Hi everyone,

I know this is a very old device and there was already a discussion here around 2007 about the Plextor ConvertX PX-M402U, but since that thread is almost 20 years old, I decided to open a new topic and ask for help again.

I recently bought a second-hand Plextor ConvertX PX-M402U from eBay (seller from the USA). The original Plextor application CD is included, with the original serial number for InterVideo WinDVD Creator 2 printed on the sleeve.

I have been trying to get the device working for analog video capture, but I am running into the same problem on multiple systems.

Systems tested:

Microsoft Windows XP SP3 32-bit
Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 32-bit

What happens:

The device is detected correctly in Device Manager
Drivers install without warning icons
The blue power LED turns on
BUT the capture LED never turns on
In WinDVD Creator 2, the preview window is black
“Record” and “Input Source” controls are missing/inactive in the Capture section
No video or audio preview appears

I also tested with several other capture applications:

AMCap
VirtualDub
Ulead VideoStudio 8
Nero Vision

Results:

AMCap sometimes gives “Unable to render the video capture stream”
VirtualDub gives Error 418 / no capture device detected
Nero Vision briefly reacts to audio detection but still no preview
No software is able to start actual capture

I also noticed another strange thing:

Inside WinDVD Creator 2, under the Help menu, there is an “Activation” option asking for:

Plextor account
email/password
even the last 4 digits of the original credit card

However:

the software never shows “trial”
there is no activation error during startup
the serial number from the original CD sleeve is accepted normally

So I am wondering:

Could the missing Record/Input Source buttons somehow be related to activation or licensing?

Or is this more likely a DirectShow / WDM driver / capture filter issue on modern Windows systems?

Another question:
Which OS is generally considered the most compatible for the PX-M402U?

XP SP2?
XP SP3?
Windows 7 32-bit?
something else?

If anyone here has previously used this device successfully, especially on Windows 7, I would really appreciate any advice, driver recommendations, required runtimes/codecs, or installation order suggestions.

Thanks a lot.