Capture NTSC VHS Signal on PAL System

[RobRo]

Hi all,

I want to purchase a rare VHS movie from the US (it's only available in the NTSC format). However, I live in Europe and my equipment only supports PAL. I want to capture the video and put it on cdrom.
I use IUVCR for capturing and VirtualDub / TMPEnc for editing.
My question: is it possible to capture a NTSC signal without loss of quality, scanline etc on my PAL system. I checked some sites but didn't find a real anwer to this (with the exception of NTSC<->PAL hardware convertors).

Anybody knows if this software solution gives me problems ?

Thanx!

[SatStorm]

First things first!

You say that your equipment is PAL only.
Please clearify about your VCR a bit more:
Does your VCR support NTSC? Or your VCR output NTSC as PAL60? Or it doesn't support NTSC at all?

If your VCR don't support NTSC at all, then there are not much to do...

[RobRo]

Thx for your reply,

I have my analogue capturecard through cart on my VCR.
VCR specifications say that it's only VHS/MESECAM Standard. Isn't there a way that captureprograms can do something with the signal ?

[RobRo]

I was too quick
Specification says it's VHS PAL MESECAM Standard (no NTSC mentioned).

I meant that when I use a capture program and the NTSC signal goes through the PAL VCR is there no way you can tell (some kind of) capture program to convert the signal (by software) ?

[SatStorm]

You are from Nederlands, so you couldn't have a MESECAM - only VCR (Middle East SECAM).

Unfortunatelly, you need a VCR that is capable to playback NTSC.
There is no software solution for your problem.
Neither later, the NTSC to PAL convertion is an easy task. Possible yes, easy no.

But first you need a VCR that can play NTSC tapes!

[Browncoat]

I am in the same boat as RobRo.

I live in Australia the land of Pal. I have a NTSC tape I want to capture. My VCR is an expensive JVC which plays NTSC tapes fine onto a TV however when I try to capture using ADVC100 the signal gets garbled. If I change the dip switches on ADVC to NTSC I get a black and white picture.. Maybe a TV capture card might handle the signal better? I took the capture card out because the ADVC has superior quality captures but it doesnt seem to like NTSC.. What do you suppose is going on here?

[SatStorm]

Your VCR output NTSC as PAL60.

The only way I know for capturing PAL 60, is with a bt8xxx card and the btwincap drivers...

[Burnt Thru]

Got the same problem here in Britain . Except I can't get any kind of picture , black and white or otherwise .

I'm using a Hauppenauge WinTV PVR USB2 as my capture device , from a JVC SVHS machine onto my laptop . The NTSC tape gives picture and sound onto my TV ( I guess it's being converted to PAL 60 ) but won't do the same with my computer . What gives ?

I've tried using both S-Video and Composite cables but with no improvement ( incidentally both work with PAL signals from Tape and aerial ) and haven't a clue what the problem might be . Is there some way to switch the TV card from accepting a PAL signal over to a PAL 60 one ?

Any help would be appreciated .

[pierced100]

The only way you can capture the NTSC VHS video is to buy a cheap second hand NTSC video player from America or e-bay.

New European video players can play both PAL and NTSC. However when the European video player plays an NTSC VHS video it does not really convert it to PAL. On the TV screen the images from a European PAL/NTSC video player will look ok. The problem is the video output from a NTSC VHS video player. The NTSC video output from a PAL/NTSC European video player is in a quasi format. The NTSC picture you capture will be very clear but it will only capture in black and white. PAL captures will be in colour.

I had precisely the same problem as you. I had a few NTSC videos I wanted to capture. I could only ever capture in black and white until I got a true NTSC video player from America.

I got mine on e-bay for $67.00 including shipping and handling. If you buy an American NTSC video player you will also need to buy a step down power convertor (£12 - 20 from any good uk electrical shop).

SatStorm wrote:
Your VCR output NTSC as PAL60.

The only way I know for capturing PAL 60, is with a bt8xxx card and the btwincap drivers...


I also tried this and I could still only get a black and white picture.

As far as I know the only way you are going to be able to do this is with a proper American NTSC video player.

[pierced100]

Sorry posted same message twice

[The_Doman]

The only way I know for capturing PAL 60, is with a bt8xxx card and the btwincap drivers...

I also tried this and I could still only get a black and white picture.

To use PAL60 or NTSC50 with the btwincap drivers requires a Bt878 or better chipset. I did a short test with it and PAL 60 worked for me with a newer BT878 TV-card. It requires some tweaking to get the best results it seems.

[Burnt Thru]

How do I find out which cards have a Bt878 chipset ? Is there some site I can visit ? More specifically , is the Hauppenauge WinTV PVR USB2 bassed on that chipset ?