VHS to compressed format, crop the edges?
 

Total Newbie here

I have been looking over posts for weeks and I cant figure out whats best - some posts are old and some vary in suggestions

I want to capture VHS tape (uk - pal) and also old camcorder tapes -
I am using WIN 7 64 bit - Dazzle capture device - Virtualub - Handbrake

Therefore, what I want to do is simply capture the footage - (while capturing I will crop the edges off the VHS recordings) and then use Handbrake to compress and store for future watching - therefore I can throw the tapes etc

So can someone please help in lamens terms - how to capture in VirtualDub using the best compression and then if needed run it through Handbrake to compress it to another format if needed.

I am aware size is a factor so therefore whatever anyone can suggest is a best balance over size to quality and format for future watching - I dont intend to stream or Record to DVD - just keep on my PC

Hi Jayce.

What VCR are you using?

If you're using VirtualDub on Windows 7, you'll want to first go to this thread and download the HuffYUV Codec http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/vide...lters-pre.html

Then refer to 3rd post in this thread to get the HuffYUV Codec to work with Windows 7. Otherwise you'll end up capturing enormous uncompressed video files. http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/vide...l-huffyuv.html

Once you can see HuffYUV in VirtualDub you'll want to refer to the 2nd post in this thread to understand all of the settings available in VirtualDub. http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/vide...-settings.html

Assuming everything has been running smoothly up until this point you should be ready to capture your first tape. If you don't plan to do any restorative work to your now captured AVI file, you'll want to convert that file to another format that is more web friendly. If you plan to convert your AVI to MP4 refer to this thread. http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/vide...after-avi.html You'll need VLC Media Player to do this. https://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html

Another method of converting AVI to MP4 is to use the program Hybrid. http://www.selur.de/downloads
Refer to the 3rd post in this thread for more information about how to use Hybrid. http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/vide...y-avi-mp4.html

1st of all, you have no problems using the Dazzle capture device ? it's a recent one ? in the past i have not heard any good things about this one USB or slot ones they need a lot of CPU power or USB doesn't want to work optimal.
Also, if VLC plays your result good, this will not tell you if any other hardware will play it.

Thanks for your help - did everything as suggested but when opening in VLC I get an error msg - and it plays only sound and no picture - also I get an error in Handbrake too. Pics: attached

It's great to hear that your capture was successful.

A user named jagabo on the VideoHelp forum has a potential solution to your VLC problem. If you follow the directions listed in the 5th post on this forum, you should end up with an AVI that will be compatible with VLC Media Player. https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/...em#post2309406

Alternatively, try using Hybrid. http://www.selur.de/downloads

Well I've found the error - just dont know how to sort it. - I currently cannot open the capture in VLC, Handbrake or WMP because on capture I cropped the top, bottom and sides (only a tine amount). My video output is 720x576. If I remove the crop - the capture is perfect and I can open it in any other prog. Therefore, is there a way to crop and keep the output size and for it not to corrupt. So I dont have to crop post capture

Do not crop. Mask.
I can explain more in depth tomorrow if you need.

Good software will mask i guess, when i crop and transform with Davinci Resolve this happens because you aslo have the to select the the "output" render format.
So i guess the mask are the black fill up spaces :)
What i notice with Handbrake, is dat you can change/set things you really should not do.

Yes please

Doesn't the "Dazzle capture device" come with easy to use software, like with a "Wizard" ?
The software you mention, is not meant for a "newbee" like you call yourself, with easy to use software you have a faster "workflow",
with VirtualDub or Handbrake, mistakes are easily made, and workflow is pretty complex.
Explore the manual of your VCR, like the settings you can change when needed, Learn something about tv-system standards, (Wikipedia)
VLC will almost play everything (has it's own codecs) you throw at it, but that stops also somewere...
only after you capture you can make changes to the video image format, uncompressed capturing will give large files,
and give high transfer rates to your storage drive, so that can also be a reason for failure of the capture, the drive can't keep up, while new capture data is send.

Eric-Jan, please search through the forums and read the stickied posts. You are spreading misinformation.

Dazzle is a brand name owned by Pinnacle for their cheapest consumer capture device, and does not refer to any specific card. Most Dazzle cards are terrible, with just a couple being acceptable quality. The included software is always Pinnacle Studio, some of the worst software even made for video.

If you're referring to VirtualDub, that's malarkey.

VirtualDub is not complex.
Handbrake is very limited newbieware, like training wheels on a real ffmpeg frontend like Hybrid. It's the dummy-friendly interface for people that are new, or don't want to learn (and therefore willing to sacrifice quality and compression).

Manuals are notorious for leaving out information, glossing over certain subjects, or simply being written in incomprehensible Engrish. I agree, read the manual, but never have 100% faith that it is correct, or that it even covers the topic needed. While companies like JVC created decent manuals, folks like DataVideo had pitiful documents that often failed to document facts or features of the hardware.

Wikipedia can contain valid information, but it can also contain nonsense. Or valid info can simply be poorly explained. Remember that it's not a vetted scholarly resource, but merely a compilation of what people think and can agree on (be it true/factual or not!). As a famous politician once said, "trust ... but verify".

What does that mean, exactly? VLC includes in internal codec library, mostly ffmpeg. It can play most formats, but not all, which is well known. And sometimes software like MPC-HD (Windows) or mPlayerX (Mac) does a better job with certain codecs or files.

No. The goal of a quality workflow is to correct the signal as much as is possible in the analog domain. That includes S-VHS VCRs with internal line TBCs, external framesync TBCs (or TBC'ish setups using the ES10/15, maybe added DVK-100), as well as optional hardware like proc amps, detailers, and audio mixers. When the incoming analog is as good as can be achieved, then the post-capture digital restoration can begin. Many errors must be fixed in the analog domain, and cannot be corrected once digital.

The is true, and for SD 720x580 that number is about 75gb/hour. But that's also why you use lossless compression, with can be anywhere from 25gb to 40gb/hour.

Also true, but...

Again, this is why you use lossless, not uncompressed/SDI. The overhead on the drive is not so aggressive. And technically, a HDD could keep up without issue, as the data rate is really not that large. However then problem comes from the data being sustained, and most HDD do not have contiguous free blocks to write. So while the drive seeks the next free block, data never lets up, and thus problems happen. With a 50% lower I/O from the lossless, the added seek doesn't overrun any of the cache or buffers.

Lord Smurf - do you have that Masking guide instead of cropping - Thanks

Follow this quickie guide: http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/vide...erly-crop.html
The example is 352x480 resolution, change to match the source (assumed 720x480 lossless capture).
Then resize it again for a 4x3, either 720x540 or 640x480.

Re-encode to Lagarith, then encode in Hybrid of Avidemux for x264. (Note that the second resize can be skipped in VirtualDub and instead done in the x264 encoding step.)

However, since this is VHS, meaning interlaced, and seeing as how H.264 does not like interlace (though it's often done, especially for HD broadcasts), then MPEG-2 is suggested, and at broadcast/Blu-ray levels of 15mbps. The files are not overly large, quality is maintained, it's somewhat future proof, and can still stream on most devices.

You'll just need to compare the interlaced x264 encodes to interlaced MPEG-2 encodes. If you're not trying to squeeze compression, then just do the MPEG.

Deinterlace is not suggested for this, unneeded step that will degrade quality.

New post (new topic) moved to new thread: http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/vide...pped-file.html