40 Columns from my C128 on my PC

[Guest]

Ah, so it's the software that came with your card.  I am building a system for my son for Christmas and the OEM video capture card I bought (the only one I could find that was both low-profile and PCIe) didn't come with any software, and when I download the software from the distributor of the card it crashes in Vista.

[hydrophilic]

That capture of the interlace is wacked!  At first it was showing only 1 field but close examination indicates both are present... My ATI video capture card has hardware support for de-interlacing.  I believe it turns itself off if you set the capture rate to > 30fps.  With it on, it doesn't always do a good job (even from standard video sources).  Airship, it sounds like you had similar problems with VDC interlace images?

About the color on the VDC: that would make sense IF you used a composite connection.  Since composite mixes color with luminance, high-frequency signals (thin lines etc) will be interpreted as a color!

If available, try to use S-Video instead of Compostie connection for the VDC screen.  I think that would make it much better!  Of course if you DID use S-Video then I have no clue where the color comes from... I won't blame you if you don't try this, I haven't bothered to build an S-Video cable even for myself

Another thing about VDC is you need enough capture resolution.  My ATI only captures the full screen (including borders) at max 640x480 which means it could never accurately capture the VDC since it is something like 720 horizontal with border.  Maybe your WinTV will go that high?

BTW, the VDC scans look like they came from an old VHS tape  Plbyrd is correct about the capture stream format.  I found signicant artifacts (for computer text maybe OK for live vide) when using the default MPEG2 driver even when capturing still images.  I got the best images by changing to an AVI format.  But be wardned, AVI will eat up your hard drive space!

Anyway, thanks for the screen shots.  Very interesting.

[airship]

I tried it with interlace on AND off. Didn't work either way. The software can capture at many different resolutions. I tried them all - no dice. The WinTV card only has composite input. Besides, how are you going to get SVideo from the VDC?

[hydrophilic]

Besides, how are you going to get SVideo from the VDC?

Connect the monochrome pin (and ground) to the Y channel of the S-Video.  Of course this will be monochorme.   I'm pretty sure they sell these, but I'd have more fun doing it myself.  Besides eliminating intended color, it should eliminate the random colors.  Um, I guess it doesn't matter w/o an S-Video connector!