Capturing NTSC in the uk

[pierced100]

I have a conexant capture card. I have it connected to a combined portable TV and video via scart. The video player can play both pal and NTSC videos. If I capture the TV the picture is ok.

I am trying to capture a VHS video I have that is in NTSC format. When I play the video it looks perfect on my TV. Yet when I try to capture it I only get a black and white picture.

I have tried using Nero and CYBER Link Power VCR. I have changed the settings to NTCS format.

Anybody know why I can only capture this video in black and white?

[pierced100]

This is happening with all NTSC videos i have

Win XP
2.26 mhz
512 ram
soundblaster audigy platinum
Conexant capture card
Geforce ti 4600

[miksu]

What kind of cable are you using? Is it Scart-adapter -> s-video thing or something similar? Many combos can only output composite signal, if you connect it using s-video, it's B&W. Many adapters have both s-video and composite connectors.

[pierced100]

It is a scart adapter. I have 3 wires that plug into a scart end and at the capture card end are two wires.

Is there any other way I can set this up?

[pierced100]

In the software to get a picture I have to choose s-video. So I must be using a scart s-video combo.

What do I need to do to get my NTSC videos captured in colour?

[erratic]

PAL VCRs usually output NTSC as PAL-60. Can you change your capture settings to PAL-60 instead of NTSC? Also read this Doom9 thread.

[pierced100]

Tried changing to pal-60 but it is still in black and white on my PC.

[pierced100]

The video and portable TV are combined. It is not a seperate portable TV and video.

[erratic]

In that case, like miksu suggested, you'll need a SCART to Composite (RCA) cable, or a Scart Adapter with separate RCA cables.
http://www.martleyelectronics.co.uk/cables.htm#scartadapter

[pierced100]

I have ordered the scart aqdapter. Will the cables I am using now be ok to use with the scart adapter?

[erratic]

You need cables with RCA phono plugs. They look like this:
http://www.peats.ie/cgi-bin/shop/db.cgi?view=1&id=4318&type=6&path=11x153x525

But I forgot to ask if you can capture PAL tapes in colour. If PAL tapes are also black and white then scart to composite will probably work. But if you can capture PAL tapes in colour then your S-Video cable may not be the problem. In that case there may be something wrong with your card or drivers. Here's what Arachnotron writes in the Doom9 thread I mentioned earlier:

PAL-60 is NTSC with the chroma part converted to PAL (both encoding and subcarrier frequency, 4.43 MHz). All timing remains NTSC.

All chips I have seen so far can do this, but most drivers won't let you.

PAL-60 capable cards up until now:

- BT878 with BTWincap, but this needs additional tweaking with BTtweak because of a timing error;
- SAA7134 based cards (works very well)
- some ATI AIW models (don't know which)

So the cheapest solution apart from waiting for new drivers would be to buy a Philips SAA7134 based TV card and use that. Terratec and Asus both make one. Expect about EUR 60.

[pierced100]

Yes PAL tapes capture ok. I have already ordered the scat adpater erratic mentioned. I worknights. When I get in in the morning I will use my web cam to take some photos of the cables and scart plug I am currently using.

[pierced100]

Is this a SAA7134 based card?

http://uk.asus.com/products/vga/tvfm_7133/overview.htm

[miksu]

BTWincap can be found at
http://btwincap.sourceforge.net/

Even if your card is not listed as supported, it's likely to work with BTWincap, since it's uses Conexant (former Rockwell) chip. You could try DScaler for capturing too, it allows you to adjust things without limits. DScaler has PAL-60 option for video source. Just install and give it a try before doing anything else.
http://www.dscaler.com/


BTWincap is really good driver with good support for almost every tuner and videochip and it supports many sound chips too, so you can use your cards radio feature and if card supports, NICAM-stereo.

