A Step Backward???

[ritpg]

Three years ago I bought a DAC-100 external video capture device to
mate (firewire) with a then 3 year old Dell desktop running XP Pro
for
the purpose of digitizing old VHS tapes. I must say the DAC-100
worked quite well (virtually no dropped frames) although the
Cyberlink
PowerDirector software was so painful to use I stopped before I could
finish capturing and editing all the tapes. I recently purchased a
Systemax Intel quad (Q6600) desktop running XP Pro and a copy of
Adobe
Premier Elements 3.0. I've been using this new system to capture
video from my DV camcorder with pretty good success. When I decided
to connect the DAC-100 to the new system to resume capturing the old
VHS video, the results were extremely poor. The PC kept losing and
regaining the DAC-100 and when it could maintain the connection the
video capture was pathetic (more than half the frames were getting
dropped). I expermented with the dip switches in the back of the DAC
with no improvement and ended up restoring the original settings (for
XP). I'm wondering if my new PC is too high powered for the DAC or
is
there a setting somewhere I need to fix. I see that the DAC-100 has
been replaced by a DAC-200 whose improvments have nothing to do with
new OSs or higher powered PCs so I'm not inclined to buy that newer
model.
If anyone has any ideas as to what could be causing my problem, I
sure
would appreciate hearing them. I hate to spend another $200 for a
new
video capture device when there's no way to know if will work any
better with this new PC.
Thanks.
Terry

 

[T Shadow]

Three years ago I bought a DAC-100 external video capture device to
mate (firewire) with a then 3 year old Dell desktop running XP Pro
for
the purpose of digitizing old VHS tapes. I must say the DAC-100
worked quite well (virtually no dropped frames) although the
Cyberlink
PowerDirector software was so painful to use I stopped before I could
finish capturing and editing all the tapes. I recently purchased a
Systemax Intel quad (Q6600) desktop running XP Pro and a copy of
Adobe
Premier Elements 3.0. I've been using this new system to capture
video from my DV camcorder with pretty good success. When I decided
to connect the DAC-100 to the new system to resume capturing the old
VHS video, the results were extremely poor. The PC kept losing and
regaining the DAC-100 and when it could maintain the connection the
video capture was pathetic (more than half the frames were getting
dropped). I expermented with the dip switches in the back of the DAC
with no improvement and ended up restoring the original settings (for
XP). I'm wondering if my new PC is too high powered for the DAC or
is
there a setting somewhere I need to fix. I see that the DAC-100 has
been replaced by a DAC-200 whose improvments have nothing to do with
new OSs or higher powered PCs so I'm not inclined to buy that newer
model.
If anyone has any ideas as to what could be causing my problem, I
sure
would appreciate hearing them. I hate to spend another $200 for a
new
video capture device when there's no way to know if will work any
better with this new PC.
Thanks.
Terry

Don't know why your asking here. Have no idea about your hardware. A DVD
group would make more sense.

Off the top of my head. Look in Device Manager and see if the Firewire card
is sharing IRQ with anything else that would keep it from getting enough
access. No experience but might be the way the Quad Core is using the
program.

Other than defeating Macrovision a USB2 device for way under $50 will do
this.

Good Luck.

 

[ritpg]

Don't know why your asking here. Have no idea about your hardware. A DVD
group would make more sense.

Off the top of my head. Look in Device Manager and see if the Firewire card
is sharing IRQ with anything else that would keep it from getting enough
access. No experience but might be the way the Quad Core is using the
program.

Other than defeating Macrovision a USB2 device for way under $50 will do
this.

Good Luck.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thanks for the response. I googled "video edit capture" in Groups and
got a couple of hits in alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati so I figured I
give it a shot. I think I've already checked for IRQ conflict but
I'll check again. What $50 product did you have i mind? Datavideo
has an update to the DAC-100 but still wants $200 for it.

 

[T Shadow]

Thanks for the response. I googled "video edit capture" in Groups and
got a couple of hits in alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati so I figured I
give it a shot. I think I've already checked for IRQ conflict but
I'll check again. What $50 product did you have i mind? Datavideo
has an update to the DAC-100 but still wants $200 for it.

