#1  
04-02-2017, 04:27 PM
bilbofett bilbofett is offline
Free Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2016
Posts: 58
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Hi, I've been speaking with MsGohan and Sanlyn.
I was directed to keep my questions in the public forum, and not PM.

So here goes.

MsGohan reports that the VC500 clips superblacks when using its proprietary EZGrabber:
"Full access to the VC500's proc amp is only possible on WinXP..Ez Grabber causes superblacks to be clipped, at least for me. They're still clipped after closing the program. Unplugging and replugging the VC500 restores them but sets the Proc Amp back to VDub's settings instead of the tweaked one."

So the catch22 is, you can't set the ProcAmp properly prior to capture, outside of using WinXP.

Sanlyn proposed a "temporary work-around" where you invoke the AV8710 TBC between output of the VHS or Laserdisc player and the input of the cap card, upticking the brightness a bit on the 8710 to compensate for the clipped blacks the VC500 will do for every capture. But I would have to do this for each and every capture ad-infinitum, since I don't have XP installed.

It's been almost a year since some of those comments were made and I was wondering if there was any new insight since then.
I really don't want to have to install XP (and I've been having tons of trouble trying to get a dual boot setup on a SATA drive w/USB!)

Thoughts?
Reply With Quote
Someday, 12:01 PM
admin's Avatar
Ads / Sponsors
 
Join Date: ∞
Posts: 42
Thanks: ∞
Thanked 42 Times in 42 Posts
  #2  
04-02-2017, 05:06 PM
sanlyn sanlyn is offline
Premium Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: N. Carolina and NY, USA
Posts: 3,648
Thanked 1,307 Times in 982 Posts
The images and histograms posted in an earlier thread compared super-black clipping with non-clipping. You've seen these same posts earlier: http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/vide...html#post43951. Those photos show rich blacks with a spike for the y=zero black borders at below y=16. I don't know about others' experience with the VC500, but I've used it with XP and the EZGrabber's proc amp controls with no fancy procedures except to set suitable capture histogram levels. I don't have any saved Win7 captures with the VC500 -- Win7 is too much of a pain in the butt to use for capture and seems to get everything wrong and placed in too many hidden areas, so I lost patience capturing with it. I did some video work with Win7 in the past, but now I just use Win7 for the internet and photo work. If Win7 did cause the VC500 to clip superblacks, I must not have noticed because I don't recall having to work on the problem.

There are other images from this same thread that you might recall, showing the ATI600 clipping below y-16, and examples have appeared in other posts with the ATI600 and another device (I think it was the the Hauppauge Live-USB). The workaround discussed seems to work for other users, even if you have some tweaking to do in post processing. But you have to post process anyway with almost every analog source.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
04-05-2017, 03:53 PM
msgohan msgohan is offline
Free Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Posts: 1,323
Thanked 334 Times in 276 Posts
The key word here is full BTW. Brightness and Contrast are the two controls that you can access directly on Win7 and newer.

Quote:
Originally Posted by bilbofett View Post
MsGohan reports that the VC500 clips superblacks when using its proprietary EZGrabber:
"Full access to the VC500's proc amp is only possible on WinXP..Ez Grabber causes superblacks to be clipped, at least for me. They're still clipped after closing the program. Unplugging and replugging the VC500 restores them but sets the Proc Amp back to VDub's settings instead of the tweaked one."

So the catch22 is, you can't set the ProcAmp properly prior to capture, outside of using WinXP.
Here is an earlier quote of mine.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Private msg
Full access to the VC500's proc amp is only possible on WinXP. The default setting of Sharpness is above neutral, and you can't normally access it on Win7. The effect may be subtle enough that you don't notice it, or you may even find it preferable.

You can lower the Sharpness using their built-in app, but using those controls causes clipping of superblacks.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sanlyn View Post
If Win7 did cause the VC500 to clip superblacks, I must not have noticed because I don't recall having to work on the problem.
You'd only notice the problem if you used Ez Grabber at that time.
Reply With Quote
  #4  
04-05-2017, 03:57 PM
sanlyn sanlyn is offline
Premium Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: N. Carolina and NY, USA
Posts: 3,648
Thanked 1,307 Times in 982 Posts
Quote:
Originally Posted by msgohan View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by sanlyn
If Win7 did cause the VC500 to clip superblacks, I must not have noticed because I don't recall having to work on the problem.
You'd only notice the problem if you used Ez Grabber at that time.
I used Virtualdub.
Reply With Quote
Reply




Tags
8710, capture, msgohan, sanlyn, vc500

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Issues with Legacy VC500-USB mtetreault Capture, Record, Transfer 12 07-02-2019 06:37 PM
Diamond VC500 USB and VirtualDub to capture PAL? Bobban Capture, Record, Transfer 27 04-01-2017 08:02 AM
ATI AIW 7500 VE PCI vs. Diamond VC500 for LaserDisc metaleonid Capture, Record, Transfer 20 03-20-2017 02:06 PM
Diamond VC500 won't capture with VirtualDub and Win10 SoManyTapes Capture, Record, Transfer 5 01-03-2017 07:17 AM
VHS capture to AVI with VC500 -- thoughts? jmt0 Capture, Record, Transfer 15 01-14-2014 08:57 AM

Thread Tools



 
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 05:54 AM