Need help discovering cause of interference on Diamond VC500 USB Cap card

[BilboFett]

Tough one here: getting interference on my S-Video in on my Diamond VC500 USB capture card..
The composite (RCA) in does NOT have the interference..
-Replaced cables, that didn't do it.
-Moved the card around to different ports, nothing changed.
-Tried turning off every device in my room.. nothing.
-Uninstalled/reinstalled the driver.. still not resolved.
-Tried 3 different capture programs.
-Even replaced the cap card w/ an identical brand new one.. same problem.
I don't get it. It worked a few months ago flawlessly in Win10 x64. I don't know whats changed??

Note: its not RGB aura lights (they're off just like they were 6 months ago when I last capped. Its not the wall outlet either, tried that. Nor the lights in the room.. same lights as last time.

[lollo]

Have you tried a different source (player)?

[BilboFett]

Have you tried a different source (player)?

the laserdisc player isn't the issue, because:
its composite out -> TBC -> S-Video in on the USB card gives the same interference.
But when I go composite in on the USB card, the problem goes away. Whether its an older card or the brand new one I unwrapped tonight

It's the S-video in on 2 different but identical cards into the PC.. but I have no idea why.

[lollo]

Removing the TBC from the equation? (Does your LD player have a S-Video output? Any other way to go from Composite to Y/C?)

[BilboFett]

Removing the TBC from the equation? (Does your LD player have a S-Video output? Any other way to go from Composite to Y/C?)

I only invoked the TBC at all to see what would happen if I went composite out from the LD player. My LD player has both composite and S-Video out.
I did go composite to Y/C, using the TBC as the go-between.
The problem is the S-Video in on my card (2 different cards, one brand new), not the LD-player, and not the TBC. And not any USB port on my PC.

[lollo]

Can you post a sample of:
- ld composite out to vc500 composite in
- ld s-video out to vc500 s-video in
- ld composite out to tbc composite in; tbc s-video out to vc500 s-video in

[BilboFett]

Can you post a sample of:
- ld composite out to vc500 composite in
- ld s-video out to vc500 s-video in
- ld composite out to tbc composite in; tbc s-video out to vc500 s-video in

yes, but its late here, I can do it later today, thanks for the help 🤛

[lollo]

I did not help at all so far, just trying to understand what may happens

[BilboFett]

I did not help at all so far, just trying to understand what may happens

hell.. when I plug in just the s-vid into the cap card by itself, there's noise. But when I *also plugin the composite RCA (both stay plugged in); the noise goes away :thinking: :astonished: It should NOT work like that, and never has before

[BilboFett]

I did not help at all so far, just trying to understand what may happens

https://mir.cr/0OYAVQIR

[lollo]

hell.. when I plug in just the s-vid into the cap card by itself, there's noise. But when I *also plugin the composite RCA (both stay plugged in); the noise goes away :thinking: :astonished: It should NOT work like that, and never has before

Ground bouncing and interference sometimes are not easy to identify. I still suspect some loop from the player rather than the cards. Can you try with another Y/C source?

https://mir.cr/0OYAVQIR

It was a nightmare to download that file, and does not tell much to me except macroblocks. Upload here a lossless raw capture.


[Attachment 71362 - Click to enlarge]

[BilboFett]

hell.. when I plug in just the s-vid into the cap card by itself, there's noise. But when I *also plugin the composite RCA (both stay plugged in); the noise goes away :thinking: :astonished: It should NOT work like that, and never has before

Ground bouncing and interference sometimes are not easy to identify. I still suspect some loop from the player rather than the cards. Can you try with another Y/C source?

https://mir.cr/0OYAVQIR

It was a nightmare to download that file, and does not tell much to me except macroblocks. Upload here a lossless raw capture.


[Attachment 71362 - Click to enlarge]

no I'm afraid that the only S-vid device I have in the house.
Nightmare to dl? Sorry about that. I can do wetransfer or anything else, Mega.nz.. anything.
What do you mean by "lossless raw capture". And upload.. where? here on videohelp? they host video files? Whats my size limit?

[lollo]

What do you mean by "lossless raw capture"

Analog should be captured YUV 4:2:2 with a lossless codec (HuffYUV, etc...)

And upload.. where? here on videohelp? they host video files? Whats my size limit?

Yes, upload the file here. The size limit for avi is 477.3MB.

[BilboFett]

What do you mean by "lossless raw capture"

Analog should be captured YUV 4:2:2 with a lossless codec (HuffYUV, etc...)

And upload.. where? here on videohelp? they host video files? Whats my size limit?

Yes, upload the file here. The size limit for avi is 477.3MB.

Here u go

[BilboFett]

What do you mean by "lossless raw capture"

Analog should be captured YUV 4:2:2 with a lossless codec (HuffYUV, etc...)

And upload.. where? here on videohelp? they host video files? Whats my size limit?

Yes, upload the file here. The size limit for avi is 477.3MB.

