"EasyCap DC60+" Help!

[Miraglyth]

I must admit, so far my "DC60+" experience has been a nightmare.

I bought the device around a week ago here, though it has arrived with the yellow installation CD of fenberry's original post in the sticky, not the green/black one of his most recent image post. Of course that doesn't mean I got the wrong model and mine also did come with the USB extension cable found only in the latter's picture.

As per the instructions that came with it (and probably my mistake), I installed the drivers and Ulead software. Then I plugged the device in... and it wasn't recognised. Windows was able to install it from the CD (so what the heck got installed the first time?). Which is all well and good, only Ulead doesn't recognise any input still. Turning on audio preview got me sound, so it's at least partially working. Fiddling around with the settings, I learn that it works only if I set the Wii to 50Hz. Setting it to 60Hz gets me the greys when Ulead is set to NTSC, and a blurry colour image for all of half a second before freezing up when it is set to PAL.

Reading through the sticky, I uninstalled everything (I hope, though I expect by this point my PC is cluttered with remnants of half a dozen buggy installations) and only installed these drivers as linked by fenberry. And the machine is not recognising the EasyCap at all with them. I don't want to install anything from the CD, primarily because fenberry has it all working fine and he says not to use the CD at all.

Help!

Edit: Am becoming increasingly sure this is the old DC60. The product description states "with latest software CD ver3.1b (old version is 2.1c)" and the software CD I got is labelled "2.1c". Time to contact the seller, methinks.

[fenberry]

Ahoy there,

To be precise (and I'll have to update the sticky I'd say with slightly more up to date information) - here is the exact model I've got



The purple CD contains Ulead 10 - I would say you should be able to check which version of Easycap108 you have, by the accompanying CD, I think anything up until Ulead 9 is still a DC60. Also, after attempting another reinstall to be thorough, the ulead studio works well, but again the drivers on the CD do not function well (enough to make 60Hz work properly anyway).

Thank you for referencing my sticky so much. I've a had a few of my work colleagues ask me some questions about USB capturing and the use of RCA cables (which I'm now calling 'metal mungbeans' as an affectionate pet name for the RCA plugs which I have littering my living room now..).

Generally, the yellow CD (which I still have my copy of...I need to sell it to someone who only wants to record in 50Hz), has Ulead studio 8 on it I believe. Ah...I did the same thing when I first got my Easycap108 DC60.... installed the CD drivers, then the device wasn't recognised - then tried unplugging and plugged back in a few more times...restarted the Xp laptop I use with the Easycap still plugged in...then Windows popped up and wanted to install the drivers for the device again ('Add new hardware' popup) - and then it started functioning for 50Hz...

I had precisely the same results with anything from 50Hz - just that strange horrible blurry image which lasts for a few seconds before freezing, and occasionally updates to another blurry screen about a minute later....I believe it's the Easycap108 DC60's inability to capture the correct frequency of the NTSC format in 60hz - which by rights it should. There's another interesting post on my sticky about the DC60 and DC60+ having the same chipset, but the drivers for both are utterly different.

Possibly the only way I would say you could be sure, if I can suggest, would be to open windows movie maker, check through the "Capture from video device"  - then check the video settings, and see if NTSC 4.33 is an option. If not, it's definitely the DC60, not the DC60+

I have only found the DC60+ on two different websites...Ebay.com and amazon.co.uk   - Alot of other places sell DC60's (and you'd be hard pressed to find a larger amount of these cheaply on ebay...as I've found out to my own misfortune), but the DC60+ is a rare and illusive creature...

