Viewing during VCR fast forwarding/rewinding

[spinmonk]

I recently got an EasyCap to do some simple transfers of old VHS tapes before they disintegrate. I can capture fine and the results are acceptable (especially for the cheap price of the USB capture and the outstanding guides and forum posts here) but I'm having a problem when dealing with the source tapes.

As the tapes are compilations and lots of start and stop, I need to be able to fast forward and rewind to find the proper place to record what I want. And the problem is that it seems to freeze the image when the VCR is fast forwarding. Is this a technical limitation or is there a software setting I can use in VirtualDub or some other capture software that will display during fast forwarding? Is these a software package I could be using for viewing that will let me see while I fast forward? I would have no problem using a separate program to find what I need and VirtualDub to capture it.

Any ideas? Would a higher end card do this for me or is this the same for all cards?

[yoda313]

You could try connecting the rf out to a tv and see if the vcr will simultaneously output the video through the video jacks and the rf output. THat way the video would go out through the video jacks and seperately to a tv via the rf jacks. Then you would uses the tv as a monitor to view the fastforwarding while keeping your capture program running.

I don't know if this is possible or not. I have never tried it. Also it may very greatly from vcr to vcr on whether or not this works.

[edDV]

A TV set will always work (RF or composite).

[lowellriggsiam]

I have also expreienced this problem with a Dazzle Video Creater that was also USB and the reason is that USB device could not transfer the information and have the software interpret the image at the rate is was fed.

[spinmonk]

^ ^ ^ ^ ^
Edit: Ah, so perhaps it's a USB-related problem? Perhaps a PCMCIA solution might be better? (I'm on a laptop)

I was trying to avoid that as I've only got a RCA connection on the TV here and I wanted to avoid a splitter. It would just be ideal to avoid doing a hot swap every time as I search for the right excerpts and it seemed like a solvable problem.

Does it freeze for everyone else when they fast forward?

[bendixG15]

How about you just transfer the entire tape to the hard drive and then do the cutting ?

[spinmonk]

How about you just transfer the entire tape to the hard drive and then do the cutting ?

That just seems really inefficient, taking between 2 and 8 hours for each tape, and then I need to fast forward via computer software which isn't all that great at fast forwarding.

It's a solution but I was hoping there was a method to see the incoming signal as is.

[hech54]

Are the makers of this EasyCrap device on a Googlebot rampage or something? JEEZ I'm sick of seeing this crap.

[bendixG15]

How about you just transfer the entire tape to the hard drive and then do the cutting ?

That just seems really inefficient, taking between 2 and 8 hours for each tape, and then I need to fast forward via computer software which isn't all that great at fast forwarding.

It's a solution but I was hoping there was a method to see the incoming signal as is.

Suit yourself.... but consider

1- You don't have to stand there and watch the VCR play the tape.
2- Fast foward (and reverse) on the hard drive is practically instantaneous.

Good Luck .........

[RowMan]

If there's a "video-out" on the back of your TV (usually located next to the video-in), you might want to feed into the TV first, then output from the TV to your capture device.

[yoda313]

If there's a "video-out" on the back of your TV (usually located next to the video-in), you might want to feed into the TV first, then output from the TV to your capture device.

That might not be ideal for a "clean" capture. That would put a lot on the processing power on the tv to output a good video.

It may work but it would always be ideal to have the shortest distance between source and capture device to ensure a good clean transfer (as good as your playback equipment and source material are of course).

[RowMan]

Yeah. The best choice here would be getting a small TV with an RF input. I believe most software and capture devices tend to freeze up in some form when dealing with the unstable signal that's produced when fast forward and rewind scanning.

[spinmonk]

I believe most software and capture devices tend to freeze up in some form when dealing with the unstable signal that's produced when fast forward and rewind scanning.

Thanks. I was thinking it was a mistake on my end that may be fixable but it seems to be relatively common. I'll probably just figure out the timecodes of the excerpts I need and then hotswap the composite cords to the capture card.

Thanks for your help all.