AIW capturing with shaking garbled video?
 

Hello,

i have to tell my story from beginning.

I had AMD Sempron 2000+, 1,5gb of RAM, Windows XP, ATI All In Wonder 9200 + good Panasonic VCR with TBC, connected via purple box with S-video cable, everything worked pretty much okay...with drivers and help from DF site..;)

One day, i had chance to get ABIT AV8, AMD Athlon 3200+ with 2gb of RAM, i thought, that's better, i will take it. And in this moment, i have big problem because of that. Why?

After I finally configured new machine with installed AIW card inside (and HDD from 2000+ with fresh XP installation), i want to capture some VHS tapes (trying to do this in VirtualDub and MMC - but results were same in both), and...please check this "signal" (i configured PAL settings because i'm from Europe). YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIW7...ature=youtu.be

At that moment, i thought, that's something wrong with new motherboard and AIW, so i installed AIW (with HDD from) again to old computer (2000+). I expected that will work okay, but result was "bad signal" again (upper YT link).

I did research with new system. Maybe S-video cable is bad? No, i tried via RF and result was same "bad signal". Maybe AIW card or purple box? I bought ATI AIW 9600, new purple box. Made WIN XP fresh installation and recommended drivers. Same "bad signal". Maybe something wrong with VCR? No! I tried S-video connection to good Digital8 camera - result was ''bad signal'' again. What am I doing wrong? Where is the problem?

And, just one weird thing - if i try "composite" input, the result is always black screen?! Weird.

I am totally desperate.

Best,
M.

- Removed AIW, made new box.
- Bad signal on new box.
- Pulled card, old box also has error.
- Changed all cables.
- Changed purple box.
- Changed AIW to 9600.

That correct?
Still an error?

Almost, i'll try explain again:

- Removed AIW, made new box
- Bad signal on new box
- Pulled card (w old-new HDD), old box also has same error
- I worked again on new box
- Checked all cables (composite - black screen, S-Video & RF cable - same problem)
- Checked different sources (VCR's, Cameras - same problem)
- Changed to AIW 9600 and i got new purple box (same bad signal)

I tried Windows XP SP1 and SP2...same old story. ;)

You can't just check, you must replace / try another.

What does "pulled old-new" mean?
Did you try same HDD in both old and new system? If so, next likely issue is bad drivers/install on the HDD.

You tried 2 AIW cards. It's not the cards.
You tried 2 motherboards/CPU/RAM/PSU combos. That's not it.

You're now left with software, or external pre-card workflow (VCR, all cables, etc).

If software not it, you must replace / try other VCR/wiring hardware.

Got it? :)

I tried with new S-Video cable (4pin). Same problem.

I tried other VCRs / Camcorders with S-video out. Same problem.

So, problem with software?! I have WinXP SP2, i tried with MS drivers, recommended ATI drivers from DigitalFaq site, 6.xx drivers from this site and always same problem...

Any suggestion?

Did you ever resolve this?

Perhaps the incoming signal was the issue, and not anything to do with the computers or wires? I notice that we never discussed that. D8 cameras can be touchy, so perhaps VHS would be better test.

No. I tested with 2 VCRs.

Any idea?

Have you tried testing the VCRs with a TV? If not, try all cables and all possible outputs, to make sure they are OK. I suppose they will be, but just make sure. You may have two broken VCRs.

If they show up properly on TV, and you know the PC end is fine, then maybe you have misconfigured something. The video seems to be fine, but it is out of sync. I have no idea how ATi config panel looks in Windows. Can you force the correct PAL system? Under Linux I get similar results if I choose PAL-60, or NTSC, but the signal is regular PAL. Maybe you are facing a similar issue.

Today I tried VCR with TV. So, VCR is fine.

Something is wrong with both cards or with software (Windows, drivers..). I tried other PC (from my friend with my AIW inside) and result was the same.

It looks like some interference, i have no idea...

If both cards are broken, you have incredibly bad luck. It can't be it.

Have you tried switching the video system after all?

These days, it can happen. Lots of non-working junk is sold as "used" on eBay. All ATI AIW are now over a decade old. Good cards exist -- just not necessarily on eBay, especially not the cheap auctions.

Video system, do u mean PC?

No, I mean the analogue video standard. I suspect your capture card misinterprets the PAL signal.

Check out the attached sample to see what I mean. I have captured signal from my VCR first by selecting the correct PAL system, then changing to SECAM, PAL-M and NTSC. As you can see, if the signal is misinterpreted the picture seems to fall apart in different ways.

Unfortunately, capturing when the too different NTSC and PAL-M were selected, results only in 1-2 captured frames. After that something stops reading the signal. I suppose it is the driver just discarding too much invalid data.

What I think happens to you is that even though your capture card(s) is/are set to a very different system the capture goes on and you see that flickering picture.

What I asked is, if you can force your capture card to PAL, since you say your tapes and VCR are PAL. I have no idea how to do it in Windows, but it must be possible. Obviously, it can be done in Linux, so the device supports it. I have an ATi 600 USB, but PCI card should support this feature, too. I can't believe they don't.

lordsmurf?

I've never seen PAL vs. NTSC look quite like that before. PAL/NTSC mismatch is usually stable, but off colors, and bottom 25% of the screen is messed up. Sure, we can check the PAL/NTSC capture pin/crossbar settings, but when I've seen video that random looking, it's generally a problem with a chipset. I've actually seen that more on faulty external TBCs (mostly DataVideo, Cypress) more that faulty capture cards.

He now has a verified-working card on the way, so we'll see what happens with it. :)