Playing video from USB capture device??

[mdoubledragon]

I have a composite-USB adapter that I use to record videos from my VHS. Please tell me what software can I use (and how) if I want to just watch the video (with audio) and not record. I guess I can use mplayer but I cant figure out which switches to use.

Please tell me my options.

[stegre]

Get a copy of "GraphEdit", and bring up the filter insertion dialog (Graph > Insert Filters...). Expand the "+" under Video Capture Sources and see if there's an entry that looks like it might be your device (e.g. the Pinnacle USB Capture device made by Cirrus below)

http://ftyps.com/unrelated/usbvidcap.png

There are a bunch of "gotchas", but if it's there, you can probably create a "graph" that will do what you want & you can save the whole .grf for "single click use" from then on.

I won't go into the details now, but first-time "gotchas" I ran into include:

1. There may be multiple identical entries as above, one for every USB port you ever plugged your capture box into.
2. The filter won't "insert" into the graph unless the box is plugged into USB port at the time you "insert" it, and it has to be the correct USB port for the selected entry if there's more than one as mentioned above.
3. Output pins won't render or play unless a signal is present first.
4. It may be an issue if the box has multiple input types (e.g. composite and S-Video) and the one you're using isn't the default, although composite is likely the default.

But if you can get past that stuff once, you can create a one click solution that'll work in the future. I've done this, though I don't know if they all work the same way.

The first step is would be to see if the your box's entry even appears in GraphEdit, similar to the screenshot above.

[GrofLuigi]

Or any capture program that works with your device, just don't hit "Record"?

GL

*Edit: and that has usable preview :)