Bizarre Capturing Mystery...?

[Fishpaste]

I recently bought a cheap USB capturing device to convert some old VHS and camcorder tapes (Magix 'Rescue Your Videotapes 6').

The mystery is - all my tapes (camcorder and VHS) play back fine through a TV - and the camcorder can send a 'live' picture to the PC through the new USB capture device no problem (ie I can put the camera into 'camera' mode and the live pictures are perfect and I can record them no problem) - but as soon as I try playing back the tapes (which I know are perfectly fine), the picture goes very, very bad.. distorted, wavey lots of interference lines etc... but I can see through the view finder that the picture is playing back fine...? (I am using the same composite leads I use to send picture to a TV).

I've tried 2 different PCs (in different rooms to rule out interference), different leads and different video sources (VCR and camcorder)...

Is there something daft I am doing or missing, which could cause the difference in quality between recording a 'live' signal and recording back a tape....?

Everything in the software is set correctly - but obviously I have still tried every available option just incase... I checked the tabs on the cassettes are in place incase it was Macrovision causing the interference...

Or does it sound like I just got a dud...? but if this is the case I can't understand why the recordings of live video is OK.... how does it know..???

Thanks

[aedipuss]

if they are commercial tapes then yes you might be experiencing macrovision distortion. it's coded into the tape. if it's your own live recordings then no it can't be macrovision.

[Fishpaste]

they are all my own live recordings

[jagabo]

PAL vs. NTSC?

[Fishpaste]

My footage is PAL (I) - but I have tried all the other options just in case - and also all the different Field options.
Using these 'incorrect' settings just made the results a little bit worse, so I resorted back to the correct settings.

[fvisagie]

I've tried 2 different PCs (in different rooms to rule out interference), different leads and different video sources (VCR and camcorder)

The fact that the same happens with both VCR and camcorder (having also ruled out your PC and cabling etc.) at this stage seems to point to the capturing device and/or software...

However, beyond that I have no suggestions as to why it would correctly capture live but not recorded video. Actually, maybe a tiny possibility - is the live video in any way different to the recorded video? Perhaps frame rate, PAL/NTSC, 16:9 vs 4:3, different audio settings, etc?

Good luck!

Cheers,
Francois

[Fishpaste]

thanks....

I have requested a replacement capture device, which should arrive tomorrow... I will let you know if it was just a dud or if I'm still beating my head against the wall!

[Fishpaste]

Bugger!!

New, replacement USB capture device works exactly as the original... still got all the interference (but only when playing back tapes)..

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!

[ChibiBoi]

Would you mind uploading a sample video or screencap so we can see what kind of wavey lines you're talking about? Are they like horizontal jitters that appear when you try to capture the tape?