I am embarking on a project to digitize a whole lot of old VHS tapes. I've already done a lot of research and know a little bit about what I'm doing, but I'm definitely no expert.

The problem I'm running in to right now is the video files I'm getting have what sounds like gunfire popping off most of the time. Here's my hardware and capture setup:

JVC HR-S9911U VCR
Datavideo TBC-3000

This svideo and audio output from here look and sound great on my tv.

windows 10 desktop 64-bit
i7-6700 3.4gHz
16GB Ram
blackmagic intensity pro 4K

I've tried capturing with blackmagic media express, virtualdub, and sony vegas (trial). All three exhibit the same problem.

I've trying buying a $10 "easycap" usb capture thing, and it also has the same problem (I was wondering if it was the blackmagic card).

At this point I'm relatively stumped. I would guess it might be the cable but it works fine on the tv itself, so I guess it's something I'm doing wrong on the computer. I've tried changing different capture settings and stuff but nothing is working. Any ideas? I am willing to get a different capture solution if necessary, but I'd rather stick with my current hardware if it's salvageable.

-- merged --

Oh, and another important piece of information is this only happens on the home videos. I've tried a couple regular movies and those capture just fine, it's only the home videos that have this problem. And it can't be the videos themselves because it doesn't do it on the tv. Also the actual audio *is* there, its not only the audio pops. But the popping dominates the real audio.

Try NORM instead of HI-FI for the audio output in the VCR menu.

I need to hear a small sample of just the audio as WAV.

Based off current information, you're probably getting distortion from the hardware.

Canopus boxes are notorious for less-than-ideal video and audio. It may be the Windows drivers acting wonky, as that box is from the days of Windows 98 and 2000.

At what level are you capturing the audio? Audio levels should be between 33% to 50%, not 100%.

Easycap is worse than Canopus. Not suggested.

Blackmagic cards have many errors on SD capturing. I've only seen video errors, but where there's one issue, there's usually more. I'd not be surprised by it. Those boxes are optimized by HDMI.

From Canopus boxing was nothing to read here.
Canopus also has video editing cards.

Do you know scharfis_brain?

He has given me a video tape 8 [movie recording is 21 years old]

All my equipment I used.

Maybe I will tell here the best option for digitizing.
Another possibility is that scharfis_brain me this in English writing.

Fact ............... Canopus NX is useful

http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/vide...n-avt8710.html

WAV of audio problems
 

Sorry for the delay in a response. I signed up to this forum because I'm at a loss for an actual answer and lately my answer has been to just ignore it! But oh well, on with finding a real solution.

Here's an audio sample of the problem I'm having. I'll reiterate that this problem is not present when capturing from a non-home video, and it is also not present when watching this same video on the same hardware but plugged directly into a television.

I'm not sure I understand how I'm supposed to configure the blackmagic capture card (unfortunately the documentation isn't much help. I think the Blackmagic Desktop Video Utility is how? At any rate there is a checkmark for "Use Hi-Fi Audio Levels" which doesn't seem to fix the problem. And when it is not checked then I can adjust the Channel 1 & 2 gains, which are currently set to 0.0 dB each. Is that what I'm supposed to turn down? A couple negative dB or something? Or is this something I would change in the capture program itself?

Thanks for any help. At this point I would absolutely be willing to drop more money at the problem if that's the easiest answer! I've gotten kind of frustrated with this so far.

-Steven

Attached is a snip the waveform.
The spikes come about 10/sec.
There is another lower level sloppy sine wave at about 357 Hz.

Almost as if there is some form of feedback loop at work.

You say this only appears in captured home recordings, but is not heard if the home recording is played directly to the TV and not captured. And commercial tapes capture OK. Does stereo vs. linear track make any difference in the capture?

If these were captured with the BM card analog inputs. Are the BM card analog or HDMI outputs connected to anything?

This is the sort of audio feedback from RFI. You get this, for example, when a cell phone is too close to the computer. It may or may not be in the Blackmagic card itself, but is created by a certain combination of hardware in use (both in and out of the computer chassis).

Do you know what machine(s) was used to make were the home recordings?