ADS Pyro A/V Link - black screen

[Brad]

Apologies for the semi-long post, but I figure I'd better lay out everything that I've already tried.

I bought a "like new"/"works great" ADS Tech Pyro A/V Link off of eBay, and thus far I haven't succeeded in displaying or capturing anything. The seller was very helpful and thorough in email communications about the shipping arrangements from US to Canada, and nothing in his feedback profile would indicate any sort of foul play, so I would prefer to do more troubleshooting before taking it up with him.

I've never before owned a Firewire device that actually functioned. My Canon HV20 camcorder had a busted port as confirmed by the store, and I ended up getting an AVCHD camcorder instead. So I'm not really sure what I should be doing here.

I've tried both composite and S-video inputs (on the front of the unit), using my satellite receiver and my PS3. All I get is black video and nothing actually captures. The front LEDs are on and the light switches from blue for Digital to red for Analog once I try to capture.

My main system is Windows 7 x64. I have a motherboard Firewire port as well as a PCI card, both of which had the same results with WinDV, Exsate DV Capture Live, and Sony Vegas' capture app.



Frustrated, I took the PCI card out and put it into a spare Dell WinXP SP3 machine I have sitting here. No difference with either Windows Movie Maker or WinDV.




I also tried every combination of DIP switch settings that I could think of, though I suppose it's possible I missed some magical permutation.

Hooking up the composite and S-video outputs on the back of the unit to my TV successfully displayed a test pattern, and a downloaded sample DV video via the Record to Tape function in WinDV (though glitchy at the start of playback - cutting between test pattern/green video/actual video for a second or two).

The included 6-pin to 6-pin Firewire cable is the only one of that type that I have, so I can't try a different one. And if video can be output to the unit through that cable, input shouldn't be a problem, right?

I'm at a loss for what else to try. Any ideas?

[filmboss80]

...and I ended up getting an AVCHD camcorder instead.

Huh??? Are you even shooting in the DV format? AVCHD is not DV!!!

[Brad]

I guess I shouldn't have even said anything about that. That was just my backstory about never having used a Firewire device that worked.

The purpose of the "Pyro A/V Link" is to convert VHS tapes and other analog input, and as I said my tests are with my satellite receiver and PS3. Nothing to do with my new camcorder.

[edDV]

I don't have a Pyro to compare. It seems like it is working in the reverse direction DV-AVI to TV.

It must be a switch setting.

[Brad]

Thanks for the responses. The Mode Switch on the front controls the direction, the Digital/blue light is for output and I've verified that when I switch it to the Analog/red light the color bar output drops out. Analog is the mode it switches to when I try to capture, so the direction does seem to be correctly set.

Any other ideas?

[filmboss80]

If you tried it on 2 different computers and it didn't work, it's a sign that either the Pyro device is not working correctly or the firewire cable is bad.

I don't know if there might be a driver issue, but you may want to check the Device Manager and see if the words “1394 DV Camcorder” appear under Sound, video and game controllers. (EDIT: I'm not sure this should apply in your situation. In the past, some firewire A/V interfaces required it.)

[Brad]

I actually included screenshots showing the Device Manager on both Win7 and XP. It shows up under "Imaging devices" rather than Sound, video and game controllers. The manual has an XP screenshot showing "AVC Compliant DV Tape Recorder/Player" under Imaging devices.

By the way, here's a promo pic of the device showing the Mode Switch and lights I was referring to.

[Brad]

I decided to try again to see if the analog passthrough would at least work. To my surprise it did this time, and when I looked over at WinDV I saw that it was also previewing the input so I hit Capture.



I'm pretty pleased with that, though the comb filter leaves something to be desired.



All well and good, but maybe 5 minutes in I started noticing obnoxious colored bands appearing. When I checked back 40 mins later they were even more noticeable. Their intensity was directly proportional to the color saturation in the image, and they showed up both on the capture and the "passthrough" (actually A-D-A output) signal I was watching.



Eventually I stopped capturing and plugged the S-video cable from the same satellite PVR into the Pyro. Same issue, again both on the preview window and the composite output from the back of the device.

For what it's worth, I know for a fact that the lines aren't in the digital source nor do they show up using the same cables plugged into my TV directly.

But this is rather moot anyway, because when I went the next step and tried component input from my PS3, video showed for less than 10 seconds before dropping completely. I'm now back to the black screen no matter which input I choose! I also power cycled and unplugged and replugged the video cables several times.

Output-wise, for a few seconds when I turn it on before the color bars pop up I can actually see some semi-garbled frames showing from the input. The color bars are stable, but actual video output via WinDV drops out every few seconds.

I guess I'm going to have to take the seller up on his offered refund. He's been excellent this whole time, so at least that's a consolation.

[edDV]

Get a Canopus ADVC next time. Mine has been solid since 2004.

[qz3fwd]

Well, if you hooked up your PS3 using component you should not get any output since the PS3 would highly likely be outputting either 720p or 1080i/p, none of which the Pyro can accept as input, only SD resolutions. Hook up your sat receiver to it using component video cable and set the output of the sat receiver to 480i/p and see what happens.

[Brad]

I'm no dummy. I already had the PS3 set to output 480i 4:3 over component.

My receiver doesn't do component anyway.