Sony PMB (Picture Motion Browser)

[drwtsn32]

I have not had much success with the latest PMB 5.2 version. By default it won’t even install on 2008 R2. (Version 2.1 installs fine (but you have to remove a driver before rebooting). Version 4.2 update also installs fine.)

Version 5.2 won’t install by default — says you need at least XP SP2. I hacked up the installer MSI so that it doesn’t check the OS, and it then installed ok. The problem I have now is that PMB does not register my camcorder device properly. When I first connect the camcorder, it properly detects the “new device” and says it will enable a bunch of features in PMB. But when it tries, it then says something like “unexpected error occurred.” Because those features are not enabled in PMB, I am unable to import any AVCHD files from my camcorder.

It’s a long shot but anyone else use PMB? Figure out how to get past this issue?

I’d really love to use Windows 2008 R2 as my desktop OS but this is one thing that is getting in the way.

[halladayrules]

According to this website from Sony, depending on which version you have you make need to install an older driver and then use an updater to complete the process.

http://www.sony-asia.com/support/faq/281890

But this is for Vista 64-bit so im not entirely sure it will work on Server.

The Windows Image Acquisition (WIA) service must be started in order for your camera device to work properly.

1. Open up command prompt, type in

sc config stisvc start= auto
sc start stisvc

[drwtsn32]

Yeah their web site tells you to run updates because they use that as some sort of validation. In reality each PMB version completely removes the prior version when installing.

I have tested multiple scenarios: 2.1 -> 4.2 -> 5.2, 2.1 -> 5.2, and just 5.2 clean (which works after you remove the previous version checks from the MSI).

I do not believe PMB uses WIA to retrieve video from the camcorder.

Note that 2.1 and 4.2 work fine on 2008 R2… it’s just that I want to use 5.2. 🙂

[halladayrules]

@drwtsn32 wrote:

I do not believe PMB uses WIA to retrieve video from the camcorder.

Have you tried it yet?

You might be right but services run in support of a program and some devices will refuse to work without them. Take for example my Lexmark scanner. I successfully installed driver and everything. Looked in device manager and it says the device working properly. Upon looking in “Devices and Printers” nothing shows up. Once I enabled the WIA service bam it popped on. If your device doesn’t depend on this service then you should have seen it in devices and printers.

WIA is mostly used to support flatbed scanners, and still image camera, but it can include video as well. To be honest I think this has more to do with 64-bit support than anything. Have you tried the device on a different OS, Windows 7 32-bit? Windows 7 64-bit? Windows Vista 32-bit/64-bit?

[drwtsn32]

I checked an WIA is already running and set to Automatic. I have tried PMB 5.2 on Win 7 x64 and it works just fine.

Very weird….

[halladayrules]

Download the application verifier tool: Download Site

You want the “ApplicationVerifier.amd64.msi” one.

Now there are two versions, the 32-bit and 64-bit one. You installed a 64-bit driver, but is the program itself 32-bit or 64-bit? Check the application path, if its program files (x86) then its 32-bit obviously. Once you have located the file…

1. File > Add Application… select the .exe

2. Expand compatibility

3. Check the “highversionlie” checkbox

4. Right-click highversionlie and choose properties.

Put in the following:

Major Version: 6
Minor Version: 1
Build number: 7600

Minimize the application verifier program and try launching the program. This should trick the program into thinking its running it in windows 7, but thats only if it uses this method for validation. Worth a try, tell me if it works or not.

[drwtsn32]

Uh oh, my bad. When I use my “customized” install of PMB 5.2, it fails exactly the same on Win7. I need to re-evaluate what the PMB 5.2 installer does and see if I can find another way to get it to run on Win 2008 R2.

[drwtsn32]

I tried ApplicationVerifier per your instructions and the standard PMB 5.2 installer still seems to “know” it’s really 2008 R2. 🙁

[drwtsn32]

I installed the standard PMB 5.2 in Windows 7… With Process Monitor I noticed setup.exe was modifying the registry and other files AFTER the MSI was done. (My “customized” installer only ran the MSI file, as setup.exe was also checking for OS version.)

