Can't figure out capturing
 

Hey guys, I've spend all 8 hours today trying to capture videos and now pissed because I couldn't figure it out lol

I really need your help.

Project - I have about 20 VHS PAL cassettes from Russia and want to convert them to digital.

I bought a VHS player - Panasonic NV-HS1000EG. I live in Florida and connected it using 110v power cord and it seemed to be working fine.

I downloaded VirtualDub from here with all needed filters included.

First I bought a USB cable from Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1 - I was able to get it to work in VirtualDub but through the 0 option in video tab instead of 1, which meant that I could not play around with settings, such as audio input, video codes (PAL-B , NTSC etc). The video seemed to be always black and white instead of color.

So because of that, I bought this one https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1 - I believe this one was one of the recommended ones. With this one, apparently the latest version was not compatible, so I had to find an older one, which was pain in ass to find. Then i had to I guess start EZgrab software first, some random bs. Eventually I was able to start video playing on virtualdub by selecting audio tab as 0 instead of the usbdevice AND for whatever reason selecting NTSC instead of PAL even though all my tapes are PAL and VHS player is PAL. And still, out of 5 tapes, only one was color and all others showed as black/white. I also noticed, sometimes, the VHS player makes some weird clicking noises and sometimes turns off by itself.

Do you think its because I am giving it 110v instead of 220v? Or because I have old tapes and the player has some kind of safety mechanism?

And final question, I heard of a module called Canopus ADVC-100. Will it make my conversion process easier? I believe I can get one for $100-$200. I am so tired of trying figure things out with usb cable it's crazy.

Let me know what I should do. I really need help and appreciate you all!

If your tapes are European PAL, PAL-B should work fine as long as you select the right resolution which is 720x576. It could be a driver problem, that's why Windows 7 is the best capture platform. Easycraps and Windows 10 are the nightmare of capturing.

Thanks for your help. I have a spare computer that I never use for anything. Do you think I should install Windows 7 on it with virtualdub and keep my VC500 dongle and it all might work afterall? :) is there other windows version better? or windows 7 would be best for it?

Windows 7 is the best as it combined all the drivers from previous versions of Windows, From there it went downhill.

I just spent couple hours on it. I installed Windows 7 32bit, but could not successfully install a driver for VC500. When I am installing it, it says device not found. I tried 3 different driver versions that I found.

My understanding is that some versions of VC500 are newer and maybe not as compatible (even though they all should work with windows 7, 8, 10)

What should I do next? I have another dongle, (the first one I mentioned). Should i try with that one?

Would things be much different with Canopus ADVC-100? I bought VC500 for $40 and still should be able to return it for refund. If ADVC-100 is $100-$200, maybe it's worth doing it that way?

ADVC-100 requires firewire card and the capture format is DV, It is okay for PAL but it's in the middle not entirely lossless and not a final playback format, So you would need to convert it to another lossy format like h.264 and that will incur a further loss since it is not lossless to begin with.

Do you think the best solution would be then finding a better or different capture card?

I have no PAL experience, but I just looked at pics of an HS1000EG on ebay and it sure looks to me like it is not a switchable power supply, i.e. that you should not be plugging it into your 110V US electrical service without a transformer to bring the voltage up to 220V.

Look at the sticker on the back of the deck that has the serial number on it. Does it say 220-240V~ on the left side? And underneath that 50-60Hz? If so, I think the first order of business is to get a step-up transformer for it.

As for the VC500, there are a bunch of different hardware versions of it that all look the same/similar. Look at the sticker on the back. What's the model and serial number? Note there is a VC500MAC that only works on Mac.

Thanks for your response. I read online that most of them will work from either 110 or 220 even though the back of the player says otherwise. It seemed to be working, but maybe clicking I hear from inside the player suggest its not enough power. I also read on forum that 110v worked on a panasonic's previous model so I assumed it would work here.

I saw a step up converters for $100 on amazon. I could always try one and if it makes no difference just return it.

Hopefully you will get some responses from folks who use PAL decks here in North America on whether it's advisable to use a transformer in your case. There are certainly non-power related reasons that a deck might shut down on its own (if the mechanism develops "issues", which K decks like the HS1000 often do). But it is never "normal" for a deck to do that.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Panasonic-N...p2047675.l2557

That's the link to the player I got. It seems like it was in perfect order. I am no expert whatsoever, but I really doubt that the seller sold me a defective unit.

Nice! I would say that deck definitely looks very well-taken-care-of (or more accurately, very seldom used), so doubtful you would be dealing with a worn mechanism. However, being over 25 years old now, even if it had lived its entire life unused in a box, it could still have dried up grease or capacitors, and jolts or drops during shipping could potentially cause issues too. So if it keeps shutting down even after you get it on a step-up transformer then you may want to look into doing some maintenance on it (or having it done).

Now all my cassettes are very old (at least 20 years). Could that cause issue with player shutting down? Or cassettes should not cause issues like that? Or making some clicking noises?

In ebay listing, he said "It was used last time in 2020 to make digital copies of old recordings (not more than 10 tapes) - so, heads were cleaned, mechs were lubricated (by specialist) - no more maintanance is necessary!" so I would assume its all good.

Oh and that's what I read here about power in US with PAL players

http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/vide...cr-player.html

Pretty much all VHS tapes are 20+ years old now :).

If you're only experiencing the shutdowns with a couple of tapes then it's at least possible that the tapes are the problem. But if you see it happen with several different ones then it's very unlikely to be a tape issue.

Thanks for linking that relevant thread--sounds like the PSU may be fully compatible with 110V after all. Given the problem you are seeing though I still think it's worth ruling out a voltage conversion issue by trying out a transformer. Like you said, you can always return it if it doesn't appear to make any difference.

Does any error code come up on the screen when the deck shuts off?

Does the deck appear to strain or hesitate when inserting or ejecting a tape?

Does it only shut down when you're trying to change modes? (like from Play to REV back to play to fast forward, etc.)? If so it's likely to be an issue with the mechanism--mode switch or clutch or some similar part.

I don't see where the OP complained about VCR shutdown.

From his first post:

It's not necessarily power-related but I do think it is worth trying to feed it the expected voltage.

Clicking noises and shutdown is not a good sign, It's an indication that something begins to crack or partially cracked, If not fixed it's only going to get worse.

OP, if you can, try to shoot a video using your phone of the the deck doing this.Some of the noises these K decks make are normal, some aren't.

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