No picture when capturing..
 

I'm capturing with Hauppage WinTV32 & I just ran into a problem. I have no picture, the sound has come up, but no picture is showing. I have the S-Video plug in..when I have that in, I don't need to use the yellow video cord right?
What could be the problem?
I also noticed that after I changed my sound card a few weeks ago, the sound is kinda echoey..even if I click something with my mouse, the clicking sound is an echoey type sound, that's really the best way I can describe it because that's what it sounds like..I played back the few min. of video I did try to capture, it still has no picture, but the sound is also echoey, why would it be like this? The sound card is the Diamond Extreme Sound 7.1

What happens is you try to use the yellow composite cable from the VCR to the capture card? Any change?

We do NOT want to use composite for capturing in the long-run, but it will help troubleshoot for now.

I can't even get the yellow cord in...the yellow cord plug has white blockers or something inside of it...I've never seen that before, it looks like a smaller plug inside of the actual video plug, and I can't get it out, so I can't even use the 2 video plugs because they both have that inside if them..
I checked the plug in the s-video and in my computer and I have them in as far as they can go, so the connection isn't loose or anything like that.

The AG-1980P has BNC connectors, not composite, if I remember correctly. I've got composite adapters on mine, it came that way.

For this troubleshooting, let's set aside the VCR too.

Get another VCR, any VCR, or a DVD player. Whatever you have in the house. Plug it into the capture card (play a non-important tape, not your wrestling tapes -- or a DVD of some kind).

Let's see if the card works. Feed it a signal, from composite, from something.

Video picture shows up with the other VCR that I was using prior to buying the the AG-1980P..the picture comes up from the Yellow cord, I don't have S-Video on that VCR, so I can't test that.
I even tried changing channels on the AG-1980P, and that didn't work. Do I need to have a coax cable hooked up from the VCR to my card? I didn't think that would matter because I didn't have one hooked up with the other VCR, and because the sound still plays, but no picture, the screen stays black.

I honestly don't know what it could be. Is there maybe a setting on the VCR that I need to change to make it show up, or a certain channel on the VCR it needs to be set to? I had it on the different "A" channels, channel 3, and none of them worked.
Should I use a coax cable and hook that from the VCR to the computer? I didn't do that with the other VCR..I'm just grasping at straws here, I don't know what it would be, it's very frustrating to say the least

Did you install all of the Hauppauge drivers? I was suppose to get a card a couple of months ago, but the donor never sent one my way, so I'm unable to provide the detailed guides as I had wanted to do for this card.

The card could always be bad, if it cannot get any signal at all. It may be wrong settings in the WinTV software, but I don't readily know how that software functions.

I might see if I can find a card somewhere.

I wouldnt think it would be the drivers only because it worked fine with the other VCR..

I just updated the drivers on their website, but unfortunately that didn't work. Thanks for the suggestion though.

Are there any input settings on the WinTV software, and if so, what input is it looking to record from?

Another issue may reside in your computer graphics card. Video is typically shown in the overlay layer of computer "video" (graphics). What kind of video card do you have? Or does it use the motherboard? Are the drivers for it fully and properly installed?

What happens if you try to capture the "blank" video, and then open the video file inside of Womble's software (which does NOT display the video content in overlay). Maybe you can record, but just cannot see it live, due to issues on the rest of the computer.

It may be worth testing this card in another computer, too, to remove the computer itself from the list of possible problems (or clearly show that the card itself is defective).

Input settings? I don't believe so..I have the settings and hookups that I used with my last VCR, and it worked fine...I captured many videos on it.
I'm not sure about the video card, but if I view a video on YouTube or something, they play fine. I don't know if that means anything or not.
I just tried to open it in Womble, and the sound plays fine, but there's no picture still.

1. So you have captured with this Hauppauge card before?
2. Assuming Question 1 was answered, "yes", then --- And it worked fine with another VCR?

Yes to both questions.

It does not sound like the capture card, in that case.

Two more questions:
1. Do you still have that other VCR?
2. If so, can you still capture from that VCR, plugged into the Hauppauge card?

Yes I can..

There are only a few options that I can see at this moment:

1. The Hauppauge s-video input does not work, or some setting in the software is not set correctly (it's looking for video on composite instead).

2. The Panasonic AG-1980P s-video output does not work.

3. The s-video wire is bad.

We need to figure out which one it is.

hmm..well, i did get the vcr on ebay and the guy said it was guaranteed to work, and i just bought the s-video cord (i know that doesnt guaranteed it works though) what setting do you suggest i look for in hauppauge? do you tihnk theres any one of those 3 options u gave that we can eliminate?

