Help with AVT-8710 TBC

[Reniamatic]

Hi--

I'm new here and very excited to start archiving my videos with my new AVT-8710.

I am using iMovie and iDVD to create the DVDs. I am not just going from the VCR to the TBC to a DVD recorder.

I am going from a VCR to the TBC with S-VIDEO cable....
to my Sony DCRHC96 mini DV camera with build in analog to digital converter with an RCA cable
to my Intel iMAC with a fire wire cable.

I love my sony camera for its analogue to digital convertor, which has made it very easy for me to bring in alot of VHS tapes to iMovie.

However, I can't get a proper signal to be shown on my computer. I can see the color bars come up, but using both S-VHS cables and an RCA cable I just see strange vertical lines appear, and no proper video. I purchased this item to enhance and archive some valuable family videos. I am loving this new hobby of mine, but I really want the TBC to work with my system.

Any help for a newbie --- so appreciated!

[miamicanes]

OK, the fact that you're seeing the color bars shows that you're at least getting video from the TBC into the Mac. That leaves the connection between the VCR and TBC.

Have you tried to put in a tape and play it (as opposed to trying to see the blue screen with VCR-overlaid text you'd normally see if there were no video coming into the VCR)? I discovered myself that capture cards don't seem to like pure bluescreen video with overlaid text... when I bought my first box (ADStech DVDxpress DX2), I discovered that I couldn't change my VCR's settings through its menu, because it freaked out and stopped capturing the moment I brought up the menu. Fortunately, it works when I feed my Pyro through the TBC, but it's still weird.

Which of the bottom-row lights on the TBC is on? Try pressing and holding the RESET button on the TBC for 5-7 seconds with a tape in the VCR and playing, and your capture app running in 'preview' mode. If that doesn't work, try unplugging the TBC (tape still playing, app still capturing) and plugging it back in.

You might also need to adjust the VCR's tracking, which is harder to do through a TBC because its effects are delayed by a fraction of a second. On most recent VCRs, you adjust the tracking by pressing channel up and channel down (on the VCR, not the remote) simultaneously, then (after releasing both) using them individually to adjust the tracking in one direction or the other. One thing I discovered recently is that auto-tracking only works reliably with tapes recorded by the same VCR. Also, you might not be able to find a tracking position that gives you both optimal picture quality and optimal sound quality. If that happens, you'll have to optimize for video and disable hi-fi stereo (falling back to normal/mono) for the capture, re-optimize for sound and capture a second time, then demux the sound from both captures, get the second to "line up" with the first, and remux the second audio track into the first video capture.

[Reniamatic]

OK! It works! For some reason, the color bars did not show up. I got annoyed and disconnected everything and reconnected it as well. I may to start everything first and then the camera last, because now it works like a charm. It is so great to adjust the settings and see it happening on my MAC. I still see some damage in the tape though...