Video capture

[Stumpy]

Hello everyone,

When i capture video from my JVC GR-D21EK mini DV camcorder the images displayed on my PC are always dark, sometimes completely black, yet on my camcorder's LCD screen they display nice and bright and very clear!

Do i need a dedicated video capture card?
I do have a firewire port and the correct cable.
I have an nVidia GeForce FX 5200 128MB graphics card installed and my drivers are all up to date. Is this card good enough?
Any ideas, anyone?

system spec:
XP Home SP2 (the problem existed before i installed SP2)
512 MB DDR 333 memory
2.4 Ghz Celeron CPU
80 Gb HD
120 Gb HD (video captured on this drive, 94 Gb free space)

[mr jones]

Originally Posted by Stumpy

Hello everyone,

When i capture video from my JVC GR-D21EK mini DV camcorder the images displayed on my PC are always dark, sometimes completely black, yet on my camcorder's LCD screen they display nice and bright and very clear!

Do i need a dedicated video capture card?
I do have a firewire port and the correct cable.
I have an nVidia GeForce FX 5200 128MB graphics card installed and my drivers are all up to date. Is this card good enough?
Any ideas, anyone?

system spec:
XP Home SP2 (the problem existed before i installed SP2)
512 MB DDR 333 memory
2.4 Ghz Celeron CPU
80 Gb HD
120 Gb HD (video captured on this drive, 94 Gb free space)

editing the capture settings in whatever software your using for capturing the video on your computer, there should be a brightness/contrast etc setting on the camera somewhere

have you considered that the brightness on the screen of your cam may be adjusted whereas the video capture is in itself very dark?


jamie

[johnjackthom]

I agree with jamie and would suggest playing back your recordings with the camcorder connected directly to a TV to make sure the picture levels are similar to other sources.

Then if you are satisfied thet your tapes play back normally, carry on experimenting with capturing using your firewire connection as you already seem to have all you need to get the best possible quality.