VirtualDub captures VHS audio, but no video?
 

Hello, I have a Pinnacle 510 USB capture card I recently purchased from LS and am trying to do some proof-of-concept capturing with a cheap VHS player I found at a thrift store before I purchase a recommended model. At the moment my configuration is:

Orion VHS player -> Pinnacle 510 (via composite) -> Windows 7 laptop (via USB)

I've just installed Windows 7 64-bit on an old laptop that previously had Windows 8.1 on it, as I'd read it's generally more compatible. It's running VirtualDub 1.9.11 (from here) and have installed Huffyuv.

I've found that VirtualDub frequently locks up while I'm using it (the window stops responding and cannot be killed, forcing a reboot) and when it allows me to capture I am not capturing the video properly. My general workflow is:

1. From a fresh boot, start VirtualDub
2. File > Capture AVI...
3. Set capture file
4. (Sometimes) set video mode to Preview (see note below)
5. Video > Set custom format... (update resolution to 720x576, leave data format at default of YUY2 YUV 4:2:2 interleaved)
6. (Sometimes) Video > Compression, set to Huffyuv v2.1.1 - CCESP Patch v0.2.2 (see note below)
7. Capture > Capture video
8. Hit play on the VCR

I'd read setting the video mode to Preview is recommended elsewhere on this forum, but doing so frequently locks up VirtualDub for me. I've found I have more success in starting the capture if I leave it on Overlay. Regarding video compression, updating it to Huffyuv will occasionally either lock up VirtualDub or tell me it cannot capture afterward; I've found I have more success if I don't set this.

All that said, I've found I can capture audio but the video either only seemingly captures a single frame, or the first ~1 second or so. Here are some examples, all re-encoded to a more manageable size:

1. Example with the first bit of video recorded just after I hit play on the VCR.
2. Example where it seemingly only captures a single frame, but continues to capture audio for the duration of the clip.
3. Another example like the above.

The sidebar in VirtualDub looks normal to me during this time with the frame count increasing, time incrementing, zero dropped frames, etc. When I switch into capture mode in VirtualDub I frequently see the video preview go black after I start to capture; I'm not sure if this is normal or not.

I'm not really sure what to do here at this point. For what it's worth, I had previously tried running the setup on Windows 8.1 with similar results. I've also installed VirtualDub2 and get the same behavior. Any recommendations?

In VirtualDub, main edit window, disable DirectX
In VirtualDub capture mode/window, under Capture menu, verify the timing settings. Post screencap.

Use Preview mode for capture, not Overlay.

If using Nvidia card + onboard, go into Nvidia settings dashboard, set VirtualDub to only use onboard.

I don't see an option for this; I've attached a screencap of the main edit menu.

Screencap attached.

There's no nvidia card in the laptop.

I read this too literally in my previous reply. I found this option under Options > Preferences > Display and have disabled it.

Whenever I select Preview mode the entire application locks up indefinitely. I've attached a screencap of this. It happens immediately when I select Preview from the Video menu. I've gotten past this a couple times, but I just tried five times since disabling DirectX and it locked up all five times.

In the main capture window, lower right side, did you change the fps to 25 (PAL), and audio to 48kHz?

It was set to 29.97fps/48kHz. I adjusted to 25/48 and it did not impact the capture. Are these steps documented in a single place? My knowledge of using VirtualDub to capture VHS is taken entirely from this site but I hadn't come across anything stating the fps should be adjusted in the bottom right of the capture window until just now.

Here is an example taken just now showing my problem; the video captures fine until I hit play and the first frame appears. It then captures the audio properly while stuck on the first frame.

PAL = 25 fps
NTSC = 29.97 fps

Just to review, do you properly have TBCs in use here? The card you're using can be more resilient to certain errors, but no capture card will prevent needing TBCs.

Are you trying to capture a retail tape with anti-copy/Macrovision?

If it's literally thrift VCR > capture card, that's the likely issue here. Not a proper capture workflow, no TBCs, no success,

I occasionally run into problems like that with my pinnacle card, sometimes I even get BSODs, but usually after a restart or two, it is ok. And once it starts to work, it remains functional.

Just for the sake of debugging, can you try virtualVCR?

> I've just installed Windows 7 64-bit on an old laptop that previously had Windows 8.1
Did you install the drivers for your laptop properly after the windows 7 installation? firmware, USB stuff, Display drivers, sound, power-related stuff, etc?

Is your laptop old enough to have XP drivers on the manufacturer's website?

I find navigation (clicking on menus, switching source/standard, etc) in virtualDub to be much faster and smoother on XP than on Windows 7 and 10

That would depend entirely on your machine, I think. I have many flavours of VDub on my Win 11 machine and they all respond instantly to any clicking.

It sounds like you're encountering some technical difficulties while trying to capture video from your VHS player using the Pinnacle 510 USB capture card and VirtualDub.
VirtualDub Locking Up:

The locking up issue you're experiencing might be related to compatibility or driver issues. Make sure you have the latest drivers for your Pinnacle 510 USB capture card installed on your Windows 7 laptop.
Try running VirtualDub in compatibility mode for an earlier version of Windows (e.g., Windows XP) to see if that helps with stability.
Video Capture Issues:

Ensure that the composite video cable is securely connected between the VHS player and the Pinnacle 510 capture card.
Double-check that you're using the correct input source within VirtualDub. The input source should be set to the Pinnacle 510 device.
Try different capture settings, such as changing the resolution or video format, to see if that improves the capture quality and stability.

This is what I call being lucky :eek:
My win 11 would barely work with any capture stuff pinnacle, io-data, both amarecTV and virtualDub, can't get anything to work there. I am really amazed the different versions/forks of vdub are working fine for you. You should not really advertise it, maybe I will steal your computer :unsure: