Color issue with USB capture device?
 

First off, I'd like to say that this website is fantastic. I recently discovered it a few weeks ago when going down a wormhole of information on how to go about transferring old family VHS-C tapes to digital files.

I'm using a JVC HR-S6900U that I purchased from eBay the other week. I'm also using a UCEC USB capture device that I got off of Amazon for $30 or so. It is connected to my MacBook laptop using QuickTime to capture and record.

My problem that I've run into is color. I'm seeing a lot of color waves/color bars. Sometimes the color is fine, other times the picture is essentially black and white. I have a feeling it is the USB capture device because when I plug the VCR and component cables into the back of an old TV, the picture is excellent. It's superb actually.

Will an Elgato USB device work better because it's more expensive or do I need to ditch the USB altogether and figure out something else? I could figure out a way to capture the video playing on my TV using the TV's output -- but I feel like I'd lose a lot of quality that way as opposed to capturing straight from the VCR. Thanks so much guys.

Examples of color issues:
https://streamable.com/xabbxb
https://streamable.com/txtoa0

UCEC USB capture is low-end Chinese junk that rarely works well, or at all. So at the moment, that's the likely culprit. You bought a junk card.

Mac is the wrong tool for capturing, almost no software or hardware for it. What OS X version?

Elgato earned the nickname "Elcrapo" for video capture.

Not the best VCR, not the worst, but can be decent. However, no TBC in there, you must have an ES10/15 at minimum. Even with a good card, no TBC (mere strong+crippled line in the ES10/15) means problems.

Attach images and sample clips directly to the forum, if you want Site Staff to look at them.

I linked a couple sample videos in my original post as to what is happening. They're clips I uploaded to streamable.com. I now see I can attach videos directly, which I just did for this post/thread.

Yes, now I understand that this UCEC USB device is poor quality. The quality when I plug in the same component cables to my TV is night and day. It's really really good.

OS X 10.12 Sierra

I purchased an Elgato device last night off Amazon and it arrived this morning. I've tried one tape thus far using the Elgato cable and Elgato capture software. It's the same tape I linked/attached with those 2 example clips (color issues). It appears there are no color issues while using the Elgato device. I've gone through most of the tape.

I knew before purchasing the JVC VCR that it's not top shelf but also not the worst. It does have S-Video capability.

Here is a quick comparison using the same video (see attachments below): UCEC device and Quicktime ("example 2") versus Elgato device and Elgato software ("example 3")

Hopefully I can get by using Elgato the rest of the way. I plan on stopping by a local shop later this week and paying $38 for them to capture an hours worth of video so I can compare the difference between their equipment/quality versus mine.

A few questions about recording/capturing preferences using Elgato:

1. Should I leave the FORMAT as Automatic -- or should I change it to MPEG-4 or H.264?

2. Should I leave the TV STANDARD as Automatic -- or should I change it to PAL-60, PAL-M, or PAL-N? I feel like some of those are European maybe? But I'm a rookie with this stuff.

3. Should I check preserve source format?

4. Should I mess around with brightness, contrast, saturation, or hue?

5. Last but not least, is using an S-Video cable going to make a difference because it's a 30 year old VHS-C tape?

I just tried the Elgato Video Capture to transfer my Sony Hi 8mm cam tape to digitial. It worked well, but I noticed while in process that the colors, although were basically true, were not as vibrant as when I looked in my cam viewfinder. The original colors are much bolder, richer. Also, it seems that fleshtones are also better whereas they seem more subdued and even leaning more to bland / greyish. I called Elgato and didn't get much help. They told me I could try adjusting video preference settings, testing them out to see if I get a better result. Once I get the settings, then start the recording over again. What have you found out since your post? BTW, I am on Windows 10. Thanks.

I have a similar issue with Elgato, wavy horizontal lines in color, shows really predominently in red. Only really see the issue in PAL.

Is there a setting in the Elgato Capture to lock it to PAL instead of using its auto detect? Or are you using OBS?

Thanks

- Elgato is not a good card.
- The included software is not good software.
- OBS is not good software for analog capture.

Cheap tools, and wrong tools, for the task of consumer analog video capture (VHS, Hi8, etc), and with any degree of quality.

Random VCR, bad card, random software = random quality, usually bad.

That's why a recipe for quality exists:
- recommended VCR
- > recommended TBC >
- > recommended capture card, using recommended software

The problems you're running into are expected, not unusual. A frustrating capture experience, with no quality audio/video output.