Analogue Video Capture from VCR using 3dfx VoodooTV FM

Hi there.

I would like to transfer all of my old VHS tapes into VCD's so I can get rid of my old VCR.

I currently have a VCR that has 1 SCART port, with two white ports and two red ports. One set of the white and red ports is labelled for 'IN - DUBBING' with 'L' and 'R'. I presume this are for audio sources into the VCR.
I have the same again but for 'AUDIO OUT' with 'L' and 'R' also. However, there is not yellow port for COMPOSITE. I was surprised, as I am usually told , the white, red and yellow ports make a full composite set.

My 3dfx VoodooTV FM card can be used for video capture, with ports for both composite and S-Video. Seeing as there was no yellow composite port on the VCR, I decided to go with S-Video, and purchased an S-Video to SCART cable, with 1 male SCART socket on the end, and 1 male S-Video socket on the other.

I currently have the TV card installed on a Windows 98 PC, using 3dfx' VisualReality software.

When linking the VCR and the PC through the cable, I activate the VisualReality capture software, play a VHS tape in the VCR, and switch to the S-Video port within VisualReality, but I recieve no picture or sound.

What am I doing wrong? Firstly, is there anything wrong with the hardware setup, or is it the configuration of the software? Am I using the right cable to connect my PC and VCR?

Many thanks.

 

Hi,
I think the S video only carries the video signal, so how are you transerfing the sound? Maybe that is messing up the whole signal. If you connect the just sound (red and white) to the capture card can you hear the sound?

Thats all I can offer i'm affraid, as i'm new to this.

 

Wrong cable.
Scart must have a special scart to S-video (or composite) cable, and the signal can only run one way.
Audio would go from the red/white to a Y connector, then to stereo micro plug and go into your sound card's line in port.

 

But would the absense of a sound cable affect the non-display of the video signal.

The VoodooTV card has an AUX port on the inside of the PC case, which I have attached a cable from, to the sound LINE IN port on my sound card. I think this is supposed to be the source used for sound input. But then again, is that just for the sound produced from The TV Tuner when tuning into TV channels?

Do you have a photo of the necessary cable that I need?

 

Absense of audio cables should not effect the video, but don't forget, you'll need a red/white to mini stereo plug adapter for audio. Good luck with such an old card, wow, haven't heard Voodoo mentioned in about 5 years.

 

Well there are a loyal few who are trying to keep 3dfx products alive, me being one of them. That is why I chose this card.

I'm still a little confused as to what the actual layout of my cables will look like from my VCR (given it's layout of ports, or lack thereof) to PC, and as to what the cables look like, should I purchase the ones that have been recommended to me.

Would it be possible to obtain a picture of such a cable, or a schematic of how it should be laid out in my case?

 

You need:
Red and white composite cables from the VCR's audio, which go to a Y adapter, with a Stereo micro (8mm) jack to plug into your sound card's audio line in port.
A Scart to composite adapter cable, to go from the Scart out port, to the composite in port on your capture card.
You need to select Composite as the source in your video capturing software, and Line IN as the audio source.
Any GOOD computer/TV shop will know exactly what to get you.

 

Success! ;D

It seems that the S-Video to SCART cable was indeed S-Video TO SCART, in that the signal was only going the wrong way, and the opposite way of what I needed. :

So I purchased a switch box that has a SCART socket on one end, with a Composite, S-Video, Audio Left & Right sockets on the other.

I plugged the SCART adapter into the back of the VCR, then plugged all four cables into the other ends, with the Composite and S-Video connections going into the back of the VoodooTV FM, and the Audio Left & Right connectors joining up to a single 3.5mm jack, which plugs into the LINE IN on my sound card. SORTED! The adapter has a reverse swich that can reverse the signal flow from input to output.

My first attempt was using S-Video but this came out BLACK & WHITE! So I switched to Composite, which provides full colour. How would I resolve the S-Video's B&W issue?

 

Now I am tinkering with the digital editing and wondering what is best to encode my movies into, so they are of the best quality to play, yet they can fit onto a CD-R as a VCD. Failing that, the best quality available and burn them onto a DVD as a VCD.

3dfx's VisualReality software will only encode movies in MPEG-1 format and that averages around 12Mb per minute, which means roughly, a 2 hour film would take up 1.44Gb! I'd hate to think what AVI format takes. :-[
However, the images don't look that great, even if I increase the resolution of the recording, it still looks a bit jaggy around objects edges in the movie.

What encoding do people recommend as the best quality:size ratio? Using the DScaler editing software, there are encoding formats such Intel Indeo, Windows RLE, and DivX Codec. Are any of these better?

Would it be possible to keep good quality, yet fit a 2 hour film onto a CD-R (700Mb)? What encoding is used for that? Or am I better using some good quality encoding and having to settle for fitting a 2 hour film onto a DVD instead?

 

Unfortunately your Voodoo card may be your problem as the technology of such an old card has been surpassed by better ones. You'll have to check what it can support in terms of capturing video. Mpeg-1 is of lesser quality compared to mpeg-2, which is the dvd standard, and if your card can not support mpeg-2 than you may be out of luck getting higher bitrate encodes from it. Software to use with it is another problem because of it's age......You would be wise to look into a analogue to digital converter and use it instead of trying to go thru the Voodoo card....Hauupauge, Canopus, Plextor, etc.

 

My VoodooTV does only encode in MPEG-1 format, with the Visual Reality software. However, using software such as DScaler allows me to encode in DivX, XVid, Intel Video etc ..

I also swapped out my VoodooTV card and my Voodoo3, and replaced them with my Voodoo3 3500 TV, which acts as both, but can also encode in MPEG-2 format.

So which is better?

 

A 3dfx 3500 tv problem. I am trying to convert VCR tapes to video. I hook up the white/yellow cables to the adapter through the blue cable. The VCR plays and I see the video and hear the audio.

I launch the VCR menu, select a file and press start to record. I am able to see the video and hear the audio.

When I try to play back the file there is no audio. I have tried MPEG-1, AVI and MPEG-2. I alos tried to record from the tuner with the same results. I cannot seem to record the audio, but I can hear it.

I also tried to playback the file using Mediaplayer with te same results. The video is fine, no audio.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Mike