Good capture card for digitizing VHS, EzCap?
 

Howdy y'all!

My workflow right now is

JVC HR-A62U -> [Capture device] -> VirtualDub Huffyuv

I am using a popular youtube video as a guide.

My biggest issue is finding a "good" capture device, Composite -> USB, that isn't deinterlacing the video as it is captured. I can't find a good chipset EasyCAP, all I can find are the cheap clone/knockoffs. I've seen some people say using the ATI 600 USB, but you need Windows XP for that? I'm trying to find a good capture card w/ good drivers that VirtualDub can do stuff like the comb filter.

Here is an example of a raw capture (after deinterlacing, or at least trying to) , of the 2002 Superbowl opening. I think this device already deinterlaces before...

Thank you in advanced for the help!

There is no good Easycap. Even the "good" units had lousy chips.

That Youtube guide has several flaws, picked apart here in other threads. Simply the title, VHS to 60p, is wrong. :screwy:

The quality of that capture is really, really bad. Color values are cooked, timing wiggle makes it almost unwatchable, tracking noise should not exist.

What I see from the football clip =
- Apparently better VCR needed, JVC consumer decks are infamously lousy. Guessing this is EP mode tape?
- ES10/15 as half/minimalist TBC(ish) needed, to remove wiggles, stabilize tearing
- Better capture card needed.

ATI 600 USB does not need WinXP, you're thinking of ATI AIW. The 600 USB best with XP/7, but can work with 8/10. The main issue with 8/10 is the Wim10 OS updates nuking the card, having to reinstall or find new workaround. It's not a video-capture-friendly OS.

Remember to look in the marketplace forum ;) : http://www.digitalFAQ.com/forum/marketplace

Thank you for the reply.

That original clip was from a pretty bad tape in EP. Here is a clip from a better tape in SP

The ATI 600 USB uses a Coax input - is it better to to a coax -> USB versus the multitude of Composite -> USB? If the ATI is worth it over the EasyCap/Dazzle stuff, I'll probably get the ATI.

It looks like this thread also has a lot of info about post-processing and what not. I think this EzCap chipset does (a bad job of) deinterlacing before it gets to VirtualDub.

I have 4 different capture cards and none of them de-interlace on capture into Vdub/Lagarith.

It looks to me like the co-ax connection is for the TV aerial. The video input goes in through the side: composite, S-video and red and white audio.

Youtube double-butchers video on upload, so it's really hard to tell what's going on at times. That "better" clip still looks really bad.

At minimum, you need to get an ES10 or ES15, and a better capture card. Otherwise you're just wasting your time capturing crap-quality video that nobody wants to watch.

As a TV collector, I truly hate to see when 70s/80s/90s commercials (VCR home recordings) are shared, but were ruined by bad capture methods. Double irritated when it's toys/toons commercials, or a certain brand/product I have fond memories of (cars, cameras, computers, etc). Bad conversion of a rare/HTF video mostly makes you a video tease, and not a helpful collector within the community. Be better.

That's not correct. That ATI is 3 parts: ATI stick, input wire bundles, USB extension. All are required. The bundle has s-video and composite video, and RCA audio. The USB extension is needed not to harm your computer USB port (too much weight, break solder points). Nobody in 2020 uses the coax input.

Get it.

The Easycaps themselves do not deinterlace natively, especially not in VirtualDub, but other issues may be happening. But also know that Easycap had multiple variations, so who knows? It's a POS card. I'd not discount that entirely.

Yep. :congrats:

Hi all, quick update.

I got a better capture card and I got an RCA to 3.5mm splitter to line in.

The audio is really good,, I'm still working out the encoding stuff on handbrake.

It's still not good video. You need to make the wiggly image stop wiggly. You need a DMR-ES10 or ES15 between the VCR and capture card, used in passthrough.

What card?

What'd you get, what'd you get? :)

I got the IOdata gv-usb2. My next step is to eventually get a better deck (S-VHS w/ S-Video out) and then either ES10/ES15 or a TBC.

I have one. I like it.

If you can't get access to the Proc Amp (Virtual Dub in Capture mode.. Video>Levels):

1. Plug in the GV-USB2

2. Run Graphstudio (it doesn't install, as such).

3. Click Graph, Insert Filter

4. Scroll down to the GV-USB2 entries, then click "GV-USB2 Analog Capture", then click Insert, then close that window.

5. Right Click on the Blue-edged box, click Properties then the Video Proc Amp tab.

You'll then have access to the proc amp controls that you can use with the Virtualdub Histogram.

With thanks to Jagabo from Videohelp for the above.