Capture - Sony Hi8 Camcorder-->Radeon All-in-Wonder 8500

[chomperz]

I just bought a new ATI All-in-Wonder Radeon 8500DV card in order to capture video from a Sony Hi8 Camcorder, VHS, etc. I previously had a Asus v8200 Geforce3 Deluxe, but the drivers were a pain and I couldn't get anything to work, so I decided to switch to the ATI card.
With the Asus card, I couldn't get the capture drivers to work. With the ATI card, they work, but I can't figure out how to actually capture the video from the camcorder. I've tried to use both VirtualDub and Ulead VideoStudio 5.0. The drivers work fine, but all I see is a screen with static. I have the camcorder set at "VTR" (playback), and have it paused at where I want to capture... but I can't figure out how to get it to show up on the screen...
I've tried following the directions under CAPTURE on this website, but it doesn't really address this problem...
Please help!!!
If anyone would like to offer help through AIM, I'd be more than happy to accept
Thanks!

[sillysunrise]

Ok I jusy got a Radeon all in one the other day for the same reason as you. I found that if you have virtual dub installed on the computer there is some sort of conflict and your video will not show up. So take virtual dub off. Ok I am asuming that your H8 is not digital. so make sure you have the ulead video software set for analog(they have directions in the software). I had the same problem as you did and now it is working great and the quality is awsome.

now remeber this! cause this one had me stumped. Make sure you dont have any external microphones plugged into your computer or it will record any sound that happens when you are recording instead of what is on the camcorder. It kept picking sound up from my webcam that has a mic on it, and it took me a bit to figure out that that is where it was coming from. Well I hope that this helped you. let me know.

[chomperz]

hey,
thanks for your help, but i still can't get it to work... when i press the record button, i get an error message:
"The current video capture size is (320X480) does not match the capture setting (MPEG2-640X480 Default). The adjustments may be incorrect, or your capture device does not support 640X480.
Please adjust the dimensions before you capture.

Failed in capturing.
The created file is corrupt and unusable.
It will automatically be deleted."
Any ideas?
ALSO, I was reading in the help section on "capturing video clips from an analog source", and one of the steps says:
"4. In the Global Command menu, select the Capture plug-in you want to use in Change Capture Plug-in. Select Ulead VFW Capture Plug-in if you want to capture in AVI format; select Ulead MPEG VFW Capture Plug-in when you want to capture in MPEG format."
I have neither of these plug-ins... I am using Ulead MPEG DirectShow Capture Plug-in." The other one is "Ulead DirectShow Capture Plug-in." Does this matter?

[Steve_h]

I suggest you skip capturing through VideoStudio and capture with the ATI MMC software. You can then import your captured clips into VS for editing.

To use MMC, select TV and then select the capture format. Then select either the composite or svideo input depending on your setup. Start your HI8 and press the MMC "record" button.

[chomperz]

Thanks!!! That works! But one thing... the MMC software saves the video as an ATI file type, and VS won't recognize it... how did you get around this?

[Steve_h]

In MMC, click the "setup" button (square with a check mark). Then click on "set custom" and choose your file type. I like to use a custom MPEG-2 format at about 8000kbs.

Choose the exact same format in VS so it won't have to re-render unchanged sections. You can then convert the VS output to a standard SVCD for pretty good results. For a VCD, I suggest converting with TMPGENC.