Improving VHS Conversion Quality
1 Attachment(s)
Hey Guys -
I'm in the middle of digitizing my family's old VHS tapes initially recorded in the 80s/90s. Obviously, quality isn't what it is today, but have been researching to see if there's any way I could improve what I'm capturing either during capture or by applying filters afterwards. I read a couple of posts on this forum so wanted to post including my current procedure, hardware used, and a 10 second clip to see if anyone had suggestions. Procedure
I choose the below specs as they seemed to be good enough to capture all of the quality, but not result in a huge file size.
Any suggestions would be appreciated. Already gone through about a dozen tapes (1/5 of total) but will start over again if someone has thoughts for much better solution. Really appreciate the advice!! Thanks! |
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
|
Appreciate the reply...
I agree with your recommendations - especially the part about reencoding with a lossy format. The only thing is that after trying 2-3 demos, I've been unable to find any software other than RECentral (which comes with the hardware) that can capture from my device (ExtremeCap U3 CV710). Within RECentral, the only option for capture is MP4. It lists others, but they are all greyed out. I've tried changing (the few) settings to get the enabled, but nothing seems to enable them. I assume they only enable for other devices which the software supports. As mentioned, plugins are offerred for a couple of apps, but seemingly they only work for much older versions of the apps like Audition and Vegas (I think). With that being said... 1. Would the quality gained from using a lossless format, using different hardware, or anything else be noticeable to the naked eye/ear? 2. Does anyone know of software I might try which may be compatible with my hardware and provide more capture options? Thanks |
Yes, you need a better capture card. Don't just use crappy methods because that's all that a crappy card will allow. You're just butchering video needlessly. You can, and should, be better.
I'll answer the 1st post in a day or so. |
Since no one seems to want to elaborate on this, although I consider it an important thread:
Thank you for the posted sample. It does show signs of obvious problems, but it's an important post in that it demonstrate why the forum recommends certain equipment and methods, and why it recommends that certain equipment and methods should be avoided. In this case, from your description it appears that you're doing everything that we have always advised users to avoid: inferior playback from a DVD/VHS combo, playback distortion caused by linescan errors and no tbc, crosstalk and interlace noise caused by poor playback technology, distortion and temporal resolution loss caused by poor ddeinterlacing and frame decimation (discarding alternate frames), plus accumulated loss of definition and clarity and worsening distortion from multiple stages of lossy encoding. That's not to omit the grungy chroma and tape noise that adds to the distortion. Quote:
It's possible that you haven't seen the results of lossless capturing and processing, although browsing most tech forums such as this one would expose your view to lossy work, lossless results, good and bad video repair, and many other elements. Along lossless lines, here are a few posted results of video made with lossless capture, recommended brands and types of VCR, inclusion of linescan and frame timing tbc correction, use of recommended capture devices from expensive AGP cards to more affordable USB dongles, use of lossless codecs and lossless processing, recommended cleanup operations using preferred restoration apps instead of "editors", and no lossy encoding until the final delivery output stage. Here are a couple of quickie home video final results: test_sample_1a2.mp4 (4.9 mb) from a lossless capture: http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/atta...-sample-1a2mp4 Edited home_tape_rework.mpg from a lossless capture and lossless processing: http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/atta...tape_reworkmpg Slightly longer sample restored from lossless capture of a 1979 home recording off old analog cable TV, using a recommended player, time base correction, a preferred capture card, and lossless processing: http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/atta...back-samplemp4 Here is a longer 2.2 minute example of edits losslessly made from a lossless, unfiltered capture of a poorly mastered retail VHS tape ("Memphis Belle") and selected, unimproved scenes from the original lossless capture played with an appropriate quality VCR with time base correction thru a recommended capture device to lossless media. There was no further processing or filtering other than lossless cut-edits in Avisynth: http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/atta...ts_originalmp4 See if you think these lossless samples demonstrate better results. You can't expect quality results from poor equipment and destructive processing. There are good VCr's and other hardware available if you research for them, and good capture cards that we recommend for less than $50 USD. The optimal capture software used for all these samples was VirtualDub, which is free. |
Site design, images and content © 2002-2024 The Digital FAQ, www.digitalFAQ.com
Forum Software by vBulletin · Copyright © 2024 Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.