Microsoft SDK AMCap GetCurrentImage error - c++

Question

I am trying to modify the existing AmCap application, available through Microsoft's SDK Direct Show samples, in order to get an image of the captured stream when I press the space button. Below is the point in which I am handling the space keydown.
case WM_KEYDOWN:
if((GetAsyncKeyState(VK_ESCAPE) & 0x01) && gcap.fCapturing)
{
StopCapture();
if(gcap.fWantPreview)
{
BuildPreviewGraph();
StartPreview();
}
}
else if ((GetAsyncKeyState(VK_SPACE) & 0x01))
{
IMediaControl *pMC = NULL;
HRESULT hr = gcap.pFg->QueryInterface(IID_IMediaControl, (void **)&pMC);
if (SUCCEEDED(hr)){
hr=pMC->Pause();
if (SUCCEEDED(hr)){
CaptureImage(TEXT("C:\\output.bmp"));
pMC->Run();
pMC->Release();
}else
ErrMsg(TEXT("Failed to pause stream! hr=0x%x"), hr);
}
else
ErrMsg(TEXT("Cannot grab image"));
}
break;
Below is the contents of the CaptureImage function.
HRESULT hr;
SmartPtr<IBasicVideo> pWC;
// If we got here, gcap.pVW is not NULL
ASSERT(gcap.pVW != NULL);
hr = gcap.pVW->QueryInterface(IID_IBasicVideo, (void**)&pWC);
if (pWC)
{
long bufSize;
long *lpCurrImage = NULL;
pWC->GetCurrentImage(&bufSize, NULL);
lpCurrImage = (long *)malloc(bufSize);
//
// Read the current video frame into a byte buffer. The information
// will be returned in a packed Windows DIB and will be allocated
// by the VMR.
hr = pWC->GetCurrentImage(&bufSize, lpCurrImage);
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
HANDLE fh;
BITMAPFILEHEADER bmphdr;
BITMAPINFOHEADER bmpinfo;
DWORD nWritten;
memset(&bmphdr, 0, sizeof(bmphdr));
memset(&bmpinfo, 0, sizeof(bmpinfo));
bmphdr.bfType = ('M' << 8) | 'B';
bmphdr.bfSize = sizeof(bmphdr) + sizeof(bmpinfo) + bufSize;
bmphdr.bfOffBits = sizeof(bmphdr) + sizeof(bmpinfo);
bmpinfo.biSize = sizeof(bmpinfo);
bmpinfo.biWidth = 640;
bmpinfo.biHeight = 480;
bmpinfo.biPlanes = 1;
bmpinfo.biBitCount = 32;
fh = CreateFile(TEXT("C:\\Users\\mike\\Desktop\\output.bmp"),
GENERIC_WRITE, 0, NULL,
CREATE_ALWAYS, FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL, NULL);
WriteFile(fh, &bmphdr, sizeof(bmphdr), &nWritten, NULL);
WriteFile(fh, &bmpinfo, sizeof(bmpinfo), &nWritten, NULL);
WriteFile(fh, lpCurrImage, bufSize, &nWritten, NULL);
CloseHandle(fh);
ErrMsg(TEXT("Captured current image to %s"), szFile);
return TRUE;
}
else
{
ErrMsg(TEXT("Failed to capture image! hr=0x%x"), hr);
return FALSE;
}
}
return FALSE;
The problem is that when I am trying to run the app, I receive an HRESULT (0x8000ffff) error when the GetCurrentImage function is being called.
On the other hand in case I execute the app through the VS debugger the code works just fine.
I tried to add a Sleep just after the stream pMC->Pause(), assuming that the problem was timing issue but that did not work.
Any ideas would be extremely helpful!
Thank you in advance.