Out of sync audio problem with analog capture & Pinnacle

[Donna Stefani]

I have the Pinnacle capture card & have read elsewhere on the forum about the problems with the audio being out of sync on analog, which I'm also experiencing. I have also read about the scenalyzer & have downloaded it & scenalyzer live, but can't figure out how to use them. I think I'm reading the the scenalyzer live doesn't work with analog, but I'm not positive.
Also, I have read here about using the virtualdub to capture, but I can't get to the screen that it says to go to to capture on the help files here. It tells me I have no capture device.
I would appreciate any assistance you may have to offer.
Thanks.

[GenePool_]

I don't know much about your capture card.
However, scenalyzer is a fantastic capture program.
It has the most features by far from what I've seen. I seems that most NLE programs focus more on the editing rather than packaging good capture software. You'd be amazed. Some of the best NLEs around don't show you the dropped frames when capturing! Anyway, scenalyzer captures DV AVI (type-1 or type-2). If your analog card converts your source to DV AVI then it should work. However, I noticed that a lot the pinnacle crap only works with their software. I use the canopus ADVC-100, it's great and works well with scenalyzer.

[VCD GURU]

I have a Pinnacle PCTV pro.

My advice is throw it out the window 8)

Get a Canopus unit for capture instead.

Like ADVC 50 or 100.

THAT is well spendt money!

I dont understand how it can possibly be legal to sell shit that dont do what they are supposed to.

A/V sync is a nightmare with pinnacle's products.

At least what i have experinced.

[xxiangg]

Based on my knowledge, There are two types of capture cards widely used.

1. AV to DV converter type, like Canopus ADVC-100, DataVideo DAC100,
and many DV digcam pass through mode. It captures both audio and
video through the card to DV file through IEEE 1394 port.
I believe most of the capture doing this way do not have a/v sync
problem.

2. TV turner type (using BTxxx chip). Video is captured by card using
either hardware or software codec. Audio is captured separately by
computer sound card. If your video signal quality is good and your
computer is fast enough, the result is very likely OK. But if your
video signal is poor, the result will very likely have a/v sync
problem. And I do not think there is an easy fix for the problem.

I do not know if there is any a/v sync problem for capture directly
to MPEG1/2.

[xxiangg]

Oh, by the way, I have Pinnacle AV card. I was told that the card has
problems when the video signal is bad. On the other hand, I have no
problem to capture the same video signal throuth CanonZ40 passthrough
mode.

[Donna Stefani]

I have been having a terrible time capturing from vhs to the puter, with dropped frames from seemingly perfect recordings. I can redo the same clip & come up with different numbers of dropped frames for no reason that I can come up with.
I have finally figured out the ScenalyzerLive & it works flawlessly with the Pinnacle capture card. I have been recording a favorite toon from digital cable onto vhs on the SP setting & attempting to get it onto the puter. The tapes are all brand new & when watched on the tv, they are perfect. I did a test using the same clip with the Studio 8 Deluxe software that came with the card & then the ScenalyzerLive. While the studio 8 had a horrible capture, with the audio out of sync, the scenalyzerlive was perfect, in sync, & no dropped frames.
I'm now over 1/2 way thru my 2nd vhs tape, recorded on the sp setting, & have had no dropped frames with scenalyzer & audio in perfect sync. Hope this helps others like myself.
Also, I've read on the pinnacle site about a composite to s video convertor. Does anyone know if this will show any improvement in quality?

[AlfB]

I have a Pinnacle card and had numerous problems with a/v sync until I loaded btwin drivers (http://btwincap.sourceforge.net/). Beware, however, as after installation I started having problems with brightness, hue, saturation and contrast settings. They were no longer the defaults and would not work at the defaults (too dark). It seems as with everything else with video, you seem to trade one problem for another. At least with this driver, I can reset the values to work, even if they do not seem to look quite as good as before. Before the installation, I could not get a reliable setting for the a/v sync problem. Also, you can try the driver and uninstall and go back if you do not like.

[splissken]

I've got a Pinnacle PCTV Pro and had problems with sync/dropped frames in both the Vision app and Studio 8. Someone on their forum suggested a program called enditall to shut down background apps. Ever since I downloaded it and used it, I haven't had one problem with sync/dropped frames. That's what worked for me.

[diehard_1955]

I would never buy or suggest anyone buy Pinnacle studio 8, but I made the mistake. The software bites, I could never get the audio to synch mainly with recording vhs tapes. What I do is capture with scenalyzer and then use Studio 8 to edit and burn. Havn't had one bad one since. I did upgrade from version 8.3 to 8.5 and this caused more problems. Don't upgrade.

You are right about the color correction, I have to do preview recording before I record to make sure it is right.

DON'T BUY IT

diehard