ADS Tech DVDXpress DX2 problem - video/sound not displaying

[DiamondJoe]

First post - I'm not exactly technically literate in all this so apologies if this is a question thats been asked a million times.

I have Windows XP on a Dell PC and recently bought this to transfer some old VHS clips. I've installed everything fine, and in the device manager it says that the device has been successfully installed. The VHS is connected and set to the correct composite video input, and is connected to the motherboard and not a USB hub. When I start up CapWiz (V3.8), the menu screen/navigator displays fine and I can navigate easily enough, but when I play a video, nothing comes up on the preview screen. There's no picture and no sound. I've tried different tapes, I've uninstalled and re-installed, and as far as I can tell my PC meets the minimum requirements, (and the VHS works) but I simply can't get a picture or any sound. Any suggestions? (If you could phrase it as simply as possible, eg "click here, then here" it would be a big help, as I'm not au fait with all the jargon).

[Krispy Kritter]

. The VHS is connected and set to the correct composite video input, and is connected to the motherboard and not a USB hub.

From this, it sounds like you have the video (composite cable) connected to the input of the VCR. If I misunderstood, I'm sorry, but the cable should connect to the VCR video output and the capture device input. If possible, S-Video will be higher quality and you will also need to have audio cables connected.

Aside from that, the manual takes you step by step through the setup process of installing, connecting, and testing all of the hardware. So I don't know what else I can add.

Also, the video doesn't automatically appear in the preview screen, you have to click "preview".

[DiamondJoe]

Thanks, I believe I may have solved the problem. There are two sets of RCA jacks on the VCR and I had the cables plugged into the wrong ones. However I can only get audio - there is no RCA jack for the video input, just a standard aerial. There is a scart output - could I use this with an adaptor with RCA outputs which connect to the card?

[Krispy Kritter]

Maybe I'm misunderstanding (again), but you don't want to use the video INPUTS of the VCR. You need audio/video OUTPUT. All of the VCR's that I have ever used have audio and video output (red/white RCA are audio, yellow RCA is video).

The make and model of the VCR may be helpful. If it only has SCART, then you will need a SCART converter, in which case you can use S-Video instead of composite video (yellow RCA) and get better quality.

[DiamondJoe]

I've now managed to get a picture and sound using a scart/S-Video cable. However the only problem is the picture is black & white, on all the videos I've tried. Any ideas on how to fix it? I've already changed between 16-bit and 32-bit colour, and tried altering the colour on the capwiz but no luck

[Krispy Kritter]

Sounds like you are mixing video formats (ie: PAL VCR with a NTSC ADS Tech device...or vice versa). Or the ADS tech device is setup improperly (ie: set to auto or NTSC when it should be PAL...or vice versa).