Macintosh Performa 6400: Apple Video Player Shows No Video

TECHINFO-0021015

TOPIC

I have a Macintosh Performa 6400/200 with the Avid Cinema bundle. When I have the Apple Video Player application open and I am trying to capture video from a VCR, I hear the sound coming through the computer, but it does not play any video through. I either get a black screen or a still picture. If I choose Freeze, it will capture and display the current frame, but if I Unfreeze it, that image just stays there until I select Freeze again.

When trying to record video with Apple Video Player, I have received a -9402 error and sometimes the application quits with a "fatal error." What might be causing these problems?

DISCUSSION

Issue

This situation can occur whether you are viewing from video tape or when you are using Apple Video Player to view the signal from a TV Tuner card.

These symptoms only appear if your display is set to 256 colors. The Apple Video Player application works as is expected when the display is set to Thousands of colors.

Details

The Macintosh Performa 6400 computer always digitizes in 16-bit mode. The problem arises when Apple Video Player tries to downsample from 16-bit to 8-bit. This is the root of the conflict between the Apple Video Player and the Avid Cinema Extension.

The built-in video in the Macintosh Performa 6400 only provides enough Video RAM (VRAM) for 256 colors at the 832x624 resolution. Because of the amount of VRAM your computer has, you need to change the resolution setting to 640x480 at 16-bit to make Apple Video Player work properly.

Workarounds

1. Change your display setting to Thousands of Colors by selecting this option in your Monitor & Sound control panel.

   - or -

2. Disable the Avid Cinema Extension by de-selecting* it in your Extensions Manager control panel.

* NOTE: You will need to re-enable the Avid Cinema Extension before using the Avid Cinema application again.

For more information on other Cinema related issues, refer to the Tech Info Library article titled "Avid Cinema 1.0: Issues and Workarounds" (article number TECHINFO-0020614).

[Previous] [Top] [Next]