Pinnacle Studio questions

[act2]

Please, somebody help me.

I bought Pinnacle Studio and have installed it on my "J" drive which has 200 g's. When I try to capture from my camcorder, it says 'a valid input signal has not been detected'.

When I try to continue on and play my camcorder tape and start capturing, it drops frames. I tried to change the settings and it still drops frames.

WHAT AM I DOING WRONG?

I am trying to make dvd's for my family of my mom's surprise 80th birthday party, and I am about at my wits end.

PLEASE HELP.... THanks......

[GT]

This might help:

The full error reads: "A valid Input Signal has not been detected. Please check your cables"

This is an analog capture message. The purpose of the message is to alert customers that the video signal is not detected so capturing cannot proceed.

1. Capture source settings: In Studio, click on Setup -> Capture Source.

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The Capture Device setting for Video and Audio, should be set to the correct device. For a Pinnacle 500-USB, it will be listed as such. Same for the Pinnacle 700-USB.

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VCR Input setting, make sure that the box is checked.

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The TV Standard should be set correctly. North America is NTSC, Europe is PAL.

2. Video Input setting in Studio: The video input on the slide out panel on the diskometer has to be set correctly for the cable/connectors used in # 3 below, either composite for S-Video. If it is set correctly, toggle between them.

3. Cabling: The video source (camcorder, VCR) "video out" connector has to be connected to the capture device's "Video In" connector using either a composite (RCA) or S-Video cable.

Example

Camcorder’s video out >------ Composite Cable -------< Capture device’s Video In

4. Video Source needs to be playing video: Turn on your camcorder or VCR and press play. Make sure you aren't at the end of the tape. On many camcorders and VCRs, having it paused or stopped, will cause this error. You must have the camcorder or VCR playing video before pressing the Start Capture button.

5. Preview Window: If steps 1 - 4 have been done correctly, then there should be video playing in the preview window. The goal is to get video playing in the preview window before attempting to capture, otherwise you are likely to get the error.

If there is video in the preview window, then try to capture, otherwise continue with the next step.

6. Make sure the video source is playing and then in Studio, click on the Edit tab and then back to the Capture tab. See if capturing now works. We have gotten feedback that this works for some customers.

7. Other USB devices: If your capture device is connect to the computer using USB, then

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disconnect other USB devices and only leave the USB capture device connected

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Shut down Studio, disconnect the USB capture device from the computer, reconnect it and then re-launch Studio

8. Shut down Studio and reinstall the capture driver. If the capture device is not a Pinnacle device, contact the manufacturer for assistance.

If the capture device is Pinnacle hardware such as the 500 or 700 USB, reinstall the drivers with the following steps

1.

Shut down Studio

2.

Go to Device Manager. Start -> Control Panel -> System. Click on the Hardware tab, then the Device Manager button. Under Sound, Video and Game controllers, find the capture device and click on it to highlight it. Click on the uninstall icon.

3.

Disconnect the 500 or 700 USB

4.

Reinstall using the PCLEUSB2.exe hardware installer on the Content DVD

5.

Insert the Bonus DVD into your DVD drive

If it auto-launches the Studio Content DVD installer, cancel the installer

6.

Use Windows Explorer to browse the Content DVD and open the Drivers folder

7.

Double-click on the file PCLEUSB2.exe to launch the hardware install and follow any on-screen instructions

[act2]

Thanks for that info, GT.

I have an external hard drive that is USB so I can't unhook that.

I have changed the settings so many times that I do not even know what the settings were originally.

I have actually been able to use the "Instant DVD recorder" and it did record the DVD's. But I have 2 different 8mm tapes that I am trying to combine onto one DVD and then make several copies.

I will keep trying. But it still says the thing about the input signal.

I would be glad to call you if you had the time to help me.

[act2]

Got it figured out finally. Thanks again for your input.

[act2]

The movie is jerky, due to the dropped frames. Now I have to figure out what setting to use to keep it from dropping frames.

[GT]

Glad you figured it out.

[pawtucket]

act2,

Have you tried downloading to your internal drive? You indicated that you are downloading to an external drive via USB. That can sometimes be a cause of missed frames. If you have room on your internal drive, import there and then move the finished file to the external drive.

[act2]

Paw,

I don't have enough room on C drive which is why I bought the external hard drive. Anyway, I went to their troubleshooting site.

It recommended as you did about the C drive. Also checking the Devise Mgr, which I did and all was ok. I finally had to change the quality of the video to medium.

I think I will like this once I learn more on all the gadgets that come with it.

I did add the Happy Birthday thingie at the beginning, and music also. It is not bad for my first project.

Thanks again for the input.