Capturing video

[elston111]

I have just purchased a Video Express capture device to transfer audio and video to my pc but when I connect it via usb nothing at all happens. Will the fact that my usb's are not 2.0 (which is specified as a minimum requirement) have anything to do with this or am I missing something else. I am completely green to this so any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
Chris

[FulciLives]

I have just purchased a Video Express capture device to transfer audio and video to my pc but when I connect it via usb nothing at all happens. Will the fact that my usb's are not 2.0 (which is specified as a minimum requirement) have anything to do with this or am I missing something else. I am completely green to this so any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
Chris

You need USB 2.0 and you better hope this is a hardware MPEG encoder because if your computer is old enough that it doesn't have USB 2.0 then you will need a hardware MPEG encoder.

You can buy a PCI card that will add USB 2.0 ports to the computer. Such PCI cards can cost anywhere from $15.00 to $40.00 US Dollars depending on where you buy it and what kind you get but any such PCI card should work regardless of price so look for a cheap one.

Also it's a good idea to be very specific when asking questions. Do you realize how many companies make a video capture device called "Video Express"? Be sure to include make/model info for such things.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[Bjs]

First part that should be asked ...

1: Motherboard model ... so we can confirm if pc has usb2 or not ?

2: In order to use this particular device type succesfully , you need .

a: Usb2 port
b: Sp2 installed

[tonyp12]

Most be a pretty old computer of it's does not have USB2.0
Maybe time to get a new computer if you plan to do video edting.

USB2.0 PCI card $7 shipped
http://www.buy.com/prod/Adaptec_USB2Connect_4000_4_Port_USB_2_0_PCI_Card/q/loc/101/202...662&adid=17662

or get the USB + firewire combo (add items to get to $50 and get $20 off with google)
http://www.buy.com/prod/Zonet_USB_2_0_Firewire_PCI_Combo_Card/q/loc/101/10370906.html


Why did you not get an internal PCI capture card in the first place?
Free after $25 mail-in rebate (follow the rules) (SOLD OUT FOR NOW)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16815153003&CMP=AFC-C8Junction&CMP=AFC-C8Junction

[elston111]

As I said I am completely new to video recording so please forgive my ignorance. The capture device I purchased is an ADSTECH Video Express external unit which supposedly you just plug into your pc and away you go. The reason I asked about the usb requirement is that I have never had any problems before with usb connections before which made me wonder whether this was particular to video editing. I certainly don't want to purchase a new pc so what is the best way to go about this? How do I find out if I have an MPEG encoder? What is an SP2? Am I better off installing an internal capture card? Sorry for all the questions but all help is really appreciated. Thanks.

[FulciLives]

As I said I am completely new to video recording so please forgive my ignorance. The capture device I purchased is an ADSTECH Video Express external unit which supposedly you just plug into your pc and away you go. The reason I asked about the usb requirement is that I have never had any problems before with usb connections before which made me wonder whether this was particular to video editing. I certainly don't want to purchase a new pc so what is the best way to go about this? How do I find out if I have an MPEG encoder? What is an SP2? Am I better off installing an internal capture card? Sorry for all the questions but all help is really appreciated. Thanks.

Basically you are good to go as that capture device is a hardware MPEG capture device.

You just need to add USB 2.0 capability to your computer. The only way to do that is to buy a PCI card that adds that capability to your computer. See the links provided by tonyp12.

You can also find such PCI USB 2.0 cards at large electronic retail stores like Best Buy, Circuit City, CompUSA etc.

SP2 refers to WinXP SP2 ... SP2 is just an update from Microsoft. If you constantly do Microsoft updates then you already should have WinXP SP2.

You can check though by going to START in the bottom left corner and then go to CONTROL PANEL. Inside the CONTROL PANEL you have the option to be in CATEGORY VIEW or CLASSIC VIEW. Make sure you are in CLASSIC VIEW and you will see an icon called SYSTEM ... just doulbe click on that and you should see something like this:



See where it says, "Service Pack 2"? Well SP2 is simply short for "Service Pack 2"

This assumes you have WinXP ... if you have a different version of Windows (such as Win98SE or WinME or whatever) then you are going to have a whole host of issues with video capture.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
I just looked at your COMPUTER SPECS and you have WinXP and you have a P4 so chances are you already have USB 2.0 ports. Are you sure you don't have USB 2.0 ports? I should point out that on many computers there are multiple USB ports and not ALL of the ports will be USB 2.0 ports. It is not uncommon for some ports to be USB 1.1 and some be USB 2.0 so maybe you should double check that although it is possible that your computer only has USB 1.1 ports as USB 1.1 was around for a while before USB 2.0 came out.

However I am trying to point out that you may have USB 2.0 ports but also USB 1.1 ports and you may just need to try another USB port in order to find the one that is the USB 2.0 port.

Does that make sense?

[elston111]

Thanks for the help everyone - I installed a pci card with usb2.0 and software is now capturing everything ok from camcorder. I now have another problem - when I connect a vcr using audio and video (rca) nothing is happening. Do I need to use a S-video connection or is there something else I am unaware of. Many thanks.
Chris

[tonyp12]

The capture software probably have a input to switch from S-video to composite,
look for it.

You are using the capture device to import video from a camcorder?

Is this camcorder a MiniDV or a digital8 camcorder?

If so NEVER capture, but instead get a firewire pci card an Transfer the video from
camcorder to pc (and no quality loss)

Did you walk in to CompUSA/BestBuy and no sales person asked what you have
and told you then what the best way to go about it?

I guess not, as when i go on to those stores I voluntarily help customers all the time.
As the geeks who works there are actually just nerds.

[elston111]

I have made sure that the capture software is set to composite but I still get nothing. I am trying to capture straight from a vcr to my pc. Is this the best way to do this or am I best trying to captue to my pc via my camcorder (mini DV) and if so what leads /connections do I make?