This flickering is driving me crazy

[Stephen Mann]

“Sometimes the flashing (to black) occurs about once per second, and at other times, the image is stable for a minute or so.”

Just a shot in the dark here… (bad pun, but I try).

What is your external monitor and how are you getting the video to it? Is the video going black, like someone pulled the cable out or does it fade to near black then back up to normal? If it’s the latter, then you may be fighting the Macrovision detector in the conversion device (camera on pass-through ot Canopus Firewire to AV box, etc).

Steve

Stephen Mann,
MannMade Digital Video,
San Jose, CA

[Seatlanta]

Hi Tom:
My DV converter is powered by the six-pin firewire connection. I have not tried using an AC adapter with it.

But I have rearranged cables, moved things, and tried to make sure that I don’t have interference problems. I’ll keep checking.

Thanks for your input.

Best wishes.
James (seatlanta)

[Seatlanta]

Hi Steve:
It’s a Panasonic 13″ CRT video monitor with SVHS and composite inputs. I’ve used it for years. I have three of them, so I’ve had an opportunity to swap them out. It’s definitely not the monitor.

The flickering is instantaneous. From clean image to total black, then back again. Also,when it happens and the picture comes back, the audio and video are often out of sync for a second or two.

Thank you.
James (seatlanta)

[Seatlanta]

Hi Terry:
I have not tried the program you suggested, but it sounds like a good idea. I’ll download it and see what happens.

Thanks.
James (seatlanta)

[Rob Mack]

I don’t have the ADVC 110 but I do have the 100 and I never run it with the six pin cable coming from the computer. This is my third unit because the first two eventually smoked. It was bus power that did it, even though the 100 wasn’t supposed to use it.

I know the 110 is designed to run off bus power but I suppose you might consider running it off the AC adapter and using a 4 pin input to isolate it from bus power. This is a really wild guess but maybe the unit is overheating and cutting power for a second?

Rob Mack

[Tom Pauncz]

I also have the ADVC100 and have never used it without a/c power. I have never had a problem with it. Most recently captured some VHS footage with it and it worked a treat.
Tom

[Rob Mack]

Sorry, I wasn’t too clear. You can’t use the 100 without AC power. The problem I had was that it would still take in the bus power from the 6-pin cable. The 100 did’t have adequate protection or isolation from the unusable bus power and occasionally you’d burn up the unit.

Later on Canopus started putting warning labels onto the unit saying that it should be turned on and connected before the computer is started and then never disconnected until the computer is turned off. My opinion is that the problem stemmed from the bus power, which is eliminated with a 4-pin connection to the computer.

What you are describing with your 110 could be consistent with poorly regulated bus power coming from your PC, I suppose. I’m suggesting ditching the 6-pin cable, using a 6-4 pin cable, and using an AC adapter with your 110. Assuming you have an AC adapter for it, this would be an easy thing to try and certainly wouldn’t hurt.

Rob

[Seatlanta]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I will try the Canopus box with an AC adapter instead of using a six-pin firewire cable. If that works, I’ll let you know.

Best wishes.
James (seatlanta)

[Seatlanta]

Well, I bought the Canopus AC adapter, got rid of the six-pin/six-pin firewire cable, and dammit, things are still the same. I’m just about convinced that the problem is somewhere deep inside the computer.

Again, thanks for all the suggestions.

James (seatlanta)

[Jeremy Rochefort]

Hi seatlanta

Step1: Taken from the manual. Make sure your dip switch settings underneath the 110 are correctly setup – see below.
Step2: Make sure that under the Preview Device preferences that you have the correct format set – NTSC/PAL. Sometimes the Sync offset can give you problems in NTSC.

I use the the 110 without any external psu and have never yet encountered a problem. Don’t use the onboard firewire port. On none of the systems I’ve built have I had decent success with onboard firewire.

By pressing and holding the input selector on the 110 for +- 4 secs, you should see color bars on the monitor. If the problem still shows, then the problem is from the 110 to the monitor. If there is no problem, then its more than likely prior to the 110.

Hope this helps
——————–

No. Mode OFF ON
1 Video Format NTSC PAL
2 NTSC Setup Level(SW1=OFF) 0 IRE 7.5 IRE
PAL/SECAM(SW1=ON) PAL SECAM
3 Locked Audio Mode Locked Unlocked
4 Audio Mode 48kHz/16-bit 32kHz/12-bit
5 Power-on Input Mode Analog Digital
6 Digital-in Reference Sync Stream Sync Fixed

1 Video Format – toggles between capturing NTSC and PAL video.
The ADVC110 is set to capture NTSC video by default.
2 NTSC Setup Level – toggles between 0 IRE (Japan NTSC) and 7.5
IRE (USA NTSC).
2 PAL/SECAM – specifies PAL or SECAM, when the DIP switch 1 is
in the ON position (set to PAL).
3 Locked Audio Mode – toggles between capturing locked audio or
unlocked audio. If you are capturing a lot of long clips, you should
leave this switch in the OFF position to make sure the audio stays
locked to the video.
4 Audio Mode – toggles between 48kHz/16-bit 2-channel audio and
32kHz/12-bit 4-channel audio. See Setting 4-channel mixing mode
in the next section for more information.
5 Power-on Input Mode – toggles between Analog In and Digital In
modes when you first turn on the unit. If you primarily capture
analog video, you should set this to the OFF position so the unit is
in Analog In mode when you turn it on.
6 Digital-in Reference Sync Mode – toggles between Stream Sync
and Fixed modes. To make the Video Sync synchronized with the
DV Stream Sync, set this Switch in the OFF position. If you set this
switch in the OFF position and the color of the output video becomes
black and white, set this switch in the ON position, making
the Video Sync happen in the fixed timing.

Jeremy

MJ Productions