VHS Capture with Hauppauge HD PVR2 (No Color or Stereo Audio)

[renarayne]

Hi,

I'm trying to archive VHS tapes using a Bang & Olufsen VX 7000 VCR and Hauppauge HD PVR2.
I have a SCART to 3 PHONO adapter and a Composite cable.
The HD PVR2 seems to take S-Video and HDMI. It comes with a S-Video > Component adapter.

Hauppauge advised me to try plugging the Yellow from Composite into the Blue or Green of Component (and the Red/White Audio respectively). However the Blue didn't seem to work and the Green gives me the following result:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEKV1ELdt8A
0:00 - 0:28 Component Channel (B&W, Rolling Picture, Mono Audio)
0:37 - 1:13 S-Video Channel (B&W, Mono Audio)
1:24 - End Composite Channel (Blue Screen)

Plugging the Scart adapter and Composite cable direct into my TV gives colour and stereo audio.
Hauppauge asked me to try both PAL and NTSC in WinTV 8 just in case, but both are the same result. I'm in the UK and the VCR can play NTSC as PAL, but I'm using native PAL tapes anyway to test.

I'm happy to buy a different cable / adapter though if it'll work, I'm just not sure what would be best to buy. I saw this on Hauppauge's site and wondered if this is what I need for colour and stereo audio:
"DIN style (round) Composite and S-Video A/V cable"
http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/site/webstore/webstore_product.html?prod=12

Thanks for any help.

[jagabo]

PAL VHS decks usually put out PAL60 when playing VHS tapes. That's a hybrid signal with NTSC sync but PAL colors. Most PAL TVs are designed to display that properly. If you capture that with a standard NTSC capture device you get a B/W picture. That's what you're seeing in the first part of your video though I'm not sure why it isn't sync'd properly. Maybe you were set to PAL at that point? Is it a Macrovision protected tape? If you route a composite signal to the luma pin of an s-video capture device you will get a B/W picture with very heavy herringbone noise wherever there should be color. That's exactly what you're seeing in the second part of the cap. You need a device that can capture PAL60. I don't know if the HD PVR2 can do that.

[usually_quiet]

Hi,

I'm trying to archive VHS tapes using a Bang & Olufsen VX 7000 VCR and Hauppauge HD PVR2.
I have a SCART to 3 PHONO adapter and a Composite cable.
The HD PVR2 seems to take S-Video and HDMI. It comes with a S-Video > Component adapter.

Hauppauge advised me to try plugging the Yellow from Composite into the Blue or Green of Component (and the Red/White Audio respectively). However the Blue didn't seem to work and the Green gives me the following result:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEKV1ELdt8A
0:00 - 0:28 Component Channel (B&W, Rolling Picture, Mono Audio)
0:37 - 1:13 S-Video Channel (B&W, Mono Audio)
1:24 - End Composite Channel (Blue Screen)

Plugging the Scart adapter and Composite cable direct into my TV gives colour and stereo audio.
Hauppauge asked me to try both PAL and NTSC in WinTV 8 just in case, but both are the same result. I'm in the UK and the VCR can play NTSC as PAL, but I'm using native PAL tapes anyway to test.

I'm happy to buy a different cable / adapter though if it'll work, I'm just not sure what would be best to buy. I saw this on Hauppauge's site and wondered if this is what I need for colour and stereo audio:
"DIN style (round) Composite and S-Video A/V cable"
http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/site/webstore/webstore_product.html?prod=12

Thanks for any help.

Yes, you need an A/V breakout cable to record composite, but make sure you get the right one, since different versions of the HD-PVR 2 exist and they use different connectors for analog A/V input.

The cable that you linked to is for the newest version of the HD-PVR 2, which has a round mini-din port for analog A/V input.

There are older versions of the HD-PVR 2 that have a thin rectangular port for analog A/V input. Those take this cable: http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/site/webstore/webstore_product.html?prod=11

The green component video cable carries luminance, which is why you get a B&W picture. For some devices the green component port doubles as the composite port, but not in this case.

