Scrambled video in VirtualDub VHS capture?

[FLGuy83]

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!

[msgohan]

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.

[lordsmurf]

That EIT site is fugly.

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.

[FLGuy83]

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!

[lordsmurf]

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.

[FLGuy83]

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!