VF output to VHS Help?

mopic77 wrote on 7/20/2001, 4:31 PM

I edit with video Factory on a PIII at 600Mhz, 256 ram, on Windows 98 SE. My audio is SoundBlaster Live and my video card is ATI ALL in Wonder 128 Expert. I have been unable to print to VHS tape. I am told the card is not supported. Does anyone know a solution. I have tried playing the desktop (as Windows Media File) to my VCR but nothing happens. Short of purchasing DV500plus and losing my video card to play DVD and TV, anyone know a solution? Is there a lowcost video card I can purchase that will work with - output to VCR - Video Factory? Can I upgrade or downgrade my ATI card to output to VHS and still support DVD and TV? Can I install another card and disable All in Wonder in that hardware profile?
All suggestions appreciated.

James

Comments

steveh wrote on 7/22/2001, 11:36 PM

I have the ATI All In WOnder 128 Pro; don't know differences between that and 'expert'? But I have managed to output to vhs.
First you have to enable display for television. Click on the ATI icon in the system tray and select 'display'. Select television, 800x600. Make sure you have the special output connector plugged into the ATI card and a set of rca cables from that to the video input on the vcr. Double check the video is going to video, audio to audio.

On my vcr I have to select AV for the channel - it can't be channel 3 or 4. Some vcrs refer to it as AV, some are AUX. Check your vcr manual if you have it. THis one of the biggest pains because some vcrs let you just click to it after channel 1, others have some special button.

Once I have the vcr set to AV, and the tv turned on, I can see my computer display on the television.

I then load the movie in Media Player (or whatever player you want to use). I make sure it is full screen, move the mouse pointer out of the display, start the vcr recording, wait a few seconds for it to get to speed, and start the movie playing by pressing the space bar (in media player...).

Not as cool as digital video, but it works...

If you have more questions, let me know and I can e-mail you some digital photos of the cabling setup...

Steve

patrickm wrote on 7/23/2001, 3:40 PM

there's actually no such thing as an "All in wonder 128 Expert". there's a rage 128-based Expert 2000 or something though, that's just the default card name in the drivers. but the previous poster was mostly correct. the best way to do it is to simply set up your ATI to display on the TV (right click on desktop, go to 'advanced' -> displays), use 640x480 32-bit color. (the 800x600 is a scaled output so it generally looks better at 640x480). then just run the cables from your sound card to the vcr audio and from the AiW black plug to the vcr video in. you can do this with any set of drivers (except possibly the ones on the windows disk, so i guess any set of ATI drivers). plus, if you play the rendered file back through the ATI Player it handles scaling very nicely. WMP 7 is not too bad a choice either.