Issues with capture device and settings in Virtualdub

[Ad_astra]

Hi, I'm trying to capture Hi8 footage in VD using a usb dongle. Not the top name, but from the various youtube tutorials it looks like folks are using cheaper stuff with way better results.

First off, selecting "USB video direct show" from Device menu results in complete noise instead of video - just a bunch of moving horizontal lines in the preview window. The only device option that works (meaning, I get a picture in the preview) is Microsoft WDM.

Maybe as a consequence, I get "no sources" in the Video source. Don't know if there are any settings to adjust there.

The Format looks OK with 720:480 and YUY2 selected (the only other option is MJPG but I haven't tried that).

Not sure if I'm supposed to adjust any Levels, but it says "no video level controls are available with this capture driver". Should I download any drivers?

When I play the resulting file, it looks way worse than if I output directly from my Hi8 camcorder to TV and the aspect ratio seems to be off - it is kind of midway between 4:3 and wide screen, and everything predictably looks a little squished.

Interestingly, if I do a pass through using my MiniDV camera via firewire, the image is quite a bit better and the aspect ratio is spot on, but colors are kind of dull, which is why I'm trying to see if I can still do the capture directly from the analog camera.

Would appreciate any suggestions. Thanks!

[Darryl In Canada]

I think the main issue is that some capture devices either don’t come with their own drivers or, if they do, the drivers don’t offer many options in software. For example, I once tried using the ATI 750 USB device in VirtualDub 1.9.11, and when I opened the Video Levels menu, a pop-up message said, “No video level controls are available with this capture device.” I don’t think I was able to capture anything at all.

I'm not sure whether any generic drivers are available for the chipset used in that USB device. If you go this route, be cautious when downloading or running software from unfamiliar or sketchy websites.

If you have access to a MiniDV camcorder and a FireWire port, I would recommend using that instead of a (likely inferior) USB capture device. The only downside is that if you zoom in, you’ll notice some blockiness due to the DV25 codec, which is lossy. Also, in my tests, Hi8 footage digitized through a MiniDV camcorder tends to appear a bit brighter than when captured with a high-quality SD capture device. However, I’ve found that adjusting the brightness in post (e.g., in Premiere or Resolve) can adjust the brightness and show the missing detail.

[themaster1]

I'm guessing "usb video directshow" fails because it can't decode what's coming in, you may have to tweak the settings using directshow file manager and then either ffdshow video decoder or ffdshow raw filter (especially the codecs/ output tabs: YUY2 and also the interlaced tab). That'll be sub optimal in terms of stability/quality anyway.
Can also be a rendering issue : VMR9 vs EVR vs overlay. Windows 7 and on prefer EVR but software like vdub prefer overlay or vmr9 i think. Been some time since i messed with these kind of devices. One of the reasons i went hdmi.

[Ad_astra]

Thank you for your input. Looks like I'll have to go the firewire route through my MiniDV camera.