Video grabber - not as simple as it says!

mrs_drudge

"Amazing Video Grabber connects any analogue video source (player, camera etc) to your PC and instantly records your old videos directly on to your computer's hard drive."
Well, no, it doesn't actually - not if the only two vhs players you have only have scart sockets. We overcame that problem by using an adapter we already had - plugged the usb into handily located computer - ran the programme - and watched the black square on the screen.
My two computer whizzkids have worked their way through the tech support cheat sheet - with absolutely no luck.
Any handy hints before I send it back?

penrhyn

There is a little sliding switch on most Scart to RCA phono adapters labelled input and output, make sure the correct one is selected.


You don't give the make and model of the video grabber.
Most of these devices need USB2.

KingL

Is this for real or just an excuse to print a link to the wacky tech support graphic ?

How about providing a link to the device? Or describing the adaptor you used?

If it's this - then it only seems to take a composite or s-video input
http://www.premieredition.co.uk/csp/smp/premn/products/opt3/large/E750.jpg

kwikbreaks

He He great minds think alike - you searched using the quoted text and that was the first hit.

One thing I noticed was £39.95 and I certainly wouldn't have paid that for it as the same thing can be bought on ebay for between £5 and £10 depending on whether you are willing to buy from HK (which I have countless times with no problem).

Of course none of those take a scart connector directly either but none of them claim to.

mrs_drudge

It wasn't spam! Yes - I paid stupid money hoping that it would just plug and play.
I will give up and hope to get my money back. Nowhere on the Premier editions site did it say that it wasn't suitable for scart - it said use 'any' analogue source.
There is no sliding switch on our scart adapter - and it was working fine with the wii. It is just a straightforward scart socket with sockets on the top for the audio L & R and video.
(The link was the one left on my laptop by my son after he had spent ages trying to make it work - I hadn't seen it before and it made me laugh)
Thanks for trying to help anyway!

kwikbreaks

The reason SCART connectors have that switch is to select between input and output. The Wii (composite side) is outputting a signal to the SCART. Your video grabber (composite side) doesn't output any signal it needs to receive it so your composite/SCART converter is operating the wrong way around and that is why it isn't working.

Good luck on the refund.

jmc160

kwikbreaks wrote: »

The reason SCART connectors have that switch is to select between input and output. The Wii (composite side) is outputting a signal to the SCART. Your video grabber (composite side) doesn't output any signal it needs to receive it so your composite/SCART converter is operating the wrong way around and that is why it isn't working.

Good luck on the refund.

The way I understood it, the scart adapter is on the VCR end, not the video grabber, so it will be acting as an output and not an input.

not if the only two vhs players you have only have scart sockets.

penrhyn

kwikbreaks wrote: »

The reason SCART connectors have that switch is to select between input and output. The Wii (composite side) is outputting a signal to the SCART. Your video grabber (composite side) doesn't output any signal it needs to receive it so your composite/SCART converter is operating the wrong way around and that is why it isn't working.

Good luck on the refund.

..............Which is why I posted a picture, you need one like I posted. None of these devices have scart connectors as standard, however a lot of VCRs had phono outputs.

My advise try again as there is probably nothing wrong with the grabber.

and good luck.

LA2019

The device might actually be working but the software that came with it might not be very user friendly.

I got the Easycap(2 I think) from amazon for about £20 and thought it didn't work but after playing with the software for 3 hours I managed to get video and sound, some of the software settings were resetting themselves depending on what I did.

It works pretty well, but I got it for my 360 to take screen grabs of my games, but the quality was pretty low. I haven't yet tried to see if I can get better quality videos or screen grabs by seeing if the device can be hooked up from the (HD) tv to my laptop while playing in HDMI mode.