Analog capture

[swolf387]

I have a Dell, P4 2.4, 756ish rd ram, 200 gig, with a Texas Instrument 1394, Dazzle propietary breakout box that does analog and digital.
When I bought this, I was able to use Movie Factory 2 and MGI Videowave 4 to capture analog (vcr rca plugs into the breakout box). I had sync problems, but I was able to do it. I then got a Sony TRV33 digital camcorder, and it would not let me capture in digital. I tried it all. I then uninstalled my programs and put them back on. I now can capture digital, but no analog. I recently tried Movie Factory 3 video disc trial program, and still can not. I then hooked up my vcr to my trv33, then to my breakout box. I am then able to capture from my vcr. I would of course rather not have to go through my camcorder to capture from my vcr, but have tried checking all properties in my Movie Factory, and now Pinnacle 8 programs and can not get it to capture. Any ideas would be much help. I know there is just that one box that I need to click , but I can't find it.

[indolikaa]

Can you do this?

Run the VCR through the camcorder, and the camcorder directly into the 1394 port. Download WinDV and capture some VCR footage, thus bypassing the entire Dazzle* process.

You should end up with an .avi file directly on your hard drive, which is likely usable in either program. If either program can open/import the file, you've narrowed it down to the Dazzle* interface, which is where I suspect the problem is.

[swolf387]

Thanks for the reply. I did go straight to my capture card with firewire and I was able to capture vhs analog just fine with my MF3 and other programs. But I was able to with the breakout box too. I would like to leave my camcorder out of the picture when capturing analog.
Basically, my breakout box will not let me capture analog from vcr. But when I go from vcr to digital camcorder, then to breakout box (or directly to card) I can capture vcr. I am missing something here. Dazzle put this thing out for Dell only. Dazzle has posted on their website that they refuse to support it. Dell could care less about it because they went to a different setup two weeks after I bought this crap. Sucks to be me.

[budz]

Naw it sucks to buy a DELL PC. I wouldn't buy one if someone paid me. Take a look at this site that talks about how DELL does not use industry standard components on their computers.
http://www.upgradingandrepairingpcs.com/articles/upgrade3_01_01.asp

If you are willing to spend some money invest in a CANOPUS ADVC-100. It will enable you to convert vhs to dvd. Do a search in this forum for CANOPUS ADVC-100.

[swolf387]

Wow, thank you for that site. That is funny because when I was about to buy the system I asked them about their motherboard and they would not tell me the brand of it, which made me realize it was made for just them and so upgrades were almost impossible. But I did it, with the mindset of I bought a good one that should not need upgraded for awhile. My first mistake was the dvd+r format drive. What a joke. I knew very little at that time though. The Dazzle breakout box is the biggest joke of them all though. I will never buy Dell again and I hope they go under. But they won't because of dumbasses like me.

[budz]

Your welcome! Naw you're not a dumbass. Just pass along the information you've read about DELL. We all live and learn. When I decided I wanted to build my own computers I looked at different computer forum sites. I found that information about DELL from this site.
http://www.duxcw.com/yabbse/index.php

When friends ask me what computer brand I would recommend, I tell them I wouldn't buy a DELL. LOL! of course some don't listen and buy it anyway. I guess it would be ok to buy a DELL PC if you aren't going to do any upgrades in the future. People buy DELL PC's because they're reasonably cheap. Like the old saying goes, "you pay for what you get". Not many people know what to look for when purchasing a computer. Forum sites like this one are very helpful. 6 years ago I knew nothing about computers. I learn something new everyday!

If you really want to do capturing invest in a CANOPUS ADVC-100. You won't regret purchasing one. Just make sure you use a dedicated firewire card for it.

[swolf387]

Well i read some on the Canopus ADV100 and have a question. Hopefully it can be answered. It sounds like the card for me BUT, with my piece of crap Dell, can I use it with my 1394 firewire card. Its a Texas Instrument and I found the following statement on their site.
ADVC100 Known Issues
The ADVC currently has compatibility issues with certain firewire cards using the Texas Instruments chipsets.
My other question, keep in mind I have no idea about this card, do I keep the capture card I have currently and use it with the Canopus, or does it become obsolete, how exactly does it work. Speak to me as a 4 year old. Thanks.

[swolf387]

I just read your last post, and I laughed. My buddy (who builds his and others computers), told me not to buy a Dell over and over and said he could build me an awesome puter. BUT I didn;t, and he is now laughing his ass off at me.

[tigerman8u]

I'm glad I came across this post. Glad ppl are talking about how lousy Dell is. My son and my nephew are seniors in college and both purchased a Dell computer that cost $2200 but got them thru the college for $1800 with a $400 discuont due to the college buying in volume. My nephew has been having problems with his Dell and tech support wouldn't help him cause he was putting in a new cd burner. 6months into a 3 year warranty and my son's computer wouldn't boot up. All original equipment, except he got new speakers. Tech support said he had to call customer service, customer service said he had to call tech support. This went back and forth 4x in 1 day. I called and explained he had paid $1250 for a class he had to go on the internet for. He ended up dropping the class and now 4 months later computer not fixed nor replaced. We ended up building him a new one. DELL SUCKS.

[budz]

swolf387 wrote:

My other question, keep in mind I have no idea about this card, do I keep the capture card I have currently and use it with the Canopus, or does it become obsolete, how exactly does it work

CANOPUS ADVC-100 is a DV CONVERTER DEVICE. It's a little black box that has a/v inputs and outputs & S-video in and out. It converts vhs, hi8, beta to digital video. Read about it on CANOPUS site.
http://www.canopus.com/US/products/advc-100/pm_advc-100.asp

All you do is hook it up from your firewire port on your computer to your vcr, hi8 camcorder, dv camcorder or betamax. No audio video sync problems using this device on my computer.

tigerman8u wrote:

DELL SUCKS.

Yes I agree with you 100%!

[indolikaa]

Buy the Canopus. I prefer ATI AIW cards, but I was a previous Dazzle* owner and as far as I'm concerned, Dazzle* sucks.

I do like Dell servers, though. Not a big fan of their desktops. But since I build all my computers from scratch. Well... :P

Don't feel like using the camcorder to pass the signal through is such a bad thing. Like I said, I did that for a lot of videotapes and TMPGEnc produced some specatular video footage.

.indolikaa.
Dell? Well...