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King_Rat · Mar 4, 2004, 10:33 PM

I have a formac studio DV/TV which I sometimes use to watch movies on my mac (Quicksilver G4, Dual 800). I have used it for a while with a laserdisc player without problems. I have just gotten a new JVC VCR, which I expected to work with the formac converter. It mostly works, but the fast forward function does not seem to be compatible with the formac converter!

Normally when you hit the fast forward on a VCR you get a distorted image moving however many times faster the VCR is going. However, the image from the formac just distorts a little and then freezes. It will resume when I tell the VCR to stop, play, or rewind. All of the other functions of the VCR work perfectly. At first I thought that this was a problem with the VCR. However, I borrowed a 5.5" LCD mini TV to test the VCR. When using it the fast forward works perfectly. I can even put the TV on the composite video output and the formac on the S-video and see the formac image freeze while the TV shows the proper image!

I have the latest version of the Formac Studio TVR software (1.2) and am running Mac OS 10.2.8. I have tried hooking the formac to both the composite and the S-video outputs. When I try to view the input in iMovie the only difference form how the formac application behaves is that after a few seconds the screen turns solid blue. Does anybody have any idea how to fix this?

Paul_N · Mar 5, 2004, 06:16 AM

While I don't have a Formac, it sounds like a classic example of the device thinking that it lost the signal, so instead of displaying whitenoise and a hissing sound, it just cuts audio/video until the signal returns. VCRs have been doing this since the late 80's, early 90s. It's a feature, as people were sick of getting blasted by whitenoise when they went to a channel that didn't exist. Instead, the VCR would just display a blue screen (atleasts on a Sony).

So, I imagine that the amount of white static that is introduced to the picture when you hit fast forward/rewind is just enough to exceed the threshold on the Formac's signal tuner. If I'm reading you correctly, and the same problem exists in iMovie, then it is probably something that needs to be addressed in firmware. It's not a problem with the software decoding the DV stream, it is a problem with the embedded signal decoder "loosing" the signal.

If I read your post incorrectly, and it works fine in iMovie, then you should try Vidi as an alernative to the Formac Software. It is a more robust application from what I've researched (I almost bought a Formac).

-Paul

King_Rat · Mar 6, 2004, 12:17 AM

Paul did read my post correctly. It does not work in iMovie. The only difference is that iMovie gives a blue screen while the formac app gives a frozen image. You could be right about the cause; I don't know.

I sent a letter explaining the problem to formac. I have not gotten a reply, and don't know if I will; I have not herd many good things about their tech support. I doubt that they will fix it, but it is worth a try... The worst that they could do is tell me that they will charge to fix it. OK, they could do worse things, like sell my email to spamers, but I do not think that they will.

Uncle Skeleton · Mar 6, 2004, 10:59 PM

my Dazzle DV bridge had the same problem. I agree that it's probably designed that way (the hardware). FWIW my Televio PCI card does not have this problem

King_Rat · Mar 8, 2004, 10:26 PM

Well, here is the reply from Formac:

"I have not heard of that problem. I will need to do some testing with
our equipment. I will let you know how it goes."

I am not surprised that they have not herd of it, but I don't know how widespread of an issue it is. Hopefully they will come up with a solution for the problem. We will see...