Canon ZR Control but no Capture??

[tsunami]

Hi, Im a noob to windrivers, Great site btw...

I am using the older Canon ZR with an HP Pavilion ZV5000 notebook with P4 3.2 Ghz/512MB RAM/128MB ATI 9000/60GB HD XP Home w/SP2 installed.

My challenge is this:

I hook my camera up to the notebook via the firewire port and any application used, Media Studio 7, Video Studio 8, and Windows Movie Maker recognize it but will not capture video. I can control "Play, FF, REW, etc..." functions but no capture. The viewing screen remains black. I have tried adding codecs, plugins, ATI WDM Capture drivers, and adjusting settings until I was blue in the face. I have also downloaded all possible updates to my knowledge from Microsoft. I have not seen any info provided by Canon on this issue but have seen similar problems from others.

If anyone can help, I would be forever greatful!!!

Thanks in advance.
Tsunami

[hschamp]

Hi,
I have the same problem and have been looking for the solution for years. It used to have intermittant capture - sometimes it would, and sometimes it wouldn't. I tried to remedy this with all the updates and fixes and onw it's not intermittant, it doesn't work.
Obviously the ZR will work, as I have just mentioned.
Canon ZR, Win XP, Firewire thru Hercules Digifire 7.1 card and multi video capture software packages.
It's not the software. I'm not sure on the Digifire card.
I've never been able to refresh the video drivers, as XP unfortunately doesn't support refresh, it just say's you've got the latest. wonderful!
I think the problems lies in Windows XP.
After years of hunting for a solution (none yet), the only thing I can see possibly fixing it is a complete Operating system re-install, then all your software needs reinstalling in a good sequence.

I've contacted Canon, Hercules - they say their products are OCHI????(something like that) compliant and it's the Windows drivers that run the show. You don't need any from Canon/Hercules.

As I said, I've had the ZR work on Windows XP, it's just a matter of Microsoft (or the Firewire organiztion) helping us Canon ZR firewire folks out with a Fix utility or some help.

Good luck.
I hope you, I and the many others finally get a solution to this baffling problem.

[hschamp]

Additional:
Another common link between our Canon ZR no capture problem is Ulead Videostudio. I had an older version which worked intermittantly. After all the Ulead Fixes and a new version it would not capture.
I suppose Videostudio could also be a source of the problem, but whatever it possibly destroys with fixes would also have to knock out another Video capture software package too.

I still think it lies in Windows XP, but possibly Videostudio is altering something so it doesn't work.

FYI. Ulead does have good responsive help people and genuinely try to help.

You would think Canon would want to help out the Canon ZR owners with this problem for a repeat sale. I don't want to switch from the ZR, as there are no other camorders with the really neat layout of controls and fully tiltable screen in the middle at the back. We laid out a lot of money a few years ago for these state of the art Digital camcorders. You'd think Canon has heard a lot of queries about this problem. I know I have asked. You'd think Canon would want all the memories stored on these new products to work with all the Windows OS's, and the Mac OS's.
So all budding Video buffs beware - New technology Digital Video cameras are only Computer supported for a few years (or until the next OS upgrade), then you're out of luck.
If you want to save your memories to access via computer, My purchase of a Canon ZR Digital Mini DV Firewire camcorder is not the way to go, and I wouldn't recommend any newer ones for the same reasons. You'll probably be better off communicating thru Lanc to analog VCR storage.
Canon - Test the ZR on Win XP, find out what the bottleneck is and post it on your website. There are thousands of us out here with this problem. Canon ZR > firewire > Win XP, tell us what's going wrong.

[tsunami]

I am glad (no offence) that I am not the only one having these issues. I too believe the culprit is Windows XP and SP2 even more so. I have hear others who used XP with no problem and when SP2 was installed, all down hill from there.

I am not sure where to go from here. I may reinstall just XP and test that. I have successfully captured on Win 2000 and 98 with my ZR and a Pyro Pro Capture card. I may also go to my local electronics store and bring my ZR with me to test on some of their systems. I'll post my findings here.

Good Luck and thanks for the response.

[hschamp]

Hi tsunami,
It is not SP2 that is the problem with the Canon ZR capture problem, as I'm not (have not) installing it, as it is sure to knock out a few pieces of older software that I have. The camera has worked on Win XP. The Canon ZR capture problem may be some Win XP update (maybe a new version of a video driver to support newer cameras (forgetting about slightly older cameras)), or Video software update.
As we both have 2 sets of Video Capture Software, it might be worth re-installing the OS, and not installing Ulead VideoStudio, and seeing if the other software works. If it does, then you can be suspicious of a newer VideoStudio capture problem (as my capture completely dissapeared when I upgraded VideoStudio to a newer version and all the patches).
Ulead were very helpful, but the fixes didn't get the capture problem working, and in fact knocked it completely out.

Mac's officially support Canon ZR, so take it to a computer store and plug it into a Mac to make sure your firewire/camera work. Then look into plugging it into a Firewire equipped Win XP.

Again Canon should be ashamed that Grannies, parents etc, etc that invested a bundle of money to make their memories Firewire MiniDV digital compatible have had their investment/memories dumped in just a couple of years. Surely Canon has the power to test a Canon ZR on Firewire on an XP, find the Canon ZR capture problem and log the Canon ZR capture problem solution on their website, or put out a patch. Surely Canon knows how Computers and Camcorders connect and work together. Surely they work with Microsoft to make their products work on windows. Surely they want them to for many many years.

Yes, it's good to hear from you. I'll keep this link and post what I find too. Unfortunately I'm in no hurry to reinstall windows. I've been going to take my Canon ZR capture problem camera to the CPU store too, so may try do that soon.
Hope one of us can solve this problem. Good luck to you too....

All these compatibility problems stop us from going out and buying new gadgets and software. It really slows the industry down. You'd think all the above various companies would work together to ensure things worked, so we'd have energy/enthusiasm left to buy new things and new software. The last thing I want to get into is another Canon camcorder that's out of date in a year or so.

I see another Canon ZR capture problem post out there that says SP1 fixed their problem. I have SP1, and it didn't help, and as I said before, you can't refresh the driver thru the Win XP interface, it just say's you have the latest driver bye bye.... A lot of help that is.....

[tsunami]

I decided to try and remove the SP2 update, I reinstalled the SP1 update and viola...Capture success. I read random articles regarding SP2's conflict with the firewire port.

Thanks for the suggestions.

[hschamp]

Neat!
Well, I might have to reinstall the SP1, and see if the refresh does the trick.
Do you happen to know/remember what directory MS puts the SP1 download?
Once I get to a time when It isn't critical to have the CPU up and running I might give it a try.

Remember though, I don't have SP2 loaded, so if you find an SP1 update or VideoStudio etc. update knocks out your video, let us know here.

Again, glad you've got the capture working. The layout/controls of the camcorder are much much better than regular camcorders - comparing closely with the old high end "look in the top" 35mm photo cameras. The only problems are the screen brightness in sunlight, and it's a tiny bit heavier/bulkier than I want, but can easily live with that, as the camera is very recent - they probably stopped promoting them around 2000/2001 shortly before XP.