Faulty capture devices, or setup issues?
 

Hello,

First a quick preface: I'm planning on capturing/encoding a VHS video archive comprised of about 300 tapes, I think I have a rough idea regarding the workflow I will follow, but I'm still on the equipment gathering phase.

I already managed to acquire a decent VCR (PAL/SECAM JVC HR-S9700) and a (quite decent) dedicated encoding computer, but I'm either experiencing the strangest issues with 3 out of the 5 capture devices I tried, or the worst luck imaginable.

After a bit of research I got my mind settled for a Hauppauge USB-Live2, but trying it out (S-Video input) the image I get shows as attachment #1. Tried to troubleshoot it further, thought it might have been an S-Video issue so I used composite, but experienced the same issue.
Tried using different sources, computers and even OS (attachment #1 is from a Linux laptop) to no avail.

I ended up assuming this was indeed a faulty unit and requested a replacement, such replacement arrived the next day but to my surprise it also had the exact same issue!

After a bit of digging around I managed to find a Diamond VC500 from Amazon UK, so I ended up ordering one.
It took a while to arrive since I'm not UK based, but when it did my eyes couldn't believe what they were seeing: EXACT same problem, only this time around color was also acting weird, as in, it was a fuzzy BW picture instead.

At this point I was starting to completely lose confidence in my ability to troubleshoot and diagnose this kind of issues, so I borrowed a cheap Chinese capture device from a friend and, to my relief, it worked out of the box no issues whatsoever, sans quality of course.
Also while all this happened I got a Pinnacle Dazzle DVC100 from eBay (new), it's also working alright except for a small jitter/jumpiness in the picture when used in a Win10 system (Linux doesn't seem to suffer from this issue), but that might be a topic for another thread.

So tl;dr and just out of curiosity: did I miss something setting these devices up or were they all just faulty somehow?

That behavior on the menu is normal for the VC500 and Hauppauge (they both have nearly the same hardware. The menu screen on this and most other vcrs is a non-standard video signal that those cards can't handle properly (or at least not with any drivers/settings I've seen). The exact behaviour differs a bit between windows and linux for whatever reason. The Dazzle has completely different hardware inside, and can deal with it a bit better.

As has been discussed countless times here, 99% of capture cards are not really designed/set up to handle unstable video directly for a vcr well. The TBC in the VCR will help to a degree, though generally you want a TBC/certain model of DVD-recorder or similar in between the vcr and capture card to give the capture card a fully stable signal to capture.

If I understand your video, you are watching/capturing the JVC menu, that Hauppauge USB Live-2 and Diamond VC-500 are not able to synch.

Start playing the tape and everything should be ok.

Edit: hodgey arrived first ;)

Thanks for the swift replies, really appreciate it.

After further testing and trouble-shooting I can confirm that, as you guys mentioned, the simplest thing, playing a damn tape, solved the issues, now feeling kinda stupid not gonna lie.
Testing old consoles (SNES and Sega Master System) in composite also ended up in sync issues, so this threw me off guard. Now I just used a more "modern" console (PS2) and it seems works alright.

During playback I noticed random frameskips but only while using the USB Live-2 and VC500, not on the DVC100.
So, would it be safe to assume this is due to the same thing, and using proper TBC middle-man will correct it? I was under the impression the VCR I acquired had built-in TBC, but after yet another quick search I discovered I DO need both, one for the tape and the other for the signal. Is this ssumption correct?

Luckily, I have access to a Panasonic DMR-ES10 which I've also seen recommended somewhere, guess I'll try and see how it goes.

Thanks again.
Cheers.