Capturing NTSC video

[madbull]

I have a NTSC video tape and I am struggling to capture it to my PC using the Creative 3d personal Cinema card. When I play the tape the video player/recorder converts the output to PAL (I am in the UK).

This I thought would be no problem as it outputs to the T.V. fine, however on trying to capture as PAL the preview window of WinDVR shows that it thinks its still in NTSC because it jumps about.

As there is a way of changing the video format to NTSC_M and NTSC_M_J I have tried these both and they straighten out the screen but it stays in Black and White.

I have tried the composite, S-Video and even the Antenna connections all produce the same result. Is this a flaw with the WinDVR/capture driver or do I need a special cable for this?

[Swan]

I am in Sweden (Pal-B country) and have loads of NTSC VHS tapes too. I know exactly what you're talking about.

What the "NTSC Capable" VCR's we can buy here in Europe does to play NTSC tapes is to output a format called PAL-60.
It is not real NTSC and therefor, the capture card will not be able to capture it. You need a genuine NTSC VCR (and I do too).
See this thread:
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=36471&highlight=NTSC+vcr+europe

If anyone knows a site that sells NTSC VCRs in Europe, please reply.

/Swan

[madbull]

Swan

Thanks for the reply - this has been driving me mad :mad: . So does this mean there is no cable or converter to buy that could convert the signal back to either NTSC or PAL (as we know it) ?

I think I might look around for such a thing.

[Swan]

A converter will not work. I have tested a converter capable of both PAL -->NTSC and NTSC-->PAL. But since the VCR outputs PAL-60, not real NTSC or PAL, the converter is not able to convert the signal. Besides, I think a capture from a genuine NTSC VCR looks much better than a PAL-60 one.

We both really need a NTSC VCR. I have searched and searched for on-line shops in Europe, selling NTSC VCR's, but to no avail. Perhaps the only solution is ordering one on-line from the States.. :(

/Swan

[^^-+I4004+-^^]

you need multistandard VCR!
how will pure NTSC machine work on european's 50Hz?
no way!

there are decent multistandard machines that can take care
of it i think.....(panasonic,sony etc.)

[Swan]

how will pure NTSC machine work on european's 50Hz?
You mean the voltage problem? :)
There are converters for those, no problem there, methinks.
Since people bring electrical stuff when they go on holiday to the US and use voltage converters successfully, why shouldn't it work the other way around too?

/Swan

[babaganushka]

when i hookup my ntsc playback enabled SANSUI vcr to my geforce 440mx vivo card i get a picture on the capture preview and also full screen.
but when capturing i get a white bar in the middle of the capture, is this the same problem as depicted here?
can i override mybe by cpaturing the overlay picture in the preview windows ?

[IanD]

Originally posted by Swan
I am in Sweden (Pal-B country) and have loads of NTSC VHS tapes too. I know exactly what you're talking about.

What the "NTSC Capable" VCR's we can buy here in Europe does to play NTSC tapes is to output a format called PAL-60.
It is not real NTSC and therefor, the capture card will not be able to capture it. You need a genuine NTSC VCR (and I do too).
See this thread:
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=36471&highlight=NTSC+vcr+europe

If anyone knows a site that sells NTSC VCRs in Europe, please reply.

/Swan
Whilst this does not answer your NTSC VCR question, the Australian (PAL) version of the FlyVideo 3000 TV card seems to have a PAL60 option (as well as many flavours of NTSC and PAL) when capturing from s-video or composite in.

I expect the newer versions of TV cards coming onto the market support multi-standards for capture, so maybe one of these is an option instead of obtaining a probably more costly NTSC specific VCR.

Ian

[scharfis_brain]

All Bt8x8-based cards support PAL60. But only if the BtWinCap-Driver is used.

[echooff]

I lived in Italy for several years and used my NTSC equipment and my electrical equipment on transformers. They worked fine. The only problem you will have is if you attempt to use a U.S. based timer i.e. electric clock., washing machine timer. the 50 hz cycle slows down the timer. So you won't be able to use the ntsc vcr timer. Big Deal.

[jrjazzman]

Most devices don't rely on AC for timing.. AC is notoriously variable. Supposedly the st dev. in the US is >3. In addition, most devices immediately transform and rectify the power source before anything else. So no more AC. I could be wrong though. A difference of 10 Hz could definitely screw up a device that can only tolerate, say 57-63 Hz. I just don't think devices directly use the AC cycle for timing (other than some motors).

Jeremy

Originally posted by echooff
I lived in Italy for several years and used my NTSC equipment and my electrical equipment on transformers. They worked fine. The only problem you will have is if you attempt to use a U.S. based timer i.e. electric clock., washing machine timer. the 50 hz cycle slows down the timer. So you won't be able to use the ntsc vcr timer. Big Deal.

[scharfis_brain]

So you won't be able to use the ntsc vcr timer.
those high integrated devices don't reley on power frequency, as jrjazzman said.

but those radio-clocks often do.
Here in Europe, the power-grid (50Hz) is very stable, so that my radio-clock is very precise!

[Arachnotron]

I believe the Creative 3d personal Cinema is based on the NVIDIA ‘Personal Cinema with GeForce2’ chip.

You could try to install the Nvidia drivers instead of the Creative ones. In the past Creative has mostly used the reference designs supplied by Nvidia instead of designing their own boards, so the reference drivers should work. Often the Nvidia driver version has more options. The inf file of this driver has an entry for "PAL_433_60", which may very well be PAL60.

Since I don’t have this card (I used a BT878a based card + Btwincap in the past for this) I have no idea if this will work but it is worth a shot I think.

Allmost any modern PAL VCR will output PAL-60 when playing an NTSC tape. If you can get PAL-60 to work on your card (or on another one), capturing PAL-60 is easy.

Since PAL-60 is NTSC with only the colour signal converted to PAL, once you set the video format to PAL60 all other settings like resolution, timing and fps are the same as for NTSC so you can follow any guide written for capturing NTSC VHS

The resulting capture file will in fact be identical to the one you get from a NTSC VCR, so if you want to use it for a PAL VCD or DVD, you still have to do a full NTSC to PAL conversion.

[t610425]

Originally posted by ^^-+I4004+-^^
you need multistandard VCR!
how will pure NTSC machine work on european's 50Hz?
no way!

there are decent multistandard machines that can take care
of it i think.....(panasonic,sony etc.)

Well I just got my NTSC VCR yesterday and it works fine!.
I'm just using a 5e 220-110VAC transformer @ 50HZ and it all works excellent!

Allthe best

Takis

[SeeMoreDigital]

True, many PAL video tape decks can output pseudo PAL-60 from an NTSC tape. But there are very good 'black boxes' that will allow you to convert a true NTSC or pseudo PAL-60 signal to PAL. One such converter is by GTH electronics in the UK: -

http://www.gthelectronics.com/

And for all those people that have managed to get pure NTSC video onto their PC's. If you have an Sigma Hollywood+ or Xcard. You can use it to run Mpeg2 or Hi-Res Mpeg1 video thru' it and output a signal that's suitable for a PAL VHS tape recorder.

Using this method it's even possible to spin (non macrovision) NTSC DVD's or VCD's (you know, home movies from family abroad. That sort of thing!) and back them up directly onto PAL VHS tape.

Cheers

PS. Check out some of Samsungs high end VCR's. They can output pure NTSC!