FAQ USB Video Capture - No Colour when capturing from VHS to PC

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Question: I have connected my VHS recorder directly to my pc using scart with an input and output switch. I have also connected using S-Video lead but find that even though I can get picture and sound, there is no colour. I am using Ulead VideoStudio 7 and have adjusted the configuration accordingly ie to PAL, but no matter what I choose there is no colour. I even tried connecting my DV camcorder, but the image I get on the camcorder is also black and white. Is it possible the scart connection or should I trying using the firewire connection also? Please help!!!

Reply: The reason for the black & white picture is the S-Video connection. Only an SVHS VCR will be able to output the video on an S-Video lead. A standard VHS VCR will only put a B&W picture over S-Video because the colour and picture (chrominance & luminance) parts of the signal are on different cables, but the VHS VCR can not split them. Therefore the colour part of the video signal that the S-Video input is expecting will be missing on the chrominance cable and ignored from the luminance cable. To get a colour picture from the VHS VCR you will need to connect a composite lead into the PC, if it has one, or convert the composite to S-Video with a converter.

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Question: VHS to DVD capture - video is black & white?

I bought an external video capture device so I could transfer some of my old VHS tapes to DVD.  After some fiddling around with video standards (ntsc_433 for example) I got the video and sound working but some of the tapes show up as black and white.  Commercial tapes I bought over the years show colour however the ones I recorded back in the day show up as black and white.  There a ton of threads about this issue but after trying their suggestions, I just can't get them to show in colour.  Any ideas?  I've tried multiple software suites including power director 12 and virtual dub but get the same results.

Reply:
1. Check your video is progressive or interlaced video.
2. Check that the playback equipment is playing the tape correctly. Perhaps the tapes you recorded do not play well in this deck. (assuming they were recorded on a different machine).

 

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