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  1. Member
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    Hello everyone,
    I'm having trouble capturing video from my VHS and Hi8 tapes on my PC. Before I get into my problem, here is the hardware I am using:

    Hi8 Camcorder: Sony Handycam Hi8 TRV328
    VCR: Panasonic PV-8661
    Computer: HP Pavilion Elite m9340f (containing: NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GS 512mb video card, 6GB RAM, 3.5 GHz qud core, hard drive space is not an issue).

    I've confirmed all the hardware works properly and all have appropriate cables to connect from the source device to the PC.
    I've attempted to use Roxio Easy VHS to DVD software/hardware (little USB hub that works similar to a Dazzle) coupled with the above VCR/Hi8 and all has worked for someone I know on their computer. When I tried on mine, I continually get the message "No Video Signal" found. Yes, I ensured the connections were properly hooked up. Yes, the composite cables were matching and were connected to the A/V OUT on the VCR and A/V IN on the computer. Yes, I pressed play on the VCR with a tape I know works and has footage on it in the VCR.

    I'm thinking it's an issue with a video capture driver. I decided to move away from the Roxio USB method and use my my graphics
    card. I'm assuming it is a video capture card as it has the composite inputs for audio/video. I tried using VirtualDub. When trying to capture AVI, I go into the Device menu and there is an option for "Hauppauge WinTV 885 Video Capture (DirectShow)" (see screenshot). I assume this is my device that I could use, but when I select it, I get the error "VitrualDub cannot connect to the desired capture driver." This is the same error I get for every other option if I select it on the menu in the screenshot as well.

    Screenshot:
    http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u36/cucuzza21/Untitled-1.jpg

    Is this because there is no driver in active on my computer? If so, where can I get the video capture driver based on my card above? I tried insalling the latest driver to no avail from what I thought it was from using Google. What can I do? It's just a little frustrating because I feel like I have all the necessary equipment. Is it because it's analog video and the computer can receive only digital signals? There's GOT to be a way, can some please help and suggest what needs to be done?
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  2. Which OS? Looks like Win7 on the screenshot...
    I have always used an external box. I use an ADVC300 (though I hear the ADVC100 works as well).
    Piece of cake and always worked.

    Some capture software actually needs to have the source playing to "jump start" it and see a picture. Try starting the software after you are sure a tape is playing.
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    The OS is: Windows Vista Home Premium. I already playing the video before starting the software and the method did not work.

    Given the above information about my system, my card SHOULD be able to capture analog video, right? I just don't understand what is wrong with this... It's really frustrating, because I believe I have all of the hardware. Is there something wrong with a driver?
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    Try a different capture program, this for example:
    https://www.videohelp.com/tools/Stoik-Video-Capture
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  5. davexnet..That software requires firewire. Don't know if the OP has that.
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    Originally Posted by TreeTops View Post
    davexnet..That software requires firewire. Don't know if the OP has that.
    Actually it doesn't... I've used it myself with an Avermedia M780 PCI-e 1x capture card
    through composite and S-video.

    Got some very nice captures with Picvideo mjpeg and HuffyUV lossless. The first sentence in the Stoik help file says this:

    "STOIK Capturer allows you capturing video from DV camcorder through IEEE 1394 'FireWire' interface
    or any analog video source (e.g. TV tuner card, video card, webcam etc.). "
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    So I tried STOIK Capturer and when it opened, I received the message:

    "Cannot initiate device Hauppauge WinTV 885 Video Capture"

    This leads me ot the my original belief that there is an issue with the driver for this device. I checked in my device manager so I uninstalled the only item that said Hauppauge, "Hauppauge Win-TV HVR-1800 (Model 78xxx, Combo ATSC/QAM)", restarted so the computer could detect it was missing and give it a fresh reinstall. This did not work, however. Nothing else in my device manager has an a yellow triangle with black exclamation point or red x icon next to indicating that everything is installed properly. Take a look at this screenshot for the error and my device manager:

    http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u36/cucuzza21/Untitled-2.jpg

    I think we're homing in on the issue here, because I'm sure all the other programs like Roxio Easy VHS to DVD, VirtualDub, and STOIK are all trying to use the Hauppauge device to do the capture. I assured you all wires internally are securely plugged in to the CPU and GPU.