Ignore the above, here's a better example:

[lollo]

I only see black frames in both files

[BilboFett]

I only see black frames in both files

Then you may need to calibrate your monitor? Its subtle, but its there
Here I boosted the brightness and gamma a little, there's diagonal cascading swirly red-green-yellow-purple-orange dotted lines:

[Attachment 71406 - Click to enlarge]

And a zoom-in on the noise:

[Attachment 71407 - Click to enlarge]

(see attached video)

Thanks again

[lollo]

I see, I was on my phone earlier.
And when you connect the RCA input from the LD to the VC500 in addition to S-Video and capture from it or you capture from RCA the pattern is not present.

Difficult to conclude without a comparison with another Y/C source, sorry. Somebody else may have better hints...

[themaster1]

Bad chroma noise like that could be a capacitor that's the cause (aging ,failing) assuming cable is ok indeed.
Could also be bad solder on the svideo pins (can become somewhat loose over time)

[Skiller]

Odd, I suggest doing what lollo already mentioned:

Difficult to conclude without a comparison with another Y/C source, sorry.

Connect another S-Video source directly to the Diamond VC500, such as a DVD-player, set-top box, older video game console or an older camcorder (MiniDV/Digital8 or Hi8). A camcorder powered by it's accu would actually be ideal, as it completely rules out any grounding issues.
With these things you just never know and testing is king.

[BilboFett]

I have a VCR that has S-vid out but its kinda broken, hopefully can see if I get that noise from it into the cap card

[Skiller]

Don't play a tape, use a settings menu with solid background then.

VHS has noisy chroma, would be nearly impossible tell it apart from that noise on top.

[BilboFett]

Don't play a tape, use a settings menu with solid background then.

VHS has noisy chroma, would be nearly impossible tell it apart from that noise on top.

I won't play a movie, I'll just turn it on and see if that interference is there. I bet it will be. Prob is, the one deck I had died, I have another, hope it turns on

[dellsam34]

You problem lies in the CVBS to YC hardware conversion, If you don't get noise from composite out to composite in you have a ground issue, Replace your S-Video cable, or don't use conversion at all, You gain nothing from converting a composite to S-Video.

[BilboFett]

You problem lies in the CVBS to YC hardware conversion, If you don't get noise from composite out to composite in you have a ground issue, Replace your S-Video cable, or don't use conversion at all, You gain nothing from converting a composite to S-Video.

I tried 3 different S-Video cables.
I would rather not use conversion, but when I do straight composite to composite, it doesn't look as sharp and clear, I did numerous A/B tests.

[dellsam34]

You don't gain charpness converting from composite to S-Video, What has been lost is lost forever.

The problem could be that some video devices and capture cards have isolated ground for Y and C pins, So the ground of compsite is not connected to the ground of the S-Video but rather to the S-Video sleeve, A problem like this unfortunatly is going to take some know how, Sometimes adding a capacitor or a resistor to get the 75 Ohms cable standard is all what it takes, sometimes it takes adding a properly grounded video distribution amp or a video splitter.

The members are still waiting on a straight S-Video device to capture card test, if you want help you have to respond to the requests.

[BilboFett]

You don't gain charpness converting from composite to S-Video, What has been lost is lost forever.

The problem could be that some video devices and capture cards have isolated ground for Y and C pins, So the ground of compsite is not connected to the ground of the S-Video but rather to the S-Video sleeve, A problem like this unfortunatly is going to take some know how, Sometimes adding a capacitor or a resistor to get the 75 Ohms cable standard is all what it takes, sometimes it takes adding a properly grounded video distribution amp or a video splitter.

The members are still waiting on a straight S-Video device to capture card test, if you want help you have to respond to the requests.

I'm sorry my dad had procedures this week and is quite ill, and I'm out of work scrambling to get things settled, so I'm a little slow on doing video capture. Please be patient, I can get to it soon

[dellsam34]

I'm not impatient, we are just trying to help. If you got things going on in life, you don't have to appologize for it, Do what you got to do and come back when time permits.

[BilboFett]

UPDATE: Same deal, plugged s-vid cables into the output of a VCR, same interference.
I suspect the issue is w/ the cap card sensitivity because I tried 2 different cards, one brand new.
Also used 4 different s-vid cables, some of the video cables I used had ferrites on the ends, some didn't; didn't make any difference

Strange: the Pioneer HLD-X9 LD doesn't use a grounded plug(?!), but the Panasonic VCR does
Yes, my desktop PC is using a grounded plug.
I've already tried moving the LD to different sockets, the desktop PC, etc.

I'd be interested to know if something like this between my cap card and the PC USB in would work:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0849J33T9/

or this:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DLMZP5Y/

they also have grounded/filtered/shielded power cables and even power supplies.. but a little out of budget rn

[themaster1]

Have you checked the card's pins of the breakout cable ? Sometimes it's not obvious but a bit of solder could fix it