Recorded videos are suddenly wavy and in black and white

[Cheb]

I've captured a couple tapes already just fine, but now suddenly they're all without color and distorted. This happened a few times before but re-plugging my capture card and restarting VirtualDub fixed it, but now nothing seems to be fixing this issue. :/ Plus now VirtualDub's video preview is entirely blank sometimes for seemingly no reason. Occasionally when the tape is stopped, VirtualDub will show the color of the blue screen in a glitchy streaky way, but for the most part that too just displays grey. The preview on my camcorder displays the tape perfectly fine and with full color.

Anyone have any insight as to why this might be? For reference, I'm using a Pinnacle 510 capture card, and VirtualDub is my recording software. I'm using a JVC GR-SXM330U camcorder to play the tapes. No matter whether I use the s-video or RCA video output, this issue persists now.

Here's an example of the issue, using a tape I was previously able to capture perfectly fine:

[Attachment 84362 - Click to enlarge]

[timtape]

Edit: I missed reading that the tape plays fine on the camcorder's viewfinder. Have edited my post accordingly.

[Cheb]

I tried an extra cheapo capture card I have and it's capturing color fine, but there's even worse horizontal waviness to the picture in the preview, can't even make out what's being filmed. Also the preview in VirtualDub disappears when I start the recording. :I After I press stop on the recording and look at the file though, it appears normal. So it sounds like the color issue is with the capture card, the waviness issue is with VirtualDub AND the original capture card I was using, and then there's the disappearing preview issue with VirtualDub.

Not sure why any of these problems started the morning after digitizing a bunch of tapes just fine, but I'll keep trying to see what I can do.

[lollo]

What VCR and capture cards are you using? Are the tapes in good shape or marginal at any play operation?

[Bernix]

Sorry missed RCA and Svideo

[Cheb]

What VCR and capture cards are you using? Are the tapes in good shape or marginal at any play operation?

I'm using a JVC GR-SXM330U (an S-VHS-C camcorder) for playback and a Pinnacle 510 capture card. The tapes are in good condition and I've been able to digitize like 10 of them already. Even when testing this recording setup with tapes I was able to easily capture just a day ago with this same setup, these issues persist. The tapes playback fine in the camcorder's viewfinder, so the issue shouldn't be with the tapes. My other crappier capture card I tested after these issues started, to see if these issues would go away, is a no-name $5 capture card I got 3 years ago on Amazon.

Basically it seems like VirtualDub and the Pinnacle 510 suddenly started having issues with previewing video playback and capturing video respectively.

[lollo]

Try another capture software, i.e. AmarecTV or VirtualVCR, just to remove this variable.

[dellsam34]

My other crappier capture card I tested after these issues started, to see if these issues would go away, is a no-name $5 capture card I got 3 years ago on Amazon.

Did the issue persists with your "crappier capture card"?

[Cheb]

I tried an extra cheapo capture card I have and it's capturing color fine, but there's even worse horizontal waviness to the picture in the preview, can't even make out what's being filmed. Also the preview in VirtualDub disappears when I start the recording. :I After I press stop on the recording and look at the file though, it appears normal.

With this other card, the issue persisted in the video preview but not in the actual video file produced. The video file seemed normal (albeit lower quality).

Also, I tried AmaRecTV with my Pinnacle 510 as suggested, and my issue continues with it. The produced video looks just like the image attached in my original post. I doubt both AmaRecTV and VirtualDub would be causing the same issue here, so it looks like the issue is with my Pinnacle 510 (or the cable that attaches it to my computer, I suppose). So strange that it suddenly started doing this when just the night before it was working just fine.

[betwixt]

Looks to me like a ground connection has come adrift. The wavy distortion seems to be at a lower frequency than the video and not related to the video content. Is it possible the video is being grounded through the audio connection? We need to see a short video clip to see if there is any correlation between audio and sync distortion. I certainly suspect a hardware problem, nothing to do with software at all.

Brian.

[dellsam34]

If the files produced play just fine this is a display/preview driver issue, If you have a saved system restore point on your computer before this issue started go back to it to see if maybe an update nuked your driver's display capability.

[Cheb]

I've attached a small clip of what the video captured by my Pinnacle 510 is looking like now, as requested.

Also, here's a picture of what the preview in VirtualDub looks like using the other capture card just for reference.

[Attachment 84407 - Click to enlarge]
I tried it in AmaRecTV as well but it kept giving me this error code:

return: HRESULT=800705AA (FAILED) Insufficient system resources exist
to complete the requested service.
code: mpMediaControl->Run()

I'll see about the drivers in the meantime.

[dellsam34]

That screen should be fixed by switching from overlay to preview or vise versa in vdub.

[Cheb]

Switching to Preview makes it disappear unfortunately, not even a black screen just VirtualDub's grey background.

[Cheb]

Update: I tried uninstalling the Pinnacle drivers, deleting VirtualDub and removing the relevant file from my PC's registry, and reinstalling everything. Now the Pinnacle 510 just flashes it's light twice when I plug it in and isn't starting. :/

[dellsam34]

If you insist on using the Pinnacle card you may want to use an older OS, Pinnacle hasn't made a driver since Win 7.

[jwillis84]

change the sync gate width, open the gate for VCR Input