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| ISIS & MCP - Frequently Asked Questions |
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| Q: Do I really need to install DirectX9?
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| A: Yes! It is paramount that DirectX9 is installed on a computer running ISIS. DX9 is the latest Microsoft release of the DirectX suite. Amongst a whole host of other components, it contains the DirectShow runtimes needed for capturing and displaying the video streams. ISIS has been built incorporating these components to give it the optimum performance possible. It is therefore essential that the computer’s operating system has the corresponding DX9 components (dlls’) to function correctly. ALWAYS update to DX9 on ANY computer you are using with ISIS. Never assume because you have WinXP that you have the latest DX files on your system. Some new computers sold here in the UK, although running XP, only have DX8.1 installed. You can do no harm by re-installing DX9, even if your system doesn’t need it. DX9 always checks first to see what you have installed and if you have all the components required. If not, it updates it for you…………..otherwise it quits.
So ALWAYS UPDATE.
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| Q: Do I need a capture card or other capture device? |
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| A: If you are using an analogue camera (most older ones are analogue) you MUST USE A VIDEO CAPTURE DEVICE. This can be a PCI card such as a Pinnacle DC10 or a USB Capture interface such as the Cameo Grabster. These are analogue to digital converters and are used as the main interface between the camera and computer. If you are using a Grabster, you must also have a USB2 port dedicated to the Grabster connection. Please don’t share this USB2 input (using a hub for instance) with any other device. Please plug the Grabster directly into the USB2 port. |
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| Q: Have I got to use USB2? |
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| A: Check in Device Manager, you should see listed (at the bottom) ‘Enhanced USB ports’. ‘Enhanced’ means USB2 in this context. |
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| Q: I can't find USB2! ...Are you sure I really need it? |
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| A: YES! When using the Cameo Grabster, you MUST have USB2 installed on your computer. Don’t confuse USB….. port 2 (sometimes listed as USB2 on some systems) as USB2. You MUST have a USB2 device on your computer. USB2 is essential; using USB1 will always result in a very pixelated image and failing video transfer. USB2 is a hardware device and should be incorporated within your computer’s motherboard. Failing this you can add a USB2 PCI card to give you the required ports. Added to this you should also make sure you have the latest USB2 drivers installed in your system. If you have a newish computer running the latest WinXP SP2, all of this is irrelevant, but I think it’s worth a mention. For your information: USB1 can transfer data at only 12 Mbps (Megabits per seconds). USB2 can transfer the same data at 480 Mbps! |
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| Q: Can I use a digital camera? |
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| A: Yes, you can connect through a FireWire cable directly into your laptop / desktop computer (IEEE 1394 port). You must also install the necessary software for your digital camera to ensure you have the latest drivers and correct DV codecs. |
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| Q: What is FireWire and have I got it? |
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A: FireWire is by far the best and fastest way to transfer digital data. It can be used between computers (as a fast FireWire network) as well as DV and internal / external devices. It was developed as a high performance serial bus by Apple and became accepted as a standard by the IEEE in 1995 and now known as IEEE1394.
Someone said to me recently, “Yes I have FireWire, I plug it into my USB socket”. This cannot be FireWire! You must use a Fwire cable into an IEEE 1394 port on your computer.
Use FireWire if you have it. That means a FireWire cable from your FireWire out socket on your camera, into your FireWire socket on your computer. FireWire can transfer data at 800Mbps!! This is the best way to input video as there is no analogue to digital conversion between the camera and computer....it's already digital.
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| Q: Why do I lose the image I've just captured? |
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| A: When connected to a camera (CAM Mode) or playing an avi file (AVI Mode), the captured image is only held in memory until you save it. The small capture display (middle right) is showing you the memory image you have just grabbed, not the images you have in your project folder. Clicking ‘Capture’ (or pressing the ‘C’ key) repeatedly, overwrites this ‘memory image’ without saving it. You must always create a ‘Project’ first and tick ‘Auto Save’, to save the images to this project folder. You can then view them all in ‘IMAGE Mode’ as needed. |
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| Q: I can't always see all the formats available in 'Video Device Settings', why? |
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A: Try running Amcap (on the Cameo Cd), choose Devices and make sure that Cameo Grabster 200 is ticked (rather than your webcam if you have one). Now go to Options and make sure that Preview is ticked. Whilst still in Options, choose Video Capture Filter. Then you will have two choices, Video Proc Amp or Image, choose Image. This is where you have to set your video source.
If you are using yellow leads (composite video) make sure that this is set as well as Pal or NTSC. Alternatively, if you are using S video, make sure that you've chosen that option.
Each time you change between composite and S video, you have to make this change in Amcap.
You may have to click the Reset button initially to be able to make your selections on the Image tab. Now you should be able to go back to ISIS, click connect in CAM mode and you should have a 720 x 586 non-pixelated image.
All of this is irrelevant if you are able to use Firewire.
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| Q: How do I capture an avi file? |
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A: This is something you should really leave alone until you are happy and confident using ISIS. It is important that you can first set up ISIS to connect to your video device with the selected resolution and capture still images in the required format. (720 x 576 24bit).
In simple terms you should do the following:
Under ‘Settings’ open ‘Capture AVI file Settings’ and define the name and path to the new avi file. You can also set the duration of this file in the same window. Connect to your camera in 'CAM Mode' and click ‘Cap. AVI’.
There is an issue, of which we are aware, when using some MiniDV cameras and capturing avi files. In some cases ISIS fails to save a specified file.
We hope to resolve this problem in the near future and make the revision available as an update. If you are experiencing this problem, you can easily capture an avi file using AmCap. Set the output resolution to 720 x 576 RGB 24bit (uncompressed) first and save it (or move it) to ‘C:\ Program files\Resolutions\AVI files\new.avi.
There are no known problems capturing avi files using analogue cameras.
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