Video capture with the Blackbird

[willgill]

Is there an application that can do video capture with the Blackbird? Right now I have a very unelegant solution of feeding output of my cable box through a VCR to the Blackbird. That's not the problem. It actually has less signal loss than I thought.

The problem is I want to capture video tapes to digitaly edit in Pinnacle Studio 8. Studio 8 doesn't see the audio part of the Blackbird.

What I've done so far is to set SageTV to record a program and then hit play on the VCR at the same time. The VCR shows the content of the tape instead of the cable box and SageTV records the tape and labels it like the TV show.

Is there some other software that recognizes the Blackbird? Is there a better way I can use SageTV as a capture program?

[mls]

I probibly should stay away from this because I personally think the Hauppauge Roslyn cards have to many driver problems to make them of much use at this time.

Be that as it may...

As a side not, technically, "Blackbird" is Conexants reference design code name. The Hauppauge version is code named "Roslyn".

They very likely are NOT the same and do not use the same drivers either.

From what little you have said so far I'm not sure why you are even using SageTV for what you are trying to do (much less why you would be using a Blackbird/Roslyn).

If you are only trying to capture video from VHS tape and don't have a need for the PVR functionality of SageTV... then we can get into other solutions I guess.

I do not know for sure if Hauppauges WinTV works correctly with the Roslyn (but I'd assume it would)... Then you could use that for just capturing files to later edit.

Although you could use SageTV for capture also, I'm not sure if you really need it for what you are trying to do?

[Ian Norman]

willgill
There are a few programs you can try to capture from your Blackbird using the hardware encoder cx23416
CTtv www.ctpvr.com
PowerVCRII ( hardware encode version )
I didn't mention SageTV Recorder or all the others as they timeshift by default but I use SageTV Recorder to capture from my Blackbird. I sometimes have to trim the captured file but that is usually not a problem.

Since you have a fast CPU you could use a software encoder application with the blackbird something a PVR250 can't do.

MLS
I think we will have to buy you a "Blackbird" so you can see how good they are. But maybe not a "Roslyn" No driver problems with the Provideo PV258TF

[willgill]

Thanks for the responses. I use SageTV for all the PVR functionality, but I didn't want to have to put in another card to do video capturing of the tapes I'm trying to convert. I also appreciate the clarification of the Blackbird/Roslyn.

I tried to download WinTV but I think Hauppage's website only contains and update. It said it was missing some files when I tried to use it.

I don't mind trimming because I do full editing anyway. I just haven't figured out how to capture for a certain length of time and have it named correctly in SageTV.

I'll try your suggestion, Ian.

[pvr_lurker]

Originally posted by willgill
... The problem is I want to capture video tapes to digitaly edit in Pinnacle Studio 8. Studio 8 doesn't see the audio part of the Blackbird. ...

Why not just connect the Audio out from your VCR to the Line-in on your sound card, and use that for your audio source in Studio 8?

[mls]

Originally posted by Ian Norman

MLS
I think we will have to buy you a "Blackbird" so you can see how good they are. But maybe not a "Roslyn" No driver problems with the Provideo PV258TF

I'll try to graceciously decline your offer. For me, either the Blackbird or the Roslyn cards require extra IRQ's and have too much extra baggage for drivers for other features those cards have (that I don't have a need for).

Things like AVI capture and FM tuner I'll never have a need for. If I actually ever had a need to do AVI capture, I can do that with my ATI AIW card. And if I actually wanted FM I alread have that with my Hauppaug USB2.

The ONLY reason the Roslyn is even still in my Sage box is because I feel I have finally won a triumpant victory fighting thru all the headaches of getting to to work with the rest of my system. Otherwise, at the drop of a hat I'd pull it and replace it with another PVR-250 (just to get rid of the extra driver baggage).

Took me over 2 months of messing around to solve all the driver problems, auto-brightness, re-adjust all the color correction settings, and to get the Hauppauge remote to work again, but in the end I finally won the battle

[willgill]

Why not just connect the Audio out from your VCR to the Line-in on your sound card, and use that for your audio source in Studio 8?

That's a good idea. The only thing really holding me back from that is how my computer sits. My case is just massive, tucked away, and it looks like 4 octopuses entangled themselves and died behind my computer. In a nutshell, it's a major pain to switch from audio in on the sound card to audio in on the Blackbird.

[mls]

Can you hear any sound while it's capturing, but it's just not in the recording?

If so, you could try a different selection for the record audio input in your volume mixer. Or, maybe select some type of "catch all" audio record option.

Then you wouldn't have to change any of the cables around behind the computer.

[kny3twalker]

Took me over 2 months of messing around to solve all the driver problems, auto-brightness, re-adjust all the color correction settings, and to get the Hauppauge remote to work again, but in the end I finally won the battle

PVr 250 drivers sucked for almost a year(well sometimes better than others)
when I got mine

[willgill]

Can you hear any sound while it's capturing, but it's just not in the recording?

If so, you could try a different selection for the record audio input in your volume mixer. Or, maybe select some type of "catch all" audio record option.

I thought the same thing, mls. I have a "catch all" mixer setting called Stereo Mix. ..no go. I guess I can't say 100% sure that I've tested every single combination. On my past capture card (Avermedia PVR 350), I would hear the audio live as soon as I selected the correct input. However I never hear live output on the Blackbird. Even though I don't hear sound, I figured I'd try it anyway. I think I've tried all inputs anyway. I know I've tried Stereo Mix.

[kny3twalker]

on mine with my old winTV theater card
I had to choose analogue mix
but I have found that with most things
I can simply choose "What You Hear"
but I have an Audigy card currently with hacked Audigy 2 ZS drivers