Captures too bright (etc.) with Dazzle DVC100/Pinnacle Studio 17

[Psymon23]

I'm so frustrated! Firstly, just a little background to my issue(s)...

I used to do video captures with my Dazzle DVC100 on my old computer, running WinXP and using Pinnacle Studio version 10 -- I can't remember the exact specs of that computer (because it died recently), but it was about 10 years old. I never had any problems with it -- rarely any dropped frames, and no "squiggly lines" up at the top of my captures that always had to be edited out. If I wanted to capture, say, a movie off of TCM or something, I could do just so, simply trim off any extra stuff at the beginning/end, and ta-da, I could then render to whatever format file I wanted to save as.

Not so anymore since I upgraded my computer to a WAY faster/better system, first running on Win7 and now on Win10, and I had to upgrade to Pinnacle Studio 17 now, too (since version 10 simply doesn't work on Win7/10). While dropped frames aren't really an issue -- and rendering, etc. is certainly a lot faster on my new computer -- every capture has those stupid "squiggly lines" up at the top, and so I always have to adjust the size/position of the video to compensate for that.

If that was the only issue, I could probably live with that (as annoying and time/effort-wasting as that is), but one issue that I can't seem to resolve is that all my captures are simply too bright. Interestingly, this doesn't seem to be too much of a problem with colour films, but with old B&W movies it really is a major issue -- any time there's an outdoor (sunny) scene or something, where things are already "brightly lit," then my capture is totally washed out with way, way too much "whiteness."

Any ideas what the problem might be? I thought it might be a problem with Pinnacle, but I tried capturing with VirtualDub, too, and have the same brightness issue with that as well.

Here, below, are my current system specs...

Operating System
Windows 10 Pro 64-bit

CPU
Intel Core i7 4770 @ 3.40GHz 28 °C
Haswell 22nm Technology

RAM
8.00GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 798MHz (11-11-11-28)

Motherboard
Hewlett-Packard 18E7 (SOCKET 0) 28 °C

Graphics
Acer S232HL (1920x1080@60Hz)
Intel HD Graphics 4600 (HP)
2047MB NVIDIA GeForce GT 610 (ASUStek Computer Inc)
ForceWare version: 361.91
SLI Disabled

Storage
931GB Seagate ST1000DM003-1CH162 (SATA) 30 °C
5589GB Western Digital WD My Book Duo 0A10 USB Device (USB (SATA))

Optical Drives
hp CDDVDW SN-208FB

Audio
Realtek High Definition Audio

USB Composite Device
Dazzle DVC100 Video Device

[smrpix]

The best way to confirm the problem is with a waveform monitor -- which pinnacle 17 does not have -- to confirm the video is actually incorrect. Next, make sure your monitor is properly calibrated.

Pinnacle does have the capability of making adjustments on analog captures. See your manual pg 242

[Psymon23]

Thanks for the reply! My old Pinnacle 10 -- which I had no problems at all with -- was made by, well, Pinnacle, but my version 17 was made by Corel, which bought the company out. I have a feeling that Corel is the problem.

I'm not too "geeky" when it comes to hardware stuff, but if perchance you are, I wonder if perhaps the issue might be not with Pinnacle, even, but rather my Dazzle capture device (which is "old" now). Based on my system specs, I wonder if perchance I should be looking at a new capture device -- maybe something digital rather than analog? I used to do a lot of captures from old VHS tapes (which I needed the analog for), but not so much anymore, and I could probably just go with something purely digital now.

At least, if that would resolve this issue, and give me something that actually works. I'm just not that geeky about this sort of thing to know, though.

Of course, it would certainly be nicer if I could just fix this with what I have -- I just don't know how, let alone what's causing the brightness problem (especially) in the first place. :/

[jagabo]

Upload a short sample with a range of darks and brights that show your problems.

[Brad]

Your issues are caused by the different drivers being used with the newer Windows versions, not the "Studio" software itself. That's why the problem appears when VirtualDub is used to capture instead.

I assume by "squiggly lines" you mean the line 21 closed caption data codes (black line with little white segments that flicker in and out of existence). If so, I can confirm that different drivers can cause the same capture device to begin capturing on a different NTSC scanline, changing the vertical alignment. (In my case, this was when I manually forced a different manufacturer's driver to work with my device that uses the same hardware.)

In VirtualDub, see if you have Proc Amp controls available through one of the tabs of Video -> Capture Filter.

But newer Windows drivers often don't allow this even when XP drivers did. Frankly, I'm shocked that they even bothered to make Win10 drivers for such an old device. That's rare.

[Psymon23]

I assume by "squiggly lines" you mean the line 21 closed caption data codes (black line with little white segments that flicker in and out of existence). If so, I can confirm that different drivers can cause the same capture device to begin capturing on a different NTSC scanline, changing the vertical alignment. (In my case, this was when I manually forced a different manufacturer's driver to work with my device that uses the same hardware.)

In VirtualDub, see if you have Proc Amp controls available through one of the tabs of Video -> Capture Filter.

I really don't know about that sort of stuff, but what you describe ("black line with little white segments that flicker in and out of existence") does describe what I was referring to.

But newer Windows drivers often don't allow this even when XP drivers did. Frankly, I'm shocked that they even bothered to make Win10 drivers for such an old device. That's rare.

Well, I basically just installed the same drivers that I'd installed on Win7, which are the latest drivers available and which seemed to work okay -- at least, it does capture.

Also, from another reply...

Upload a short sample with a range of darks and brights that show your problems.

