Starting my capturing project: VirtualDub and Huffyuv settings?
 

I am ready to start my capturing project with equipment I bought from Lordsmurf.

1. JVC SR-VS30 SVHS
2. Datavideo TBC-3000
3. ATI TV Wonder HD600

I have downloaded VirtualDub and Huffyuv Multi-threading.

I have hundreds of VHS tapes to capture and have different goals for different videos.

Some of them I want to:
1. Capture at highest reasonable quality for archival purposes and ability to edit or correct color/exposure on Adobe Premiere

Others I want to:
2. Post straight to Youtube with little or no post-production

And some I want to:
3. Burn straight to DVD with little or no post-production

What do you guys think, as far as broad time-saving advice before I get started? I'm sure I'll have a lot of detail questions once I start running tapes through.

Thanks so much!

-- merged --

After I capture I try bringing the video into virtualdub to trim off the front and back end and possibly do deinterlacing or using other filters.

However it crashes immediately, giving me this message.

Any idea?

Try to capture with plain Huffyuv -- not MT, hacked, etc.

I should have mentioned... this problem was happening with MT HuffyUV so then I captured with Huffyuv 2.1 and the same thing happened and that is the screen shot i posted.

Do you think I need to do some uninstalling and start fresh?

-- merged --

I take that back actually... the last video was captured with Huffyuv 2.1.1 64 bit.

Use the original 32-bit version.
You often cannot capture with the variants. Those are intended for non-capture uses.

Giving another crack at it today. Are these the best capture timing settings for the equipment i have?

http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/error.gif

Can't give you an answer, because your image was off-site and is lost and unavailable. Please attach documents and samples directly to your posts at digitalfaq. Ask if you don't know how.

A 5-section, updated and detailed guide to VirtualDub capture settings starts here: http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/vide...-settings.html

.

I apologize for the image issue... I hadn't read that instruction until now.

The reason I chose "do not resync" instead of keeping the settings as you suggest in your tutorial is because my first VHS ended up with chipmunk voices in it.

Attachment 7843

The setting suggested in the newer VirtualDub tutorial for USB capture devices is to enable "Do not resync between audio and video streams". It's also mentioned in the text that you should turn on "Automatically disable resync when integrated audio/video capture is detected." This is because most USB devices have their own integrated audio sync circuitry. This is stated in the text that accompanies the guide's image of timing options. It's also mentioned that most USB devices shouldn't be used with audio preview or audio monitoring turned on during capture. This is a limitation of many USB devices. Audio can be checked before capture starts, and can be viewed during capture with the audio meter, which is also explained in the guide. I've auditioned several USB devices with my two capture PC's and had no problems.

Audio input should be connected to the USB device's input dongle, not to your PC's capture card.

OK thanks for the clarification. This is the same tutorial linked above, right?

A couple other questions just to be clear

-is there a real difference or preference between using overlay or preview with my equipment? Both appear to work.

-you suggest turning off cropping during capture, right? Is there a way to crop in the next step after capture when using filters and stuff?

-on your guide in the capture filter properties the "VCR input" option is greyed out, but is an option for me. Should I check or uncheck?

Yes.

Use "Preview". Overlay show you what your graphics card sees during capture. Preview shows what Virtualdub is capturing.

Crop later. Set any cropping setup to all-zeros before starting capture to turn off cropping. Normally, crop is used to set up the levels controls and histogram readout. Borders and other elements, if not cropped during levels setup, will throw off the histogram. This is explained in the sections on the histogram display and the crop display.

I don't see "VCR input" anywhere in the guide or in my version of VirtualDub capture. That might be a feature of your particular card, although I've never seen it mentioned. Usually the VCR's connection is in the devices and input source setup menus. If you have a "VCR input item, what is displayed if you click on it?

Yep here is what it looks like on your guide. When I'm in my own settings I am able to check or uncheck the VCR input box, but cannot tell what that feature does. Thanks again for your help.
Attachment 7844

Oh. That! It should be enabled if you're using a VCR as source instead of a tuner. Actually, it's redundant -- you've already told VirtuaLDub elsewhere that your input source is a composite or s-video input.

Thanks again sanlyn and Lord Smurf. I will see how my captures turn out now, then I'll move onto the restore, filter, improve quality forum board.

I will be encoding some of these videos for Vimeo/Facebook/Youtube playback. Some others will need to be encoded for DVD authoring.

BTW, you have one of the best proc amps around in that TBC-3000. Use it. That alone may save you some grief in trying to color correct in software. A good hardware proc amp is another reason why I tend to color correct in software less that some.

Is the best way to do it to hit "still" on a frame to make color adjustments from there?

Do I need to use an external monitor or can I do fine tuning on the computer screen?

I am red-green color blind which causes me some issues with color correcting. (WHite balance issues are no problem for me.. it's just harder for me to notice and diagnose things like a color cast or chroma problems.

I am pretty good with histograms however.. is there a way to bring up a histogram on the capture mode of Virtualdub while i make adjustments on the TBC?

Color correction, whether you're color blind or not, and especially complex color correction, should never be done during capture. If you have a heavy duty studio shop setup such as Industrial Light & Magic, or Disney, you could do it during capture after a test run and several rounds of equipment calibration.

You can call up a histogram on capture, I think, but it's something I never do.

You may want to save the proc amp for contrast/brightness fixes only, and save the color work for post-capture.

Some of this is starting to get into preference, and not right/wrong answers. :wink2: