Hello all,

This is a continuation of my previous post.
I have many vcr tapes to convert either to raw dv or mpeg 2 and have discovered a strange problem.

The signal from the vcr is somehow getting corrupted by 2 devices that i use - ads usb dvd1 and a formac studio firewire box.
Both units give massive frame loss, jumping picture and overall bad quality under any compression / format / settings. 2 pc's used, one quite powerfull and 1 out of date and no difference between the captured files on each of them.

But guess what ?
On my old 'out of date' win 98 machine with an ATI ALL IN WONDER 8MB rage card I get perfect capture with no frame loss via the cards rca inputs ! - vcr cable straight into pci card.
Unfortunately it will not capture in the formats i require but it does tell me that the vcr is putting out a strange signal that the other 2 devices do not like. What on earth could it be ?

The other 2 devices should be in a different league to the old ati card with regards to vcr capture and im really scratching my head now.

Videos are all pal and in good condition.

it's not macrovision is it?

No mate, I thought that too because one of the tapes is an old music video (cant buy it anymore), but some are my own and definitely no copyright protection.

If only the ati card would record in mpeg2 or dv it would be fine.
Will try again later.

Cheers

seems odd that the old card can't record to dv avi. is it just that a dv codec ain't installed?

have you tried the old card in the new pc, assuming it's pci?

The card is limited to the following :

ATI VCR 1
ATI VCR 2
INDEO RAW
MPEG RAW
YVU PLANAR PACKED DATA

Whatever format I capture in it has to be compatible with nero vision dvd burner, which i used to great effect with someones wedding video recently.

I tried to use virtual dub with it but the capture is still limited to the cards hardware.
Im tempted to sell off some bits and buy the latest ATI all in wonder card. The tapes wont last forever and every time i play them they get older !

Cheers

i don't like vdub for capturing. give iuvcr a shot and see what else you get. if it can capture uncompressed avi, it should be able to capture to any codec within an avi, cpu power allowing.

Well ive just about had enough !
Im flogging all my old bits on ebay and going for a new agp 'all singing, all dancing' graphics and capture card.

The 2 external devices i have will capture fine from an analogue camcorder but not from a vcr ??
Have tried just about every bit of software / configuration and its made no difference. My old ati 8mb pci card will capture from any analogue source without frame loss, the downside is the cards hardware will only allow recording in 5 formats that are not good enough for full dvd reproduction.

Even iuvcr could not trick it into allowing other formats.

The new card im looking at is the ati radeon all in wonder 9800 128mb but ati's useless website does not have 'full' technical specifications available..............Grrrrrrrr

The next piece of hardware had better work because i do not want to spend any more money for quite some time.

Phew, rant over

Cheers

you'll be fine with an all in wonder, they're good cards. used to be the only thing to go for when doing analogue capping, so they have an excellent rep, and the ati cards are faster than geforces now too, so that's always good.

odd that it'd cap from a camera but not a vcr. hmm...

Cheers for your reply,

I have to say that my old ati card is still a good card after all these years, tv tuner, video capture up to 320x240 (albeit fixed to a few codecs) and not bad gaming.

I am still so confused over the issue with the other devices though, especially the formac dv studio which was state of the art a couple of years ago and still in production now.
Just hooked up my old 8mm vhs camcorder with analogue outputs and captured a great big dv file with no problems again !

Weird.
Maybe its the scart lead from the vcr or auto tracking ?

not sure at all. all i know is it works fine with my card.

might be worth trying a different cable, i guess.