ads instant dvd problems

[sickdimension]

alright, i got ads instant dvd today, and it doesnt seem to work right. the program either crashes, comes up with an error, doesnt start capturing, or the video screws up. when it does capture right, a few minutes into it, it starts to get green choppy squares in the video.

i'm using panther, is that the problem? any ideas of what could be wrong, or what i could try to do to fix it? thanks.

[AntnyMD]

Try trashing the app and all related files and reinstall. Try running the G3 version of the app instead of the G4. Also, capture at a bitrate less than 5.5Mbps. Double-check to make sure you bought the correct version of the box ... the box for the PC is different than the box for the Mac.

[Frobozz]

It works fine with Panther on my G4 iBook.

[AntnyMD]

One other suggestion ... I'm thinking ifyou have a slow processor (like a 350MHz machine), turn OFF the option to see the video as its being captured.

[sickdimension]

i have a g4, and i used the g4 version.
yes, i have a mac, and bought the mac version.
i captured at 3Mbps,
and i have a 800Mhz machine.

I tried capturing from my xbox and everything went flawlessly. It just can't capture the VCR. The VCR plays fine, there's nothing wrong with it, but somehow, ADS interferes with it and they screw up.

Is this strange? I thought so. I thought it could capture anything! Guess I'll try to find another VCR to see if that works.

[mhar4]

The green choppy squares thing, and sometimes the quitting, are things I've noticed when there has been a problem with the tape. If the tape is damaged, or loses its tracking, the ADS box seems to lose its lock on the video signal. Generally it doesn't crash, but shows those green macroblocks and frame jumps from the point where the tape screwed up.

So, you might want to check for a transient problem with the tape.

[AntnyMD]

If the tape has Macrovision, the software won't capture it without running a different version of the software.

[sickdimension]

well it's an old home movie, so i dont think it has macrovision.
here's the deal...i found out it screws up when there is a gap in the video connection, and in the movies, there are some glitches where we stopped filming and started again. i tried mpeg-1 and it seems to work better. there are no video problems, except that the quality is not great. the program still closes unexpectedly though. it is random, and sucks, cause i'll be 20 minutes in and it will crash and i have to start over again. i'd really like to record in mpeg-2 though. hmm....

[Frobozz]

I don't know if this applies in your case, but it may help to have the video playing on your TV while recording with the ADS unit. I've read on this forum that laserdiscs need to be playing on the TV during the time the player is changing sides or the ADS box loses its mind.

[sickdimension]

hmm, sounds like a good idea. what do you mean by play it on the tv? just connect the video outs on the box to the tv? or play it from the vcr to tv, then connect the box to the tv?

[Frobozz]

I don't think the ADS video out acts like a play-through of the video in (although I've never tried it). My video system runs through an A-V receiver so for me it's easy to send a video source to both the TV and the ADS box. I guess you'll just have to experiment with different connections.

[sickdimension]

ya, i've got an a-v receiver too, and it has an audio/video out, which is meant for recording, but i tried it several different ways and had no luck. as long as i know the machine is ok, then i can work with the connections. thanks for your help, i'll get back to you after numerous tests.

[Frobozz]

I thought this was only a quirk with my A-V receiver but I cannot get video to the ADS box if the video out from the receiver is from the same component as the video in. Let me try to make sense of that. If I'm trying to record the picture from the device connected to Video 1, I cannot have the ADS box connected to the Video 1 output. I have to connect it to the Video 2 or other video output. The same goes if I'm trying to record what's coming in through the Video 2 input. I cannot get a picture when the ADS box is connected to Video 2 output. You might experiment with that.

[sickdimension]

you nailed it! i was trying to input and output from video1 and it wouldn't work. i figured it out before i read your post, but now i've got it going through the reciever, which is cool!

it still, however, glitches. where recording had stopped and started again, the vcr plays some black and white static, then says "auto picture" to re-adjust. everytime this happens, ads crashes. that only happens on mpeg-2 though.

on mpeg1 or 2, the program itself crashes randomly. i have no other progs running, and even stopped background processes and set ads to highest priority. i have plenty of hd space too.

does anyone else's program crash?

[Frobozz]

The crashes I've experienced were when I was do some experiementing that finally resulted in my having to trash the various PixeDV preference files. I can't recall a crash that happened while recording, but I also haven't tried to record a source that has its signal break up the way yours does.

I presume you have ample memory and hard drive space.

Did you see the posts elsewhere where we discovered there is a newer version of PixeDV hidden in a folder in the Help>Tech Support>Version 1 folder. It is NTSC only and does not block the recording of Macrovision encoded tapes. I don't know if it will prove any more stable for you, however.

[sickdimension]

alright, i've recorded the vhs into 29 segments. sorry to bug, i could probably find out when i search, but what program do you use to combine these into 1 mpeg2?

that other version of PixeDV looks pretty cool, i'll try it to see if it crashes. thanks a lot!

[dcsos]

Mpeg Append should workhttp://homepage.mac.com/DVD_SP_Helper/Commerical/MAOSuX.html

[Frobozz]

MPEG2 Works has a Join feature for multiple MPEG files. I haven't tried it, but the application does support MPEG2s with MPEG audio.

[sickdimension]

MPEG2 Works did the trick! Thanks a lot for all your help!