Scrambled video in VirtualDub VHS capture?
 

I'm new to all this. I help at a local arts non-profit called the Venture Compound where they have a pile of a couple dozen old CRT televisions stacked up, which they show strange old VHS tapes on. I'm trying to upload snippets of some of the tapes, a bit like everythingisterrible.com

I've begun some initial conversions. I have a Windows 7 Computer, an ATI 600 USB Card, and I've been using Vitualdub 1.10.4. and have access to a JVC HR-S6400S VCR, Sony SLV-679HF VCR and a Panasonic / Quasar VHQ-960 VCR.

Things were working until I attempted to capture the VHS tape the attached file comes from as an AVI file in virtualdub and it keeps getting scrambled. It plays fine on a TV. It happens in preview and capture. Is that copy protection? Or am I missing some setting in Vitualdub? I tried a different tape and I had no issues.

I've tried the following without any help: different VCRs, s-video and composite, different composite cable, restarting the computer, reseating the card.

I've attached the video compressed for size, but you should get the idea. Thanks for the help!

Yes, copy protection. That's what the ATI 600 does when it detects Macrovision.

P.S. Weird that the video is a little postage stamp in the centre of a big black frame.

That EIT site is fugly. :omg:

The video capture exhibits copy protection. You need a TBC to capture it. Copy protection (anti-copy, Macrovision) is an artificial video errors. A TBC corrects all errors, real or fake.

See also: http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/vide...time-base.html

Postage stamping suggests that you've not picked the right capture settings in VirtualDub. Or the wrong encoding settings to make the attached MPEG.

Thanks a ton for the help!

EIT is ugly - after all, everything is TERRIBLE!

I know I need a TBC, but until I have the spare cash for one of the recommended units, would a Sima SED-CM work decently? Also, does the Sima SED-EM remove copy protection?

One other option in terms of a TBC is that I see a lot of reasonably priced stereo receivers list a built in TBC. For example there's a cheap Yamaha RX-V559 for sale locally, and the manual lists it has having a TBC. How well do those work?

I really appreciate the help!

Sima filters don't do anything. You'd just be wasting money.

Understand that "TBC" is a loosely defined term. For example, a Canopus ADVC-300 claims to have a TBC, but nothing can be detected. It still drops frames, it still can have audio sync issues, still has massive chroma/color flaws, etc. You need an external framesync TBC (not just TBC, not just framesync). You don't need genlock, line TBC, etc.

The odds of a DVD/stereo receiver having a true TBC is nil.

This is why models are often talked about: the AVT-8710 aka CTB-100, and the DataVideo TBCs.

There are some others, but they just get more pricy in most cases.

Thanks, it's very confusing. I wasn't clear it needed to be a TBC AND framesync. Thanks for sharing all your knowledge to help people preserve and share the past!