Hi8 conversion ClearClick problems?
 

Hello, everybody - long time lurker, first time poster. Thank you in advance for your time.

I have a Sharp ViewCam, VL-E680U, that I am using to convert my Hi-8 tapes to mp4's on a clearclick (generation 2). I know, I should have better equipment; but, so far, the VHS's that we have converted on the clearclick with my VCR have been pretty great, the problem started with some certain Hi-8's.

We have had some...jumping around. I think that is the best way to describe the issue. See attached few seconds of a clip. Not every tape does it consistently, but on some tapes it is throughout. When I look at the screen on the Sharp ViewCam, the video is perfect and looks pretty amazing.

Is this something that the Panasonic ES10/ES15 would be able to help with? Not a true TBC from my non-stop reading of the posts on this website, but I'm not sure if this is the 'noise' that the Panasonic's can help with as a pass-through.

You time and input is much appreciated, thank you :)

According to some members who have a similar problem some DVD recorders did get rid of the problem with some side effects, Generally speaking tapes are a case to case basis, that's why it's good to have a good playback device, good capture device to minimize the chances of encountring a problem like that.

Short answer: Yes, in all probability.

Here's what an ES-5 will do:

http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/vide...html#post78052

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/...d)#post2607662

http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/vide...html#post71991

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_xue8-gGLM

Spending x00s on a "better" VCR and capture card/box may not remove this particular issue.

If you get an ES-10/15, I'd also get an S-video cable to run from it to the Clearclick.

Edit to the above post (if you could do that for me, LS): second line, I meant "ES-15", not "ES-5".

Thank you both for your replies!

ClearClick (ClearCrap, CrapClick) is a lesser-known but still infamous device. Same reputation as Elgato (Elcrapo) or Easycap (Easycrap). The quality truly sucks on it. There are several posts with attached sample clips, and it's just awful in every way.

"ClearClick" is a bottom feeder brand like Ion. Junk you'd find in Bed, Bath & Beyond. I forget all the rebadge names. Film scanners, record turntables, etc. All of it was lousy crap. Fuzzy this, tinny hollow sounding that.

If you think your VHS captures are fine, upload a sample. I assure you, they're not. The main issue is very destructive deinterlace. It's a bob/blur jaggy mess that only looks "fine" a tiny preview .window on the computer, or a cell phone. It's so ugly on a TV, or even fullscreen monitor watching.

Hi8 is a drop-happy format, even more than VHS. Lack of any TBC, paired with a weak POS like ClearClick, is 100% the issue here.

Will the ES10/15 fix some of this? It can. ES10/15 isn't a TBC, but a DVD recorder with line TBC and non-TBC frame sync, and the unusual ability to passthrough.

But the main issue will still be the utter destruction of interlace, details, exposure, and color. The card outputs smeary, ghosty, blurry, jaggy, oversaturated video. And tinny audio. ES10/15 complete in non-abused shape is at least $100, up to $200. But I'd also spend some bucks to pick u p a good card. What you have is the cheap-quality Chinese special from Amazon, and yet vastly overpriced for the low quality it gives.

Thank you for the reply, really. I've spent the last, way to many to admit, months converting everything, so I'm a little embarrassed that I don't totally understand all of the terms that you are using.

I'm attaching a two commercials that I randomly recorded from an old TV show VHS (I liked the commercials, so I randomly recorded them), this was on a first pass of the VHS after years of storage (for my family tapes, I recorded one time and then again a few weeks later - just never went back to this VHS as it was random TV that I did not record).

Watching these back full screen on a 24" monitor..and they still don't look bad to me. Maybe I'm the type of person who loves cheap restaurants too, well..yes I am. You all are the experts, so I'm in no way, shape, or form telling you that I think this is perfect. It just kinda looks like what I remember TV looking like.

If these can be amazingly better, I will probably need to rethink my entire setup, as my family tapes are too many to outsource. The jumping around has only been on the HI-8 conversions, and the VHS recordings mostly look like these (which I'm terrified will be called garbage and send me spiraling).

Yeah, that's really ugly video. The blocks alone, ugh. H.264 generally just smears video, but smear+block must be truly starving for bitrate. I can show some example of how bad this looks.

It has chroma noise everywhere (mottled color noise, like amoeba invading your screen).
Too dark.
And the interlacing mess, as mentioned. Jaggies, vibrations, ghosting. It uses a really crappy "smart bob" (not smart whatsoever) method from 20 years ago.

This is such a shame, too. I often collect commercials, especially for toys, tech, finances, toons, etc. This video could have looked so much better with the right gear, and a little care. Not just a tiny % better, but vastly better.

I don't have time today, or even this week. But I'd take some still images if I could. Somebody was supposed to send me a ClearClick, so I could do comparisons. But it never happened.

Thank you for the reply. I'm not trying to be argumentative, just trying to learn....

What is bad about it? I see the words, but I don't necessarily understand. When I look at the video, I see what I remember TV looking like 20 years ago. Again, not trying to be argumentative, I'm just trying to learn. Maybe I just don't see the same thing since I don't know well enough (that's most definitely it)

As a single example: "jaggies" isn't a technical term. Look for anything that is supposed to be a straight line, but isn't, and instead has stair-steps. These stair steps further move when the object is still. This is horrid deinterlacing (this is the technical term).

That video has multiple issues, all at once.

Video never looked that bad 20 years ago.

View this on a large TV, not a tiny 4" preview window in the ClearClick, or computer, or a phone. The issues become quite obvious when you can clearly see the video. And I'm assuming you don't plan to actually watch these on your phone, right?

I agree with lordsmurf. If the tapes are in good condition, the captures can be amazingly better. With a recommended S-VHS VCR with line TBC (or a recommended S-VHS VCR without line TBC and a specific DVD-R passthrough ) and a recommended capture card (lordsmurf will add a frame TBC :))

Have a look to some captures from user latreche34 and hodgey in their signature (even with YouTube additional compression), or some other example of captures here or in videohelp forum.

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