What happenrf to my capture, is it fixable?
 

Please see the picture of one of my recent captures.

As you can, hopefully, see the bottom ~1/5th of the screen is a mess. It seems like the whole image is shifted upwards and then the top bleeds through to the bottom of the screen, which is then scrambled somehow.

I've been doing many captures recently and this is the first one that has exhibited this problem. After inserting this tape into the VCR it showed what I assume to be a VCR generated message saying 'NTSC->PAL'. I assume this to mean that the tape to be captured is in NTSC format and the issue is with the VCR trying to play it.

My workflow is currently:

JVC HR-S6965EK SVHS player (no S-Video out so using scart cable) > ES15 > S-video cable > Roxio VHS to DVD capture USB dongle > MacBook Pro 2011 > Roxio software.

I'm assuming the VCR plays NTSC as the message suggests this, or is this how an NTSC tape would display in a PAL VCR?

So, my question is... is there a workaround to stop this shifting of the picture from happening?



While I'm here and picking your brains. I've been deinterlacing these captures using Handbrake on the default setting, which is:

(in the Filters tab)

Detelecine: OFF
Interlace detection: DEFAULT
Deinterlace: DECOMB - Preset:DEFAULT

I know the accepted doctrine is to not deinterlace... Which I think is to preserve the original for better viewing quality on televisions. However, as I'm viewing these captures mostly on my laptop it makes watching them more pleasurable. Considering the captures are of actions sports, is there a better setting (or programme) I should be using to deinterlace? I've tried a few other settings but one takes a very long time and didn't yield any better result, possibly worse even. For the record I am saving the interlaced files as well. Although ideally I'd have a better VCR and capture device... and older computer running XP... and lots of storage space to save to lossless.

Any help appreciated.

Thanks

Use NTSC VCR for NTSC tapes and PAL VCR for PAL tapes, Your capture card is not compatible with PAL60.

Hi, thanks for the reply. So, am I understanding this right… my VCR is capable of playing NTSC tapes but my capture card is not capable of processing the signal coming out of it? If that’s the case, do you know if the Blackmagic Analogue to SDI capture device would work? I’ve read these are good capture cards and work with older Macs.

Buying an NTSC player isn’t really an option right now. I’ve only got about 10 more tapes to work through currently and most will be PAL I presume, plus space is at a premium right now.

I take it the problem isn’t with the ES15? I guess I should have experimented without that in the chain but I’ve just packed away my gear for a while.

Any comment on the de/interlacing?

Thanks again

I'm not too sure about the Blackmagic Analogue to SDI capture device you will have to try it for yourself, No never de-interlace on the fly while capturing, bad idea.

Okay thanks. I’m actually running the capture first with the Roxio (sorry, it’s the best I’ve got right now). That outputs a .mov file. Then I run that through Handbrake with the above settings. I select the output on HB as matroska H264 720x430 and select mp4 as the container (?) which outputs a .m4v file. Is this also a dreadful idea?

I just checked out your YT channel. That’s some amazing work you’ve done. Can I ask, what’s the motivator for what you’re selecting to capture and share? Like, I’m capturing old surf movies, what’s your MO if you have one. And…are you deinterlacing as well?

Thanks for taking the time to educate me. Lord knows I need it.

It is a wrong way of doing it, But people have different needs with different means, The way I do it is to capture lossless AVI and proceed from there.
As to my YT channel, I just like old TV commercials and video clips and I like sharing them with others whenever possible.

The capture dongle can probably handle the PAL60 signal the VCR puts out when playing a NTSC tape, most do, but the Panasonic DVD-recorders don't. It's basically interpreting it as standard PAL input which means the video will look messed up.

The European/international Panasonic dvd-recorders from 2005 and on accept standard PAL and standard NTSC (needs to be switched manually) but not PAL60 (or NTSC 4.43) .If you switch the ES15 and capture card to NTSC mode with your current VCR won't get the messed up image with missing frames and such but it will be black and white).

I guess the options would be to try to see if capturing without the ES15 in the chain (and setting the capture card to PAL60 is liveable and not too unstable. Alternatively the budget options would be to try to find one of these multi-system decks that can output standard NTSC, or find a newer pioneer/sony dvd-recorder (Pioneer DVR-_30 or newer, Sony RDR-HX_50 or newer excluding dvd/vcr combos) to use instead of the ES15 as those are capable of handling the PAL60 (or NTSC 4.43 in some cases) signal you get from PAL VCRs playing NTSC tapes.Alternatively if it's like one or two tapes sending them to some reputable digitizing service might be easier.

Easily fixed: In Handbrake: Tools>Preferences>Output Files> Change "MP4 File Extension" dropdown.