Blocky, bleeding VHS video needs restoring
 

Well, the title describes some of the problem. Ok, to start: Several VHS tapes ranging over several years. This one that I'll be giving a sample of is of a wedding (personal friend).

Next, my setup.

JVC BR-S800U >> svideo >> Elite BVP-4 Plus >> Svideo >> ATI 600 USB >> CMC for capture.

I believe when I first signed up here, I remember talking with one of the admins, and they frowned upon the use of my pro JVC deck, but I've had great results before. But I will play advocate and I do think that another deck could possiblyyield better results, not just different ones. Anyway, just wanted to get that out of the way.

One problem you will see with the sample is that, when using the BVP, I have the split screen knob all the way to the left (counter-clock), but you can still see on the left of the video that the line doesn't go all the way left. I think this might be a problem with my BVP unit but am unsure. The only thing I turned/used on the BVP for this video was to brighten it up just a tad, that's all.

And finally, the big problem. Quality of the video is horrible, with lots of:

blocking
rainbows
color bleeding (besides the other obvious color accuracy issues)
noise
halo's/ringing

and perhaps some tracking errors, from the wavy lines?

I suspect this video was shot in SLP even though the whole video is only about 2 hours long. Hopefully some of the more experienced folks can give a few rousing words of wisdom :)

Also to note, when I attempted to clean some of the video with avisynth, it became a little better, but really, all the problems were still pretty noticeable.

Sample: http://www.mediafire.com/?d6l45k959n4kowv

I would also like to note that I am open to the suggestion of getting a different VCR. I've been looking for either a JVC 9600 or 9800, but the only ones up right now are over $600. Far to much for a VCR of any kind for me.

I've never seen 'pro' VHS deck that plays anything else than SP tapes. Is this an exception (SLP)?

That video has horrible MPEG2 artifacts("blocking") that has nothing to do with the JVC SVHS deck.

Perhaps you read it to quickly. I said that I SUSPECT it was recorded in SLP, but I have no idea if it was. I can do a quick lossless capture with lagarith to see if it's still there, but I will obviously not be able to upload much of anything since the size will be so large.

I suspect it wasn't. :)

Fine with me :) Means it should be a better tape. Just from watching the lossless capture right now, yes, there is almost no blocking anymore. But There is still the other assortment of issues. I plan on capturing lossless anyway, but wanted a smaller file for you guys to look at. Looking back, I can see that was a stupid decision.

2 files on their way.

Here they are:

http://www.mediafire.com/?v7ko4rr9npsqp51
http://www.mediafire.com/?w7ew7zwxzn9acw5

Video looks f--ed indeed. It's very difficult to say what's the culprit because I haven't used your VCR, capture card and I don't have the tape you're trying to capture. It looks like there's A) no internal VCR TBC, or B) time base errors are burned in at the edit. I've seen many wedding videos before look quite bad because they're edited using not-so-good gear and are n-th gen copies of the original tapes.

Btw you shouldn't capture to RGB24, that introduces unnecessary colorspace conversion away from the 'native format' and produces nothing more than a bigger files.

Maybe someone at the NTSC land can give you a better answer.

I didn't capture in RGB, it was YUY2, at least according to the settings I used in lagarith. And yes, the JVC unit I have has no internal TBC.

Virtualdub says the file is raw RGB24 and it works in here even tho I don't have Lagarith installed. :) Might be VD misreporting the colorspace but it ain't Lagarith.

Ah, nuts. Did it again. Forgot to change the compression method in the editor. I captured in Lags, but forgot about the editor. It's been a while since I captured tapes. I'm just going through again this time for better quality, since I've got a little more money to spend and more equipment.

If you have files that you'd like for Site Staff to look at, you'll need to attach sample clips to this post. Or use Dropbox.
Due to the unsafe nature of sites like Mediafire, which have been infested with malware ads in the past, we don't visit them.
It's also a time vampire having to wait on counters and other nonsense.

Instructions are here, if you need them: http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/news...ly-upload.html

Thanks.

Strange never happens to me. At best, there's a captcha box but instant downloads. I don't believe I've ever encountered a timer for MF and never has there been malware ads on it. Been clean for me. Can't attach downloads to this site as they are far to large.

I'll humor you. link:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/cvrhyx8gc3mwmyu/test1a.avi
https://www.dropbox.com/s/isczrnntkj45nyz/test1b.avi

You really should look into MF, it's a very nice site.

