resolution window issue

[Henry Heidtmann]

Using Vidblaster Studio, my sony vx2000 using firewire feed has proper aspect in the preview window, but everything looks too wide in the program (shall I say "fat"?)- What am I doing wrong? my cheap webcam looks proper in both preview and program, but the sonys do not- ideas?
Henry

[ofnadave]

Most likely the Sony is DV at 720x480 and the Web cam is 640x480.

I am using a Sony also and I get the same results!

[Mike]

Version?

[Henry Heidtmann]

Sorry Mike, its v 1.02- did I miss an upgrade? Purchased in July of this year-
FYI the aspect of the sony cams appears fine in the preview but "wide" in the program.
Henry

[Mike]

Try 1.05 first. If the problem persists, please tell me global resolution, and the text under the camera's Info.

[Henry Heidtmann]

Just downloaded 1.05. Same problem persists. Sony dcr-vx2000 on camera 1 and window looks good, but program window is streched horizontally. Also note that the preview window is also stretched as well as the effects window. Webcam looks good on all..
Resolution on program window set to 640 by 480, same with the VB main resolution to 640 x 480. We broadcast live each morning over our cable network- hence 640X480.

Text under the camera 1 says "Microsoft DV Camera and VCR." Hmm- should that say Sony? Should I be loading some sort of Sony drivers?
Thanks, all- school opens in 5 days!
Best to all-
Henry

[Mike]

Please right click the camera module and select Info, tell me what it says. You do you have aspect ration to auto I assume? For some reason your camera seems to be telling VidBlaster it's widescreen. You can work around that by forcing it in 4:3 btw.

[Henry Heidtmann]

Aspect is on auto
Right clicked on camera module- here is the info data:
Microsoft DV camera and VCR sony mod_o camcorder sony DV sony mod_0 camcorder DV 720*480 (640*480) 29.97fps
Hope this helps-
Henry

[Henry Heidtmann]

Still looking for answers on this thread- Any takers? School starts tomorrow.
Henry

[Sinc747]

Henry,

Check page 36 of the camera's manual for instructions on resetting the camera from 16:9 to 4:3. Not a perfect solution, but might help if time is short.

Link to PDF of the manual (http://www.docs.sony.com/release/DCRVX2000.PDF)

Also what OS are you using? Some Sony cameras have issue with Vista.

Hope this helps get you back where you belong!

Tom

[Henry Heidtmann]

HI, Tom-
Thanks for the tip- the 16:9 setting is off, putting it on adds black bars top and bottom.
I'll keep trying... Mike mentioned I can "force" it to 4:3, but not sure where to do that-
Henry

[Sinc747]

Henry,

I had a similar problem when using an XP capture device on a Vista system. Never could get the picture unsquashed. Have you updated your Sony driver? Can you connect the Sony via a different method, S-video or composite?

Good luck.

Tom

[Henry Heidtmann]

Tom-
Never loaded a sony driver- hmm - a possibility?
I'm using XP- new machine.
I can try another connection method, but cant imagine it will have the quality of a firewire output.
Henry

[Sinc747]

Henry,

From Sony's driver page for your camera...

The Windows Vista Starter edition and Windows XP 64-bit operating systems are not supported.

So if you new system is 64bit but using XP you may have an incompatibility issue.

Also, the Sony driver page also indicates that XP comes with all the Sony drivers. There are no Sony drivers available for download.

Regarding image quality, no doubt that s-video and composite video will be low quality. But better lower quality unsquished, than higher quality squished, right?

Also, check this FAQ on the Sony site that talks about using your camera as a "web cam."

http://www.kb.sony.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?cmd=displayKC&externalId=C414007&sliceId=1&sonymodel=DCRVX2000&sonyregion=US&sonytemplate=1&product=SG_DCRVX2000_5_6568&fes=true

Hope this helps.

Tom

[Henry Heidtmann]

OK, I hope I didnt misspeak- my image is stretched, not squished.
I'm in deep now, beautiful cameras and i cant get VB to use them. Maybe there's still hope. Mike still mentioned about forcing 4:3- Mike, can you elaborate?
If I have to buy cameras now, for live school broadcast (similar to what the fellow from the catholic school was discussing in another thread) what should I get? What are others using out there?
I really must have plug and play for ease of use. I'm wary of the USB adapters but will go that direction if I have to- Just thought firewire would be slick and easy.

Henry

[Sinc747]

Henry,

How about trying this. Worked for me with my Sony PD-150 on firewire.

