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Recording Sometimes Fails When Using Xvid Codec

When trying to record using the Xvid codec, sometimes I get the following error pop up:

The specified device handle is invalid. in Stop()

This is followed by the following error pop up:

CamStudio could not record the AVI file using the current compressor. Use default compressor?

Both error pop ups only occur if I have "Record Audio from microphone" selected (Options->Record audio from microphone). With either of the other two audio recording options selected, only the second pop up occurs.

Through trial and error I found the following:

1. If I used the "Region" method of selecting the area to record (Region->Region), the error(s) would pop up as soon as I finished selecting my region. But sometimes the error(s) would not occur. If I tried over and over to do my selection, eventually I could get it to work.

2. If I used the "Fixed Region..." method of selecting the area to record (Region->Fixed Region...), the error(s) would occur every time I pressed the Record button, but only if the error(s) occurred the first time for a particular configuration of the region. If the Record worked the first time for a particular configuration of the region, it always worked.

I found this problem described in various places on the Internet. In some places the suggested solution was to use even numbers for the width and the height of the record region whenever using the Xvid or similar codecs. I tried this but it did not help.

Eventually I figured out that when you configure a fixed region for the capture, the resulting width and height of the recorded video ends up being 1 pixel less in both width and height than what you configure. Further, I realized that if you specify both a capture width and height of odd numbers, the capture will always work. Presumably when you specify odd numbers, the actual values are reduced by 1, making each one even, which then matches the suggestion I had seen of using even numbers for the values.

I'm also assuming that when using the "Region" method of selecting the area to record (Region->Region), if an area with a width and height of odd numbers happened to be selected, the recording would work.

So the obvious solution to work around this problem until it's fixed is to always configure a "Fixed Region..." and to always use odd numbers for the width and height.

Comments

  • rfavero,

    Well, darn! I know they fixed this lingering problem from CamStudio 2.5 beta in the "Region>>Window" setting, but it seems that it now occurs for Fixed region instead. Try using "window" with the "sizer" program used to size the windows ( http://www.brianapps.net/sizer/ ), or continue what you are doing using odd numbers for now, OR revert to the version 2.0 for now. I'll confirm this bug and report it at Sourceforge for you.

    Thanks for pointing this one out.

    Terry
  • edited September 2010
    rfavero,

    It is confirmed that the pixel dimensions are off for the fixed size setting by one pixel, and Jan is working on fixing all the incidents that still linger now. Meanwhile, the Window region suggestion in my last post will work for you just fine. Stay tuned to see a new beta release in a short while.

    Terry
  • edited September 2010
    rfavero,

    If you need to use Fixed Region, you can download version 2.5beta here again till we get 2.6 fixed: http://camstudio.org/dev
    Unzip Camstudio to a folder, and for XP and earlier, place the following DLLs into the same folder:
    CamStudio.2.5.b1.bin..> 06-Sep-2007 07:33 1.2M
    mfc71.dll 06-Sep-2007 12:39 1.0M
    msvcp71.dll 27-Jun-2008 03:30 488k
    msvcr71.dll 21-Oct-2007 05:34 340k

    For Vista and Windows7 (only if it doesn't run already):
    Go to Microsoft and download and run the MS C++ Runtime Library installer package:

    English : http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=A5C84275-3B97-4AB7-A40D-3802B2AF5FC2&displaylang=en
    German : http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=A5C84275-3B97-4AB7-A40D-3802B2AF5FC2&displaylang=de

    (Other language: change xx after displaylang=)

    Terry
  • @Terry,

    Thanks for providing this information about using the 2.5beta.

    --Rob
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