make a better choice with some more input.

[Cozzie]

Thanks Bobby,

I've managed to try the pyro on the old PC, just using WinDV (I uninstalled PE3 from the old PC when I got the new laptop, but I'll probably reinstall it now that I'm using PE7 on the laptop). I was surprised to find that the XP PC does still recognise the Pyro box and I actually captured some footage via WinDV.

Interesting stuff. From that, all I can think is that the problem is something to do with the pyro box and the laptops, possibly Vista??? Don't know. Seems stange tho, given that no one else seems to have the same problem.....

Anyway, having already spent a few hundred bucks on various attempts to resolve the issue and annoyed you guys regularly, I think the only way forward that will maintain my sanity at its current shaky level is to splash out for a more modern camera. I still have a mountain of mini-dvds that I'll need to capture & burn, and I spose I'll have work thru them via the old PC & PE3.

I'm probably looking at spending around 1,200 or so Australian dollars. I've recently bought a full HD plasma tv, so I'd probably go for a HD camcorder. I'll have a look around over the next couple of weeks and be very clear about the importance of transfering to my laptop for editing & burning in PE7. I'll be considering ease of quality transfer as a pretty high priority given the frustrations I've experienced lately.

I'll also be checking these forums re: discussion around camera types (as you mentioned).

In closing, thanks once again to everybody who has been so generous with advice and suggestions and general words of support.

I really appreciate all your help. I'll be back soon & definitely let you know how I go.

Thanks,
Cozzie.

[Bobby]

You're welcome Cozzie. I hate problems where after testing (mostly swapping) no clear issue results. The box is working yet the problem occurs on more than one PC. Did you ever check the cable?

You mention miniDVDs. You do not need a new camera to read them - your PC should handle those fine. And I don't think you will find a miniDVD HD camera. It would need to be Blu-Ray and I have never even seen one of those.

You haven't outstayed your welcome here at all - we would be glad to work with you in the future. Keep us posted...

[Cozzie]

Thanks Bobby,

Hi again all,

Just a final quick update. I reinstalled PE v3 on my old XP PC, plugged in the Pyro, using the same firewire cable that wouldn't work on my laptop, and it all worked fine. I'm working thru the pile of mini-disks using the XP PC, PE3 and the pyro to burn them into movies on standard size DVDs.

The next step then is to buy a new camcorder. Probably high definition. I'll search this site for previous discussions re media & brands, but I'll also post a separate question in a more appropriate forum heading on this site asking for comment.

I did want to close this thread off though.

Thanks again everyone. Its been a great learning experience for me.

Cozzie.

[Bobby]

Wow Cozzie - what a ride! Glad you found a method that works so you can get on with your project.

[Chuck Engels]

Thanks for the update Cozzie, glad you are able to get something done

I just purchased a Canon HV40 and I am loving it.