How to handle tapes, multiple camera clips?
 

The VHS tapes that I am wanting to digitalise are tapes that are made up of multiple short clips that were originally recorded on a handheld camcorder and then transferred onto these VHS tapes.

My plan for the end result was to have digital files of the full tapes, which I could store as captured. Then use these files and split the recording up into clips and then could give each of these clips names, this would save me searching through 5 minute clips on a 3 hour recording for example and make them easier to share.

So far with VirtualDub I have only changed the FPS, audio resolution, video resolution and compression. Should I be applying any filters or cropping etc before capturing, or should I be editing the capture after?

I was thinking of having two versions of the cut clip, one left in the lossless format, and another in a compressed format that I would be able to upload or play on devices without having the Huffyuv codec installed. I might also want to burn some to DVD for some of my family who still use them.

I have done some test recordings in VirtualDub and they play on my PC with VLC with deinterlace turned on without any problems. But I imagine the family members I would be wanting to share these with will get stuck.

Never change the frame rate from its original one. you will have compatibility problems.

I changed it to 25fps as I am in the UK using PAL. Before changing this setting the audio was out of sync with the video and since changing appears to work okay. Is that correct?

Why would you need to change it, it should be 25 fps in the first place unless you are capturing the wrong way.

No crop/filter at capture time. Will cause dropped frames, if even captures.

Capture lossless, encode/filter copy in Hybrid. Don't capture twice, that's silly/nuts.

Yes, change fps/res/etc to PAL values, then done. VirtualDub isn't always defaulted to PAL.

You're on the right path. :)

Thanks for the help. I have captured a couple of tapes in Huffyuv, the files play okay in VLC and Windows Media Player on my PC.

I am now looking at splitting these captures up into smaller clips (Christmas, birthdays, days out) so I can share the shorter clips with family, and they can play on their PC or phone etc. without having to install anything extra.

Should I run the whole tape capture through Hybrid, and then edit the converted file in Premiere Pro to split it up into clips? Should I be applying any filters, or should I be editing the video after it has been converted/compressed?

I have had a look on the forum but can't find much about configuring Hybrid. Is there one available?