Problem Capturing post HD Digital Cable install.

[0hz]

I had Digital Cable and a High-Definition digital decoder box installed a few weeks ago and I just tried my first capture. My capture card is an ATI AIW 9000 Pro.

The video capture and preview both contain thick black vertical stripes. The striping is present whether I use S-Video, Composite or the card's Tuner.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Nelson37]

No answers, just questions.

Do you have a 2 seperate cable boxes, or just one? Are one or both from the cable company or a third party?

On the PC, do you see a recognizable video between the vertical stripes or is it garbled? Do you get this effect on all channels? You should have several types of channel, true HD and non-HD Digital Cable, with both Premium and non-Premium. Possibly also channels below 100 that are non-Digital, non-HD, and non-Premium, this varies by provider.

When connected to ATI card using coax, if before the cable box, HD channels should show nothing at all or garbled, non-Premium and/or non-digital cable should be OK, Premium should be garbled. AFTER the cable box, HD should be on Component cables only, no signal on all other cables. All cables should be OK on all non-HD channels, though I am not sure on after-box coax to ATI (never tried it). S-video and composite should definitely be OK, Premium channels may give a Macrovision warning but should display OK.

HD info comes from others as I do not yet have this equipment, though I have been looking into its capture possibilities.

It sounds like your cable box may be attempting to decode all your channels as HD. Does it look as though, if you stitched the stripes together, that ALL of the picture would be there or would there be image missing? I am assuming that TV playback is OK?

[FOO]

I have to ask how you capture digital cable with the tuner.

Next would be what capture program are you using ?

[0hz]

No answers, just questions.

Do you have a 2 seperate cable boxes, or just one? Are one or both from the cable company or a third party?

One cable box a Motorola DTC5100.

On the PC, do you see a recognizable video between the vertical stripes or is it garbled? Do you get this effect on all channels? You should have several types of channel, true HD and non-HD Digital Cable, with both Premium and non-Premium. Possibly also channels below 100 that are non-Digital, non-HD, and non-Premium, this varies by provider.

The video between the stripes is recognizable. The effect is on all channels HD or not.

When connected to ATI card using coax, if before the cable box, HD channels should show nothing at all or garbled, non-Premium and/or non-digital cable should be OK, Premium should be garbled.

I'll have to check. I know non HD channels show (with stripes) and I don't think I can check HD channels because they start about 170 whereas the ATI only tunes up to 125.

AFTER the cable box, HD should be on Component cables only, no signal on all other cables.

I'm pretty sure I get output from the cable box's S-Video out when viewing HD.

All cables should be OK on all non-HD channels, though I am not sure on after-box coax to ATI (never tried it). S-video and composite should definitely be OK, Premium channels may give a Macrovision warning but should display OK.

Ok. I didn't see any signs of Macrovision.

HD info comes from others as I do not yet have this equipment, though I have been looking into its capture possibilities.

It sounds like your cable box may be attempting to decode all your channels as HD. Does it look as though, if you stitched the stripes together, that ALL of the picture would be there or would there be image missing? I am assuming that TV playback is OK?

There would be image missing. It's like watching the video through bars. The TV playback contains the same bars.

[0hz]

I have to ask how you capture digital cable with the tuner.

I tuned a non-HD station with the card's tuner.

Next would be what capture program are you using ?

I'm using the ATI MMC, whatever the latest version is (8.x).

[FOO]

That's a wierd one
To eliminate the computer , you have of course
put a TV on the video signal ?

[Nelson37]

OK, if the TV playback contains bars - to clarify, this is on TV connected to the cable box, not thru the PC and not playing back captured video ? - If the TV shows bars direct from the box, on a non-HD station, then something is not set right on the cable box itself, or there is some other source problem.

Just to confirm for FOO, I have also tuned in Digital channels (from 100 to 125) using the card's tuner on a coax connection. Premium channels are either scrambled or beyond the tuner's channel range. Turner Classic Movies at 103 I used several times. Haven't tried this in a while as s-video is much better than coax, also thru box makes all stations available.

[0hz]

Thanks, I'll see how it works tonight. I'm sure I could have missed something last night seeing as how I set it up in a rush under the influence of several Guinness'.