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Can't get files to work in Pinnacle.

heislloydheislloyd
edited June 2011 in Support
I installed CamStudio yesterday, but have been having trouble. I record the screen. I can then play the resultant file in CamStudio's own player, and in Windows Media player, and in Video LAN, and in Nero. But, when I load it into Pinnacle Studio for editing into one of my videos, I see a very fuzzy image, the animation is extremely jerky or non-existent, and the full file is not shown - just a very jerky or static version of the first quarter or so. I have tried different frame rates, and different codecs. Can anyone help? Fearing a clash of formats, I loaded the CamStudio file and nothing else into Pinnacle, thinking to then output from Pinnacle into a format I know will sit alongside my other footage for the same video. If for some bizarre reason Pinnacle cannot ever play any CamStudio file, is there another piece of editing software that can cope?

Comments

  • heislloydheislloyd
    I've just tried in PowerDirector 8. Same result. Does CamStudio have some deliberate feature to make it such that the files it creates cannot be edited by any other software?
  • bookloverbooklover
    Windows Movie Maker can edit CamStudio avi files, at least the ones produced using the CamStudio Lossless codec. WMM saves its files as WMV files.
  • heislloydheislloyd
    Thanks for replying. I just tried using Windows Movie Maker, and it put a silent piece of footage on the audio time-line and did not recognise the visual part of the files at all. If I could get this software to convert the file to WMV format, then Pinnacle should be able to convert the WMV to MPEG and then I might be in business, although having lost two generation of quality at the very least. I don't know if I'm using the lossless codec. I can find no way on the Camstudio.org site to get to the file CamStudioCodec14.exe - whenever I click on the link for it, it takes me to a list of other files, none of which is this one. Is it hidden inside one of these other files? I tried downloading one of the potentials, called "CamStudioCodec-1.4-src.zip" but I've no way of telling if this is the right one, and it just had a load of gibberish files in it.

    I found a file called "install.txt". It said this:

    CamStudio Lossless Codec v1.1
    Copyright 2003 RenderSoft Software
    Installation
    ============
    To install this codec, right click on the file camcodec.inf and select install

    Unfortunately, when I right-click on the file specified, none of the options that comes up is 'install', so I'm still stuck.
  • heislloydheislloyd
    edited June 2011
    I've just tried something else - I put the files in the same folder on my hard drive and tried again. This time I DID get an 'install' option popping up, but then when I selected it, a dire-seeming warning popped up saying that continuing with the installation would destabilise Windows, and that I was very strongly recommended not to continue, so I didn't.

    So far as I know, I have a very ordinary PC configured in a very ordinary way.

    I am a little concerned that the 'install.txt' file was labelled v1.1, because this does not match the 1.4 that the lossless codec thingy is meant to be.

    Any ideas? Thanks for any help.
  • bookloverbooklover
    Please provide details about your computer, particularly its operating system - XP (including Service Pack), W7 etc.

    Also, which version of CamStudio are you using: CS 2.0, 2.6 (release #)?

    Thanks.
  • TerryBrittonTerryBritton
    heislloyd,

    "So far as I know, I have a very ordinary PC configured in a very ordinary way."

    Hah! I am still waiting to meet this computer! ;-)

    Yes, booklover is right - it is extremely helpful to know what computer you are using and the operating system at the very least. Also, the version of CamStudio you are using. The newer ones all install CamStudio Lossless 1.5 automatically when you install the program. HOWEVER, I have one XP laptop that needed to have the 1.4 version installed first - only then would 1.5 show up. Computers are indeed strange creatures.

    You could try http://any-video-converter.com/products/for_video_free/ or http://www.freemake.com/free_video_converter/ to convert your files to a format loved by your editor(s). Freemake is GREAT at creating WMV files for Movie Maker (and you are not losing a generation - keep all settings at "original" and the same frames per second setting and you'll be fine.)