This is what's on the page I normally check for deals. Just as an example.
No personal knowledge of them. But capturing from a VCR, with 2 exception,
is very easy. Macrovision and tape degradation making it difficult to get a
sync.

http://www.edealinfo.com/dealsearch...rue&limit=0&date1=2007-12-02&date2=2007-12-08

You might want to check here to see if hardware or software encoding would
be best for your use. Also about the exceptions. Just about anything you
need to know about capture really.
http://www.digitalfaq.com/

 

[ritpg]

This is what's on the page I normally check for deals. Just as an example.
No personal knowledge of them. But capturing from a VCR, with 2 exception,
is very easy. Macrovision and tape degradation making it difficult to get a
sync.

http://www.edealinfo.com/dealsearch...ue&limit=0&date1=2007-12-02&date2=2007-12--08

You might want to check here to see if hardware or software encoding would
be best for your use. Also about the exceptions. Just about anything you
need to know about capture really.http://www.digitalfaq.com/- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Great news. Someone in another newsgroup asked if my DV camcorder did
A/D conversion. I had no idea if it did and it does. In fact it does
A/D conversion infinitely better than the DAC-100 ever did, including
on the old PC. It's a Canon ZR200. You just go into the menu and
turn on A/D conversion. Of course I've got to remember to turn it off
when I use the camcorder as a camcorder. And I had to turn off
controls in PE 3.0 to get it to work. I had already turned controls
off to talk to the DAC-100.

I can actually FF the VCR while capturing video and half the time,
when I revert to play mode, the capture doesn't miss a beat. And
sometimes it gets confused when transitioning from one clip on the VHS
tape to another. It's not perfect but it is so much better than what
I've had up to now, I can't tell you how happy I am.

I was actually considering buying a Time Base Corrector that someone
else recommended. Chalk another one up to my friends on Usenet. I'll
never understand why folks I tell about Usenet don't use it. It has
saved me so much time, money and aggravation over the years.

 

[T Shadow]

Great news. Someone in another newsgroup asked if my DV camcorder did
A/D conversion. I had no idea if it did and it does. In fact it does
A/D conversion infinitely better than the DAC-100 ever did, including
on the old PC. It's a Canon ZR200. You just go into the menu and
turn on A/D conversion. Of course I've got to remember to turn it off
when I use the camcorder as a camcorder. And I had to turn off
controls in PE 3.0 to get it to work. I had already turned controls
off to talk to the DAC-100.


I was actually considering buying a Time Base Corrector that someone
else recommended. Chalk another one up to my friends on Usenet. I'll
never understand why folks I tell about Usenet don't use it. It has
saved me so much time, money and aggravation over the years.

If your DV camcorder works though the Firewire port it seems likely the DAC
has problems.

Seems a bit extreme but I've seen recommendations to buy a camcorder with
that feature, usually Sony, just for the capture capability. If you already
have one that's working for you, great. Probably the biggest advantage of
the 1394 port is not having to deal with the USB driver problems that can
come up when using multiple devices.

UseNet is a great resource but sometimes the geeks get so intent on showing
how brilliant they are they can overwhelm a newbie. For some reason the DVD
groups are especially bad at it, IMHO. sometimes it's like buying something
expensive. You have to know more than the salesman before going in.

 

[ritpg]

quoted text -




If your DV camcorder works though the Firewire port it seems likely the DAC
has problems.

Seems a bit extreme but I've seen recommendations to buy a camcorder with
that feature, usually Sony, just for the capture capability. If you already
have one that's working for you, great. Probably the biggest advantage of
the 1394 port is not having to deal with the USB driver problems that can
come up when using multiple devices.

UseNet is a great resource but sometimes the geeks get so intent on showing
how brilliant they are they can overwhelm a newbie. For some reason the DVD
groups are especially bad at it, IMHO. sometimes it's like buying something
expensive. You have to know more than the salesman before going in.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I agree; I think it's the DAC. I know people who refuse to use Usenet
because it overwhelms them with information. I don't seem to have
that problem (and I have no idea why). I know there is lots of
misinformation out there. But it isn't hard to sort the wheat from
the chaff. But you do have to do some reading. Yes, there are people
on Usenet who like to impress. I have no problem with that. If
that's what makes them happy and motivates them to continue to help
others, so be it. Well, thanks for your inputs.

 

[ritpg]

"ritpg" <[email protected]> wrote in message

I agree; I think it's the DAC. I know people who refuse to use Usenet
because it overwhelms them with information. I don't seem to have
that problem (and I have no idea why). I know there is lots of
misinformation out there. But it isn't hard to sort the wheat from
the chaff. But you do have to do some reading. Yes, there are people
on Usenet who like to impress. I have no problem with that. If
that's what makes them happy and motivates them to continue to help
others, so be it. Well, thanks for your inputs.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I just replaced the consumer (Sharpe) VCR with a Panasonic AG-7750
connecting it to the DAC-100 via s-video instead of RCA and the
improvement is significant. So it could have been the Sharpe VCR or
the RCA cables or the RCA connectors on the DAC-100. Now I need to
figure out how to work with the EP and LP VHS tapes I have which are
not handled properly by the AG-7750 which runs strictly in SP mode.
My next step will be to connect another VCR I have (Panasonic VCR/DVD
combo) to the AG-7750 via s-video. I'll lose all the tape control
features of the AG-7750 but should still have the TBC capabilities.
It just gets more involved, doesn't it. But it looks like the DAC-100
is
working correctly in the new configuration.