I just bought a Ulead video capture device off of ebay. It records just fine, except that the brightness changes magnitude on the video. I record from a VCR to the computer using RCA cords. I want to know if an S cable will stop the oscillating effect, or if perhaps a new VCR will help.
I am recording to a Vista operating system. It has 1 gig of Ram. That’s about all I know relevant.
Can anybody help me out?
Thanks,
greatshakes
I believe you’re seeing the effects of Macrovision’s copy protection scheme for VHS tapes. There are conceivably ways around it, but we can’t talk about it here 
Oops, pardon my blunder. It shouldn’t be copy protected, it was a home recording. Sorry about the red herring.
It is similar to what I recall the copy protection being like but I see this differential of the lighting sort of scrolling from top to bottom of the screen. It kind of reminds me of, well, I don’t remember-videos of old films??
It sounds to me like there is a mismatch between your sampling rate and the refresh rate of the video source. Perhaps there is a setting you can fiddle with in ULead? I think typical values are 24 Hz and 30 Hz. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable can chime in with some more details.
Sounds like a ground loop problem to me. Try disconnecting the shield from the video cable.
OK!
Uhhhhhhh…how do I do that?
Thanks
greatshakes
Also check for PAL vs NTSC settings. Presumably you’re in America and all settings should be NTSC. Otherwise choose PAL.
You may be able to do it by simply unplugging the cable just enough that only the center pin makes contact.
If that works, but the connection is so loose that it keeps falling out, take an old or spare cable and carefully cut the yellow “boot” off one end, then clip the connection from the cable’s shield to the plug, leaving the center wire and pin alone.
You didn’t mention how fast this wave was traveling - if it’s just drifting through, it probably is a ground loop. Something else to try before carving up unsuspecting cables is to plug everything into the same outlet and/or power strip - the VCR, the computer and the capture device’s power supply (if it’s not USB-powered). This way, everything should have the same reference point of what “ground” is.
Well, I got it to stop. I plugged them all into the same powerstrip, and I don’t have any problem with it.
Thank you all for your help.
I posted a thank you all last week, and then I saw that the site was experiencing tech. difficulties, so this was my first chance to get back with you all.
Thanks again,
greatshakes