VS9 Capture error msg "No input signal or signal is unc

Carly · Post by **Carly** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 7:58 pm

Hi

I'm trying to capture video from my Sony video camera (analog) Hi8 tape. I have my video camera set on player mode and I play the video before click "capture video".

The Source is: 713x DBA analog capture
Format: AVI

But as I click "capture video" it gives me the error msg

"No input signal or signal is unclear. Do you still want to continue to capture?"

Please help! Thanks in advance.

Post by **Ken Berry** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 8:58 pm

If it is an analogue camera, it has to be connected to a capture device. This might be an external capture device which is connected to your computer via either USB 2.0 or Firewire, and internal capture card such as you will find as part of most TV cards, or even a digital mini DV camera with an AV connection which will allow you to connect your analogue camera to it and is then connected to your computer by a Firewire cable. It then converts your analogue signal to digital DV which is sent over the Firewire to your computer for editing.

But without such a capture device, there is no way for your computer to "see" an analogue camera...

Carly · Post by **Carly** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 10:43 pm

Thanks for the reply. I do have an internal capture device, its called "Philips SAA7130, Hybrid capture Device" and I connected my camera to that with AV connection.

Post by **Ken Berry** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 11:47 pm

OK. So what format are you trying to capture in. I see that that device can capture a number of formats including mpeg-2. And when you open the Capture window and press the 'capture video' button, what do you see in the Options button? It should be set to CVBS if you have used an AV cable which uses RCA connections at the analogue camera end.

Carly · Post by **Carly** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 9:08 am

The format I'm trying to capture it in is MPEG (this doesn't matter right? other options are DV, AVI, VCD, SVCD, DVD, WMV)

Under options:
I don't see any CVBS...

Source is Video S-video

Current capture plug-in is Ulead DSW MPEG Capture plug-in

in Select device control, Current device is NONE (other options are MS 1394 device control, and TI 1394 device control, which I can't select because these are for DV camcorders)
Does that mean my capture board didn't even recognise my camcorder? And I don't see anything in the preview screen when I play the Hi8 tape.

Post by **Ken Berry** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 12:14 pm

Do you have the camera connected to the capture card via an S-video cable? If it is set to capture via S-video, then it will be looking for an S-video connection... Yet you say you have your camera connected via the AV connection, and as I say that is usually connected via RCA cables to your analogue camera, rather than S-Video. So grateful if you would clarify that point... (If indeed you are connecting via an S-video cable, then you need to be aware that you will also need a separate connection, via the red and white (or black and white) RCA cables since S-video only carries a video signal and not an audio one...)

Where it says Source is S-Video, is there not a downward point arrow to the right which, if you click on it, gives you the CVBS option?

Otherwise yes, if the program shows no 'current device' it cannot see the camera. But that all depends on how exactly you have it connected to the card and whether you can change the 'source' setting...

EDIT: I have finally been able to find a picture of your card. Though it is not clear, it seems to have both a yellow RCA jack which is Video-in; a blue audio Line-In jack and to the left of that, what looks like an S-Video plug (which will be a round black jack with something like 7 holes in it). Now do you have a cable connected to the latter, as well as another into the blue jack; or is the cable connected to the yellow and the blue? (The pale green jack at the extreme right is Audio-out i.e. to connect to external speakers...)

Carly · Post by **Carly** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 4:22 pm

I really appreciate all your help, thanks again.

My video camera only has AV connection, so I can only use RCA cables - one into the Blue audio-in,
and one into the yellow video-in on my card.

I looked up CVBS and realised its the same as Composite video! Sorry.

The options I get for Video input source are:
Video Tuner,
Video Composite video,
Video S-video,
Video Composite video,
Video S-Video

So I select Composite video and it still doesn't work.

Current device is still NONE.

I just can't get it to SEE my camcorder.

Post by **Ron P.** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 5:24 pm

Another suggestion to try..

Close VS, then turn on your camcorder, make sure it is in Playback mode, then launch VS, go to the Capture step, select Capture Video. See if VS will now see your camcorder.

Try the opposite of above. With your camcorder off, open VS, go to the Capture Step, then Turn on your Camcorder, then place your camcorder in Playback.

I've had to do those on occasion to get VS to see my camcorder.

You could also try rebooting your PC, with/without your camcorder on and in Playback mode.

Have you tried seeing if Windows Movie Maker can see your camcorder? Does Windows recognize it?

In your Camcorder's menu, look for a setting AV/->DV Out, is it set to On or Off?

Carly · Post by **Carly** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 6:04 pm

Hi, I tried your method and it still doesn't see my camcorder.

Windows movie maker also doesn't see it.

The AV-out on camcorder is on.

Post by **Ken Berry** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 8:35 pm

Do you by any chance happen to have -- or can you borrow from a friend -- a mini DV digital video camera? You would need to check its manual, but most modern ones over the past 2 - 3 years or so, allow what is called pass-through. This means you can connect an analogue camera to the digital camera via AV, then connect the digital camera to the computer via Firewire (called i-Link by Sony). This allows capture in DV format which is better to edit than any of the formats allowed by your capture card in any case.

The only potential problem is that of course your computer will need to have a firewire port on it and you would also need to have a firewire cable to connect the camera to the computer...

EDIT: It has just occurred to me (DUH!) that in your first post you said:

The Source is: 713x DBA analog capture

In other words, VS9 was 'seeing' your Philips OK at that stage. And that is *all* it will see. It won't 'see' the analogue device connected to it. All it is interested in is the thing sending it the digital signal, which is your Philips card...

To give you another example, I was having a not dissimilar problem over the weekend. A friend sent me a VHS tape of a ballet he wanted me to put onto DVD for him. The computer nearest a VCR in my house has a Winfast DTV2000H high def TV/apture card in it. With the VCR connected to it via composite RCA cords, VS10 in this case happily reported it could see the Winfast card as the capture source. And that was all that was required.

I notice that you set your capture format originally to AVI. This would be uncompressed .avi which is huge -- 65 GB per hour of video. It would be better to set your capture format to 'DVD' if it has such a setting, or mpeg-2 if it does not.

But with this in place (i.e. with '713x DBA analog capture' as the source, with composite capture selected, with DVD/mpeg-2 as the capture format), and with the camera actually playing the tape, can you see any image coming through?

Carly · Post by **Carly** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 8:22 am

Ok, so "713 x DBA analogue capture" is the card. That makes sense because I have 2 things under source: the 713 and my webcam (USB port). When I unplug the webcam, only 713 is left, but when I disconnect my camera 713 is still there. By the way, my webcam captures fine on VS9.

[quote]But with this in place (i.e. with '713x DBA analog capture' as the source, with composite capture selected, with DVD/mpeg-2 as the capture format), and with the camera actually playing the tape, can you see any image coming through?[/quote]
No

(I checked the camera, it is working fine... it can play onto TV.)

dugster · Post by **dugster** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 6:45 am

Hi Carly !

The good news is that I have experienced this problem and resolved the issue with the help of the Tech fellows from ULEAD.

The bad news is! I cant remember what they told me to do, and I am currently struggling with the same issue again after losing the settings !!

Have you resolved your situation ? If you have can you help me.

Regards

Carly · Post by **Carly** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 7:50 pm

Hey

Yeah the guys here are helpful... but I still haven't resolved my problem.