VirtualDub screen turns black when starting capture

[Mansour]

Hey everyone,

I'm having a bit of trouble capture composite video with VirtualDub.
When I select my source, I can see the video image and everything works correctly, until I start the video capture, the screen turns black and the captured video is all black. I tried disabling the preview while capturing, it didn't solve the problem. My capture card has an s-video input and TV cable/antenna input. Both work as expected before and during capturing. I tried using an adapter to convert from RCA to S-Video, it works but the image is very blocky and looks bad, while the composite image when displayed looks correct (my VCR has only a composite output).

If I open VDub and the last selected source was composite, the image is black, I have to change it to TV tuner or S-video and then change it back to composite so I can see the image.
But if I open the software and the last selected source was something else (the tuner or S-Video) then I can directly see the image, no need to change to something else and go back.
I'm using the card's DirectShow as the device.

I know my setup is a bit old and by far not the best, but I'm just trying to capture family tapes in the best way I can, and I figured that since I can see the image but I just lose it when I start capturing then it must be a software issue that I might be able to fix...
My setup:
LG vlk9320w VCR DVD combo
Philips SAA7130 capture card
Windows 7 on intel i5 Desktop
VirtualDub 1.10.4, and VirtualDub2

I'm trying to make it work with this setup because it's the only one so far that shows me everything that is on the tape and is extremely noise tolerant and doesn't drop frames when encountering noise. I have a slightly better setup (Blackmagic Intensity Shuttle + TBC + Macbook) but it doesn't allow for much noise.

Thanks in advance.

[Mansour]

Small update and some additional information.

So I ran another test, and I managed to capture via the S-Video input that I was avoiding in the beginning.
Why does the S-Video have this vertical lines texture over the image? Here are few screenshots:


[Attachment 79088 - Click to enlarge]

[Attachment 79089 - Click to enlarge]

[Attachment 79090 - Click to enlarge]

[Attachment 79091 - Click to enlarge]

And here's a screen recording of the initial issue I'm having, with VirtualDub switching to a black screen as soon as I start capturing a composite signal.
https://youtu.be/tv5qEODCLSU?si=CDSzWpfaIzWZmGGm

In the recording you can see two issues:
1. If I open the vdub and the last selected source was composite, the image will be black, I have to switch to another source and then back to composite to have an image display. This doesn't happen if the last source was Tuner for example.
2. The image becomes black when I start the capturing. Meanwhile, if I'm capturing from the tuner or from S-Video, the image remains during and after the capture.

I thought that it might be a hardware issue from the computer not being able to handle capturing the composite stream and displaying it, so I tried turning off display while capturing, reducing the format size and trying different compressions and codecs but nothing worked. Meanwhile, with S-Video, the computer captures normally, even with the format size being at the maximum possible, with no compression and with the preview being on during playback.

I hope that somebody might have an insight on why this issue is happening.

Thanks in advance.

[The_Doman]

I'm having a bit of trouble capture composite video with VirtualDub.
When I select my source, I can see the video image and everything works correctly, until I start the video capture, the screen turns black and the captured video is all black. I tried disabling the preview while capturing, it didn't solve the problem. My capture card has an s-video input and TV cable/antenna input. Both work as expected before and during capturing.

Did you also try using the VirtualDub Crossbar option to change the video inputs, if available with your capture card?
And of course does it work with other capture programs like the installed AmarecTV?

I tried using an adapter to convert from RCA to S-Video, it works but the image is very blocky and looks bad, while the composite image when displayed looks correct (my VCR has only a composite output).

So I ran another test, and I managed to capture via the S-Video input that I was avoiding in the beginning.
Why does the S-Video have this vertical lines texture over the image? Here are few screenshots:

[Attachment 79088 - Click to enlarge]

The interference pattern looks typical coming from a bad/wrong connected composite/S-Video connection.
(The big dark streak looks tape damage to me.)
What kind of adapter are you using?
A simple passive Composite to S-Video adapter/connector makes no sense and will improve nothing.
Also using S-Video or composite should not make any difference in performance during capturing.

Also did you try to capture/record with your DVD recorder and see what results it gives you?
Also when you are testing configuring your capture equipment it is better to use the output of your DVD recorder to save wear and tear on your (valuable?) tapes and VCR.
When al is connected and optimal configured, then start capturing your tapes.

But indeed the source you are capturing from looks very poor.

[Mansour]

Thanks for the feedback.

The crossbar isn't available in my capture card. I tried AmarecTV and I got the same issue, a black screen when starting capture on composite, but normal capture when capturing from S-Video. So I guess there might be a hardware issue with my composite input? But then why can I see a normal video stream when I'm not capturing and just capturing breaks the stream?

And yes, I'm using a simple passive composite to S-Video adapter, so that's why I'm getting the interference pattern.

I did try capturing with my DVD recorder, which does a pretty decent job of "correcting" the signal so I can capture it with my Blackmagic Intensity shuttle card, but the problem as you can see in my older thread here, the DVD overlays a "no signal" message on top of the image when the signal is weak, and this makes unusable since the message is burned into the image.

Regarding the source, you are right, but I am intentionally using this bad tape to test capture in "worst case scenarios", I'm aiming for a setup that is the closest possible to what I see on TV when I connect my VCR, so a highly noise tolerant setup, hence I'm using this worn out tape.

So to conclude, am I dealing with a hardware issue since both AmarecTV and VirtualDub display the same issue?

[themaster1]

I did try capturing with my DVD recorder, which does a pretty decent job of "correcting" the signal so I can capture it with my Blackmagic Intensity shuttle card, but the problem as you can see in my older thread here, the DVD overlays a "no signal" message on top of the image when the signal is weak, and this makes unusable since the message is burned into the image.

You can disable OSD messages depending on the brand/model. On sony's you can for sure

[Mansour]

I tried nearly everything possible to turn OSD off but nothing worked, that's why I wrote my last thread hoping there would be a way to avoid it.
From the menu it's not an option, so I hoped that there would be an output that bypasses OSD, but eventually all outputs displayed the same image.

[themaster1]

You don't say the brand/ model you have. I suggest you read the user manual

[Mansour]

I specified which model it is in the dedicated thread here, but here it is again: Philips DVDR3380. I have read the user manual months ago before posting, nothing is mentioned about turning off OSD.