Hauppauge 350 - Capture with Coaxial / S-Video / RCA ???

[samusaran]

I have an Hauppauge WinTV PVR 350 with S-Video IN connector, and Coaxial/antenna IN. I'm trying to capture my home videos from my VCR (VHS tapes). But since my VCR is only RCA out, I had to buy a RCA to S-Video adapter. But I had to stop capturing this way because the video signal doesn't seem to like the conversion from RCA to S-Video, and I have little dots everywhere on the screen.

So I switched to the Coaxial connection ( Coaxial out from my VCR to Coaxial IN on the card). The picture is better, I don't have all theses little dots (almost like a "screen" effect). But I want to know if I should go ahead and but the A/V barcket and cable set from Hauppauge ( http://registration.hauppauge.com/webstore/hardware2.asp?product=av_cable ) with the RCA connectors ?? Will the quality be better ( picture and sound ) ??? Will I see a difference with VHS tapes ?? I also want to have stereo sound, and I'm not sure if the coaxial connection has it ??

[jagabo]

The dots are called "dot crawl artifacts". They come from insufficient separate of the chroma signals from the luma signals. This is caused by your cheap RCA to s-video adapter. Didn't your PVR-350 come with a little pigtail adapter? Like in the picture at this page:

http://registration.hauppauge.com/webstore/hardware2.asp?product=pvr350

That will route the composite signal (yellow RCA connector) to the right input of the card so the device will use its 2d comb filter to separate chroma and luma. That should get you better results.

[samusaran]

I got this card via a web store, and it was a used one, so I got the card only. Also, I think that this cable you are talking about is for the output connector of the card. The only input connectors in the back of my card are for the remote IR, audio-in, S-Video IN, antenna IN and FM radio IN. The last one is an output connector to be used with the pigtail adapter (think about some of the All-In-Wonder card from ATI, they have the same kind of multi-connector).

[jagabo]

Ah, I have a PVR-250 which has s-video and composite input connectors right on the card. I didn't realize the pigtail on the 350 was for output. I still think you need to get to the composite input to get rid of the dot crawl artifacts. Post a short sample video so I can verify what you are seeing is dot crawl.

[edDV]

I've got a PVR-350 but haven't tested it with composite input.

The input is a 4 pin S-Video (Y/C) so some kind of adapter is needed. The typical S-Video to composite output adapter sums Y+C to composite. When turned around for composite to S-Video input, it causes composite to be sent down both Y and C paths. In S-Video mode composite sent to the chroma path would cause severe chroma noise.

Try this. In the WinTV 6 app, inputs are selected as Composite or S-Video. If Hauppauge is doing this correctly, selecting composite should redirect the Y channel to the NTSC Y/C separator and decoder. It would also turn off the C input from the S-Video connector.

I can't test this any time soon. Let me know if switching to composite makes a difference.

[samusaran]

Ah, I have a PVR-250 which has s-video and composite input connectors right on the card. I didn't realize the pigtail on the 350 was for output. I still think you need to get to the composite input to get rid of the dot crawl artifacts. Post a short sample video so I can verify what you are seeing is dot crawl.

Here is an example of what I got when capturing from S-Video in the attached MP4 video file.

[jagabo]

I was hoping to see a MPG file directly from the card -- but, yes, you have terrible dot crawl artifacts.

As edDV mentioned, a lot of cards that have only an s-video input can use the luma pin on the s-video connector as a composite input. They supply a simple adapter that has a composite connector on one end and an s-video connector on the other. It doesn't convert composite to s-video it simply routes the composite signal to the luma pin. Then you set the capture software to capture composite so that it enables the comb filter. Did your card come with a little adapter like that? They're usually about 1.5 inches long, often yellow. They look something like this:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=104&cp_id=10401&cs_id=1040105&p_id=...seq=1&format=2

If you didn't get one I would try using your current adapter cable, setting the software to capture composite, and see what happens. You'll probably get a grayscale image (what happens when the color is removed from the composite signal) but it's worth a try.

If all of that fails I think you'll have to buy the Hauppauge bracket adapter you mentioned in your first post.

[SHS]

That little pigtail adapter is for Video output jagabo
Also keep mind that not all RCA to S-Video adapter are made rigth so they don't work rigth
And keep in mind that 250 and 350 didn't support 3D comb filters
As for A/V Bracket and Cable Set that is a better way to go
Make sure in WinTV your using the source SVideo/Composite source if you using WinTV2000 or try one of the other Composite source in WinTV6

[samusaran]

Maybe I will not have to buy the A/V bracket. I tried to switch to composite (in the video source) in another capture program, and the picture seems to be fine. I will not a able to use WinTV 2000 because I can't select composite (there is no such option), only Tuner, Ext. 1, Ext. 2 and S-Video. I must select the ext. 2 option to see something, with the results I told you about. And the S-Video option doesn't work at all.

Maybe I will only need to order the WinTV 6 CD from Hauppauge to have the composite option.

[SHS]

No need to order WinTV 6 when you can downlaod it rigth here
http://www.shspvr.com/smf/index.php?topic=11983.0
or older Latest ver of WinTV2000 Lite CD kit
http://www.shspvr.com/smf/index.php?topic=10830.0
If you have XP besure install .NET Framework 1.1 and 2.0 for WinTV6

[samusaran]

Thank you for the infos.

Yesterday, I've found a little freeware capture program called AVS Video Recorder ( at www.download.com ). I don't know if anyone here ever used this prgram ?? I can choose the composite option with this program, and the picture is fine.

[samusaran]

WinTV 6 doesn't seem to work with my Hauppauge 350. WinTV 2000 is working fine, but when I do a clean install of the drivers and WinTV 6, I got a message telling me that it can't find the TV tuver and to check if the card is correctly inserted and the drivers installed. But I have two other capture program installed and they can find my Hauppauge card and the drivers are correctly installed.

So, I de-installed all, re-installed the base drivers for my Hauppauge 350, and then installed WinTV2000. And then I only re-installed WinTV6. I was able to open WinTV6, it asked me to scan for channels and I clicked yes... and then nothing. There seems to have some problems with the DISPLAY menu. There is no channels or Composite/S-Video to choose from.

I don't know what else to try.

I think I will have to use my other capture program. It's not my favorite, but its working.

[SHS]

If don't like WinTV there alway other option like SageTV Recorder just one min other there a list of other tools on shspvr.com under tools
So nothing show up in the channel manager? just like in above screenshot

[samusaran]

I can't even access the WinTV Channel Manager.

It's not that I don't like WinTV... I need to be able to choose a composite input (you know what my problem is with dot crawl artifacts ).

[SHS]

I see

[jagabo]

I can't even access the WinTV Channel Manager.

I remember having problems with WinTV6 too. I think you need to have the right mix of WinTV6 and driver versions.

[jagabo]

It looks like a composite input of the PVR-350 is on pin 8 of the 9-pin DIN connector:

http://www.vdr-wiki.de/wiki/index.php/Pinout_PVR350

Google translation into English:

http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=ht...50&sl=de&tl=en

So an appropriate adapter is needed.

[SHS]

It looks like a composite input of the PVR-350 is on pin 8 of the 9-pin DIN connector:

http://www.vdr-wiki.de/wiki/index.php/Pinout_PVR350

Google translation into English:

http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=ht...50&sl=de&tl=en

So an appropriate adapter is needed.

That 9-pin DIN connector is FOR Video output only the PVR 350 has an on board Hardware MPEG2 Decoder