Capturing analog via pass-thru

dand9959 wrote on 9/30/2004, 6:21 AM

I'm having a problem capturing analog video by passing it through my digital camera using MS4.

Setup: RCA video connections from analog camera to digital video camera.
Firewire from digital to PC
Put digital camera in VCR mode
Press play on both devices
Use MS4 to capture

The signal does not come through to MS. Also, I am unable to use the remote controls (on screen) to "play", "capture", etc. unless I put a tape in the digital camera. MS will not proceed until I put a tape in. When I do so, there is no pass-through signal. (Actually, there's no signal at all...not even the video from the digital tape comes over.)

If I am not doing "pass through", i.e. if I capture direct from my digital camera from a tape, it works fine.

I don't think it is my camera settings, because I can use exactly the same setup and capture just fine using Studio 8 (I still must have NO tape in the digital camera for the pass thru to work, however.)

Any ideas out there? Since I have an alternate workflow (using dreaded S8) its not a show stopper for me...though I'd like to use the capture bins etc. in MS for all of my captures.

Comments

Steve Grisetti wrote on 9/30/2004, 6:59 AM

I don't think you should push Play on both devices. Depending on how your cam works, I think you just have your camcorder in VTR mode with no tape in it.

And, naturally, you won't be able to control your VCR from the computer, since it's not even truly connected to it. You just have sort of an "open circuit." In fact, you should disable MovieStudio's camcorder controls.

There are several posts on this forum that explain the process in greater (and better) detail.

btbrossard wrote on 9/30/2004, 8:39 AM

When I capture analog via pass through on my camcorder, I have to set the camcorder to pass the signal. I have a Sony TRV460 and it has a menu option to turn on "a/v to dv out" that has to be enabled.

Also, in the capture software, turn off "enable DV device control" in the preferences.

/Benjamin

dand9959 wrote on 9/30/2004, 4:09 PM

Disabling the DV Device Controls did the trick. That cleared up all sorts of problems. Thanks guys!