Most TV-tuner cards are very generic, usually only difference is size and color of circuit board. I got my old Formac ProTV working with PC, yet it's designed for Apple Macintosh. But it has PCI and Bt878 with Philips multinorm tuner and that's all BTWincap requires

[Northpole]

Hi !
Don't know if this will help or is the answer you are hoping for, but here is my experience:
When I started out convering all my NTSC tapes to PAL via the ACE converter/enhancer box, I discovered that if I use S-video or Scart in any of the cables in the chain, all captured (transferred, really since it was via firewire at end) material was b/w. Only when I used composite all the way in the chain (red/white for audio and yellow for video) it was going to be colour.
I know this was converting chain NTSC>PAL before capturing, but my guess is that it is the same thing about pure capturing.

[miksu]

BTWincap can be found at
http://btwincap.sourceforge.net/

Even if your card is not listed as supported, it's likely to work with BTWincap, since it's uses Conexant (former Rockwell) chip. You could try DScaler for capturing too, it allows you to adjust things without limits. DScaler has PAL-60 option for video source. Just install and give it a try before doing anything else. I think it doesn't even require drivers to be installed in your system, they are integrated.
http://www.dscaler.com/


BTWincap is really good driver with good support for almost every tuner and videochip and it supports many sound chips too, so you can use your cards radio feature and if card supports, NICAM-stereo.

Most TV-tuner cards are very generic, usually only difference is size and color of circuit board. I got my old Formac ProTV working with PC, yet it's designed for Apple Macintosh. But it has PCI and Bt878 with Philips multinorm tuner and that's all BTWincap requires

[pierced100]

Ok here is a pic of my cables that plug into the card. It is an audio and s-video

[pierced100]

At the scart end I have the s-video plugged in and the audio lead has 2 ends plugged into scart. The 2 audio leads are plugged into the left and right audio of the scart lead

[pierced100]

[pierced100]

Erratic if I buy cables with RCA phono plugs how would I connect them to the TV and the card?

[pierced100]

Just tried descaler and it did not help

[pierced100]

Just tried installing BTWincap and I am still only getting black and white?

[miksu]

Your video cable looks like S-Video (4 pins at both ends?), the yellow connector is Composite.

I think you should try composite cable and software that allows you capture using composite connector (DScaler or somethin' else). And try PAL-60 setting, too, when using composite. Really weird problem, since PAL captures work

Usually, using S-Video with device that doesn't have it, produces B&W picture, since on luminance-signal exist, chrominace is missing (assuming it's "native" TV-format for device). Problem with SCART is always that it can have RGB, S-Video and Composite input/output (at same time), but you just can't really know, if those are all connected and what your VCR is outputting and what the other end accepts as input.

[pierced100]

Yes it is 4 pins at either end. Exscuse my ignorance but what does a composite cable look like and how would I connect it to my card?

[pierced100]

I have just bought an Asus tv card for £15 on ebay. Maybe this will help as it has phillips SAA7134 chipset.

I still want to see if I can get my current card working though

Once my Asus card arrives can I have the 2 cards installed at once?

[erratic]

Yes it is 4 pins at either end. Exscuse my ignorance but what does a composite cable look like and how would I connect it to my card?

The composite cable looks like this (already posted earlier):
http://www.peats.ie/cgi-bin/shop/db.cgi?view=1&id=4318&type=6&path=11x153x525
The yellow plug is for video. You wouldn't need the other two plugs since you already have a working audio cable. Of course your capture card must have an RCA socket for connecting the yellow plug. If your card only has an s-video socket, you would need a composite (RCA) to s-video cable or adapter. Something like this: http://www.svideo.com/com2.html

[pierced100]

Thanks to everybody who replied to this post.

[pierced100]

Well I bought a composite cable and I am still only getting black and white from the NTSC vhs tapes? I am using the latest BTWincap and descaler. I have tried using pal-60

I guess I will just have to wait for my SAA7134 based card to arrive.

[rhegedus]

You need to capture as a hybrid PAL60 format.

See here:

NTSC/PAL VHS question

[pierced100]

HMMMMMMM now I am really confused lol.

I can not get a pic using virtualvcr this is from both the TV and the NTSC tape. I am using a bt8xx(x) card and the latest wincap.

If I use pal - 60 in descaler I only get B&W from the NTSC tapes but I get colour from the TV.

I also can not get a pic in virtual dub

I also can not get a pic in iuVCR

AVI-IO will also not give me a pic