VHS capturing techniques, methods?
 

Hello to whom it may concern,

I need help finding good techniques in order to capture VHS in good quality.
(Please note that I am not trying to go all out for top-quality VCR decks, TBC)
(And I am slightly new to this type of capturing)
VCR: JVC HR-S8007UM
Capture Card: ION VIDEO MKII
TBC: SLYVANIA DVD RECORDER
OS: Windows 10

Current Capturing Method
VirtualDub2 Capturing
Compression Method: UTVideo YUV422 BT .601

Upscale
Software: VirtualDub2
Deinterlacing: Yadif Double Framerate - Top field first
Resize: Either 1440x1080 or 1920x1440
Exporting Compression: x264 8 Bit H.264/MPEG-4 AVC Codec
(I might do some color correcting on the tape)

If anyone can give me good methods to improve or overall suggestions, that would be much appreciated

Honestly if I seem like a joke on this thread, I just started to learn how to get REALLY good captures.
I started off using Easycap and OBS in 2021 :laugh:

I'd be interested in a posted sample of what you're getting with the current setup for sure.

If you don't want to upgrade your hardware, QTGMC deinterlacing should beat Yaddif 2x.

General recommendations are better hardware though. I can't say I've heard much about the Ion, though I'd say the most interesting part about the Ion it is that it's both Mac and PC compatible (though unsure if modern macOS will play nice with those drivers or not).

Also don't know about the Sylvania DVD recorder - if that can output 480i through HDMI as a passthrough, you could capture that HDMI stream and avoid an unnecessary digital to analog and an analog back to digital step which will have some losses in both steps. If the DVD player adds HDCP (copy protection), you might have to pass it through an HDMI splitter which is known to remove HDCP before your capture card.

Downside to the HDMI capture method is that you can't put a frame TBC inline afterwords, but doesn't look like you plan to use a frame TBC anyway. Frame TBCs generally aren't going to improve the visual quality of your output (if you aren't seeing obvious dropouts in the captured video), but could remove vertical jitter if you are seeing that. I can't say I've seen too many examples of vertical jitter on the output of a DVD recorder though. If you aren't seeing dropped frames in virtualdub with your setup, then the benefit of a full frame TBC is highly questionable to me and probably even a little bit detrimental as it has an extra analog to digital and digital to analog conversion step that'll cause some degree of loss (which is hopefully not perceptible with an ideal TBC).

Hello. Welcome. :)

Capturing is very binary in nature.

- you either have excellent captures, either flawless or near-flawless
- or you have bad capture, with multiple problems that make the video look nothing like what existed on the original tape

The only factor between the two is the proper tools (proper hardware). It has nothing to do with "all-out" or "top quality", but merely the presence or absence of the tool.

- quality VCR (ie, not something ever sold in Walmart or Best Buy)
- some form of TBC is required
- quality capture card -- not something that capture to compressed "MP4" (H.264), not Chinese HDMI adapters not meant for capture, not cheap Chinese USB cards like Easycaps/"grabbers"

When it comes to video capture, you can:
- buy proper gear, for a proper job
- not buy proper gear, and get crap quality

There really is no middle ground.
- There's not some sort of super-secret cheap method out there (conspiracy stupidity).
- At best, you'll have to hunt for months or years to find quality hardware mispriced, but it won't be online (offline auctions, thrift stores, estate sales -- but also noting it may be broken junk).

non-TBC JVC S-VHS

This card should be fine. It's has variant components from known-good cards. But the bigger issue is drivers, hence why not discussed more. It should also be considered Windows-only, the Mac aspect is a mess.

This is not a TBC of any kind.

Interseting. That capture card generally does not work reliably in Win10.

By "double", you mean 29.97fps/59/94i > 59.94p (or 25/50 PAL), correct?

Why? That just lowers quality.

Why so compressed?

"Good" is not the right word. That method just decimates quality. VHS tapes don't look that bad.

Agree.

Why? Yadif 2x is still just inferior Yadif to QTGMC.

It's not interesting whatsoever. It was made during OS X 10.5, and failed in a few versions. Beyond that, the software choices all suck.

No NTSC DVD recorder/player does this (output is always deinterlace garbage), and few PAL do either. This is not a viable capture method.

Some form of TBC is required, or frames will drop. The weakest form is certain Panasonic DVD recorders (not just any random recorder), with a strong+crippled line TBC and non-TBC frame sync. It's not perfect, there are artifacts and issues, but better than nothing.

Oh, those exist. I have sample captures somewhere, especially from ES10/15 output (as I was focusing on the many errors of those machines, and why the half-baked idea of it being a "TBC replacement" is ridiculous).

Noting that you can disable dropped frames reporting if not careful, so this can mean nothing until settings are confirmed.

Ridiculous.

This is too often overblown, often by those that don't understand what is happening. "It makes a tiny 1% change, maybe, so it's just as bad as a 99% change by not using one at all." -- That's so insane to have the sort of mindset. 1% potential (A>D>A) is not "the same" as 99% likely (by using nothing).

Can't speak to all of your points, but...

1. I was agreeing with you on QTGMC being superior to Yadif2x

2. I definitely have at least one Panasonic DVD recorder that has ES10/15-like abilities that will output 480i over HDMI, so I can assure you that they exist. I believe it is the norm on PAL version Panasonics with hard drives and they kept using those chipsets much longer over there. The PAL versions are made in Slovakia rather than China. They still work with NTSC signal passthrough and US mains voltage. You can even region unlock them for worldwide DVD playback with the right remote codes if you're into that.

definitely have at least one Panasonic DVD recorder that has ES10/15

I have 2 Panasonic DVD ES10 recorders, all failed.

Regarding my resizing, what is a good method for that?