Need advice: Should I add a dedicated sound card to my VHS capture setup?
 

Hi everyone,
I'm digitizing some family VHS tapes and would love some input on whether I should add a dedicated sound card to my current setup. Here's what I'm working with:
Current setup:

- VCR: LG RC 388
- Connection: S-Video and RCA to upscaler
- Upscaler: Yitrox HD Video Converter (outputting 1080x720p)
- Capture Device: Elgato HD60 X (connected via USB)
- Software: Elgato 4K Capture

Computer specs:

- Laptop: Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 2i
- OS: Windows 10 Pro
- Processor: 11th Gen Intel Core i7-1165G7 @ 2.80GHz (4 cores, 8 logical processors)
- System Type: 64-bit

I'm primarily focused on preserving family memories, so both video and audio quality are important to me. The results I'm getting are pretty good, but I'm wondering if adding a dedicated sound card like the Behringer UCA202 would noticeably improve the audio quality?
My questions:

1. Given my current setup and computer specs, would adding a UCA202 (or similar device) provide a significant improvement in audio quality?
2. If yes, how much of a difference should I expect?
3. Are there any downsides to adding this to my setup (like increased complexity or potential sync issues)?
4. If you don't recommend adding a sound card, are there any other tweaks you'd suggest to improve my capture quality?
5. Is my laptop powerful enough to handle the capture process efficiently, or could it be a bottleneck?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer!

I can already tell which YouTube video led you to this capture setup. I haven't really tried a consumer grade upscaler/deinterlacer and I can't say for sure if there'd be a bottleneck in audio quality for that device. Shouldn't be too hard to test though - There should be audio frequency sweeps that you could play from YouTube to then feed into your capture device and see how that gets reproduced compared to the source when you record it. Something like this would work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Qvroo6zK8w

Another test might be to capture a section of audio with your device, then play the source back again live and switch between your recorded copy playing and the live audio from the source and see if you can tell a difference. If the live audio sounds better than the capture (has less noise etc), then you can probably do better with the capture hardware.

It's quite likely you'll get a better result with an interlaced capture and then deinterlace and scale after the capture. Downside is that's multiple steps and the lossless capture will take up quite a bit of space compared to what you are doing now most likely.

If you can post a sample of what you're getting with the current capture setup, that could be helpful in giving a general idea if the capture looks subpar compared to what others are getting with recommended setups.

It's difficult to know what difference using this or a more advanced sound card would make. Over the decades and as a general rule A/D converters for consumer use have been getting steadily better, cheaper and more compact. But it's hard to find proper technical specs for these consumer converters and so difficult to compare them "on paper". But as Aramkolt suggested why not upload a sample audio file(s) (no pictures needed) on anything you feel unsure about. As said, making direct comparisons between source and recording is a tried and true standby.

The proper way to record audio is with level meters to ensure we are recording a level adequately high enough but without overloading. I'm not sure whether your recording software has that facility. If it doesnt you can always check the levels "after the fact" in the digital audio files after uploading to your video editing program.

Welcome. :)

I'll reply later, when I get some more time.

That argument was sound 20, or even 10, years ago. In the now-mid 2020s, we live in an era of ~25tb CMR hard drives for ~$300. So no, that argument no longer holds. Lossless captures at ~35gb/hour is a trifle on such large drives.

It's an excuse now, not a reason.

Uh oh, back to the drawing board! Looks like I might have jumped the gun with my current setup. Thanks for the detailed feedback – it's given me a lot to think about. I've actually just found a video that might be a better starting point for getting my VHS digitization process on track - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKYNqZdqawc. What's your opinion on that guys?
I'll definitely be looking into capturing interlaced and then deinterlacing later, as you suggested.

I have seen the capture process you mentioned - I believe the creator of the video is probably a user here, but I am unsure of their username. That tutorial is very well done and is probably the most consistent with recommendations on this site. The only downside to the tutorial is that it doesn't compare different methods against each other, but his other videos do explore that to some degree.

Keep in mind that this tutorial does use an XP era computer for capture which may or may not be something you have access to. You most likely can find an older PC on Facebook marketplace for this purpose for under $50 and the theater 200 containing all in wonder card can probably be had for $25-$75 on ebay. The AGP variants are preferred for ease of finding the analog input cables (purple domino type) and they run more efficiently (less warm to the touch), though PCIE cards with the theater 200 chip are fine as well if they come with the analog input cables - you're far more more likely to find a motherboard that has that slot anyway.

Scouring throughout the forum I have found out on one or two posts that each ATI AIW card has its own specific purple breakout cable, e.g. AIW 9200 needs its own purple cable which is different than AIW 9000. Is it true? Or is it one generic cable that can fit all models of ATI AIW?

It's not generic, and several versions exist depending on card. All pieces are required.

Thank you for the clarification. I'm actually having a hard time finding a card that comes with the original cables. What's the best way to find a matching cable for the graphics card? Given that the cables aren't generic and several versions exist depending on the card model. Are there any reliable sources or methods to identify and acquire the specific cable needed for a particular ATI All-In-Wonder card?

Exact cable depends on card model. There were 3 iterations of cable.