1. Right click on the Camera Module for the Sony.
2. Select Aspect Ratio.
3. Select: 1.78

What do you see?

Tom

[Henry Heidtmann]

Please right click the camera module and select Info, tell me what it says. You do you have aspect ration to auto I assume? For some reason your camera seems to be telling VidBlaster it's widescreen. You can work around that by forcing it in 4:3 btw.


How can I "force it into 4:3?"?

[Sinc747]

Henry,

I use a Sony DSV PD-150 with Vidblaster. The PD-150 is an older model and virtually idential to your Sony DCR-Vx2000 except for the HD capability. The menu systems are identical. The owners manuals are almost identical with the exception of the HD information. In fact the "wide screen" page is page 36 in both manuals and shows the same soccer ball illustrations and has the exact same text.

Turning the 16:9 off is the same as forcing 4:3.

When my PD-150 is in 16:9 mode, I see the black lines at the bottom and top of the LCD screen on the camera and the image on Vidbaster is stretched. When I turn off 16:9, the image on the LCD is normal and the image on VB is normal.

Most importantly, I have the VB camera module aspect ratio set to 1.78, not auto. When set on auto, the image is stretched. When set on 1.78, it is normal.

I suggest that you check your aspect ratio and confirm it is not set to auto.

As a fall back position, I think the use of the S-video will give a high quality picture, higher than the use of the composite cable.

Good luck and report back when you can.

Tom

[Henry Heidtmann]

OK, all, what a day.
Tom, i tried your trick, and I think it worked- the 1.78 aspect looks much better. But... more problems... first i added the second sony cam into the mix, and i could not get VB to recoginze both cameras at the same time. And after rebooting, and plugging/unplugging the cameras to try and them to work with VB, then Vb hung up. I unplugged both cams and it still hangs- The program loads all my windows, then the hourglass just spins and spins. When i force a reboot, i get a "windowplayer.exe" error (at home now, i think that was what it said.) I tried a reload of VB 1.05 to no avail. The hourglass spins on. Anyone know if I can just uninstall it all and reload/ Will i lose my registration? I believed I saved the profile when I got one cam looking right, then all went down hill from there- Should I maybe manually delete that saved profile and try again?
Henry

[Sinc747]

Mama said there'd be days like this...

Glad the aspect ratio change worked for you. I had a feeling that would do the trick.

Now on to the next set of challenges.

You will not lose your registration no matter what you do.

Did you uninstall version 1.06 before you installed 1.05? If not, go back and uninstall whatever versions of VB you see on your program list (Add/remove programs). No need to physically erase any parts of VB. Let the Add/remove function do that for you. Then download and install a fresh copy of 1.06 or 1.05.

So far as multiple cameras of the same type, VB should have not problem with that. But, one of VB's quirks is that all cameras need to be plugged in and turned on before your start VB. Pluging in/turning on a camera after your have started VB can have unexpected results.

Hope this helps you get over this hump so you can enjoy the richness of this software.

Tom

[Henry Heidtmann]

Thank god its friday.
I did not uninstall vb 1.05 befroe reinstalling, so I did just that, then reinstalled 1.06. Still the spinning hourglass upon start up of VB. I removed the firewire card, rebooted, tried again- same spin.
However, I did botch the window that comes up. When I force the machine closed the term "activemovie window" not responding pops up- maybe a hint.
I did have premiere pro 1.5 on this machine after installing VB several weeks ago- along with a matrox rtx100 card and uninstalled that 2 days ago, but was successful running the cam in VB until yesterday.
Tempted to reload the brand new machine away and start over... Maybe I fouled a drive the VB is looking for?
Man when this works it'll be great. The features of this software are JUST what I need- live inschool announcements-
Henry in NC

[Sinc747]

Henry,

I believe your system is just cursed. Have you tried Holy Water? Just joshing!

With proper backups and recovery disks made, you might consider doing a system restore to a date when you think VB and other S/W were operating normally. Sometimes files/drivers can get corrupted. A system restore could fix that.

Good luck. It will be worth the effort.

Tom

[Henry Heidtmann]

The holy water worked?
OK- great news on a friday. Before doing a complete reload of the machine I tried a system restore back well before I was having problems. After the restore, VB worked, Tom's aspect trick worked and while I didnt try the second simialr camera, I'll do that Monday.
A great end to a frustrating week. I'll load VB1.06 on Monday (currently at 1.02) and try the second camera, then its off to the races with getting our announcements up and running. Looking forward to doing some chroma key too.
Good weekend all- will report Monday.
Henry

[Sinc747]

Glad for a good end result!

Tom