    Terry
  • TerryBrittonTerryBritton
    edited June 2011
    heislloyd,

    Here is a download link for my own copy of CamStudio Lossless Codec 1.4 you can try to install first, then re-install whatever version of CamStudio 2.6 you are using if you are using one of those versions.

    http://screencasttutorial.org/CamStudioCodec14.exe

    This handy little installer installs 1.4, then installing 2.6 should make 1.5 appear.

    What sort of content are you recording?

    Terry
  • heislloydheislloyd
    Many thanks for the replies. I am using Windows XP pro. When I click 'About' in the 'Help' menu it says that it is CamStudio 2.0. I seem to recall shying away from beta versions. I prefer stable programmes that work to unstable ones with extra features. The content I am recording is the only content I thought CamStudio can record: a short video of what my screen shows. I want to edit it in to a video for YouTube. As it is, it is no use to me because it starts with shutting various windows, opening others, setting things in a programme in motion etc. before I get to the bit I want.

    Your posts have a few different approaches. Chief amongst them seems to be using as a newer version of CamStudio. Are they stable?
  • heislloydheislloyd
    I just downloaded and installed any-video-converter, and the only options it gave me for formats were something called Xvid, of which I have never heard, and MPEG-4 which I know Pinnacle can handle. The resultant file now will not even play in Windows Media Player! The converted file is 124 KB whereas the file it converted is 4.36Mb, so something is very wrong. I chose 'original' quality, as advised.
  • heislloydheislloyd
    The original video, I now see, does not play in any-video-converter's preview window.

    Oh gad - now the original no longer plays in Windows Media Player either! Somehow it seems that any-video-converter has corrupted it or something. I just tested it with another bit of footage, and it is all over the place. It has the wrong duration and the wrong frame rate for a start. The original won't even play in VideoLAN now either. It seems that this method may have more difficulties than the alternatives.
  • heislloydheislloyd
    I downloaded Terry's http://screencasttutorial.org/CamStudioCodec14.exe and it installed. Now Cam Studio has stopped working. It starts as before, but when I minimise it, it cannot be recalled to stop the recording. When I used Task Manager to switch to it, nothing happened, and when I used Task Manager to stop it, it crashed spectacularly. Back to Square 1. Presumably CamStudio just doesn't work very well. Perhaps almost no freeware works. Mind you, Firefox is freeware, so it isn't impossible. I'll run a virus check to be on the safe side.
  • TerryBrittonTerryBritton
    edited June 2011
    heislloyd,

    If you do a search of the Internet or of this forum, you will be hard pressed to find any issues as spectacular as the ones you are experiencing anywhere associated with Camstudio. Something on your machine OR a major hardware incompatibility is messing around with us here. I do suggest you uninstall all vestiges of Camstudio from that machine. The codec could not have broken the Camstudio program itself, so look for something else. Any Video Converter does not touch the original file unless you write over it (which I doubt is even possible, since the file is in use). Everything you report is completely foreign to anything I've ever heard about anywhere. So, I'm going to say something I've never said before to anyone.

    Camstudio is simply not the right program for you.

    See my page at http://screencasttutorial.org/37/a-list-of-available-free-screencasting-tools-127 for a list of other recorders. I hope one of them will work for you!

    I've written a long email to the programmers for them to double check that none of the files have been compromised with corrupted versions at Sourceforge. I'll get back to you with their findings, if any. r264 or r273 might work for you, but clear out r294 before you try them.

    Terry
  • heislloydheislloyd
    Thanks for your help. I uninstalled everything, and installed HyperCam, and it worked first time. It's a funny old world.
  • TerryBrittonTerryBritton
    heislloyd,
    You may have wound up with a rogue release of CamStudio that was on Sourceforge under "camstudios" with an "s" at the end. I'm glad you uninstalled everything. We have communicated with Sourceforge and they have removed this rogue "fork" of the project. The file they were dishing out may have contained a malware or caused computers to crash.

    Sorry your experience with Camstudio was not a positive one, but you have a good program there in HyperCam. How is it with Windows Movie Maker?

    Terry
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