audio gets out of sync when I record to VCR

[lipwak]

Hi,

i have set up my Powerbook G4 (17" HD, 1.67 ghz, 1.5 gb ram, OSX 10.4.11) so that the video out can feed my VCR. What is happening though, when I record computer content (webcam streams for example) on VCR, the audio is out of sync, I' say behind the video...

The funny thing is, I also record to the computer using EyTV and set things up so that the TV audio goes through my stereo. It is in sync when it gets to the computer!

My hookup to the VCR is the S-VHS dongle to an RCA cable that goes into the front panel of a VCR (or rear depending on which machine I use). The audio comes from the headphone out with a mini plug and goes to the audio inputs of the VCR.

My hookup for the VCR/TV/DirecTV DVR to the computer is S-VHS for the video to the EyeTV box (then USB to computer.) The audio goes from an audio switch box (to switch either audio from the TV, DVR or VCR) to the stereo. From there I have an audio out to a another switch box (that alternates between the audio in and out from/to the computer - I use only one cable to the computer. The cable goes to the audio in for the computer.

What is it about my feed to the VCR is causing the audio to go out of sync? The cable length is about the same going to and from the tv/computer.

I am amazed that the audio is in sync going TO the computer..

Cheers,

John L

[terryj]

Try mimicking what I've done successfully:

In the past what I've done is used Apple's DVI to S-VHS adapter out from a MacBook Pro,
and Audio out via Y Stereo RCA Cables, going directly into a DVD Recorder.
( U can substitute VCR for the DVD Recorder)

To input into the DVD Recorder, I used S-Video , and I was using a Stereo Y cable for the audio.
I set the MacBook Pro to "mirror desktop" so that what played on the Macbook Pro
"played" onto the DVD Recorder. I used VLC in FullScreen mode to play back the content.
Content was downloaded, NOT STREAMING, as stops and starts in the stream, even on gigabit ethernet,
can cause synching errors.

[lipwak]

That's an idea, thanks. I face two problems with it though. 1) I haven't successfully gotten VLS to save ANY streams (I can get some to play but haven't saved any.) and 2) the stream I'd want to save is, I think, a .wmv. I guess VLC can save/play that but I don't know how. The stream I want to capture is embedded on a web page. (I'm having a hard time figuring what I can use a link to the stream. I looked at the page source and found a .wmv stream but am not sure that is what I need.)

That's why I like the go analog route of using the VCR.

I can see how saving it first might cure the sync problem but there are some streams I just haven't been able to save using other add-ons with Firefox or separate apps that are supposed to save streaming video.

I'd rather not say the name of the tv station whose stream I want to capture. Are there any other apps you'd recommend that I can try to capture its stream?

Thanks.

John L

[terryj]

What happens if you use the VideoDownladHelper plugin in Firefox to download it as it plays in browser?

What if, with WMV Player installed from Flip4mac, you copy the url link to the stream
and then paste it into either MpegStreamclip or into Quicktime Player 7?

Does either then download the stream start file locally?

If neither work, then we could talk about using a screen capture app like iShowu to capture it as it plays in the browser
window to a DV file...

[lipwak]

Thanks, Terry. I like how VideoDownloadHelper works and will try it when the station is webcasting. (They only do sertain hours). I'll check MPEG Streamclip and QT too. Would QT download this start file into a temp or hidden directory? I don't recall seeing any files previously with that.

[terryj]

The temp file would be the file that it downloads and puts into the open window of said application.
It would be a temporary file until you saved it onto your hd, then it would be permanent.