DV capturing problem

[Nhill]

I just got a ADVC-100 and am trying to convert old VHS tapes to DV. But everytime I try to capture the picture looks cut or resized at the top and bottom. I installed the Canopus Codec on my computer, but still have the same problem. I Looked throught all giudes, but could not find anything. Any Help?

Thanks
Chris

[redwudz]

DV codecs in a computer are for viewing DV. The ADVC-100 uses it's own hardware codec for DV transfer. There's no capture involved, just data transfer similar to copying a file between drives.

I have never noticed any lose of picture area. I generally use WinDV for the transfers to the computer.

Unfortunately, Canopus has historically been sparse as far as 'owners manuals' included with the ADVC-100. Still, there should be a lot of forums out there that give better information. I've had mine for over two years, no complaints, no problems.

As an aside, if they still include that strange SVHS to phono adapter, use it on the back of the unit, along with a stereo to 1/8" plug, a 6 pin to 6 pin Firewire cable and you can put all the cables out the back of the unit. It looks a lot tidier.

[edDV]

I just got a ADVC-100 and am trying to convert old VHS tapes to DV. But everytime I try to capture the picture looks cut or resized at the top and bottom. I installed the Canopus Codec on my computer, but still have the same problem. I Looked throught all giudes, but could not find anything. Any Help?

Thanks
Chris

Tell us what software you are using on the computer. What does the monitor output of the ADVC show?

[Nhill]

I have used a few different programs, but for the most part winDV. All have the same end result. The picture in the window of WinDV looks normal to me (could be worng). But the Avi always looks like a movie screen. Also the playback of the avi does not look cut at the top and the bottom, It looks resized. Think it might be a bad unit?

Also should I hear sound in WinDV. The avi always has sound, but in winDV does not.

[edDV]

Since it looks right in WinDV preview, I think this may be a playback issue then.

How are you playing the avi? Could you post a frame grab?

[Cole]

WinDV does not play any sound, it only displays the capture.

With the cropping, something similar happened ONCE to me and the culprit was Windows Media Player 8. It played back a video with the bottom third of the picture cropped off. It also never seems to playback my AVIs at the right resolution either.

I viewed the film again in another video player (Zoom) and it played perfectly. WMP played it properly after that.

I never knew what happened or what caused it.

[Nhill]

I am using window media player 8.

Well thanks, I did go ahead and convert the DV file to DVD format and burned it. It looks fine on my TV . Thanks for the help.

[State Of Mind]

I use Media Player Classic and it plays all media at the resolution indicated by the source. You can view pretty much any media at any specified resolution with any player. But, I'm simplistic, basic and like to see video at the resolution it's encoded as.

[Donny661]

DV is 720x480 (NTSC), and if it is displayed with square pixels, it will not be the correct aspect ratio. The image will look slightly stretched horizontally. DVD is also 720x480, but playback software will resize it so that it is displayed in the right aspect ratio. When you convert to DVD and then play the DVD, the playback equipment will display it at the correct aspect ratio.