Video capturing help, having trouble please

[monigg]

Hi

i purchased a video capturing device few months ago

its called plextor convertx PX-M402U

it came bundled with the intervideo windvd creator software

so i connected the composite cables from the converter to the back of my satelite box, i ran the software, the device drivers and everything are installed

I can see the video on my PC, as the device is connected to the satelite box, and whatevers playing on the TV plays on my pc

but when i hit record, the video disapears and nothing happens

I think its some kind of issue with the intervideo software

ive been searching from some freeware video capturing software on the internet, they all seem to be subpart

I was wondering if you guys could help

I just want to capture some tv stuff and i havent been able to get even a lil video captured onto my pc

[RickA]

Greets,

Give VirtualVCR a try. See thread in these forums on how to properly do the settings. VirtualDub is also a great program to capture with. Good luck.

Cheers,
Rick

[monigg]

hey thanksss alot

virtual vcr worked really well, its awesome

but when i play the videos theres no audio, i have connected 3 composite cables, 1 for video and 2 for audio, its still not capturing audio

then i took the audio cables out the satelite box and put them on the tv, its still not capturing audio

any ideas?

[RickA]

Glad it is working part way for you so far.

I take it you set up the audio portion in VirtualVCR. Chose an appropriate audio decoder. I prefer to capture in RAW for video and audio since I have the hard disk space.

What about your sound card settings in Windows? Audio Ins / Records not muted or volume turned down too low by default. Also make sure you use Line in and not Microphone inputs. That is if you have an older system with seperate Mic and Line inputs. Some newer ones can auto detect and adapt to whatever you plug in to it.

About all I can think of at the moment. Will try to think of more if those do not help.

Cheers,
Rick

Addendum #1:
Smart thinking there GideonK. I hated to ask the obvious but you can hear the audio input from Sat box / tv through your computer speakers? On my system the input volume I had to set to the second bar from the bottom on Line In because it was really loud. I believe V-VCR has a window that shows you the incoming audio you are hearing. I would preview the audio in Virtualdub capture mode first because it has a DB meter. Then capture in V-VCR because it seemed to keep audio in sync better for me till I got a TBC.


#2
You need to tell it some format to record in. PCM, WAV or something.

[GideonK]

Download Mediainfo and open the captured video clip and it'll tell you if the audio is present or not and what codec it is. You may be missing the proper audio codec to hear the sound.

[monigg]

hmm I am not compressing in anyformat, i am capturing raw, nothing seems to be muted

ill play around moree

thanks alot for your help

[monigg]

yeaaa the audio isnt capturing, it sucks cuz i love the simplicity of this program, im gonna try a few more now, any more suggestions?

[RickA]

My apologies, the guide I was thinking of for setting up Virtual-VCR is on another forum. Here it is http://www.doom9.org/index.html?/capture/capturing_VirtualVCR.html

If the link does not work try a Google search for VirtualVCR guide.

It is much easier once you have the settings done in the proper order and saved then it should remember them. I do recall a couple times that it would 'forget' and I would have to go in to reset them. I don't have it currently installed to check the settings I used and it has been some months. I do think you have to tell it some format to save in, even if raw.
I think you had to tell it your input devices.

In your Control Panel / Sounds Speech .. / Recording Control / Properties / Audio Input blah blah .. you do have a check mark next to Line in / Recording and can see the Volume bar. Can adjust it and all that? I know it sounds blaringly obvious but is not always enabled by default.

I'm getting tired for the evening. Hope you figure it out and get things working soon.

Cheers,
Rick

[thecoalman]

As far as the original problem they might have flag in the brodcast which says it copy protected which the software will see and prevent copying. For example I have a VIVO graphics card, if you connect a VCR with a commercial tape which will have Macrovison on it. The display will be fine. When you hit record it will work fine too. It's not until you open the file that it becomes a problem because there is white square over about 75% of the capture.

Try some other signal like a VHS deck from a freshly recorded tape, be sure its freshly recorded and not some tape you've had laying around for 10 years.

The other thing is that device is hardware encoder, you should be capturing in its native format. By the psecs it should be MPEG or Divx. when you use other software it's going to take the MPEG or whatever its encoding too and do on the fly software encode. If for example you're going to put this video on DVD you'd only have to use the MPWG create by the device to put it right on disc with 0 quality loss from the original encode.

[monigg]

thanks alot for your help guys, much appreciated

I figured it out, I just used virdual dub instead of virtual vcr and its capturing just fine with the audio

I couldnt figure out why virtual vcr wasnt capturing audio, i tried changing settings cables and what not

thanks alot