The Project
Capture home movies on 25 Video8 tapes, 25 Hi8 tapes, and 30 VHS tapes.
The Problems
1. Audio/video not in sync.
2. Dropped frames, usually 7 to 12 per 2-hour capture. Evenly spread out across capture time (e.g., one every 10 minutes or so).
3. Inserted frames, usually 7 to 12 per capture. All happen immediately when capture starts, before pressing PLAY on camcorder. (There is no parity or apparent correlation between inserts and drops. Sometimes there is more of one than another.)
System
Camcorder -> TBC -> Capture Device -> Computer
Camcorder
CCD-TPV68 (owned since new; excellent condition)
TBC
BigVooDoo BVTBC (
this one). Purchased from lordsmurf.
Capture Device
ATI TV Wonder 600 USB. Also purchased from lordsmurf.
Software installed per
lordsmurf's instructions.
Computer
Dell Optiplex 7040
Windows 7, SP1. Clean install.
CPU: i7-6700 3.4GHz
RAM: 16GB
Storage:
500GB SSD (SATA) (operating system)
1TB SSD (PCIe M.2) (capture destination, otherwise empty)
All unnecessary software disabled, bloatware uninstalled.
No internet. No WiFi. Ethernet unplugged during capture.
USB 2.0 port at rear of computer used for ATI.
Computer/keyboard/mouse not touched during capture.
Cables
Video: Monster s-video from camcorder to TBC. Acoustic research s-video from TBC to ATI.
Audio: Monster RCA. Mono from camcorder, split to “stereo” before ATI.
Software
Virtualdub 1.9.11 and
Huffyuv installed per
lordsmurf's instructions.
What I have tried?
Forum Advice
Spent the last month reading dozens of prior forum threads about sync issues, including (probably) all that involved an ATI USB device. Tried all recommended settings, etc. (detailed below).
Read lordsmurf’s
article on troubleshooting dropped frames. Here is how I worked through each of the “21 fixes.”
1. Multi-tasking. Inapplicable, and all background software is deleted/disabled.
2. Program Settings. See below regarding
VirtualDub settings I have tried.
3. Anti-Virus and other Background Software. None.
4. Heat / Overheating. Inapplicable. PC remains cool. CPU never exceeds 5-20% during capture. Only a small portion of a single core is used.
5. Reboot! Shutdown! Computer is rebooted before each capture and shut down when not in use (not my primary machine).
6. LAN and Internet. Unplugged. No WiFi.
7. Use the Best Drivers. ATI software and VirtualDub installed per
lordsmurf's instructions. I am open to what other “best” drivers I may be lacking.
8. Software vs. Hardware Encoding. CPU use does not seem to be an issue (see #4).
9. Slow or Old Computers. If anything, this PC is probably overkill for the application. I thought overkill would help avoid these issues, but look where that got me.
10. CPU Usage. See #8 and #4.
11. VHS and other Analogue Videotape Source. I have been testing with Hi8 tapes, which are the best of the bunch. They were stored properly. The video plays back great live, with or without a TBC. I have tested the sync/drops issue with and without the TBC. Whether or not I use the TBC does not seem to affect the result. In fact, I am not even sure how to tell that it is working.
12. Hard Drive Fragmentation. Inapplicable (SSDs).
13. Separate Hard Drives Suggested! Check.
14. Check Your Hard Drive Settings. The guide suggests checking hard drive settings, but that seems to apply to older hardware. One unresolved hard drive question that I have is whether the partitioning schemes I am using might be an issue (Disk1 with OS is MBR, while Disk2 for capture is GPT).
15. Capture Software and Codecs. The advice is to use VirtualDub, which I am trying to do here. I have seen recommendations to try AmaRecTV, which I am open to, but not without exhausting VirtualDub capture options.
16. Preview Window. I am using Overlay and not Preview (though I have also tried Preview and No Display--it seems to make no difference).
17. Sound Cards. The advice seems to apply to older systems. This machine has onboard sound. Not sure whether that even matters as the ATI USB is capturing sound (not the sound card).
