Capturing from a VCR - using viewscape!

[JoeDornan]

Edited by Tuck at 2006/02/02 10:57A:
This ability has been documented in the knowledge base for years. Please do not write SnapStream Technical Support if the directions below break your setup.


So I was inspired by this thread on capturing from a second input:
Capturing from a second source

and these previous threads on capturing from a VCR:
Recording from camcorder with Snapstream
HTPC and capture of VCR video
Dual sources - same channel lineup

to try and integrate my VCR into my Beyond TV setup to make it super easy to capture VCR tapes, or to watch tapes with 'live TV time-shifting' in BTV.

Here's what I did. Please reply if you have suggestions on making this easier.

Step 1: Add a new lineup in WebAdmin in order to create a new "VCR channel" in your program guide (softnerd's suggestion)
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Go to >WebAdmin>Channels>CreateNew> and add a lineup called "VCR Lineup" Add a channel to that lineup with callsign called "VCR", choosing channel 0 won't conflict with your other lineups.

Step 2: Add a new video source in Webadmin
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Go to >webadmin>settings>AudioAndVideoInputs>CreateNewVi deoSource>:
- Friendly Name: VCR Source
- Video Device: choose whichever tuner card to which you will connect your VCR
- Video Input: choose the 'svideo' or 'composite' item depending on which you intend to use.
- Channel Lineup: choose the new lineup created in step one above.

Note 1: you do not need a new tuner license from Snapstream for this to work. You would need a new license if you were to add a new video device to your system. We are just using a second source on the same device.
Note 2: you can't use the tuner and the composite input on the same video device (in my case a Hauppauge 250MCE) at the same time.
Note 3: because of note 2, it is important to rank your video sources properly. ie. that the new VCR source you've just created should rank below your regular sources to ensure it does not override your regularly scheduled recordings.

That's it! Now you can record your VCR by setting up a manual recording for your new "VCR channel" from within BeyondTV's viewscape.

Go to: viewscape>SetupRecordings>SetupaManualRecording>

It would be nice if viewscape allowed you to start a recording "now" not at the next 15 minute interval. As it is, if it is 10:02 you will have to wait 13 minutes before BTV will start recording your VCR.

Cheers,
-Joe

[softnerd]

I accomplished this in almost the same way. However, you can create a custom lineup from the web admin. I created one with only a channel 0 (zero) and called the channel 'VCR'. In the guide it says, "no guide info available" or something like that for channel 0. Just go to Settings-->Channels-->Create New in the Web Admin. It's been working pretty well that way for me for about a month.

[JoeDornan]

softnerd,

cool. works for me! I will update my original post with your suggestion.

Also possible, is starting a recording from webadmin, this I think let's you start recroding right away... but it's suboptimal to use webadmin rather than viewscape...

Cheers,
-Joe

[Xiadix]

Wow, this is AWESOME. Now not only can I record off of my VCR, but I used this trick to give me 4 channels that I couldn't get before. Charter cable is upgrading most of their people to a new digital lineup. Unfortunatly since I am in a small apartment complex that is one of the few in this town to have them, they haven't upgraded me yet. So 4 channels that they list as being in a certain place are not. They aren't in the 56-60 range, they are in the 95-99 range.

I worked with SS support but they were unable to help me add channels outside the existing lineup. They were nice and tried to get Charter to correct their listings, but like me they ran into a brick wall since there aren't many of us still unupgraded.

Using your VCR trick, I added a new lineup with just the channels I was missing. Now I can tune to them normally. THANKS! I will have to manually add any recordings I do on these channels since there isn't any guide info, but I am ok with that.

KevG

Funny, now that I have found a way around it, Charter has finally posted a lineup that has what I need. Figures.

[axarce]

I use this now to copy my old VHS tapes to DVD. It's a pretty simple idea, yet it never occured to me to do so before. I would normally just schedule a recording from the web admin and then made sure to hit PLAY on the VCR at the right time.

[TLBruno]

Originally Posted by JoeDornan

Step 1: Add a new lineup in WebAdmin in order to create a new "VCR channel" in your program guide (softnerd's suggestion)

That's it! Now you can record your VCR by setting up a manual recording for your new "VCR channel" from within BeyondTV's viewscape.

Go to: viewscape>SetupRecordings>SetupaManualRecording>

It would be nice if viewscape allowed you to start a recording "now" not at the next 15 minute interval. As it is, if it is 10:02 you will have to wait 13 minutes before BTV will start recording your VCR.

Cheers,
-Joe

THis may be a silly question...but how do you get to WebAdmin from BeyondTV version 3.5? I could get there easily from version 3.4.

[Cal]

Not a silly question but it is a FAQ. Its in a sticky note at the top of the page.

I found the sudden flood of people asking this question kind of funny since I never noticed that it was gone when I upgraded. But then I've always used a bookmark for easy access from a different computer.

[georgeofmiami]

I am new to this. I tried to follow the directions step 1 and step 2 and did not get the results you show.

How does one add the new chanel to the existing linup.

I either get a new lineup with only the 0 or it will not let me edit the lineup to add the extra chanel.

[cjob68]

Hi,
I set this up but when I try and record using the manual recording I get nothing but static. Am I missing something ?

Thanks
Jason

[cjob68]

Any ideas why I would just get a static screen when I view my manual recording ? I followed the steps from the initial post. Am I missing something?

Thanks
Jason

[not_Shorty]

awesome, here I was last weekend completely changing the setup of my existing tuner #2 to try doing this. Changing it, recording from VCR, changing it back. Pain in the butt to say the least, heh. Didn't even think of doing it this way, thanks for the awesome tip!

edit - only thing missing now is the ability to just hit 'record' and 'stop' at will, rather than having to mess with setting a manual recording. Oh well, still does the trick.

[not_Shorty]

well, actually, if you start watching your line input via Live TV and then hit Record it will bring up a menu asking if you want to create a manual recording. And then if you do so you'll notice that the recording start time defaults to the past, so that when you finish adding the job it will begin recording immediately. Just make sure you make your duration long enough. It appeared to default to the top of the hour when I tried it, but it was already 40 minutes past the hour and the default duration was only 30 minutes. Result, no recording started since it was already past the default end time. Changing this to an hour or more cured that, hehe.

Originally Posted by JoeDornan

It would be nice if viewscape allowed you to start a recording "now" not at the next 15 minute interval. As it is, if it is 10:02 you will have to wait 13 minutes before BTV will start recording your VCR.

[not_Shorty]

forget to change the tuner's input to one of the composite/s-video inputs?

Originally Posted by cjob68

Any ideas why I would just get a static screen when I view my manual recording ? I followed the steps from the initial post. Am I missing something?

[cjob68]

Originally Posted by not_Shorty

forget to change the tuner's input to one of the composite/s-video inputs?

Where do I change this ? I would only want to change it temporarily to the coaxial because my satellite tv is coming in on the s-video.

[not_Shorty]

step 2 in first post