VHS Capture only in black and white

[antineff]

I tried to capture my old VHS-Tapes (selfrecorded, not bought; no Macrovision or something) on my PC. I tried different programs (VirtualDub(Mod), MS MovieMaker, Power Director etc.) and different cables and adapters too. The result is always black and white.

Facts about my VCR: It plays back perfectly directly connectet to a TV; It only has a SCART-out, no S-Video or composit.

Facts about my capturing-skills: I don't have probs with any other media. Even capturing from my old Hi8-Camcorder via S-Video or composit works perfect.

Did anyone encounter similar problems, and does anyone know how to work around?

Many Thanx,
antineff

[E-Male]

b&w sounds like you're trying to cap svideo on a composite input

[Video Dude]

If you have PAL tapes and VCR make sure the software is set for PAL and not NTSC.

[zilog jones]

You probably have it set on s-video when there's only a composite output coming from the VCR, like E-Male said.

Unless your VCR is S-VHS, it only outputs composite - no s-video.

[Ebobtron]

Facts about my VCR: It plays back perfectly directly connectet to a TV; It only has a SCART-out, no S-Video or composit.

As you can see the from the Scart connector pinout shown below there is no combined color signal to use.

You will need to feed the RF into another VCR or Monitor that provides composite video out.

1.AUDIO Output Right
2.AUDIO Input Right
3.AUDIO Output Left
4.AUDIO Ground
5.BLUE Ground
6.AUDIO Input Left
7.BLUE
8.Function Switching
9.GREEN Ground
10.D²B Input
11.GREEN
12.D²B Output
13.RED/(*)Chroma Ground
14.D²B Ground
15.RED/Chroma
16.Blanking
17.VIDEO/Sync/(*)Luminance Ground
18.Blanking Ground
19.VIDEO/Sync/(*)Luminance Output
20.VIDEO/Sync/(*)Luminance Input
21.Common Ground (metal shield)

More info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCART

[antineff]

Thanks a lot so far. zilog jones answer was the one that took me one step further. Special thanks to you! I can capture in color rather than b&w since I use the adapter for composit- and not s-video.

But there is another problem that I can hear the sound when playing back a VHS in VDub's capture mode but it's not captured although I have the "Capture Audio"-Box checked.

Trying the same with PowerDirector the sound is switched off in capture mode while playback holds on in other modes.

I don't know weather it's a driver problem (I use a Medion-PC with Radeon 6800) but you maybe got different suggestions.

[Ebobtron]

I know the VCR but my capture hardware experience is very limited. If your audio is being captured by the the computers sound hardware and the video is captured using the video card. I'd look there. Else I don't know.

[Boulder]

Originally posted by antineff

But there is another problem that I can hear the sound when playing back a VHS in VDub's capture mode but it's not captured although I have the "Capture Audio"-Box checked.

You have to route the audio to your sound card with a separate cable, or you have not set the correct input for recording - see the Windows audio controls and what recording input has been enabled.