I exported various Registry keys and also copied various folders from a successful Windows 7 install to try and migrate to Windows 2008 R2……. didn’t work. Argh.

Well I might just stick with PMB 4.2 as that works OK on Windows 2008 R2.

[halladayrules]

Could you provide me a download link to the “PMB 5.2” msi file so I could examine the MSI file as well and try to get it working for you. Do I need the driver itself to be working before the software program will work or can I do it without it?

[drwtsn32]

It’s kind of a pain to download PMB 5.2 — the link on Sony’s site is a “download manager” that basically verifies you have valid Sony camcorder hardware attached before downloading the real installer.

There are no drivers with PMB — Sony camcorder appears as a regular disk drive in Windows.

Editing the MSI is not enough. I was able to do that so it would install. The problem is the accompanying setup.exe file actually does MORE once the MSI portion is complete. That “more” part is what has got me for now. Unfortunately there’s no way for me to use setup.exe on Windows 2008 R2 because it has its own OS version validation built in. “Compatibilty mode” does not work with it.

[halladayrules]

Oh geez. Maybe its best to just roll with 4.2. It works. No hassle.

[drwtsn32]

Yeah, that is an option…but I really like some of the changes they made in 5.2!

[drwtsn32]

I think I’m going to end up just using Win 7 x64 as my desktop, and set up a separate Windows 2008 R2 server to run Backup Exec 2010. That was the primary driver for me to use R2 on my desktop: I use Backup Exec which works fine on XP but is not installable on Windows 7.

[Hughesco]

If this is known/posted elsewhere, my apologies.
-Server 2012 R2 (Build 9600)
-PMB 5.8.02.10270

Downloaded App Verifier: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=20028

Running PMB_5802.exe extracts to a folder. Opened install.exe in App Verifier. Select View > Property Window. Uncheck all Tests and check HighVersionLie. Properties > Product Type change to 1. Save. Run install.exe.

PMB 5.8.02.10270 installs and functions normally on Server 2012 R2. 😛

I take no credit for this idea, simply extrapolated the ideas obtained from here: http://www.win2012workstation.com/tag/antivirus/ (avira specifically)

[aprilrussell]

@halladayrules wrote:

According to this website from Sony, depending on which version you have you make need to install an older driver and then use an updater to complete the process.

http://www.sony-asia.com/support/faq/281890

But this is for Vista 64-bit so im not entirely sure it will work on Server.
juegos friv gratis online, run 3 unblocked game.
The Windows Image Acquisition (WIA) service must be started in order for your camera device to work properly.

1. Open up command prompt, type in

sc config stisvc start= auto
sc start stisvc

I checked an WIA is already running and set to Automatic.
I have tried PMB 5.2 on Win 7 x64 and it works just fine. Very weird….

[glintfarrum]

@halladayrules wrote:

Download the application verifier tool: kissanime 2.0

You want the “ApplicationVerifier.amd64.msi” one.

Now there are two versions, the 32-bit and 64-bit one. You installed a 64-bit driver, but is the program itself 32-bit or 64-bit? Check the application path, if its program files (x86) then its 32-bit obviously. Once you have located the file…

1. File > Add Application… select the .exe

2. Expand compatibility

3. Check the “highversionlie” checkbox

4. Right-click highversionlie and choose properties.

Put in the following:

Major Version: 6
Minor Version: 1
Build number: 7600

Minimize the application verifier program and try launching the program. This should trick the program into thinking its running it in windows 7, but thats only if it uses this method for validation. Worth a try, tell me if it works or not.

Uh oh, my bad. When I use my “customized” install of PMB 5.2, it fails exactly the same on Win7. I need to re-evaluate what the PMB 5.2 installer does and see if I can find another way to get it to run on Win 2008 R2.

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