Im a complete novice and have just bought Pinnacle Studio plus version 11.

I have a JVC GZ-MG50EK Hard disk drive camcorder. I have loaded the studio software connected my camcorder via USB lead and tried to capture the video but it is saying Unable to connect to your device. If you have DV or Digital 8 camcorder ensure that it is turned on and in play mode and is connected to the firewall or 1394 port on your computer.

Any help greatly appreciated

thanks

Use a firewire cable.
It's close to impossible to get video into Pinnacle with a USB. The main function of the USB plug-in, is so you can use your camera for a webcam, or taking pictures straight onto the PC.

You need to check the settings too, so that it is looking in the right place for your camera. There should be a big 'settings' button. Take a rummage in that.

I take it that you've already turned the camera on, to the play function. I recommend that you pause it though, at the point that you want to start capturing. When you click the 'Capture' button, Pinnacle will ask you to give the video it's about to record a name, and then it will automatically play it for you anyway.

Hope this helps.

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British Eye thank you.

Off i went down to PC World bought my self a fire wire cable, Opps wont fit my camcorder. Took it back with my camcorder, sorry we dont stock that item try a camera shop no luck either try Maplin Electronics no luck either. Apparently I only have a USB connection. Can you get a firewire cable with a usb end???

My camcorder is a JVC £800 quider but still can't get it on to a DVD



Help

Thanks in advance

I dont know if this helps. I bought a sony hdv,my pinnacle is coming. They included the firewire cable but it has a 4 pin mini plug, i needed a 4-6 way adapter plug for my pc.

Hard-drive cam owners,you're doing it all wrong,there's a much easier faster way to get footage from hard-drive cam to pc,i have a hard-drive cam and i'm using Pinnacle Studio 11.
Sony software isn't needed.
Here's what you do,plug your hard-drive cam into your pc using the usb lead,go to the start menu,click on "computer",you'll see all your "drives" listed,one of these drives will be your cam,it'll be called "drive x,y,z" click on that and you'll see your footage,just select the thumbnails that you want to transfer,right click and then "copy to folder",(not move because i still keep footage on cam just incase anything goes wrong with transfer),select "documents"then"videos" from list,then "ok",footage will then copy from cam to pc in seconds.
Unplug cam,open up Pinnacle Studio,select "edit" tab at top of screen,(no need to even use the "capture" tab),in the left window there's a drop down box,find your "documents" then "videos" and all your footage will be there and they'll appear in this window,then just drag what you want into the timeline.
This is how i always do it.

DV cam users with tape don't have so much choice.

For trecking around I made the choice to stay with MPEG2 and a pocket of tapes, rather than a HDD which might throw up a 'bad format' death message.

You're right about making sure the transfer from HDD to PC is COPY and not move. I learned that with still pic. transfers. No interface is 100% perfect every time handling big file transfers and an original still left on the HDD is better than half a corrupt file transferred to a PC.

Now there's a thing, after you transferred a whole shoot, how do you know it's error free before you wipe the camera HDD? I've seen JPEG stills transfer with no apparent Windows file error, only to find corruption when a file is opened and decoded. I now open up a thumbnail browser with stills, but does file corruption occur with movie files?

After i transfer i always burn the original footage to dvd straight away,that way if anything goes wrong with pc or hard-drive,i've still got original footage on disc which i can edit from..
My cam hard-drive can hold 21hours on low quality or 7 hours on high quality,so i can get everything i want copied to pc and edited before i erase cam drive.If i need to film something else before i've finished editing first project then i've probably still got enough space on cam drive to film second project aswell.
I've never had any problems with my hard-drive cam,either with filming or transfering footage.
FYI it's a Sony DCR-SR90e.

Hey all, I'm new here. I just purchased version 11 ultimate. Its been awhile since I've worked w/ Pinnacle. But hell, Ican't even get my fx transitions to unlock. It says my code is invalid and where the heck are the customer support??? Can't get ahold of them. I'm frustrated.!!

I spent 5 hours after a first time corrupted install sorting out the mess on my pc and then taking precautions to get it to install. It seems stable and working OK now.

To answer your question on customer support, I had 3 emails back within 12 hours, none of which helped, I made a phone call to +31 (0) 411617700 and was amazed after getting through a few levels to speak to a real person within 5 minutes. They didn't help so now I'm a self taught expert on installing this software package without destroying my PC. I honestly think the state this programme can leave your PC if it fails to correctly install, is well beyond an email or phone call.

Here are some tips and words of warning about installing this software:

1. You can destroy a PC platform after a failed install. Studio puts in massive registry entries all over the registry, creates files in hidden temporary directories you won't easily find and some of these left over will stop a re-install.

2. Before doing anything, get yourself a copy of 'Total Uninstall' or similar which tracks every change made to your pc. and run it before installing Studio. You will never find all the registry entries manually if you need to re-wind to repeat an install. In my case XP 'Remove Programmes' found the Studio uninstall file was corrupt and wouldn't do anything. Ghosting your hard drives after installing any XP updates is also an alternative.

3. Make sure if on XP that you have the latest updates before installing Studio.

4. If you have something like Tracks Eraser pro, run it to clean out temporary files and links. You should disable this and other background programmes before attempting the Studio install.

5. Copy the Studio installation DvD to space on your HDD. and execute the setup file from there. Do not install it on C drive with Windows, use another drive e.g D. However it still puts lots of files and creates media folders on C. (another reason to track the Studio install)

6. After the install has finished, re-boot XP.

7. If you have version 11.0 like me, download their 50Mb executable patch. In my case, I tried two downloads of the file which wouldn't run. If the file shows a DOS icon against it, it is probably corrupt. The file should show a Pinnacle icon.

8. Remember to start up your uninstaller tracker before running the update exe.

9. So now your i-Link from your new Sony HDV cam won't capture via Studio. Oh the pain when other posters suggest the camera firewire interface has blown up!! Ok so I installed Sony's Picture browser via 'Total Uninstall' and i-link still wouldn't work. Solution is to delete the firewire card (Texas in my PC) via Device Manager, reboot XP with the camera connected and XP miraculously re-installs the card and finds desktop camera drivers it needs. Studio seems to want the camera on and firewire link connected BEFORE starting it up on my PC. It's not like USB plug and play.

SimpleGirl, I sympathise with your frustration - mine lasted 5 hours! One day, you or others here might find my feedback useful when that crash happens and you need to do a re-install.

I emailed Pinnacle suggesting they could save a lot of money in support costs if they provided a wizard to clean up both the registry AND file folders. Having gone through my large registry manually, the amount of stuff Studio puts in or links to shared folders is frightening. I hate software that leaves its tracks behind.

Good luck with support, try phoning them (1p/minute call 18866) the contact worked even though they returned a poor responses to my problem which I eventually solved it myself.

My Pinnacle Studio 11.1.1 on XP is now stable. It was a cheap package beset with installation problems, but now they're solved I'm a happy bunny. I'm just waiting for some Blu Ray drivers.

They do. It's called RegDelete and is downlodable from the Pinnacle site.

Uninstall Studio.
Run RegDelete.
Reinstall Studio.

Update the Keys from your record on the Pinnacle website.
All the existing files of "captured" video are available after the reinstall.
Blu-Ray drivers are on the 11.1 patch.


This is GOOD!! A number of cameras have had their electronics blasted because the Firewire has been plugged in from a "LIVE" computer. A 6 pin Firewire carries power and, if the connection allows the power to hit the camcorder, the damage is done. Sony, Panasonic and Canon warn of this nasty problem. So be warned.

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