The Elite BVP-4 can be adjusted so that more of the screen is covered via a screw inside the case.

See this link:

http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/vcr-...-bvp-bvp4.html

Also judging by the look of the picture and the audio quality, this tape looks like an SP copy to me, not EP. Do you have any knowledge about when it was recorded and on what equipment? It looks like a mid to late 1990s 8MM hi-fi dub to me. Are you sure you're working with the original tape? The jacked up sharpening reeks of those 1990s Radio Shack 'Video Enhancer" type products that people used to make 'picture perfect copies of their tapes', it would be very unusual for the VCR to cause so much noise or for the tape to have been originally recorded that way.

No info on the tape and even if it's not the original, this is the only remaining copy in existence.

Just tried the trick mentioned in the repair FAQ for the BVP of turning the screw on the blue box and it didn't do anything. When I look at either CMC or Vdub for capturing, I don't see the line. But when I see the capture or play it back inside Vdub, it's there. I tried turning the screw several times clockwise and counterclockwise and nothing happened to the video.

Edit: Actually, what I found was that as I turn the screw counter-clockwise, it brings the line back over from the RIGHT hand side of the screen, reversing the effects of the BVP just as if you had the Split Screen knob turned all the way clockwise. This is the opposite of what I need. I then turned the screw clockwise again to put it back where it was. There is still a line on the LEFT hand side of the screen when I have the Split Screen knob turned all the way counter-clockwise.

Our policy was made after an ad injection exploit script uploaded crap to one of our local workstations back in 2010, and proceeded to replicate itself across the network. Thankfully, only 3 computers were on at that precise moment, so it was an easy fix. And several hours were wasted. Mediafire was the site with the infected ad script. Reports to mediafire.com went ignored, and my opinion on that service would require the usage of vocabulary that is disallowed by site rules -- if you get my drift.

We had a similar incident with Megaupload back in 2009. Seeing them taken down was schadenfreude. :cool:

Mediafire is also guilty of default-enabling garbage payloads, such as McAfee. Adobe.com is guilty of this, too, for Flash updates/installs. It's just bad computing policy to allow such invasive scripting by unreliable third parties. And beyond that, it's wholly unnecessary to simply share some files. Ads are one thing -- forcing you to (or tricking you into) download something is unacceptable and out of line with online ethics.

In addition to forum attachments, we give Premium Members temporary access to an FTP on an as-needed basis, to share samples. That's one of the benefits of a premium membership here at the site.

I'll look at your videos, and get back to you here in a follow-up post. :)

It's not that bad you can try this script to fix it:
new: http://imageupload.org/getfile.php?i...&n=new.jpg&i=1
original: http://imageupload.org/getfile.php?i...iginal.jpg&i=1

script: http://www.mediafire.com/?z362f9aefollxhd
same script with slight new tweaks: http://www.mediafire.com/?io7tltnv2iy4ukf

Would you mind post the scripts here? (Use the code brackets, which is the # sign in the editor.)
And then attach the images here, too? Instructions, if needed: http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/news...ly-upload.html

Thanks. :)

Yeah i would mind (it took me free time), you'll think twice next time lordsmurf before deleting pics.

Your images never embedded, actually. They were blank.
Again, that's the reason it's best to attach files to the forum -- those external services are all fubar in their own way.

Whatever

Video fully denoised+ color corrections (lagarith, 100 mb): http://www.mediafire.com/?fuduflz62qv6s2u

Instead of the old 2i2 template I would recommend http://doom10.org/index.php?topic=2178.0

Also it's better to avoid YV12->RGB->YV12 conversions.

If you had a choice between getting a JVC 9600 or 9911u, which would you get? I would lean toward the 9600, but it doesn't seem like the 9600 has a TBC like the other high end JVC units.

:rolleyes:

http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/vide...ing-guide.html

Yes, thank you for the typical answer. I've read that many times already, and it did not answer my question. I've also read the product page on JVC and the manuals for it. That's not what I'm interested in. What I am interested in, is in people's experience with BOTH machines.

I can see the 9600 is in Bold while the 9911u is not, but as stated, that does not necessarily mean the 9911u is far inferior to the 9600.

The 9600 and 9911 perform about the same, but the 9600 has the dynamic drum.
Given the choice between two available units, I'd pick one the 9600 -- this is why some units are bolded. They're the most preferred.

