You could fast forward and then rewind the whole tape to equalize the tape tension and then try again.

The fix for the copyright protection is to use the EZ Grabber software to do the recording.

For maximum quality captures see this post: https://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/78465.page .

I'm not buying the PowerDirector just to get the EzGrapper !

Why is the PowerDirector showing this "copyright"-thing when I just use my own tapes - in the first place that's way I bought the product !

The EZ Grabber software is included in the purchase of the Diamond VC500. Did you bother to install it. See this page: https://www.diamondmm.com/product/diamond-vc500-one-touch-video-capture-edit-stream/ and Go to the Support & Download page to see what is included.

Quote The EZ Grabber software is included in the purchase of the Diamond VC500. Did you bother to install it. See this page: https://www.diamondmm.com/product/diamond-vc500-one-touch-video-capture-edit-stream/ and Go to the Support & Download page to see what is included.

I have installed EzGrapper but I think it looks like a shitty program

What is your equipment chain?
Are the tapes moldy/dirty?
Are the heads dirty?
The copyright warning is from a dirty signal, Macrovision is artificial noise.
Your issue could even be interference from other very close electrical interference as well as subpar old ratty cabling. HP Envy Phoenix/4thGen i7-4770(4@3.4GHz~turbo>3.9)
Nvidia GTX 960(4GB)/16GB DDR3/
Canon Vixia HV30/HF-M40/HF-M41/HF-G20/Olympus E-PL5.
Tape capture using 6 VCR, TBC-1000, Elite BVP4+, Sony D8 camcorder with TBC.
https://www.facebook.com/BarryAFTT

Quote What is your equipment chain?
Are the tapes moldy/dirty?
Are the heads dirty?
The copyright warning is from a dirty signal, Macrovision is artificial noise.
Your issue could even be interference from other very close electrical interference as well as subpar old ratty cabling.

I have my

1) Camcorder Sony Video8 CCD V100E
2) Diamond 500 VC500 USB Interface
3) HP I5 16Mb RAM

I PLAN to get my old tapes grapped in som BIG raw files I then will cut into smaller sequences of 2-5 minuttes.

Sometimes

a) the BIG raw files ca't be played back - just a blue screen where I can move into the whole file but it will not ply by itself.
b) if the BIG rax file is playable and looking good - when I start to cut it into smaller files - these files are NOT showing smoothly

EzGrapper sometimes just stops recording and starts again as though it records in a loop = what should be a BIG eaw file - lets say 4 Gb as a copy of a tape - it's only 1 Gb and has only the last part of the tape.

And I'm just using 3:4 in quality 3 of 7.

I think this process converting video tapes to computer a very very un-stable process ... close to Hokus Pokus and magic !
At least Hokus Pokus and magic is used to explain a lot of the problems in the process .... it can't be that complicated, I think.

I found out why EzGrapper only records some few minutes !

I records a Video8 tape and it takes around 1 hour depending of size of tape, but the computer goes into sleep/snooze mode after some time !

When I came back to the computer and sees it's in sleep/snooze mode, I touch the mouse and sees it's stil recording, BUT ...

In fact the FILE ONLY CONTAINS recording from I woke up the computer until I stopped recording !!!!!!!!!!!!!

And now the best part of it all - I have settings on sleep/snooze that is "NEVER"

I have looked in the BIOS to see if there was anything on the harddrive - nothing there !

I can see the screen is off - WHERE IS THAT SETTING ?

EDIT: OK, maybe the PAUSE screen can mess up the recording too !

Quote I found out why EzGrapper only records some few minutes !

I records a Video8 tape and it takes around 1 hour depending of size of tape, but the computer goes into sleep/snooze mode after some time !

When I came back to the computer and sees it's in sleep/snooze mode, I touch the mouse and sees it's stil recording, BUT ...

In fact the FILE ONLY CONTAINS recording from I woke up the computer until I stopped recording !!!!!!!!!!!!!

And now the best part of it all - I have settings on sleep/snooze that is "NEVER"

I have looked in the BIOS to see if there was anything on the harddrive - nothing there !

I can see the screen is off - WHERE IS THAT SETTING ?

EDIT: OK, maybe the PAUSE screen can f#$% up the recording too !

It's not polite to use a potty-mouth on this forum.
Please edit your post a tiny bit.
So, back to the copyright message. You are using a video camera and I have never actually got that message unless using a VCR, so I'm still suggesting dirty heads or tapes, and as mentioned before in the thread rewinding (under supervision) a few times may even the tension and flitter away some dust/dirt. I'm not sure how you might stop your computer from going sleepy on you other than in power management.

Quote
It's not polite to use a potty-mouth on this forum.
Please edit your post a tiny bit.
So, back to the copyright message. You are using a video camera and I have never actually got that message unless using a VCR, so I'm still suggesting dirty heads or tapes, and as mentioned before in the thread rewinding (under supervision) a few times may even the tension and flitter away some dust/dirt. I'm not sure how you might stop your computer from going sleepy on you other than in power management.

I found another strange behavior of EzGrapper - the last 3 times I rebooted my computer I too had to reinstall EzGrapper !

After a reboot when EzGrapper was started - just started, not even grapping anything - it polluted my desktop with empty grapper-files named as EzGrapper do with the date and time - 15-20 files - I had it set to store thegrapper files on the desktop, yeah, that's my setting - but the empty files - wonder where they came from.

The cure = uninstall an re-install !

Too EzGrapper is effected by the PAUSE-screen - you have to turn PAUSE-screen OFF - when the screen is paused EzGrapper resets and the current recording and puts it into a sort of HALT-mode - no matter how long it had been recording- it comtinues when you touch mouse/keyboard but what WAS recorded before vanishes !

I think it's a very low quality program - why so sensitive - my tapes are/was new tapes recorded 1 time and there is no noise or scratch to see or hear.

PowerDirector 12 is even worse for my purpose - I just need a good and stable Grapper able of converting a whole tape to a big raw file. I then cut this file into smaller sequences each of 2-3 min.

It was a very bad experience to work with EzGrapper and I have no need for the facilities in PowerDirector12 ... but I've have nearly finished mu converting ... so let's stop it here.

THX for your time and advices ; !

Best Regards
KSor, Denmark