Capturing on ADVC-50, am I missing something?

[kymera]

I got myself a Canopus ADVC-50 a few weeks ago and installed it to a PCI slot and then from the external firewire socket to a DV-1000 capture card.

The card registered with windows, installed the necissary drivers and a video capture device is now displayed in the My Computer section. However, when I cabled up the VCR and started the video capture software, I keep getting a message stating that the DV device cannot be started.

I've tried several software programs (similar error messages) I've tried connecting it to my firewire card, using the internal firewire port, putting it in a spare bay instead of the PCI, but it's still not working. I tried altering the onboard settings of the ADVC-50, but still no effect.

Does anyone have any idea what I'm doing wrong, or what I should try next?

[junkmalle]

The ADVC-50 is for capturing analog video/audio. You should be plugging analog cables from a video source (VCR, analog camcorder, cable box) into the card.

What's a DV-1000 capture card?

[kymera]

I've got the three plug composite cable connecting the vcr to the ADVC-50, sorry I didn't make that very clear did I?

The DV-1000 as far as I can tell is a three socket firewire card specifically for video capture. It came as part of a bundle, so I'm not sure of the specifics, but it appears to have something to do with balancing the power input/output to ensure best performance... Or something

[wwjd]

I do not think you need the firewire at all. Have you tried to capture without the firewire and the vcr hooked directly to the ADVC50 card?

wwjd

[tdan]

The ADVC-50 has two firewire connectors. The one that is inside on the circuit board is the one that you connect to a firewire port on your computer.

The firewire port on the outside of the card, next to the s-video and comp + audio inputs is a "passthrough" that you can use for convience when you want to connect other firewire devices. You do not normally use that port during analogue captures.

EDIT - regarding PCI installation, the card is only using the PCI port to get power. You still need to connect from the firewire port on the circuit board to a firewire port on (or inside) your PC.

[tdan]

One other tip - This device basically looks like a DV camera to your PC, except that you can't control it from the computer. So, make sure that your analog source is "playing"(i.e. there is some video signal going in the inputs) when you try to start capturing from the DV source, or often the capture software won't see the device.

You generally cannot use the DV controls in your capture application, although I often have to click the "play" button in Scenalizer before the software will start showing anything in the preview window.

Dan

[kymera]

I'm begining to think that the card may be faulted.

Connecting the card to the firewire port either through the internal 6 pin firewire port, or the external 4 pin port I get the DV device appearing on My Computer. If I unplug the firewire, the device vanishes.

I guess that makes sense since the device is a analogue to DV conversion device rather than capture, so it has to feed the converted data to some other device for capture.

In the capture software (I've tried VirtualDub, Adobe Premier Elements and Windows Movie Maker) they all say a variation of the same error, "Can't Activate Recorder. Try Resetting Camera."

I have the VCR running before opening the software, and I've tried a second composite cable, in case that was the problem. But it appears to be the ADVC card itself that isn't working.

[Cole]

I hope that you got things sorted out, but the problems that you have are reported with a few ADVC-50 users.

Firstly, the ADVC-50 does not work with Virtualdub - it doesn't recognise it.
Window Movie Maker 1 does have some capture problems. WMM2 is better but not perfect.

What OS are you using. Some users have reported that there were problems with SP1, but was solved with SP2. I, thankfully, have had no such problems with SP1, but had loads beforehand.

Get a capture program such as dvapp and open this program as the first thing you do after a reboot.

Read through some of the posts here https://www.videohelp.com/capturecards.php?CaptureCardRead=150#comments
As there may be a description of what your problem may be.

The firewire port on the outside of the card, next to the s-video and comp + audio inputs is a "passthrough" that you can use for convenience when you want to connect other firewire devices. You do not normally use that port during analogue captures.

I don't agree with this comment. I use the outside DV port to my Firewire card and this works perfectly. This port sends the signal to the Firewire card for capture.

I hope that this is helpful.

[tdan]

The firewire port on the outside of the card, next to the s-video and comp + audio inputs is a "passthrough" that you can use for convenience when you want to connect other firewire devices. You do not normally use that port during analogue captures.

I don't agree with this comment. I use the outside DV port to my Firewire card and this works perfectly. This port sends the signal to the Firewire card for capture.

Then the outside and inside ports must be equivalent because I only have the interal firewire port connected to my motherboard and analog captures work fine. When I need to capture from my DV cam, I plug the camera into the front port, and it also works fine.

[Cole]

Then the outside and inside ports must be equivalent because I only have the interal firewire port connected to my motherboard and analog captures work fine. When I need to capture from my DV cam, I plug the camera into the front port, and it also works fine.

This is interesting as the specs do say:

DV Output
> 4-pin i.LINK connecter (External)
> 6-pin i.LINK connecter (Internal)

Analog Video Input
> NTSC (525/60)
> PAL (625/50)
> 1 x S-Video In (Y/C)
> 1 x Composite Video In (RCA)

From here: http://www.canopus-uk.com/UK/products/ADVC-50/pt_advc-50.asp#technical_specification

[kymera]

Thanks to everybody for the advice. It looks like the problem actually lies with my VCR. I connected my DVD player to the card, and it works like a charm, but I'm still getting nothing from my VCR, so I'm guessing that it's actually something wrong with the output on the VCR rather than the card... Now I just need to find another VCR to try.

To answer COLE, I've got windows XP with SR2 installed, and I'll give dvapp a try. Never been a fan ow windows movie maker, but when you're desperate...

[azuberi80]

you know thats funny because i was looking for a thread about this EXACT problem and here it is.

my advc is fine, ive used a hi8 camcorder through the svideo port to capture video already.

i just cant get my vcr to capture in movie maker like the hi8 camcorder did.....im using regular rca cables for the vcr because it doesnt have s video and my windows movie maker doesnt seem to see it.

im going out to buy a s video vcr today to see if that takes care of the problem.