The 9600 and 9911 both have a TBC. That's covered in the guide. :)

Just bought a 9800u, should be here on the 9th. Hopefully this should provide a better picture/transport system than my current JVC BR-s800u.

Probably. :thumb:

The 9800 and 9600 are almost identical. Same for the 9900.
The only way it would look worse is if it were broken or malfunctioning in some way.

Thankfully, these JVC models are also pretty resilient, so the worst that tends to happen is
(A) misalignment over time -- you can thank the laws of gravity for that one), and
(B) loose s-video connectors over time

It also uses the JVC universal S-VHS VCR remotes, so any modern remote works fine. The 9800, however, has all controls available on the deck itself unlike many earlier and later models. But I'd still suggest using the remote, to extend the life of the buttons on the unit.

And if it ever has the 3-second shutdown issue, that is now documented on this site. It's a little black gear that can get stuck due to power outages, or other yet-unknown reasons. The only tool needed to fix it is your finger.

Other general usage tips are in site guides, and in posts in the forum. :2cents:

Well, got it today and I have to say, I'm not impressed :(. Immediately, when I put in my test video, the tracking was horrible, like it couldn't lock onto the video very well. Even with the TBC/NR feature on it didn't improve much. I find this very odd, because on my big bulky BR-S800u, I can manually adjust the tracking knob on it and it tracks the video just fine, whereas the "automatic Dynamic Drum" can't seem to get it right.

List of features turned on/settings:

Video Calibration >> On
Picture Control >> Auto
Auto Timer >> Off
Auto SP>EP Timer >> Off
Digital R3 >> On
Video Stabilizer >> Off (Also tried this On)
S-VHS Mode >> On
Timescan Audio >> On

I really hope this can be fixed, otherwise I just bought a nice big paperweight. Man, and I was so excited to get this too :(
Here's some video:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ul4iqfgcqpx6xmm/part1test.avi

You should be able to adjust the tracking manually. "Dynamic drum" or any other feature does not replace manual tracking for very f'ed up tapes. Do you have commercial tapes to test if the VCR itself works ok with known good tapes?

Yes, I have one. But have you seen the video? Even if manual tracking should fix it, the tracking on this VCR shouldn't be THAT bad as seen in the video. I even took the cover off and looked inside. The drum itself appears clean and in great condition.

EDIT: Just tried the commercial tape. It sucks too.

I do not have LAGS codec and ffmpegsource doesn't open the video (and I don't want to install Lagarith for this).

I'm considering sending the VCR to JOTS, but am a little intimidated by how much they might charge.

For a JVC unit, the inspection price is about $65 paid up front, plus whatever it costs to ship it. And that amount is later applied to any repair work, as needed. Although it's been a while since I've needed professional alignment help, I believe an alignment is covered in the base price. From what I can tell, the machine may simply be misaligned. You can attempt to tweak the tape guides, but for best possible EP/SLP mode playback, I'd just get a professional alignment run on it. The worst expense I've ever seen on a JVC S-VHS unit was about $125, mostly for re-soldering some loose components, and replacing some bad buttons.

Do you know how fast the turnaround might be?
Well, at least if I do get it serviced at JOTS and sell it here, people will know it's not crap, unlike how I got mine :)

-- merged --

Well, just sent it out to JOTS for some quality repairs. Should get there on Tuesday.

Few weeks. Not bad at all. :thumb:

Oh, come on. Join the party. Install Lagarith. You know your want to. Peer pressure, peer pressure!
It's actually not a bad codec. It's just not as good as Huffyuv. Lagarith has more CPU overhead that makes it less appealing as a capture format.

No, thats actually the UT-Video crowd. :p Lagarith just got a big boost in support as it has been added to FFMpeg, now you can at least use stuff like VLC to play the files.

... but is it on a Mac yet? No Mac, no love for Lag! :p

Huffyuv also has the cross-platform compatibility between Windows, MacOS and Linux that sometimes matters.
Locking yourself into an OS can sometimes be trouble on certain projects.

Check VLC 2.0's feature list, it should be there. I do know the FFMpeg support is decode only. If you have to re-compress on the Mac, you have to resort to another codec (like HuffYUV). That being said, Perian might not support it... ever since the project is coming to a close. Hopefully the last update merges in the latest build of FFMpeg.

VCR made it there last Wednesday morning. They should be calling on Monday with an estimate of what's wrong/how much it'll cost to repair.

Good news. Repairs are all complete and it arrived just fine. Now the unit works just like new, excellent picture and tracking.