ATI 600 Vista 64 Bit Capture issue

[MediaHoarder]

I am just getting a setup ready to capture a collection of VHS tapes and am trying to get a workflow going. I am encountering an interesting issue with the ATI 600 capture card. The card works for about 10-20 seconds before the image corrupts, this is true of both viewing and capturing. I have attached an avi of the failed capture.
Any thoughts?

[davexnet]

A complete loss of sync. Problem with the card?

[MediaHoarder]

I very much hope not, it was new in box

[davexnet]

Can this card work with generic capture programs, what have you tried?
I'm thinking AmarecTV, Iuvcs, Virtualdub etc,etc

Is this a USB device or internal card (PCI, PCIe)

[MediaHoarder]

Its the ATI 600 USB version. I have not tried any other capture programmes yet, that will be my next stage of troubleshooting.

[dellsam34]

That's a driver issue, Kind of like what you see in vdub when it cannot preview the video when you toggle between overlay and preview trying to get it to work.

[anachronon]

Could this possibly be caused by the VHS tape being "copy protected"?

[dellsam34]

No, Macrovision has dark and bright episodes that trip the VCR AGC, Again that's a driver problem it has nothing to do with a VCR or tapes.

[lordsmurf]

It's not a driver problem.

The tape has anti-copy on it (maybe Macrovision, maybe not). All capture cards have varying levels of detections, and various ways they react to it. The ATI 600 USB completely obliterates the signal. I actually prefer this, not those subtle issues that are easy to miss on a quick scrub. Sometimes anti-copy is so harsh that it leaks through TBCs (but rarely), and this is an easy way to confirm it. Hard to miss such a violent reaction.

[dellsam34]

Good to know different opinions, I had this exact same problem before with the USB-500 capture device and was solved by updating the display driver of the capture device. The OP can confirm if it's Macrovision or not by stating what tapes he has and/or if this happens with certain tapes or every tape.

[jagabo]

I agree with lordsmurf. It's a (false?) Macrovision response. Capture devices don't respond to Macrovision the way VCRs do. The response takes many forms. Sometimes they just stop capturing. Sometimes the picture turns into white noise static. Sometimes distortions like in the OP's video.

[TimA-C]

Does this happen with all your tapes or just some of them? Can you bring up a screen generated by the player - settings menu maybe - do you see the same issue if you capture that for longer than 20 secs? Different connecting cables? Bit of switch cleaner on the connectors and plug & unplug them a few times to remove any oxide build up?