    Can anyone educate me on this issue and what I can do to fix it? What is Hauppage WinTV 885? From my understanding 885 is the name of the chipset... Thanks in advance for your help!
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  8. aBigMeanie aedipuss's Avatar
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    go to roxio support and chat with an agent. see if you can get the latest driver and try that. the website used to have links to the drivers but they seem to be hidden now.
    --
    "a lot of people are better dead" - prisoner KSC2-303
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  9. Member
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    Originally Posted by aedipuss View Post
    go to roxio support and chat with an agent. see if you can get the latest driver and try that. the website used to have links to the drivers but they seem to be hidden now.
    But Roxio has nothing to do with Hauppauge, they wouldn't be able to help me. Are there any suggestions?
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    Have you tried the winTV packages from the Hauppauge site?
    http://www.hauppauge.com/site/support/support_hvr1800.html#tabs-9

    There is a driver only update, dated 9/29/2011

    A second though is to enable Microsoft update, and see if can identify any missing drivers.
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    I tried the WinTV package from Hauppauge's website and I found something a little interesting. Take a look at this screenshot:

    http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u36/cucuzza21/Untitled-3.jpg


    When I tried updating the driver, a few successes were experienced, but look at the highlighted area. It says the device AVSTREAM/HCW85CIR3 is not found. When I tried running the utility ProdInfo from Hauppauge's site, it says "No Device Data available, No DLL data available" (also in the screenshot). This leads me to believe the card is not being read somehow. I opened my computer to check all the card's cable connections and confirm everything is secure in the ports. The card, for some reason, is not being detected, any ideas from this log?
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    So after a bunch of research, I finally figured out a "resolution" to my issue of why I was unable to connect my VCR/Hi8 Camcorder to my computer.

    I've contact Hauppauge support and they informed me that their TV tuner cards are very proprietary and don't really function well at with 3rd party software as capture card. They told me that these 3rd party softwares (VirtualDub, STOIK, etc.) would have to modify their code to work specifically with the card, which is not very easy to do.

    My card specifically is a WinTV-HVR-1800. For capturing purposes, the card really only functions well with the WinTV software package offered on the site. You can download, but it still won't be able to find some files that will still only reference the CD that you must buy for $9.95 + shipping and handling (which I feel is a classic marketing bait and switch tactic, but I digress).

    At any rate, something I failed to mention earlier is that I have Windows Vista Home Premium with a Windows Media Center Edition HP Pavilion. The solution: trick Windows Media Center into believing the live TV broadcast is what plays from the VCR or camcorder. In order to do this, in the set up, you need to identify that you have a set top box and then choose the composite connections as your source. Here is the guide I used to set it up:

    http://garvis.ca/2008/06/20/recording-video-into-windows-from-your-analog-device/

    Now, in my case, I did not have an IR connector, because I can't seem to find mine. It is, however, absolutely required for the setup because Media Center needs to understand how to "change the channel" of your "set top box". This is a widely criticized feature because what if you don't have one?


    I did find a workaround: install a "virtual" driver for the IR blaster. This could be found here: http://www.myhava.com/forum/download/file.php?id=53&sid=829b2dc62b006fa7f8ef1af0bf297e2f

    I must warn, however, this fix only works for 32-bit systems. I have a 64-bit system. My solution? Plug headphones into the input jacks that are found on the back of the computer. Here is a picture of the back of mine:
    http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u36/cucuzza21/IMG_3714_zps34adb15f.jpg

    The jacks I'm talking about are the input jacks found towards the bottom left surrounded by the box outline that says "IR out". You have to have the jacks occupied BEFORE you start Windows Media Center and BEFORE the setup, or else the computer won't detect it. It then definitely works.

    As for recording, record as you would normally using Windows Media Center. Of course it outputs the proprietary output file of WMC: .dvr-ms. You will need to find a conversion program that would convert from .dvr-ms to .AVI or .MP4 (from there you can decide whatever format you want). I find the program MCEBuddy (http://mcebuddy.com/) works well.

