JungleJim74 said:
I have a VHS Recorded Tape and I want to transfer the Video and Sound to my
PC. I have a TV Capture Card but it captures ONLY what the AT&T modem sends
to the TV. The modem output has a splitter and sends the signals to both the
TV and the PC Capture Card. The VHS Player is in the Sears Superscan TV so
these signals are not sent to the capture card. How do I go about doing this?
Thanks in advance for any help. JungleJim74
To go from a VCR to a computer, there has to be a signal output
interface on the VCR. There are several options, and on a combined
TV/VCR device, there is no particular reason they need to offer
you an output (since the VCR can just feed the TV part of the
product directly).
One kind of video interface, consists of three RCA (Cinch) connectors.
The connectors are three different colors. One carries "Composite"
video, which is a baseband (unmodulated) video signal. That
signal is suitable for connection to a PC capture card which
has a matching input capability. You might see a yellow,
a red and a white connector (round ones). Audio Left and
Audio Right signals are carried on the other two connectors.
To go from Audio Left and Audio Right, to the Line_In on the
PC, you'd use an adapter something like this. The red and the
white carry a single audio channel. The 1/8" connector
on the other end, is stereo and has two audio signals.
When you connect that to the Line_In on your PC sound card,
that will give you the ability to record the audio. And
if the capture card had its own sound connectors (an integrated
sound and video interface), you could also consider plugging
it in there. (With my setup, the composite video connects
to my capture card, but the audio goes to my sound card, since
my capture card doesn't do the audio portion.)
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103859
In this picture, you can see a video/audio outputs as the
three RCA connectors. They should usually be marked as to
which does what. The color scheme helps, if all devices adhere
to the same standards. The video signal should be carried
on coaxial cable (don't use audio wire).
A second standard for the video portion (instead of that
yellow connector), is S-video. The connector has four
pin, and the connector shell is round. The signals on the
connector are luminance, chrominance, ground, ground, and
by separating the signal content, a slightly higher
quality path is provided. The capture card may or
may not offer an option like this (mine only has
composite).
http://www.racketboy.com/videocables/svideojack.jpg
A third way to get from a VCR to a capture card, would be
if the capture card also included its own TV tuner.
For example, my VCR here, has a modulated output
delivered on channel 3, so if I run an RF cable from
the VCR RF output, to a TV tuner card "antenna" input,
then set the TV tuner/capture card to channel 3, I get to
see the output of the VCR. The RF signal from the
VCR carries both video and audio in the 6MHz bandwidth
FM signal, so only one coaxial wire is needed.
If you want more help, please specify which TV Capture
card you have exactly, and which exact model number
of Superscan is involved. What I would do with the
information, it try to find a manual for each, and
from that, it may be possible to explain exactly
what to do.
If the TV set is an economical model, there is
no reason for anything other than a headphone
jack on the panel. It would have to be an upscale
unit, to have an extensive I/O panel on the back.
If you purchase a separate (old fashioned) VCR, with
its I/O panel on the back, that will give you
access to many of the options mentioned above.
The market for VCRs is rather limited now, so
finding something worth buying may be difficult.
Don't throw your old VCR away, because someday it'll
be worth gold
Paul