18. Desktop Graphics Settings. This machine can support two 4k monitors. I have one 4k monitor connected to it. To rule that out as causing a problem, I tried several captures using instead an old-school 1920x1080 TV as a monitor. I also tried with my normal monitor turned down to non-native 1920x1080 in both 16-bit and 32-bit color. These experiments have had no apparent effect.
19. Memory / RAM. LS says anything over 2GB does not matter. This machine has 16GB.
20. Hard Drive Cache. I checked this setting for both drives.
21. BIOS Settings. Not sure what the specific guidance is regarding the BIOS, but I have been through it thoroughly.
22. And If None of That Works . . . . LS Suggests that sometimes cards are just bad. But I assume the ATI sourced from him is fine.
What are my VirtualDub Settings?
As best as I can gather, the “recommended settings” in VirtualDub for my hardware are as follows (but as described further below, my mileage has varied):
Device
- ATI TV Wonder selected as device
Video
- Overlay
- Video source: s-video
- Capture pin: screenshot attached below
- Compression: screenshot attached below
Audio
- Enable Audio Playback: Unchecked
- No compression, PCM format
- “Capture device” selected as device
Capture
- Timing: screenshot attached below
What other settings have I tried?
I have experimented with capturing the same Hi8 tape with a variety of timing and other settings to see if I could eliminate dropped frames or get audio in sync. Please reference the screenshots (attached below), which I describe here.
Timing - Tried This 1.png
This improved audio sync somewhat. Recall that on the recommended settings the sync gets worse as the capture progresses. Here, sync is off by about 480ms, but is basically consistent throughout the capture. 13 inserts and 7 dropped frames.
Timing - Tried This 2.png
Here I reverted to the “recommended” settings in the top section, but tried some new DirectShow options. The result was the worst capture to date. The information panel during capture showed bizarre readings (e.g., 180fps average video rate). The audio sync was off by several seconds by the end of the 2-hour capture.
Timing - Tried This 3.png
I read LS’ recommendation in one thread to check “disable timestamps for preview.” Combined with the “sync audio to video” setting, this produced my best capture yet. Audio is almost perfectly synced to video (about 7 frames ahead of video). The audio/video skew is consistent throughout the two-hour capture, so applying a 233ms skew correction produces a great end result. 10 frames dropped and 8 inserts.
Timing - Tried This 4.png
For this round, I had just found lordsmurf’s
recommendation to disable DirectX in the main preferences. I attempted a capture with DirectX disabled and with the “recommended” (i.e., “do not resync”) settings. The result was quite poor. Sync is off by only a few frames at the start of the two-hour capture, but at the end of the capture sync is off by about two seconds. 12 dropped frames and 11 inserts.
Note: I do not have screenshots or notes, but I have also tried enabling/disabling the following options made any difference (it did not):
- “Correct video timing for fewer frame drops/inserts”
- “Automatically disable resync when integrated audio/video capture is detected”
My Questions
My primary concern is correcting the audio sync issue. Yes, I care about dropped frames, but only to the extent that may be causing the sync issue. A dropped or duplicate frame (or 10), on its own, is not a problem for this project (this is not the Zapruder film). My questions are, thus, as follows:
1. Are there further settings or settings combinations that I should try to correct the sync/frame drop issue?
2. Are there any hardware issues that I am overlooking?
3. As I described, my best captures have come from selecting “sync audio to video” in the timing options. In that case, sync is still off (audio still precedes video by 7 frames), but it is consistent throughout the capture and that is easily corrected. Also, there are still 7-12 dropped and inserted frames (in two hours), but for my purposes the videos are perfectly fine. I would be satisfied with that result and workflow, but
I would like to confirm whether “resampling the audio to a faster or slower rate” may cause any problems later (e.g., when editing/encoding). The resampling is apparently so minor that I cannot hear any distorted audio (no chipmunks or Barry White)--it sounds great. I would just like to confirm that this process is not overly destructive and will not create future headaches.
Thank you!!