About the only other thing I could recommend after reading your thorough and well written post, is to attempt to do a system restore to the point before you installed the Easycap first (so possibly a week and half or longer). This is ensure that there isn't anything left on the PC. If you're still eager to give it a shot - please try to install the device drivers (http://www.szforwardvideo.com/support/Supp_2_2.html ) first and then after this is done, try installing the Easycap's CD drivers directly from the CD....This was the only way I was able to record in black and white with nice sound...but it was still black and white.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/dialZI6qIf8&rel=0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/dialZI6qIf8&rel=0</a>


Unfortunately the only way around it would be to try and contact the seller, raise a dispute with them if it was Ebay (or similar process for most online sellers) - and get your money back if possible. Then, please check either through google or on ebay for "Easycap DC60+"

http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=m38.l1313&_nkw=easycap+DC60%2B&_sacat=See-All-Categories

Then, when if you decide to get the DC60+, please try and install the above drivers, (Ulead if you wish...not quite my cup of tea for the interface) , and go from there. You'll probably by able to get good sound and picture out of either NTSC 4.33, or PAL_B, or even the NTSC_M/NTSC_M_J settings which would come up under the video filters options in your chosen capturing program...

Hope this helps! Please let me know if you do decide to get one, but I feel that I'll be referring to this seller alot

http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/jarmot2007

Enjoy your day! If you have any other questions, please feel free! I'm very happy to help you. 

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/Rt-3gfpbrj0&rel=0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/Rt-3gfpbrj0&rel=0</a>

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/kv04wYL2sJI&rel=0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/kv04wYL2sJI&rel=0</a>

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/kDpU6E9xbU4&rel=0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/kDpU6E9xbU4&rel=0</a>


Fenberry

[Miraglyth]

Thanks for the reply fenberry.

Interestingly, my yellow CD installed Ulead 10. Maybe it updated online during installation?

Either way, the drivers from szforward video plain didn't work on their own. With Ulead, AMCap and Windows Movie Maker, they were not sufficient for Windows to recognise the device. Installing them either before or after the CD drivers (well, when using Windows installation) was enough to get it viewing/recording black and white NTSC, but then so was intsalling the CD drivers (again via Windows, not the CD menu) on their own so I've yet to see the "DC60+ drivers" achieve anything at all. I also couldn't get them to install via Windows' setup (the Setup.exe in the main folder isn't even noticed by that).

I'd try a system restore, but those frighten me. In the past when they've been used, other random things have just plain stopped working, regardless of whether they were installed recently or months beforehand.

I have sent an e-mail contacting the seller/shipper about this, and it was marked as a "Latest EasyCap DC60+" with technical specs that were for a DC60+, and it (allegedly) being a DC60+ is why I bought it in the first place. But I'm aware that a particularly dirty driver installation could be the problem here and it would suck a lot to get this replaced and to have the replacement still not work. Argh, why are driver installations in 2009 still so terrible? :|

[Miraglyth]

Apologies in advance for the double-post, but I got a reply e-mail:

It seems this has been shipped in error. We have two options, I can give you a £5 discount on this by way of apology (the only difference between the two products in the software) or you can return to us, we will refund your delivery costs and ship out the correct item.

I'm a bit miffed that the alleged "only difference is the software" because the product page heavily advertises it being a DC60+ and everything that results from that. Perhaps more comedic is that I made the hardware difference in PAL60 capability the focus of my original dispute e-mail

I will of course take the latter option, though I'm starting to wonder if they actually don't recognise the difference between the DC60 and the DC60+ and thought the + was an advertising gimmick. Worst-case scenario, they receive my return, open up the packaging, shove a "new version" CD in and send it straight back to me. Anyone taking bets?

[Miraglyth]

Well, the replacement arrived in a pink box. The pink and white CD is "version 3.1B" as mentioned, and if I open up Ulead and muck around with the settings I can get it to temporarily preview PAL in color at 60Hz.

And using AMCap, I can only get audio. It recognises a signal with PAL60 (or NTSC433) with a band of 525 but it never actually shows anything.

Back to Ulead, initially it only previews audio until I switch to NTSC and open up the options menu again, at which point it displays your expected black and white. Then if I switch back to PAL it does do color. I can take a screencap at that point (though the resulting image quality is atrocious) but if I try to record, the picture instantly reverts to black and stays that way once recording stops (and then I need to do the NTSC switch thing to get it back). Furthermore, the file it records is always corrupt.

