Hauppauge HD PVR for capturing subtitled PAL VHS at H.264 — decent for OCR?

[eonmc2]

Hi everyone,

I'm considering using the Hauppauge HD PVR (49001 LF, Rev F2) for capturing PAL VHS tapes with hardcoded (burned-in) subtitles. My main goal is to perform OCR processing on these captures, as there are no newer releases with softcoded subtitles in my language.

My question:
Does the H.264 compression at the maximum bitrate (13.5 Mbps, 576p50 or 576i50) risk blurring the text so much that OCR would fail? Is this device "good enough" for reliable OCR processing at its highest bitrate?

Quote:

HD PVR Specifications https://www.hauppauge.com/pages/prod...ata_hdpvr.html

• Hardware encoder
  • H.264 AVCHD video encoder
  • Recording datarate: from 1 to 13.5 Mbits/sec (user selectable)
  • Recording format:
    • PAL: 720p50, 1080i50, 576p50, 576i50, 480p50, 480i50

I'm considering this HD PVR mainly because of its S-Video input and built-in hardware H.264 encoder. I understand that H.264 is lossy compared to HuffYUV or FFV1 workflows, but the real-time hardware encoding seems very convenient for my needs.


Equipment I have collected so far:

VCR:

• JVC HR‑S7600EK
• JVC HR‑S7722EU

TBC:

• AVT‑8710 (black)
• Panasonic ES10

Capture devices:

• Pinnacle 710-USB
• ATI Radeon 9000 Pro 64 MB All‑in‑Wonder (AGP , with purple 8‑pin VID IN cable)

I'd appreciate any insights or experiences you might have with this setup, especially regarding subtitle clarity and OCR reliability.

Thanks in advance!