    So, there you have it. It's not pretty, and until I find a cleaner resolution to this, this is the methodology I'd use for my particular predicament. I recommend others who are in the same situation to do the same.
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  13. My card specifically is a WinTV-HVR-1800.
    on the hauppauge product page there is no 1800 model only 1850 but i assume yours is that model http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/data_hvr1850.html.

    For capturing purposes, the card really only functions well with the WinTV software package offered on the site. You can download, but it still won't be able to find some files that will still only reference the CD that you must buy for $9.95 + shipping and handling (which I feel is a classic marketing bait and switch tactic, but I digress).
    The card have hardware mpeg2 chip ( vdub have problems with those cards altough may work best works with "software" tv cards)
    Concerning that can only work with their software it is not true.
    Ask jagabo or the master1 I think they had solution to bypass the mpeg2 hardware encoder ( if you want to use vdub because it cannot record mpeg2 (dvd ) files anyway, only avi use losless for best quality).
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  14. Member
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    Originally Posted by mammo1789 View Post
    My card specifically is a WinTV-HVR-1800.
    on the hauppauge product page there is no 1800 model only 1850 but i assume yours is that model http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/data_hvr1850.html.
    I understand there is no WinTV-HVR-1800 on the product page, but it exists. The support team verified that this is the older version of the 1850.


    I'm sure there are other ways to bypass, but I haven't received any other responses here, so I just outlined a method that worked for me given my situation/hardware. I figure I'd share it since it may help others who may be in the same position.
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    Thanks for posting some of these details. I think I got lucky with my Avermedia card.
    I wasn't aware of these considerations before I bought it. It also has a HW mpeg-2 encoder,
    but STOIK and the card seem perfect happy to encode to HuffyUV or similar.
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  16. Member SHS's Avatar
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    WinTV-HVR-1800 vs 1850 there are one in same with a few small diff the 1850 has IR receive/blast the 1800 dosen't and 1800 has analog tuner where the 1850 dosen't.
    The best tool to use with old PVR and some HVR model in WinTV 7 Software becuases it make use of the Hardware MPEG2 Encoder.
    And there no way bypass the Hardware MPEG-2 Encoder ONLY two card could do that the very frist WinTV-PVR PCI and WinTV-PVR 160 aka WinTV-PVR model 28xxx codename Roslyn.
    Also keep in mind that if you have HP/Dell etc OEM Hauppauge card the Hauppauge drivers don't install becuases of Device ID
    Check out this HI8 Camcorder Demo clip from Composite from Hauppauge HD-PVR 2 Gaming Edition what all think of it?.
    Last edited by SHS; 24th Oct 2012 at 23:40.
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  17. Member SHS's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by davexnet View Post
    Thanks for posting some of these details. I think I got lucky with my Avermedia card.
    I wasn't aware of these considerations before I bought it. It also has a HW mpeg-2 encoder,
    but STOIK and the card seem perfect happy to encode to HuffyUV or similar.
    That not passable becuases Avermedia HW MPEG-2 Encoder card have the very same chip as what found on the Hauppauge card and min like it with the Conexant CX23415/CX23416/CX23417 and CX23418 and it dosen't allow for RAW AVI format unless it was the Conexant reference design called Blackbird which same as WinTV-PVR 160 codename Roslyn a rare model
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    Then how did I get the output? Can it be going thought the HW encoder before the AVI is produced?

    However it did it, the quality was very good. I'll see if I can post a clip a little later.
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  19. Member SHS's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by davexnet View Post
    Then how did I get the output? Can it be going thought the HW encoder before the AVI is produced?

    However it did it, the quality was very good. I'll see if I can post a clip a little later.
    That I don't know do have a picture of the card or model number of that Avermedia the only I can't thing I think of it a Conexant reference design know as Blackbird model it dose allow for AVI output with out going to the Hardware MPEG2 Encoder.
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  21. Member SHS's Avatar
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    Oh the Avermedia M780 with NEC PD61153 yup that dose have have option out Raw AVI
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