Arrgh this is not working for me. I'll try uninstalling and reinstalling all the drivers... again... is there any recommended order for those? I'm seeing multiple differing recommendations often from the same person.

Edit: So... it records and displays NTSC433 fine, but not PAL60 even though they're the same thing? What the heck is going on here >.<

As an aside, instead of all the previous device names for it, the one I've got always installs as "USB 2861 Device".

Edit: Well it sort-of works. I think I'll have to settle for that.

[fenberry]

Ahoy Miraglyth!

Thanks for the information. Though it sounds like you've finally been able to get your hands on the real DC60+

I've been able to get the device to work well, by not installing anything from the CD, ensuring all drivers are off the computer (even doing a system restore to ensure this) - and downloading that driver (http://www.szforwardvideo.com/support/Supp_2_2.html). Failing this, since I know you're not fond of System restores (which is understandable if they've gone pear-shaped previously), then please try and uninstall all the drivers for it. Then try with downloading the above zip file, plug in your easycap, then check through the zipfile and find the setup.exe which should be there, run it (ignore Windows popping with "please select where you'd like the drivers installed from) - and install it. This has AMCap with it too...

If possible, try in windows movie maker (I'll make some screen shots maybe tonight, since I'm uploading to youtube at the moment), try to capture from video source...then ensure it's on the EMP Device (Or USB, or Syntak or whatever isn't the integrated video), and the audio setting is microphone (anything else and it uses the internal sound card...not good...)  - then give it a try with the setting set on PAL_B, then close the box without making any changes (as even my easycap still reverts back to NTSC every time unless I ensure the last thing I do before hitting next is to change the Video settings to PAL_B).

Then change your file size to whatever you want, and the destination name to be whatever you want....then try and capture...

If all goes well, you'll be able to see the preview in colour, and the sound will be there as well. I generally test record about 10 seconds of footage, pause the recording then check it in VLC to see if the sound and colour are fine, every single time before I record anything, just to be sure. Especially the games I record aren't replayable easily, so I want to ensure that my capturing is there properly the first time.

I do hope this helps, but sounds like the drivers still aren't working.

When I installed from the CD, everything still didn't work, and the sound and colour were really screwy. AMCap I've never got to work properly recording anything, since the files it creates aren't usable in Movie Maker (I tend to record things in Movie Maker - for me it's worked the best, it records well, the settings are easily changeable, effects and thing are possible too, and most importantly, it syncs the audio and video perfectly...other programs like Debut fall down on this...)

Please tell me how it's getting along...

[Miraglyth]

Installing from the CD (letting Windows do it, the manual installation never seems to do anything) and then updating using the 2.2 drivers linked while the EasyCap is plugged in (using the .exe, not Windows) is what got NTSC_433 to work.

I always have uninstalled all drivers involved (and restart) before reinstalling any of them again - which is such basic advice that I feel a tad offended!

Windows Movie Maker, AMCap (the one that comes with 2.2 and the "Demo Version" which has more options) and Ulead all have the same problem that PAL_60 does not appear to work. If I start any of them up (excepting WMM which has no such options) in a lesser PAL format and then use the program to switch to an NTSC format and then PAL_60 (closing the options menus each time to let it refresh) then it will display PAL_60 quite happily until I attempt to record, at which point it will record nothing (AMCap drops all frames, et cetera). It'll then refuse to display anything after I stop recording until I restart the program and do the NTSC double-switch trick again. Alternately, if I do the NTSC double-switch trick to get PAL_60 to display and then restart the program (or start one of the other ones), that will also break it.

NTSC_433 works fine though, which is weird because it's almost the same thing. I'd like PAL_60 to work if only to be picky and/or to be sure that the device is fully working after all, but for the time being it is at least partially working and I don't want to poke the beehive.

[Cosford]

In which case, i'm gonna presume that maybe your Pal-60 drivers are corrupt. Somehow. Either way i'd just leave as is because it's probably best not to mess with it as long as it's working fine for you.