...but as jagabo said, you have another problem to deal with if you are playing NTSC tapes. If the HD-PVR 2 can't capture PAL 60, Hauppauge's USB Live 2 does.

[renarayne]

@ jagabo
Thank you, I appreciate your insight.

The tape is PAL yeah, a home recorded BASF Vision tape, WinTV 8 capture software set to PAL.
The B&O VX7000 VCR has a switch on the back for NTSC 4.43 MHz or PAL 60 Hz. It's set to PAL.

As a side note though, I'm hoping to capture a couple of Japanese VHS in the future (stuff not available on DVD), don't have any to hand right now though. I do have an American non-commercial tape which won't play on a UK Phillips VR657 VCR but will on the VX7000, so I hope a Japanese VHS will work. I've been reading around here and saw some mention using a DVD Recorder between the VCR and the capture device as a pass-through. I have a Toshiba RD88DT if that would help.

I've been told the Bang & Olufsen VX7000 would be better quality than the Phillips VR657 for the UK tapes too (which, being from England, is mostly what I have) but maybe that is mistaken.

@ usually_quiet
Thank you, yeah that is what I was worried about, getting the wrong cable!

Mine seems to be the newer HD PVR 2, it doesn't seem to have the little thin rectangular port.
The Component cable that came with my HD PVR 2 is this rounded one:
http://www.hauppauge.com/site/webstore2/webstore_avcable-din_style.html

So hopefully if I get this equivalent rounded one for Composite I'll get colour.
http://www.hauppauge.com/site/webstore2/webstore_av_cable_hvr2250.html

By the way I'm kinda confused as to why audio is on one side (wearing headphones), since there was Red/White for audio on both. I hope it's just an issue going from Composite to Component and getting that other cable will fix that.

[usually_quiet]

By the way I'm kinda confused as to why audio is on one side (wearing headphones), since there was Red/White for audio on both. I hope it's just an issue going from Composite to Component and getting that other cable will fix that.

Are you sure that the tape has stereo audio? Many VHS tapes only have mono audio.

[renarayne]

Are you sure that the tape has stereo audio? Many VHS tapes only have mono audio.

Ohh, I didn't know that! Thank you.
I got confused because my TV outputs the VHS tapes as Stereo, it must be doubling the tracks?
If so I guess there's no problem then.

[OS_Man]

Hello renarayne,

It is an old post but I'd like to ask you some questions about Hauppauge HD PVR2.
Have you solved the problem getting analog video from vhs with Hauppauge HD PVR2? I'm about to buy this product. This product is for gamers and HD recording but I want to use it to capture from analog videos, vhs, hi8 tapes. Did you find the correct cable to capture from analog source without any problems?

[mundodisco]

OS_Man,

if your Hauppauge HD PVR / PVR 2 has a rectangular Multi AV connector, you need the following cable to have SVideo & Composite female jacks:

http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/webstore2/webstore_avcable-svideo.html

On the other hand, if you have a newer Hauppauge HD PVR 2 with a round Multi AV connector, then you need this cable:

http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/webstore2/webstore_av_cable_din.html

There is no difference between them other than the male connector that fits into the Hauppauge box.

I hope this piece of information still helps.

Kind regards,
Gabriel
from Buenos Aires, Argentina

[SHS]

OS_Man,

if your Hauppauge HD PVR / PVR 2 has a rectangular Multi AV connector, you need the following cable to have SVideo & Composite female jacks:

http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/webstore2/webstore_avcable-svideo.html

On the other hand, if you have a newer Hauppauge HD PVR 2 with a round Multi AV connector, then you need this cable:

http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/webstore2/webstore_av_cable_din.html

There is no difference between them other than the male connector that fits into the Hauppauge box.

I hope this piece of information still helps.

Kind regards,
Gabriel
from Buenos Aires, Argentina

Or just used the Component Blue Input jack as Composite Yellow