SharpCap Forums

Hello there !
I have a problem which is driving me crazy ! I am not much into computers. I am using sharpcap 2.8 for well over a year now. everything is fine. Im am running windos 7 and an ezcap frame graber with a watec 120 camera. I now have now a new(old) HP elitbook 8440p with windows 7, but sharpcap will not show a picture on this laptop. Latest driver is there ! On my home pc it is running fine too ! Any ideas ???
Best regards from Germany
Ferris

Hello stargazers
I am new to the forum. I use sharpcap for well over a year now and I did not have any major issues with it.
On all my computers I am running windows 7. I use an ezgrabber (not easygraber !) video grabber to let my Watec 120 or Samsung2000 talk to the laptop or netbook. I do video astronomy.
I used my wifes laptop (win7) or my Asus netbook (winstarter). Due to other commitments I have not uset my setup for almost a year now. Last year in late summer I have bought a HP Elitebook 8440p to run my astronomy aps on. On my netbook and on my home pc here - everything works fine - but Sharpcap does not show a picture on the HP Elitebook. Sharpcap shows The USB grabber - but no picture. If I switch to the installed webcam - I can see myself in sharpcap. All other aplications like stellarium, Nexremote are not open. The Theimagesource USB cam with IC-capture also works fine. All the aplications I am running on the Elitbook are installed on my home pc too - again sharpcap is running fine on this one too. I have also tried sharpcap 3.0 on the Elitebook - but again : It does not work. I suspected the Ezcap driver but they are all there. As I am not a comuter crack - I am running out of ideas now. Would you please help me ??? Thank you very much ...

Hi,

thanks for reporting this - a couple of questions for you...

* when you open the EZCAP grabber in SharpCap, do you see the controls down the right hand side? Does the frame count go up at the bottom left in the status bar? Do you see a black image in the image area or nothing at all? (Actually, if you could post a screenshot of what you do see, that would be great)

* Can you try running a different piece of capture software on the computer where you have problems to see if that gives you an image with the EZCap? Anything that will show a webcam image will do. I'm trying to determine here if the problem is a SharpCap one or a problem with that device on that PC.

* Is it a genuine EzCap (http://www.ezcap.tv/), or is it one of the many clones that can be bought on Amazon/Ebay? The problem with the clones is that their drivers range from OK to dreadful and it's hard to tell which they are before purchasing!

cheers,

Robin

Dear Robin !
Thankyou so much for answering !
refering to your first question:
The controlls on the right hand side are visible and do work. The picture I see is not black in the image area, but it shows white flickering horizontal lines. Yes, the frames per second at the very bottom of the frame do count. The "camera register" shows USB2162 which is the ezcap.
If i switch to the computer web cam - sharpcap shows a picture ! I do not know how to make a screenshot but I will try to find out.
refering to you second question:
I am running IC capture with an Theimagesource" USB cam. Bo ezcap ofcourse ! This works well.
I have tested both ezcap video grabbers on my netbook ond this home pc here with sharpcap 2.8 and everything is fine. So the grabbers are 100% ok !
Ezcap does not show the "Theimagesource" USB planetary cam. Shout it do so ????
refering to your third question:
Yes, the ezcap is 100% original. I have bought it directeley from them well over a year ago. It is the Ezcap 116. I have the original software with the drivers.I have written them an e-mail bust nifht but they have not responded yet !

Hi,

aren't the black/white horizontal lines what the device shows when there is no input signal? Mine certainly does that - unfortunately I don't have anything on hand that produces an analogue video signal to test with at the moment to see if the lines go away when a signal is applied.

The other thing to look out for is the video format in the video 'Video Capture Filter' dialog (Options Menu) - it may be set to the wrong format on the laptop that is having issues - NTSC when you need PAL for instance.

hope this helps,

Robin

Hi Robin
as I have tested the camera and the grabber on my netbook I know. that they work fine. I have also tried different vido formats - non of them works ...
What can I do ??

Please post a screenshot so that we can see exactly what image output you are getting from the grabber.

It sounds as though the hardware/driver side is working correctly as you are seeing the frames coming through (even if with the wrong image). I strongly suspect that somewhere one of the settings in the Video Capture Pin or Video Capture Filter dialogs is incorrect, leading to the lack of image, but I don't know enough about the camera to suggest which settings. Perhaps screenshots of those two dialogs on the working computer and on the one where it doesn't work will help.

thanks,

Robin

Hi Robin
the camera is a watec 120. This is an analog video camera. I too think that there is a singnal coming through but sharpcap just doses not show a picture.
I have compared the settings to each other - say the working netbook with the non working Elitebook. They really are the same. I suspect that there is sopmething not right with the Elitbook - so I checked updates. I think something stops the analog video picture to show up in sharpcap but I do not know what that is .... . Software on the Elitebook is windows professional, on the netbook win 7 starter and on my home pc, wind 7 home professional.
I have checked drivers - reinstalled drivers , reinstalled sharpcap. Would you pls explain how to do a sreenshot ! Thank you !!

Ferris

For screen captures

• There is a <Print Screen> key on the keyboard, sometimes <PRTSCN> to capture the whole screen.

• <ALT> + <PRTSCN> will capture the active Window.

• In Win 7 onwards, the Snipping Tool can be used to select any area of the screen and saved to a PNG file.

The first 2 options allow pasting the clipboard content into a word processor for saving and posting.

Dave

Dave ! Thank you very much. I have done my homework and googeled for "screenshot" ! I will try it right know and send it to the forum !
Nillion Thanks
Ferris