TBCs don’t have a fuse to protect them from power fluctuations like a lot of other devices including most VCRs. If your UPS is turned off then it isn’t protecting the devices that are plugged in from power surges. Turning it off and unplugging your devices if you are about to have a bad storm or your not going to use your gear for like a month is a good extra precaution. Turning it off and leaving your gear plugged in can damage your gear. Hopefully the gear isn’t damaged.

Some TBCs are more sensitive to the power grid than others. That’s why a lot of the pros retired there Datavideo gear in 2006 for AVT-8710s and some other TBCs.

To be clear my gear is only ever connected to UPS when it is powered on. When I am finished I power down the unit and unplug everything.

I was referencing the UPS only in the context of some "get to temperature" scenario on the behalf of the UPS. I've ruled that out though as my latest captures show the following...

After my morning capture (issue present) I switched off TBC and camcorder. The capture machine with Pinnacle device stayed powered on for around 3 hours. I was able to capture 1hr30 with no chroma loss.

Everything except the capture pc was switched off for around 6 hours - the USB capture card was disconnected. For this latest test I plugged in the USB device, switched on camcorder and tbc, and within 25 minutes I get the chroma loss issue (which lasts for around 1 minute before chroma restored).

Short version of this is... capture machine + card connected for long duration = no issue, capture machine + card connected with immediate capture = chroma loss within first 20 minutes.

Totally baffled with this one. Final thing for me to test tomorrow is a different usb cable on the capture card.

-- merged --

Is there any potential issue with using USB3.0 ports instead of USB2.0? I'm certain I tried USB 2.0 on my secondary device but will revalidate if this is a potential issue.

My main device only has USB 3.0. Can I use a powered USB or is this likely even worse?

-- merged --

Reproduced again on a 3rd capture machine with only USB2.0 ports. 10minutes in and chroma loss happens.

I'm using the 64-bit drivers. Is it worth testing the 32-bit drivers? If not then USB cable is my final test.

-- merged --

Different USB cable didn't help. I think I've tried everything so either this unit goes on marketplace or the bin. Deeply frustrating and a waste of cash.

Capture cards are not immune to failure, they can go bad too, Do you have the skills to take it apart and operate the card until you lose chroma then spray the suspected components one at a time with a compressed air can and see which one brings back the color, Usually microchips or SMD capacitors.

I'm open to try but not sure @LordSmurf would recommend that for one of his supplied units.

The screws are under the 4 rubber nibs.

Nothing stands out to the admittedly untrained eye. Any particular elements to focus on? Have a multimeter here for some basic checks.

Dang, I didn't know those pinnacle cards contained FPGAs - that cyclone chip there. Wonder if it has to do with the video conversion to digital or the Firewire to USB?

Anyhow I'd probably either try to apply light pressure on top of each chip with your finger and see if that brings back the color to identify which may not be making good contact. You could also try heat from like a heat gun or cold spray as LS mentioned to see if targeting any of the chips causes or fixes the problem to narrow it down. Those are some pretty fine SMT chips, so I don't think I'd recommend trying to reflow them without quite a bit of prior experience and a microscope. Also would be quite easy to melt the different plastic connectors when doing that and they should probably be removed first.

If you are going to otherwise junk the pinnacle, I could attempt to get it working by reflowing components if it can be narrowed down to a single one using the above methods, but no guarantees there, but I'd also do it for free, so if it works, I'd just charge the return shipping.