The easy one is to try another s-video cable.
Next you can see if the AG-1980P outputs a video signal from its coaxial connection (RF screw-in wire) to a tv set.

I tried another S-Video cord, and that didn't work. So I assume that eliminates that possibility. The S-Video and audio cables are hooked into the output on the VCR, right? I know it is, but just double checking..lol
I hooked the VCR up to the tv and it seemed to work, I have a lot of stuff hooked up in the area of the tv so I couldnt hook it up fully but it seemed to get a signal from the tv..so I guess that worked also..

I also hooked a coax cable from the VCR to the computer along with the s-video cord and that didn't work either. Is there a specific channel or setting on the VCR maybe that it needs to be set to?
Or...should I make uninstall hauppauge and reinstall it? I'm just grasping at straws..

Assuming it's not a software setting (did you read the manual?), then I think the card is fine.

I want to test the composite out of the VCR.
Can you go buy one of these from the local Radio Shack? http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...ductId=2102688

Yeah, I'll go pick one of those up now. How do I use it?
I assume the Hauppauge is fine..it worked fine with the other VCR, so why would it suddenly stop working, so I agree with you about the card being fine.

Ok, I went and got the adapter and hooked it up, and I still couldn't see the picture in the WINTV (ever since I updated the 2 drivers last night there's been a hauppauge logo in the capture screen, altho picture did appear for about a sec before it went off. Before I updated the drivers it was just a black screen)
However, I opened it in the Womble and it played..the picture didnt look too great but the VHS video wasnt great either, but it still played..I would like the video to show up in the Hauppauge so I can see what I'm capturing for obvious reasons..so, what's our next step? :)

Oh, also something weird that I noticed that just came up, when I go to where I saved the videos at after I capture, there's 2 files for it..the video itself, and another one with an imgburn logo on it ...the one with the imgburn logo has never been there before...why is it doing that? Whenever I double click it, Imgburn opens up, it's just weird because it never did that before

I found a new setting in the WINTV, it's display - and the options are tuner, ext 1, ext 2, S-Video, and it's default setted to Ext. 1, I changed it to S-Video but that didn't work either.
I read the booklet and it didn't say anything about it.

Something on your computer is all wrong, something is interferring with the capture card. For example, an ImgBurn logo on video is something I've never heard of. You may have spyware or other junk on your system. It's almost impossible to help somebody online when they have serious computer problems.

Let's ignore the computer again for now.

Plug in your equipment this way:

AG-1980P output via composite (use BNC adapter on back, to fits wires) -----> plug into composite input of another VCR -----> plug in one of the outputs (preferably composite, but coax okay) to a TV set.

Play a tape on the AG-1980P, see if it shows on screen. If it does, the VCR is fine for composite.

If your TV has s-video input, try the AG-1980P output directly into a tv set. If you don't have a set that has s-video, see if you can lug the VCR to the house of a friend or family members who DOES have such a tv set that you can perform this little 2-minute test with.

If that works, the AG-1980P s-video output is fine too.

The card seems to work okay.

If the VCR + the card are fine, then your computer may need to be re-formatted (blanked out, re-install Windows), something is crapping up your system. You'll want to back up all your user/date files, of course. It might be good to make a full system backup (both a version that is raw files, and a version that is can be "restore" -- just in case you need either).

That's not the most fun fix, but it may be your problem.

Test the VCR, and see if it can be eliminated as the source of problems.

You may want to try that Hauppauge card in another computer too, if you can, to see if everything works as it should. That would most definitely isolate your computer as the root cause of problems.

Ok, I went and got the adapter and hooked it up, and I still couldn't see the picture in the WINTV (ever since I updated the 2 drivers last night there's been a hauppauge logo in the capture screen, altho picture did appear for about a sec before it went off. Before I updated the drivers it was just a black screen)

However, I opened it in the Womble and it played..the picture didnt look too great but the VHS video wasnt great either, but it still played..I would like the video to show up in the Hauppauge so I can see what I'm capturing for obvious reasons..

Do you think maybe I should uninstall the Hauppauge, and re-install it, or do you think reformatting my computer is my best option?

I hooked the VCR the way you said into the input of the VCR that I have hooked up to my tv, and the video in my AG VCR played on the TV fine...so I guess that means composite is fine..

I just hooked the S-Video directly into the TV, and it worked..

Try to uninstall hardware, software and drivers for Hauppauge. Reboot. The re-insert card, reinstall software and drivers. See how that goes.

Still not working? Re-format the computer.

