Very strange VHS capturing problem..

[Veepa]

Okay, I've been capturing VHS for about a year now, and I've never encountered this, so I am stumped..

Basically, I have this tape. It's a standard US official release from MCA.. And the tape plays perfectly fine on my VCR when plugged into the TV. But for some unknown reason when I try to cap it into my computer using virtualdub,.. this happens...

Screenshot: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v700/Veepa/tapetape.png

Now, this isn't a single flashing of static... the picture will play normal for a little bit and instantly transform into this diagnol lines, and just stay that way. If I re-adjust a setting in VirtualDub, it will reset the picture and start playing fine for a moment, and suddenly back to diagnol land..

So, my first thought was there is surely something wrong with my capturing device.. but no... I've tried other VHS through the same device and they aren't doing this. The capture device is just a cheap ATI TV Wonder USB thing, but it has always worked fine for me.

Anyway... I am stumped. My only thought is that this particular tape sends some different signal that is too fast for my capture device, so it bugs up. But that doesn't really make sense to me... The capture device is just receiving a generic video signal right? It doesn't deal with anything more complex than that does it? So why would this tape's video signal differ in any way than the other tapes? I have tried capping through composite and s-video by the way. And the error is visible in preview mode. At first I thought it was simply a preview mode error and tried recording, but found that it records this error.

Anyway, any help would be appreciated.

[BrainStorm69]

I would guess it's macrovision rearing its ugly head, but it seems very strange that you have been capturing VHS for a year without macrovision problems. Do you use anything in your capture chain to remove macrovision (eg, a TBC or a Sima box)? If so, then it must be something else. If not, I'd try that and see if it helps.

[danno78]

Now, this isn't a single flashing of static... the picture will play normal for a little bit and instantly transform into this diagnol lines, and just stay that way. If I re-adjust a setting in VirtualDub, it will reset the picture and start playing fine for a moment, and suddenly back to diagnol land..

Macrovision signal is detected and then the drivers alter the picture. It`s typical for ATI behavior regarding original protected tapes.
Buy a device that remove protection (some Sima device or external TBC) or use another card which ignore Macrovision signals.

[vhelp]

I think it might be your usb device failing, going bonkers on tricker tapes, like the ex you posted above. Does it get hot when touched? ..else, it looks like your cap device is loosing sync with the picture during capture and mistaking for macrovision. Still, the origin of your video content is from commercial sources so thats the first dead give-away.

On the other hand, you might want to try another usb device and see if you get the same issue. different devices entail different driver rules, sensitivity, strange picture results, etc., so you'r mileage will vary.

Roxio puts out a $49 usb stick, I picked up one for testing purposes, but seems to be no comparison to my pinnacle pctv pro hd stick. It does much better. see link for two sample clips I did (h264 codec req'd) if still available for download over a month ago, i think.

--> link

I think it may be time to search for another capture device, imho.

-vhelp 5353

[victoriabears]

can you get the relevant movieéprogram on dvd to save you all the grief

[themaster1]

My money is on rgb vs yv12 colorspace problem and also maybe scale problem , macrovision don't do that
If i'm right you pay me a beer and send a pm to all users who mis directed you, just booh 'em i'll be happy.