AR31S s-video in port

[jeffer]

Hello, anyone know how to capture video from the S-Video IN port of my AR31S? Windows Media Center doesn't seem to recognise it. I have some VHS that I would like to play through my laptop and possibly record (to archive). At the moment, I am forced to tune the video in via the coax aerial jack.

Is there software on my laptop to do it? Or do I need to splash out on something? Not sure if a new piece of software would be able to recognise and use the S-Video IN...

[Blencogo]

Hi Jeffer,

This has always been a problem since MCE was introduced - Vaio Zone used to do it far better. MCE is pretty useless with any sort of analogue video as it was designed almost exclusively for digital video.

Analogue Video capture happens through the Analogue TV Tuner. The tuner is a hybrid card capable of both Analogue and DVB reception. Make sure the tuner is set to receive analogue channels in MCE so that the s-video can be recognised as an AV input channel.

There is another problem with MCE - it captures the TV card and won't let any other application use it (presumably just in case you want to instantly record something). You need to release it from MCE's control. Before you open your video capturing software make sure that you have completed the Media Center setup screens and then check the following:-
Close the Media Center software.
Press CTRL+ALT+DEL, click the Processes button, select ehRec.exe from the list of items (if it is listed).
With ehRec selected, click End Process.
Close the window. You can now use your capturing software.

Click to DVD is very useful for importing analogue video, editing it and burning it to DVD.
Windows Movie Maker does something similar.

The TV recording function will be restored on re-boot when ehrec.exe will be loaded again - you will have to turn it off every time you want to import AV.

Good Luck!

[jeffer]

Thanks for the reply. I didn't know WMM can import from s-video. I think I have set up WMC to be analog as I was watching my VCR via the coax aerial connection. I will try and stop that process tonight and release the card to see if WMM can detect a video signal. Not that I know how to import from video via WMM. I guess it will become clear when I release the process and look again. I've always just imported existing video clips into WMM in the past.

But thanks, that's given me a few things to try.

[kee-lo_]

We used to critisise VAIO-Zone, but it was good for analogue.