Hey guys, again thanks so much for trying to help me. I also read on forum here that using step up power converter can mess up video capturing so I really hope that is not the issue I am having.

I didn't have much time to take videos today, but I took two quick ones. For now I didn't have any issues, but I also did not connect USB capture card (although that definitely should not case player issues)

https://youtu.be/opIfIGZCR0I

https://youtu.be/IWw9DHgQg88

I'll take more videos maybe tomorrow. I also ordered Hauppauge USB card as I read that people generally like them. It was $20 on ebay so if it won't work out not big deal. I think I'll return CV500 on amazon since I spent $40 and don't know what else to do to make it work.

Another question, since all but one VHS tape looks black and white on virtualdub (or any other software if i get it to work). Do you think it means its the USB card issue? VHS Player issue? or bunch of bad tapes?

Thanks

Plug your VCR output into a TV, then play a tape to check. Composite to Composite (Yellow to Yellow) should do. You'll then see exactly what's coming out of the VCR, as opposed to what's coming out of the USB card.

If they're still playing black and white on the TV, it could be a dud VCR. Try another VCR on the TV.

Not sure if it would work since VCR is from Russia (PAL) and I live in Florida (NTSC)

Yes, better capture card needed.

Never use step converters, it messes with the video signal. Native power required. Thankfully, most PAL decks are fine with 100-120, even many that do not show it on the rating. Why? Chinese parts, which are almost always universal, and have been for decades now. Many times, PAL decks are needed to be compliant in all Asian countries, which includes 100 rating in Japan.

Deck noises never good. Panasonic noises are the worst, often bad. JVC noises are sometimes just nuisance, not dire issue.

Having to skim the thread, busy.

You can try to see if turning the TBC off and/or setting the edit mode switch to passive makes color appear just to rule out certain electronic faults. Also check if composite output makes any difference.

Today I received Hauppauge USB-Live 2 and wow it works so much better.

From what i am seeing, VirtualDub program is not perfect too unfortunately. Even with new capture card, I had some weird glitches. Sometimes video would play under NTSC only in settings, even though I am dealing with PAL stuff. I also saw that sometimes video shows as black and white and to change it to color, I had to go to video and select the same device again and then video showed in color. Eventually I was able to move it to PAL in settings and recorded couple videos.

Now my other problem, even though I set it to 25fps (PAL settings). The video does not really appear to be slow, but the voice or sound in video is a bit slower than original. Audio and video synched fine, but I can tell its slow. Is there anything in settings I forgot to set?

Throughout recording, VHS stopped playing once, I then clicked play and it played with no issue. After 20 minutes or so, VHS player stopped playing and I was not able to click play again. I then turned off and on VHS player and it continued playing with no issues.

Out of curiosity, question for lordsmurf, do you convert tapes to digital as business? If yes, what is the price for PAL videos? :)

For Hauppauge USB-Live2 pay attention to the choice of color system at driver installation. In my experience it's better do not switch between PAL and NTSC, but reinstall the driver choosing the system after a full clean with the Hauppauge utility "hcwclear.exe".

In alternative to VirtualDub you can use AmarecTV

Strange, normally in PAL we have a 4% faster audio compared to film. Is it the same outside the capture card?

The Hauppage drive was set in PAL, I never switched that one. I was talking about capture video pin and filter (in virtualdub). Just looked through recordings and it appears that in some places audio is slower by more and some just by a little. I might have to play around and see how i can normalize it.

Another question, since those tapes were not used for 20 years at least, is there anything I can do to improve the quality? I think i read somewhere that its a good idea to forward and rewind tape completely before capturing? is it true? any other tips?

I'm Florida based (Melbourne area) and can capture PAL. If you'd like, I can capture one of your tapes gratis and you can see how it compares to your captures.

Equipment:

Philips VR1000 (JVC rebadge) with built-in line time base corrector, S-Video output
DataVideo TBC-1000 full-frame time base corrector
ATI AIW 9000 PRO and AIW 9600 XT capture cards are available
SB X-Fi XtremeMusic connected via AUX 4-pin internal cable from AIW card
Lossless capture to HuffYUV / WAV 16/48 in VirtualDub 1.9.11