Capture card - where'd my video go?

[JVRaines]

I have an Osprey 260e (PCIe) that was working like a champ until my PSU blew. I installed a new PSU, had to restore my system drive from a backup, but otherwise the rest of the PC is fine. Except the Osprey, which says "Video present" but produces no image in VDub or AmaRecTV. Audio does come through, however. When I remove the signal, it fails to produce test bars as configured. Confirmed VCR and cables are fine. Re-seated the Osprey, tried another slot, same symptoms. Reinstalled Windows 7 (as in-place upgrade), no change. So I tried using my Startech USB dongle and got the same symptoms of sound but no picture. Tried installing the Startech on my laptop and same result. Now things are getting weird. The dongle was nowhere near the PSU disaster. Am I cursed? Should I reinstall Windows? That would be a bigtime pain.

[Brad]

I would try to build a working graph in GraphEdit or its kin (GraphStudioNext, etc.). May open the door to further troubleshooting.

[JVRaines]

Okay, there will be a learning curve, but I'll give it a try. I did a clean reinstall of Windows anyway, just to clean out the cruft from my system drive. Didn't make a difference.

EDIT: GraphEdit was easier to pick up than I thought. I created graphs for the Preview and Capture pins of my device and the test pattern appears! I can change the pattern properties and they update in the rendered view. So why am I getting a black screen in all my capture apps?

[Brad]

One difference I can think of between GraphEdit and VirtualDub is that your graph is using one of the VMRs as the renderer while VirtualDub uses something else for its Overlay/Preview. AmaRecTV's options are "Auto/Overlay/Priority to EVR". I think Overlay is the one labelled Video Renderer in my screenshot.

Do the other Renderer options in GraphEdit all work?



Also, what happens when you actually tell VDub/AmaRec to capture?

[JVRaines]

In GraphEdit, I tried two different Video Renderers and a Video Mixing Renderer and they all work.

AmaRecTV behavior: comes up with a pure white screen until I go into Configuration; then it turns pure black. Constantly cycles through the inputs looking for video. Capturing produces a null video stream. "Overlay" gives an error:

[Attachment 41538 - Click to enlarge]

VDub behavior: Overlay and Preview both show black. Capturing produces a null video stream.

Sony Video Capture behavior: Works just fine! Only problem is I have no choice of encoder so I get uncompressed RGB.

Now the question becomes: what distinguishes GraphEdit and Sony Video Capture from the other apps?

[shekh]

In vdub, did you try changing custom format..., capture pin..., capture filter... ?
Also preview acceleration.

[JVRaines]

Yeah, I tried changing everything I could. No effect.

But there is an update. Today it works! The only thing I changed since yesterday is installing Microsoft Visual Studio 2017 on my computer. So either the card is really flaky and it's just a coincidence, or the VS install fixed a software problem. Which would be pretty disturbing, since I had performed a clean reinstallation of the OS.