My capture devices won't connect to tv

[BonnieW88]

I have a MSI tuner and a canopus ADVC 100. I've never been able to capture with the tuner card. Every program (Ulead, Showbiz, Roxio, My DVD) gives me a blue screen. I can't figure out how to set them up. The available devices are Microsoft DV Camera and VCR or Conexant 2388x Video Capture. Neither choice seems to work.

I have had good results using the WinDV program (Microsoft DV Camera and VCR) to capture via the VCR/Canopus setup....until recently. My AVIs have terrible audio. I've changed cables but no good. Today, nothing works. WinDV won't connect to the tv at all. I reinstalled but no luck.

Suggestions for getting my PC to capture from tv using any of my devices will be greatly appreciated.

Update: I got the Canopus to work....but the video is horrible and keeps cutting in and out with a blue screen. The sound almost inaudible. Has my Canopus gone bad?

[Capmaster]

Bonnie,
Do you have anything else plugged into the port that the ADVC-100 is plugged into?

Have you tried using a different port?

[jimmalenko]

Am I right in assuming your TV source goes into your ADVC-100, which goes into your capture card, or does your source go straight to the capture card ?

I would thoroughly recommend buying a firewire card (they are pretty cheap) and plugging the DV I/O on your ADVC-100 into that. I have a VCR plugged into my ADVC-100 so I use that as a TV tuner for capture and it doubles as a VHS-DVD conversion system also.

[BonnieW88]

Thanks for responding.

I have my VCR connected to the Canupus with A/V cables and I use a firewire cable that goes into my Sound Blaster Audigy card. I just exchanged my yellow/white/reds to a 'video in' pin type plug and the single audio jack on the front of the Canopus. The picture and sound works okay now so I assume the jacks were at fault.

I'd still like to be able to capture using my tuner card (MSIPVS). I just tried using Virtual Dub to capture and got the same blue screen. I can watch and record with the tuner but the quality isn't that great. I'd really like to be able to capture within my software.

Thanks for any suggestions you can offer.

[jimmalenko]

OK. I just looked at your computer specs and you have the SB Audigy w/ firewire so that's cool. I've got my VCR hooked into the front of my ADVC-100 with A/V leads (yellow/white/red) and then my ADVC-100 into my firewire card using the DV I/O port on the front of the ADVC-100 - it uses a 6-pin to 6-pin firewire cable to hook up with my computer. It sounds like you have had yours connected the same way at one point.

I transfer using ScenalyzerLive ($40, trial version allows 5 minutes of capture before inserting a logo screen every minute) and the Canopus DV codec, but DVIO (free) and WinDV (free) can do exactly the same thing. Basically, the ADVC-100 is an analog --> Digital converter, and so when you have it hooked up, you aren't "capturing" from it per se, merely converting your analog footage to digital (that's what the ADVC-100 does) and then transferring digital to your computer in DV "format". It is exactly as if you are hooking up a video camera as far as your computer is concerned. Enough of the theory lesson though

What I would do in your situation is hook everything up as I have explained above. A lot of TV Tuner cards "force" restrictions on you regarding frame sizes, bitrates, formats, capture software etc. and so I think you would be better off utilising your ADVC-100 and outputting to your computer in 720 * 480/576 minimally-compressed DV AVI. Getting your video onto your computer in AVI format offers many advantages over MPEG in relation to editing and A/V sync IMO. I think it gives you more flexibility and so it is my method of choice.

AFAIK VirtualDub can only capture using VFW drivers, so if your capture card doesn't have these, you are shit out of luck. It might pay to have a read of this thread https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=185504 . It gives some good explanations as to why you can't use virtualdub with firewire devices, amongst other things.

There is a great guide on the whole shebang (capturing, editing with virtualdub, and then tweaking your video (applying noise reduction filters, implementing the edits you made in virtualdub) using AVISynth scripts and inputting into your favorite MPEG encoder at https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=225951 . I would recommend you have a read of it as I think it could be very helpful to you.

The last thing I will say is that I seem to recall reading on the canopus forums that there have been some issues using an ADVC-100 with the firewire port on the SB Audigys. The recommended fix has been to get a dedicated firewire card, which does not cost a lot at all. It might pay for you to do some research over there at http://www.canopus.com .

Good luck !