analogue through Studio 9

[Gremlin]

Okay, here goes..
1. This is seriously new to me and is doing my head in.
2. Have vhs tapes and a 9 year old JVC analogue video camera.
3. Tapes are important and want to put on hard disc, edit and burn to dvd for posterity, via Studio 9.
4. Have new system, 4 weeks old, Intel P4 3GHz; Ati Radeon9800 XXL graphics card; something called a Medion (7134) Capture Card; 512 Mb of RAM; 200 Gb HD, scart sockets, Composite video and s-video sockets; DVD Rom, re-writer and all sorts.
5. I've tried all I can think of, read previous forum questions and desperately tried to avoid putting my hand up in public and screaming "help", but I'm stuck.
6. There is no video and no audio, just snow in the preview window. I have a scart coming out of the VCR, the VHS 180 min tape is playing, I've clicked the fly-out in Studio's Capture Mode Interface and - although it says in the manual that this will reveal 'radio buttons' (under Video Input) for Composite and S-video ... it doesn't! All I've got is a little blue button for "Tuner". The yellow jack plug is in the computer's Composite In socket with the Red jack plug in the adjacent Audio In socket.
7. The scarts (I've tried two) only have 6 pins, I thought they had more, although these are the same scarts I used to use with my old Camlink 200 when first making the VHS 180 min tapes from all the little camcorder tapes.
8. Medion replied to my query and said I had everything I needed in the system and just needed to have a scart from the VCR and yellow Composite plug into the computer (I had tried Scart to Scart with the pre-installed software - Cyberlink Power Producer and Power Director).
9. I regret having to pour all this out to you guys but I can't make it on my own and I really would appreciate some help.
Thanks.
Gremlin

[Marc Peters]

Ok, sounds like you've got everything hooked up correctly. The proof seems to be that you're getting snow (if you weren't getting a signal, it would more than likely just be a black/blank screen). So maybe it might be worth taking a step back. Hook up the yellow composite cable to a TV - do you get the same problem? I've got a sneaky feeling this could be an "oops, I forget to do something" moment...

[Gremlin]

Thank you Marc,
The scart to a television via the Composite plug doesn't put the picture from the VCR on the telly either .... going to get a new scart later today and will post if that puts me in the frame (no pun intended!).
Thanks for reply,

Gremlin

[Gremlin]

Alas, I'm off to get depressed. Bought a new Scart-to-S-video cable. Connected all, including white and red audio plugs ... still only 'snow'. Capture Mode Interface shows Medion 7134 capture card, but fly out only has button labelled "tuner" - instead of the expected buttons to choose either Composite or S-video. Really fed up wondering what to do next. Did get poor quality capture by using just aerial cable via tv tuner card and Cyberlink Power Cinema TV mode. Despite Medion card appearing in Studio interface could the fact that the fly-out only shows a button for "tuner" mean something. If you can advise (or can remember what it feels like to be this frustrated) please offer me some help.

Grem.

[Marc Peters]

Hmm, just popped back from the pub, so forgive me for speaking complete bollocks here, but...

The fact that is says "tuner", and that you get "now" rather implys that you have a TV card installed and you're getting static from an untuned TV channel. That being the case, you need an option to switch from the "tuner" to the s-video in on the card. I hate to sound state the obvious, but did it come with a manual LOL?

A dead giveaway that it's a TV vard would be that it has an aerial connection...

[Gremlin]

Marc, have TV card with aerial connection .... but tv card connections are at bottom back of case whereas s-video, composite and a host of flash card sockets etc are near the top at front of case.. I never wanted to use system for tv so have no aerial connected But I see what you mean - with the 'fuzzy snow' which is like an untuned station and the fact that Studio is only showing "tuner" on the fly out. I've waded through the manual looking for a way to tell it to go to s-video and ignore the stupid tuner ... but can't find anything other than the impression that when I click the fly-out I will get my choices - not! There are no conflicts in Device Manager, no yellow exclamation marks and all devices are "working properly". In Device Manager,there is the tv tuner card, something called a Legacy Capture Card and then elsewhere the Medion 7134 Capture Card. Would a screenshot of the list help in any way Marc? Studio obviously picks up the 'proper' Medion card 'cos it shows it as the only selection in the Capture Interface. Is it worth uninstalling/re-installing Studio or is that just a measure of my frustration? Appreciate the replies as it helps to put some light at the end of what feels like a very long, dark tunnel.

Grem

[Marc Peters]

Try using another application to transfer (for example VirtualDub - freeware) http://www.marcpeters.co.uk/wondergoals.html

[Gremlin]

Might be worth a try Marc, thanks. At time of writing I cannot get the vhs tape on screen via Cyberlink Power Producer Gold , Power Director 3 or Pinnacle Studio 9. The VCR is about ten years old - could it be part of the problem. Have another (phillips) one about a year old, might move that one over and try again.

Cheers,

Grem

[Gremlin]

Damn! Scart to computer via Phillips VCR is exactly the same. I was soooooh hoping I had finally made it.

[Marc Peters]

Try VirtualDub and downloading updated drivers. The software is clearly missing the S-video and trying to capture from the TV tuner.