My PAL VHS capture rig?
 

Hi All

Long time lurker, but finally got to capturing some of my old VHS-C Tapes (PAL Land)
I began Professionally editing in 2001, and the company I worked for we were firmly in the DV workflow by then, but as a teenager of the 90's, learning filmmaking, I've a ton of old tapes. Stuff I've shot myself on VHS-C and piles of old TV VHS recordings dating back to the 80's.
With tape-rot setting in (already have some casualties), I've grabbed together equipment I already had, and a few budget choices on ebay and finally began capturing.

It's not the best, but id rather have the tape digitised than chase the 'perfect' setup.
Like most a TBC is out of my budget, even the RetroTINK 5 is above what I can afford at the moment.

My Equipment inventory is...

JVC HR-DVS3 SVHS
JVC HR-S7000EK (untested, old machine)
Panasonic NV-HS830 SVHS (needs a clean after tests and a dodgy tape)
Panasonic DMR-ES15 SVHS (untested, old machine)
PC 01 with Pinnacle PCTV 100i - Wn10,64bit i7 3770, 16gigs ram, rx480
PC 02 with Blackmagic Intensity Pro - Ryzen 5700x, 32gis of ram, 3060 12gig. This is my main Edit Rig.

Worth mentioning I also have untested...

CAMLINK VMX5500 AV Box Composite Video Mixer
x2 AD184 PS 2 x Phono/SVHS Audio/Video 4 way Passive Switch Boxes.

VHS-C tapes are being played via an 90's Panasonic VHS Adapter.

I've done quite a few tapes using this chain...

JVC HR-DVS3 SVHS → PC 01 with pinnacle pctv 100i - S-Video in & Motherboard Line In for Audio (Asrock H77 Pro4/MVP)

JVC HR-DVS3 playback settings attached (Although ive gone with Edit not Norm for the Clip)

VHS-C tapes are being played via an 90's Panasonic VHS Adapter.

I'm using Virtuldub V1.9.11 to capture (build recommended and downloaded from Lordsmurf here) to lossless MagicYUV 4:2:2.
Virtualdub Settings are pretty much the recommended one's here, e.g DirectShow / 720 x 576 25fps.

I know MagicYUV was not recommended and to use Huffy or FFV1, but MagicYUV was already part of my regular Edit Chain and has been for years.

From what I've read, the Pinnacle 100i has really bad 2D combing, but using svideo bypasses this yes?
At the moment it beats the Blackmagic, as that would 'blue screen' if a fault or gap in a clip between shots occurred as outlined in threads here.

I've attached a lossless capture snippet, I'm quite pleased with the results.
Although probably not the best, what kind of shot would be optimal for members feedback?


Going forward I plan on putting together a VHS capture rig like so...

JVC HR-DVS3 SVHS → AD184 Switch Box V1 - Input 1 → PC 01

JVC HR-S7000EK → AD184 Switch Box V1 - Input 2 → PC 01

JVC HR-S7000EK → Panasonic DMR-ES15 → AD184 Switch Box V1 - Input 3 → PC 01

CAMLINK VMX5500 AV Box Composite Video Mixer → AD184 Switch Box V1 - Input 4 → PC 01 (for additional camcorders / sources if needed etc)

Any tips and advice would be much appreciated, but most of all thanks everyone here for there advice, knowledge and time-sharing both here. It's been great reading through the threads and really inspired me to put together the above and get a move on :)

I would avoid switch boxes and mixers at all cost. unless they have some kind of digital processing like DVD recorders.

Ew, long post. Replying as I read... :)

With PAL, DV isn't the end of the world, it's not as lossy as NTSC. PAL is somewhat halved chroma, while NTSC is quartered (half of halved). But lossless still best, especially if you want to later edit or restore any of it.

RetroTINK is a video gamer card, and not a TBC in any way.

Some form of TBC is required, and that's what you have.
- JVC DVS3 is your best player 90%+ of the time, assuming in proper condition
- ES15 is a essentially used for non-TBC frame sync here, leaving JVC TBC on most times

It's not ideal to not have frame TBC, but both items are quite decent.

That Pinnacle card is junk, Blackmagic not much better. That's your weak link here. You need a better card. (This is why I have cards in the marketplace, to make it easy for folks like yourself. Get one.)

The mixer and switcher are not useful here.

VHS-C adapter probably fine. Motorized?

VirtualDub 1.9.x fine.

MagicYUV is fine if it works. It often doesn't, hence why not suggested. Too CPU intensive for capture. And no, modern CPU doesn't matter, it's still single-core/thread.

7000EK is just too old.

Your attached screen shot is soft. That's from the capture card.

I see Hannover bars/lines in the clip, probably from the capture card. It has a "liney" or "rough scan" look to it.

Awesome squirrel clip! :D