Capturing issues with AIW 7500

[toonarific1]

Ok, here is the rundown. I have a Radeon AIW 7500 installed, and plan on using my Vegas 4.0 to capture, not the MMC that comes with the card. I have too much trouble with it, and it never works anyway, no matter how many different tutorial configuations I try. As it is, all the seems to be the problem is the stream itself. The audio comes through fine using my Audigy card.

When I play anything through my vcr, I can only get the picture to badly appear using the analog cord. The A/V cord that comes with the card never seems to work, since I have never been able to get picture or sound through it. There has to be some configuration box somwhere that allows me to just change how the video comes through, so it appears as it should in Vegas, Sonic or any other capture program I want to use.

And the tapes Im trying to capture do NOT have macro encoding, since they are homemade from tv. I know all about that stuff, so I know how to get around it if need be.

So does anyone know how to just configure the card itself to make the video come through correctly? Thanx in advance

[lordsmurf]

That purple break-out box is not optional. If it's defective, use your warranty, or buy a new one (they cost about $15).

[toonarific1]

Along time ago, when I got the card I still had Win 2000 installed. I actually managed to capture 2 or 3 vhs tapes, and they came out fine. All I sed then was the audio input plugs on my sound card and the coaxial input on the capture card. I didnt have to use the purple box at that time.

Also, if I were to use the box that it came with, were are the settings to have all the capture programs recognize that as the signal? I have never seen anything in any of the settings even mention the box.

[presto]

Go back to MMC and troubleshoot it. Capturing with MMC is a breeze and works great. There is no need to go to another program. Even if you still want to use another program it makes sense to get it working with MMC first.

When you hook your VCR to the purple box you then open up MMC and there is a button to toggle between the various inputs. What happens when you try that?

(The button is on the main interface for MMC. There are several buttons along the top. It is one of those.)

[toonarific1]

Is the main interface the Launchpad? Im in the process or reinstalling everything, so I will check it in a minute. If there is some other interface, I dont know where it is

[lordsmurf]

http://www.digitalfaq.com/capture/atimpeg/atimpeg.htm

[toonarific1]

Ive read that tutorial countless times, and havent once gotten any of it to work correctly on my system. I did see the input toggle button on the TV module's interface (analog, composite, s-video). My screwy vcr picture comes through on the analog using a coax, but neither of the other 2 modes pickup anything. I cant imagine what the problem would be now, and it's driving me crazy

[presto]

Describe your hook up (just in case you missed something obvious,.. It happens).

Do you have an s-video cable going from your vcr to the purple box or do you have a red, yellow, and white cable cable going from the VCR out into the purple box.

If you have one of those connections and everything is connected properly then maybe you do have a faulty purple box/connector thing.

[toonarific1]

I do have the RYW cords going fromt he vcr output into the purple box. The box may be bad, but like I mentioned before, I did get great captures with just the coax and sound-in hookup, but that was when I was using Win 2000. I cant imagine how these cards are so highly regarded when they have so many problems. Are there better cards out there that dont give this kind of hassle just to make some mpeg captures for dvds?

[Nelson37]

The reason for using the Composite (yellow) or S-video cable is that they give a better quality signal for better capture, and they bypass the tuner on the card. Coax is worst for signal and uses the card's tuner as well, just another source of noise.

The connections on the card are fairly simple, clearly described and color-coded in the manual and elsewhere. I gather you have never had any functional connection other than the coax? And you are saying you now get crappy picture compared to when you had win2000? Are these exactly the same tapes, if so how long ago was good capture made and how were they stored since then?

The ATI cards work best with the MMC software, and represent an excellent price/performance ratio with many options. Setup is not particularly tricky, though there are multiple connections and options and therefore many opportunities for user error.

[lordsmurf]

It's not the card's fault. It's either you or a purple breakout box that has gone bad.

Something like "screwy picture" doesn't help either. What's the EXACT problem?

[toonarific1]

The exact problem:

The image, coming through the coax, is all screwed up. It will go from black, to super wavy lines and unviewable picture, then fade out again. The sound, since it is going from the Red and White cables to the line-in on the card, comes through crystal. It seems that something is messing up the card configuration, so the video piping through looks awful.

I have MMC9 installed, went through the whole LordSmurf tutorial and created the 3 capture settings, but until I can get the stream to appear as it should, I cant even use those to capture anything

[thecoalman]

Sounds like a pal/ntsc issue. Make sure you have the correct type selected in the tuner configuration. Which will depend on where you live. In general NTSC for North America and PAL for other areas. Whatever it is try switching it.

It's not the card's fault. It's either you or a purple breakout box that has gone bad.

[toonarific1]

I live in the US, and have it set to NTSC as it is supposed to be. I have been working with media for years, just on the vhs side of things. Capturing is a bit new to me still, and configuring all this seems to be something Im far from getting a good grasp on

[presto]

There is a problem with ATI cards not being able to record (or play) some home made videos. This is usually seen on older tapes but could happen on a new tape too. Believe it or not your vcr or camera may be giving a slightly out of spec signal that your TV and VCR can play but the ATI card can't.

Your description doesn't exactly fit that problem though. Still I think it would be a good idea for you to try to play a tape that was recorded recently on another device. Also are you able to get TV channels with MMC?

I know it's exasperating I think if you hang in there this will get either solved or narrowed down to which part of the process is going wrong.

[toonarific1]

Ive tried homemade tapes, newly made ones, and non-macro store bought ones; they all give the same wavy darkenign screen. I dont have cable to hook up to the card to see if that comes through. I only have the card to get my vhs tapes to digital.

[presto]

So you get the wavy darkening video through the coax and nothing at all through the composite?

Also have you tried another device as a source? If it isn't the tapes perhaps it is the VCR. (Remember even if your vcr plays perfectly when viewed on the TV it could be giving an out of spec signal that your ATI card can't handle).

[toonarific1]

Correct, wavy through coax and nothing through composite. I have tried several brands of vcrs, and nothing has changed. They all look the same

[thecoalman]

How a bout a screenshot, that might help.

Not sure if tried this but this is what I would do. I would uninstall everthing including the drivers for the card. There's a utility for this on ATI's website. Also there's guides at www.rage3d.com on how to do a complete manual uninstall. Reinstall using the latest drivers and software from ATI and try again.

Maybe you just have a bad card???