Next steps for digitizing VHS?
 

My current status:

• iodata gv-usb2 (I think the driver is current but my Japanese is not too good even with Google)
• an unused TOSHIBA VCR - I verified internals are clean and it alone
• downloaded vdub 1.9.11 and huffyuv 2.1.1

First question: I have captured two 2-minute trial clips, one uncompressed and one using Huff. One is ginormous and the other is huge. (See attachment.) Is this normal? The settings for the capture were the ones recommended in: https://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/vid...-settings.html

Second question: My end goal is to get ~60 VHS tapes (various lengths) converted to MP4 to share with my family. I think deinterlace and compression are next steps. Is that correct?

Third question: I have seen comments for QGTMC for deinterlace. Is this what I should utilize? I have also seen comments for Handbrake and have installed that on my pc. Can this be used to interlace? My desire is excellence but would be satisfied with something close to this as long as it is not too onerous. Just not too sure where to go from here.

Any assistance would be appreciated.

Welcome. :)

Replying as I read...

You lack any sort of TBC (neither line nor frame). This will never work. The outcome will always be wiggly video, lots of red/blue (chroma) image noise, with dropped/inserted frames (and likely some audio sync issues).

A minimalist setup is a quality VCR (either high-end VHS, or low-end non-TBC S-VHS), combined with Panasonic ES10/15 type DVD recorders (used for passthrough). Gear can easily get vastly better, but this is merely minimalist (bare bones). Anything worse is vastly worse, "night and day" performance.

GV-USB2 is a not-worst (but also far from best) capture card with issues. Odds of running into problems is at least 50%, on average. Too many problems to be recommended.

Image noise can bloat file size by excessive amounts.

Correct. And Hybrid is your friend.
- capture lossless in VirtualDub
- convert to H.264/265 (in MP4 container), using QTGMC deinterlace, in Hybrid

Yes.

No. Handbrake is fine for converting DVDs you bought (the reason it exists), but it's a horrible program for captured files. (1) It doesn't do QTMGC, and (2) it generally gets the aspect ratio (AR) wrong. The software tends to fight you on the settings, whereas Hybrid "just works" (even if the interface is slightly more daunting).

That's really all anybody wants: video that definitely does not look worse than the tapes, and hopefully better. And here's the thing: the methods tools that ensure quality doesn't get worse, are also the same tools that make video look better. Note that bad VCRs made video look bad, as that's often not how the video/audio data exists on the tape.

Thanks for the quick reply. Well, it looks like capture is the first issue to correct from your response ...

First question, what is passthrough accomplishing? I don't have a problem with obtaining the Panasonic equipment (at least I think it won't be a problem) but just trying to understand. TBC?

Second question, the Toshiba is a model SD-V296-K-TU which does not mean a thing to me. Anyway, while my eyes may not be finely calibrated the output looked excellent. While I know there is better out there, could I have a hint on what to look for?

I'll go out and get HYBRID along with QTGMC.

-- merged --

Overlooked card comment on my quick response. I'm not much into gambling but 50% sounds like terrible odds. Any recommendations for replacement?

Passthrough is unique.

By our definition, passthrough is when a middleman units is able to apply filtering/etc when the signal is merely "passed through" it. (The jargon definition of "passthrough" sometimes actually means bypass, so be aware.)

The ES10/15 has a strong+crippled line TBC, with non-TBC frame sync. This was created for the DVD recorder, to record an incoming terrible VHS tape to DVD. But it works on passthrough, so you're not forced to used the lousy DVD recorder inside. It's merely used as a dumb "smart" box.

Toshibas do not have this feature.

Hybrid already has Avisynth (and Vapoursynth) in the installer package, and thus already contains QTGMC.

In terms of better capture cards, this situation is precisely why I have specific Pinnacle cards in the marketplace. (Not any random model, nor any random sub-version.) Links in my signature below.

What OS do you have, or can you have? Win XP/7 best, Win11 better than 8/10.

OS is Win11

Thank you.

I will take a look at the Pinnacle cards & again thanks.