Well, I uninstalled everything, and then took out the card, put it back in, turned on my computer and the found new hardware thing didn't pop up and the CD didn't start automatically as it should've when I put it in. So I opened the CD from my computer and it skipped installing the drivers as the manual said it would after the found new hardware came up, so I just cancelled the installation. I have no idea why it didn't work like it should've

You most definitely have a computer problem here, preventing you from doing video work.

There may be a way to repair the problem without a format, but I can't really help with that. I wouldn't know where to start, that's more of a "sit in front of it" kind of problem. It may be something as "simple" as cleaning out the registry (with software like CCleaner AND "by hand"), or something as complex as the system having been hosed over by codec packs, spyware, a virus, or corrupted Windows files (such as DLLs, or possibly due to a hard drive error).

Reformatting is the easy way out. Just remember to maintain backups of all of your personal files, wherever they may be saved on the system. You'd only need to format the main hard drive where Windows is installed (usually C drive), and you'd probably want to unplug other hard drives -- just in case.

I actually have CCleaner and TweakNow RegCleaner but they've never found any registry errors..so I don't know.
I just finished saving all my files to a zip drive so I'm going to go ahead with the total system recovery, hopefully that will work.

Do you think since the Hauppauge didn't reinstall properly when I tried to do it earlier that means there's programs with it, or odds are it's the computer?

Do you think that after I go through all of this that it will work again? I don't know what else to do..do you think we've isolated it to being a computer problem only?

If you wnt to 100% confirm the problem is related to this computer, then try the card in another known-working desktop, and see if it can capture there.

I'm convinced it's the computer, but that test is just one more layer to truly isolate the cause.

That's really all we've been doing in this thread -- tracing the problem, eliminating variables one by one. The VCR is 100% eliminated at this point. It's either the card (unlikely) or the computer itself (most likely).

I put the card into another PCI slot to try it that way, and that didn't work either so I guess my only option left is the reformatting. If that doesn't work then I don't know what else to do, hopefully it works.

Well, I just did the complete system recovery, wiped everything off, reinstalled windows, just did all of the windows updates, reinstalled the Hauppauge, hooked up the VCR, hit play, and NO PICTURE CAME UP!!!!! I think I have paint chips in my head from beating my head against the wall.

This error came up that says-
Digital Playback Enable-
This drive has not been shown to support digital playback. Symptoms can include poor audio quality, cdplayer applications responding oddly or not responding to the PLAY command, and/or silence when seemingly playing audio. Are you sure? and there was yes or no options

My PC guy says he thinks it could be a problem with the DVD burner, or CD burner or possibly with the sound card I installed a few weeks ago, it's a Diamond 7.1 Xtreme Sound. He also said he thinks maybe it might not be compatible with the Hauppauge, although as I said before the sound seems to come through fine, but no picture.
Well, I'm now officially stressed beyond the limit. Is there anything left that can possibly be done or am I just screwed basically?

This is an unrelated "problem". It's an error message between the audio card and an attached optical drive. It may be something as simple as your internal audio cable (that goes from the optical drive to the sound card) being unplugged, missing or damaged.

The Hauppauge audio is processed in its own hardware, although I would imagine it is passed to the audio card at some point in time, for the system to play live sound.

What happens if you try another audio card, or use (if available) the motherboard onboard audio?

Once again, setting the Panasonic VCR aside, can you see video from another machine? Or from the coax from a cable or antenna connection, using the Hauppauge tuner?

The audio worked fine until i installed this new card..the only reason I got it is when I first tried to figure out what was causing the constant humming type sound in the background of the DVDs that I made.
When I hook the VCRs S-Video cord thru the vcr that I have hooked up to the tv like LordSmurf told me to do, the picture comes up on the tv..
I dont have another computer really that I can try the Hauppauge on..

Right-click on MY COMPUTER, and go to PROPERTIES. A new window comes up. Click on the HARDWARE tab, and then click on the DEVICE MANAGER button.

Attachment 30

It should look like mine, meaning there are not any expanded categories, with yellow (!) or red (X) warnings. Warnings mean that some hardware is acting up, be it a bad driver, no driver, wrong driver, or simply malfunctioning hardware.

How does yours look?

You might even considered expanding each of the (+) boxes, to verify that each object under each category is fine, no errors.

If you see errors, take a screen shot and post back.

I don't have any errors on there. I expanded everyone of them to check, and they were all good, no yellow !, or red x's anywhere.

Okay, well the good news is that your computer's hardware is okay. The bad news is that I'm out of ideas for the moment. Let me sleep on it, and try again tomorrow.

lol ok, thanks for your help