Okay, this is where things just got weird. I just fired up Pinnacle to do a quick capture off TCM -- which was just airing an old B&W film that seemed perfectly-suited for showing the issue I've been having -- and for some utterly mysterious reason everything seems perfectly fine now! What I see on my computer monitor (in the capture preview window) seems exactly the same as what I see on my TV. There's still the problem with those "squigglies," of course, but the bigger issue re brightness somehow just magically went away.

I really don't get this! It's almost as though my computer has been cursed, and all it took was for me to come on this forum and complain about it and I scared those evil spirits away -- ha!

So I don't know what's going on. Thanks so much for your help here, to all of you who responded. Let's hope that things stay "fixed" now (even though I didn't do anything or change anything!), but if the problem comes back then I'll try to come back with more info and/or a sample capture or something.

I really don't get this, why suddenly that brightness issues just up and went away...

[jagabo]

The reason I asked for a sample was because the type of problem you are having may not be in the capture at all. Sometimes it's the way the capture software or graphics card is set up to display the video. In any case, it looks like your main brightness problem has been taken care of.

The closed captions at the top of the frame can be cropped away or covered up while capturing if your computer is fast enough. VirtualDub, for example, has the ability to filter while capturing: Video -> Filter Chain -> Enable... I suggest you use the Fill filter to overwrite the junk with black.

[Psymon23]

The closed captions at the top of the frame can be cropped away or covered up while capturing if your computer is fast enough. VirtualDub, for example, has the ability to filter while capturing: Video -> Filter Chain -> Enable... I suggest you use the Fill filter to overwrite the junk with black.

I guess that would be an option, indeed -- although one thing I did discover before when I tried out VirtualDub was that when I "Capture AVI" what I end up with can't seem to then afterwards be edited in Pinnacle -- the latter just won't even play the video (even though it "sees" that it's there in its inventory of files), let alone can I edit it.

I really, really don't like Pinnacle 17 (now made by Corel), compared to version 10 (made by Pinnaclesys), which I was using on my old WinXP computer. The controls for fast-forward and rewind are sooooooo sloppy to use, for one thing, and it's just plain weird how they set up their filters for doing even simple things like just adjusting the size/position of your video.

In this latter regard, I suppose that perhaps my ideal solution would be to get my old computer fixed up again -- it was great before, actually, as I could capture on that computer, and then used a KVM switch to switch over to my new, main computer and I could do whatever I want on that while capturing (or rendering) on the other.

And on another note, I also have other video software, notably Premiere Elements, which I actually love for editing -- but I can't capture with it as I need a digital capture device for that, not an analog one. That's all kind-of over my head, though -- as I think I mentioned before, I'm not very "geeky" when it comes to hardware stuff (web, graphic and ebook design is much more my thing than video stuff is).

Would you (or anyone) have any suggestions on getting my computer set up so that I can capture with Premiere Elements instead of Pinnacle? I posted the specs (for my new computer) in my first post here. I haven't got a clue what I would need for that, if I would need more hardware installed or what.

Thanks again, in advance!

[Psymon23]

Okay, I thought that maybe I had gotten things set up reasonably okay by adjusting the various levels (which I never had to do with my old WinXP/Pinnacle10 system), but yesterday TCM aired "Lord of the Flies" and I thought it would be fun to capture it and reminisce about my old school days. I started to capture it, and then realized that what I was ending up with was a perfect example of things coming out horribly, and no matter how I adjust the various levels I can't get a decent capture.

I've included a short clip here where you can see what's happening, both in capturing a colour source (from the TCM intro to the film) and a B&W source (from the film itself). It's just awful! The opening titles for TCM's intro are totally washed out with brightness/whiteness, not to mention Ben Mankiewicz, but the problem becomes even more stark with B&W captures, which I included a bit of as well. As I watched the film on my TV, as the kids are walking on the beach, although it's certainly a sunny day you can see the definition of the beach itself, the folds in the boys clothes, the frothing water and the conch shell -- there's just no way I can get a reasonable capture of this, though.

Any ideas? Could it be a hardware issue? I included my specs in my first post here.

[jagabo]

It looks like your brights were crushed before the proc amp adjustment brought them down to about Y=192. If you have automatic gain/brightness/contrast controls turn them off.

During the initial fade in you can see details on the beach:


But a few frames later:

[Psymon23]

It looks like your brights were crushed before the proc amp adjustment brought them down to about Y=192. If you have automatic gain/brightness/contrast controls turn them off.

I'm too ignorant to know what your first sentence means. With regard to brightness, contrast, etc. I've adjusted them manually as best I can -- and what you see in this video is the best capture I can come up with (I don't see any option anywhere for "automatic," other than to just click the 'reset" button which puts the brightness, etc. back to the defaults again -- which are utterly horrible, of course).

[Psymon23]

I think I solved it! First, I checked all my cables, making sure they were all snugly attached everywhere -- which they all certainly seemed to be -- and so then I thought I would see if I had the same issue if I captured via my TV, instead of directly from the cable box (DVR). So I unplugged them from the latter, and then went to plug them in the TV but discovered that there's no video/audio "out" outlets on it. D'oh... so then I plugged them back into the cable box again.

And voilà! That seems to have cured it! I'm mystified, because I did check the cables, and they all seemed okay before, as snug-and-tight-as-could-be, but now when I fire up Pinnacle and check it out the capture seems just fine, I only just need to tone down the brightness just a little and it's almost perfect.

So all along it was a cable issue, it would seem -- at least, I do hope that's all it was. So sorry for bothering you all! But thanks so much for your help and suggestions, everyone, I really appreciate it! I'll keep my fingers crossed that everything is fine now... but if not, then I guess I just might be back here again.

Thanks again! Yay (I hope)!