Capture troubles!

[suzuko]

I'm not new to video capture but I've switched to using some different
software, and nothing is working right. Looking for suggestions.

I have a Plextor ConvertX PX-AV100U capture device. The computer is running Windows XP Home Edition -SP2 with the nvidia geforce fx 5500 256MB video card and 1 GB of RAM, DirectX 9.

The first experiment was capturing from VHS with WinDVD Creator 2, which came bundled with the hardware. I might uninstall this one because it kept crashing. There was no preview during the capture and the resulting file was empty (0kb).

Next, I tried using Windows Movie Maker, and ended up with a large file
which when played on Windows Media Player showed me a black screen with no sound. There had been no preview showing with this one, either.

Finally, the same test using PowerDirector 4. Still no preview, and the
resulting file showed a black screen with barely audible sound.

I'm guessing this is some sort of codec problem, but don't have a clue how
to solve it. Can't find anything about black screens in any of the help files or user guides or even on the software websites.

Quick help would be appreciated as I am trying to make some DVDs for a friend in time for Christmas and have to send them by mail.

[tigerman8u]

"showed a black screen "

load the file/s in Gspot (free) and see what info it gives for the video/audio. Gspot will also tell you what codec/s are needed to play the video/audio and if they are installed on your system.

[suzuko]

Everything checks out fine with GSpot. In fact I had done that before I posted the above message.

One problem might have been the RCA cables were in the wrong jacks on the VCR. I changed them and tried again, after uninstalling the Plextor device and reinstalling and doing the same with WinDVD Creator 2 with a HD defrag in between. Then made another test clip. This time WinDVD Creator 2 did show a preview but it froze after 17 seconds of capture and again produced a file with 0 bytes. Decided then to retry with Power Director 4, but that program would not start up for me!!! It loaded fine yesterday, now it won't even open.

I'm honestly about ready to tear out my hair...