trying to use video-in on a31p

[ingber]

Hi. I have two a31p's, one running XP Pro SP3 and the other running Ubuntu 9.10.

I would like to use VLC or MediaPlayer (which I have on both machines) to capture some old VHS tapes to store in mpg files (probably large even at 320x240). I would prefer using the Ubuntu machine to let it run for hours while I use the other machine for my other work.

I have the original video adapter I got with these machines, but I cannot get the S video-in connection on the back of the machines to work -- it is not being recognized and I do not see/know any /dev to refer to this port. I am using the audio and video out jacks from the VCR, plugging the sound into the middle of 3 connections on the left side of the machine (which works fine as I can hear it on the default setting), and plugging the out cord into the a31p short converter cable into the S video-in connection. On the Ubuntu machine I even went into the Bios and changed the connection from an external card to the internal setting.

Any advice would be appreciated, especially with the proper use of VLC.

Thanks.

Lester

[sjthinkpader]

Welcome to the forum.

Neither the S-Video nor audio in (red) connectors are P&P. So your software will have to setup the ports. Software should have test routines to setup volume levels etc.

Many of these solutions use USB adapters which are P&P. I tried a USB mic with ViaVoice a few months back and it caused my Thinkpad to BSOD. So these things are never easy to setup.

[ajkula66]

I'm too tired to look for it now, but there should be an old post by JHEM dealing with this issue, and the setup involved...