NTSC --> PAL capture - help!!

[bolta]

Hope someone can offer advice here . . .

I'm using a PAL/NTSC vcr to play an NTSC tape, and want to capture it to avi. It doesn't matter which application I use to try and capture (vdub, AvCap, AVI_IO etc), I have the problem as follows . . .

1) when the video signal from my vcr is displayed, the image has "rolled" the top 30 lines or or to the bottom of the frame - in other words, it looks like a vertical sync problem on a tv, but when I capture I just get a large block of green rather than the "rolled" part of the image.

2) my BT878-based card supports either pal or ntsc - checked that already. Is anyone aware of a more appropriate WDM driver than the generic Microsoft one? I think that might be half the problem.

3) the other issue is that of PAL-60. I've read several posts about this "hybrid" format, and have an idea that my vcr might be outputting this signal when palying the ntsc tape. Anyone had any luck capturing this format? If so, how?

4) Finally (and thanks for being patient) the video displays perfectly in dscaler - anyone know how to capture the dscaler output to file?

Thanks in advance,

B.

[bolta]

Hey . . .

Thanks for the resounding silence!! *grin* Seriously, I stumbled across a solution last night - use dscaler to look at the ntsc tape in a pal60 format. When capturing in vdub, it picks up the dscaler settings and voila, ntsc video in full colour on a pal system.

Only problem now is to capture - the capture routine works ok in dscaler, but there's no sound (an issue with dscaler, i think). Capturing in vdub results in a heap of dropped frames - even with the capture resolution set to 320x240.

Any ideas??

B.

[ironwood321]

I gave up with dscaller and virtual dub as virtual dub drops an awful lot of frames and dscaller only outputs half the vertical resolution. I bought a standards converter instead and now can capture the output in either true NTSC or true PAL. It must easier and less hassle has a built in TBC and worth the money as I have quite a few foreign tapes to transfer.

[Deaks]

Now you've solved a lot of this yourself can I pick your brain?

I'm in the UK (you?) and am trying to do exactly the same thing, also with a BT chipset board, and I'm of course having the same problems with dropped frames in VirtualDub. Can you tell me what standards converter you got, where from, and how much?

Deaks.

[ironwood321]

Yep I am in the UK.
I have this "The New "ACE" Advanced Convertor Enhancer" from http://www.gthelectronics.com/

It cost about £300 and includes a built in TBC it can cross convert or turn you PAL 60 tape to proper NTSC and am very impressed with.

Computer Video magazine did a review of this unit a few months back and is worth checking out.

[Deaks]

£300!!!!!!!

Bit out of my league, I was hoping for something sub £50 from Argos. Ah well, I'll have to keep experimenting with my settings. I was getting OK results prior to a recent reinstall so I think my frame loss problems must be due to the tape I'm currently using.

Deaks.

[ironwood321]

Its a world standards converter with frame memory and TBC this is relatively cheap for this device. You cannot get anything like this for £50

[Deaks]

I'm sure it's good but I can't afford it at the moment.