VHS capture format

[breakaleg]

I am trying to capture video from a VCR, I've done it before but now I can't seem to get it to work. When I click on capture it says "Cannot set frame rate, cannot capture". Does anyone know what all of the settings have to be to capture a VHS tape.

[THoff]

There isn't a single set of settings that is appropriate for analog video capture, it all depends on your capture hardware, local TV standard, and to some extent the capabilities of the rest of your system. A few more details would help...

[breakaleg]

ok, i don't know what it is that is needed so I'll just say everthing I know. My VCR is a sansui video cassette player AC/DC. my computer is an hp pavilion a365c. What more information do you need and how do i get that information if it is not straight forward?

[MikeGunter]

ok, i don't know what it is that is needed so I'll just say everthing I know. My VCR is a sansui video cassette player AC/DC. my computer is an hp pavilion a365c. What more information do you need and how do i get that information if it is not straight forward?

Are you using a capture card of some kind?

Does the OS see the device?

How is it configured?

Mike

[breakaleg]

the connector from my vcr to my computer is called Instant VideoMPX ADS tech. I don't know what an OS is and I must be reading correctly because it has worked before until I screwed around with the formating again.

[THoff]

OS is short for Operating System, i.e. whether you have Windows 98SE, Windows 2000, Windows XP etc.

Anyway, I checked the ADS Technologies website for the technical specifications of your capture device, and there are a couple of things that became apparent.

First of all, you will need to make sure that you have it connected to your PC using a USB 2.0 connection if you want to capture high-quality full-screen video from your VCR. According to HP's website, all of the built-in USB ports are 2.0 ports, so that's good. However, if you have a USB hub that you use to help simplify the connection of multiple devices, make sure that is a USB 2.0 hub, or you'll have problems.

Next, shut down your PC, disconnect the capture device, turn the PC back on, and after it has started up completely and the Desktop appears, plug the capture device back in. At this point you should "Da Ding" sound from Windows indicating a Plug-and-Play capable USB device was plugged in -- you should also see a message in the lower-right corner to that effect. If you don't hear the sound or see a message, then the port that the device is plugged into, or the cable used to connect it, may be bad.

In Videostudio itself, make sure you select the DirectShow capture driver, and try the following capture settings: 640x480 resolution using AVI format, and a framerate of 29.97 or 30 frames per second. Click on the Options button (the Gear icon), and choose DIVX for the video compression format (DIVX comes with the device).

[breakaleg]

just to make things clear, my computer is reading the video fine, it shows up on the screen in the program, I just can't figure out the capture settings. I have done it before after hours of fooling around with it, then I changed it to capture from my video camera, and I can't remember the capture settings. All I need to know is what everything in the options panel needs to be set to in order to capture a VHS

[GeorgeW]

starting on pg. 18 of the VideoMPX User GUide shows how to capture DivX, WMV, and VCD/mpeg1



VideoMPX User Guide