Diamond VC500 OneTouch video grabber colour issue's

kap7539 · #1 09-20-2022, 07:44 PM

I recently purchased the above.
The only colour options are 'Saturation' which is fine if you actually have colour to work with, and 'Hue', which is a range of colours but not natural colours.

I can do PAL tapes OK, but my NTSC tapes can only be B/W or a horrible mish mash that is unwatchable.
I have two NTSC capable VCR machines and the grabber shows the exact same picture on both, so i'm pretty much sure its the grabber. And considering its a Californian company i'm surprised at the NTSC quality.
BTW....And the won't reply to 'Support' help.

I have spent a long time googling various fixes etc to no avail, and i don't want buy another grabber as this one is my third in quick consession.

Any help would be appreciated.

Hushpower · #2 09-20-2022, 08:47 PM

Assuming this occurs with different tapes, I'd plug your VCR into a TV and see what the video is like.

Also, what software are you using to capture? In Virtual Dub, for example, you have to set the colour standard (eg PAL_B > M), NTSC.

kap7539 · #3 09-20-2022, 09:18 PM

Honestly, i haven't even thought about hooking the old tape machines to the big screen, i'll do that for a look. As far as Virtual Dub goes, thats a free download thing isn't it? I use the software that comes with the gizmo as i think the dowloadable ones can only use what the picture that the grabber sends through anyway.

kap7539 · #4 09-20-2022, 09:27 PM

OK, i tested the one tape i am currently killing haha on the big screen, directly from my tape player, and the picture is near perfect with nice colours .

traal · #5 09-22-2022, 11:47 AM

It could be the same issue that's described here. Do your VCRs output true NTSC or do they convert the video to PAL-60?

kap7539 · #6 09-22-2022, 04:52 PM

NTSC or PAL 60. How can you even tell that.?

traal · #7 09-22-2022, 04:58 PM

The VCR's manual should tell you.

kap7539 · #8 09-22-2022, 05:07 PM

I have two VCR machines, they are both old and second hand, so neither has a manual.
I want to stress that i have been doing VHS tapes for many years with no issues, many many NTSC tapes over the years.
My German Kaiser Bass capture decice died a couple of years back. I have done a ton of PAL tapes with my new gear, when it came time to doing another bunch of NTSC tapes i was surprised i was having issues.
I purchased a second gizmo, when i uploaded the software it turned out to be the exact same thing, though packaged differently to the one i was replacing.
I then got the Diamond VC500 thinking if it came from America it should work.
I have actually started doing my latest batch of NTSC tapes through our DVD hard drive recorder, a very clunky process that uses DVD's for each file, but at least its something.