Plextor PX-M402U & Sony Video Capture (Vegas 6.0)

[Elemental]

Does anybody know if this video capture device can work with the video capture software within Sony Vegas 6.0? Sony Video Capture recognizes the device, but will only capture video and no audio. I am hoping it can since I am very familiar with it when editing from my DV tapes and now am using the Plextor for VHS tapes. All my searches always talk about the bundled software that came with the unit. Thanks for any help!

[GMaq]

Hi,
I am only half qualified to answer your question because I have the Plextor Unit but not Vegas, The PX-M402U should work with any capture software that uses DirectShow, the problem is that it usually will default to the best DivX AVI Hardware Encoder setting and not necessarily to the MPEG-2 Hardware Encoder. If you have a setup dialog in Vegas you will have to make sure that the Plextor shows up in both the Audio and Video setup, Sometimes I've noticed in some other programs that the Plextor will show up in the Video setup dialog and the computer's sound card will by default show up on the Audio side of things.

[Elemental]

That is exactly my problem, it lists the computers sound card for audio. However, I do not see any settings in Vegas Video Capture to change to use the Plextor. Am I missing something?

[jagabo]

That kind of problem isn't unusual with hardware encoders. You generally have to use the manufacturer's capture program.

[GMaq]

That kind of problem isn't unusual with hardware encoders. You generally have to use the manufacturer's capture program.

@jagabo,
Definitely not the case with the M402U, Works well with, Nero Vision Express (MPEG-2) Beyond TV (MPEG-2 & DivX) Virtualdub (DivX), Captureflux (DivX), Sage TV (MPEG-2) iuVCR (DivX) as well as the bundled Crapware it came with.

@Elemental
What happens if you plug you VCR Audio into the Line In on your Sound Card, and your S-Video/Composite into the M-402U and try to capture?

[Elemental]

I am sure that it will work plugging directly into the sound card, but I was looking for a slick USB connection to the front of my machine and not having to buy converting audio cables (rca to 3.5mm audio).

[jagabo]

Not to mention all the A/V sync errors that come with using your sound card.

[Elemental]

So I got around to installing the WinDVD Creator software and I still can only capture video and under the audio settings it's greyed out. Here is a screen shot.

[jagabo]

As I mentioned earlier, most capture programs will not work properly with hardware encoders. I believe the problem is that the audio and video come multiplexed in one stream that's marked as a video stream. Programs have to be specifically written to handle the audio -- and most are not.

Did you try GBPVR or SageTV? They specifically claim to support the Plextor PX-M402U and GMaq says they work.

[Elemental]

So you are telling me the bundled software (WinDVD Creator) that came with the PX-M402U unit will not work? Sounds odd. The screen shot in my previous post was with the software that came with the unit. I also tried installing the capture device and software on a different machine with the same results.

[jagabo]

So you are telling me the bundled software (WinDVD Creator) that came with the PX-M402U unit will not work? Sounds odd. The screen shot in my previous post was with the software that came with the unit. I also tried installing the capture device and software on a different machine with the same results.

I don't know specifically about the PX-M402U and WinDVD Creator, but many hardware encoders include DVD authoring software simply so you can create DVDs after you've captured using their own capture application.

I did a little searching. This review indicates you can use the bundled WinDVD Creator to capture from the PX-M402U:

http://hardware.gamershell.com/articles/plextor_px-m402u_convertx/

One thing occurs to me: Microsoft only added real support for hardware encoders in the last year or so. Maybe you need to update to a newer version of DirectX or WMP?

[Elemental]

I am currently running DirectX 9.0c and WMP11

[Manokat]

There is a special edition of "Ulead VideoStudio 8 DVD" that was released by Plextor. This is the best software to use with ConvertX - PX-M402U IMO.