LS - How do my settings look? I am not sure at this point how or if I can improve my capture any more?. Of course I am still messing around with my proc amp.

I have the Sign Video Proc amp - I basically adjust the "black" and "gain" so that the VIDEO LEVEL stays at 100 (try not to hit CLIP) and BLACK LEVEL is at 7.5 (try not to hit 5). The video sometimes goes over these #'s but if the video is steady within these ranges I leave it. I dont really mess around with the "saturation" or "hue".

Is this correct?

The settings look fine.
You may want to use 720x480 instead of 640x480, depending on desired end-use.

For streaming application, 640x480 is fine.
For disc application, 640x480 is fine if later downsized to 352x480.
For disc application, 720x480 is better for Full D1 720x480 DVD-Video use.

I still don't see how ATI MMC could look better or even different from VirtualDub here. Are you making that judgment based on the capture preview, or by comparing actual captured video files side by side? Be open to the possibility that you have a false perception, sometimes referred to as "being in your head/imagination". Don't worry, it happens to all of us at some point. Human senses can be easily deceived. In fact, quite a few restoration techniques prey upon false deceptions, triggering or exploiting psychovisual stimuli.

Well I am back at it. It took a while, but I received back two tapes I had done thru this site. Basically I got the two tapes done to use as a bench mark of what can be done. Now it's my turn. As mentioned in this thread earlier, I think I have the ATI settings down for capturing avi, but I am still not sure if I have the VirtualDub setting correct. The tutorial has an earlier version than what I have installed - 1.9.8. Can anyone verify the proper settings?

When I do capture (1 min clips)- while I am capturing, the video looks like it's in slow motion. When I review the capture it's normal, but sometimes the audio is out of synch wight the video. What could be causing this?

On a hardware note- I am thinking of adding a mixer to my equipment (Behringer 802) KP - is it worth while?

The biggest limiting factor on your tapes is underexposure -- scenes that are dark, lacking color saturation, and heavily influenced by the color casts of artificial lights in the room. The most that can be done is to balance out exposure to see faces, reduce saturation to hide some of the color cast noise, and then fix the rest as best as can be done in Premiere or VirtualDub (mostly Premiere). There's also some further NR that can be done in Avisynth and/or VirtualDub, to remove color noise and just noise in general.

The audio can also have a lot of hiss, removed both by a good mixer before the capture, and through software after capture.

VrtualDub's capture function hasn't changed since at least version 1.6.x. Don't use 1.10.x yet, stay on the 1.9.x branch.
The guide is still very accurate.

This might be an issue with your preview mode.

The 802 is good, but the 1002B is much better. I'd get it for $110.

• 802: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...SIN=B000J5XS3C
• 1002B: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...SIN=B0027B41P0

I like the 1002B because it has EQ on the RCA inputs, too. The 802 doesn't. To use EQ on the 802, you'll need to get RCA>2.5" stereo adapters. However, I've sometimes found noise issues with those wires. It's really an issue with the specific wires in use, more than anything else. Given the cost of quality wires, I'd just assume pay another $60 and get the RCA-friendly model instead, because I have a spool of quality RCA cabling.

Just buy what you can afford reasonably -- both units are quality. :2cents:

You guys are makeing me go broke! :) Well I think I am going to pick up the 1002B tonight after work at Guitar Center. Same prices as on-line. Is there a good tutorial on proper settings?

Regarding the VirtualDub "preview mode" How can I test? What might be causing it?

Regarding the "underexposure" of the tape you worked on for me. This tape was at the extreem of dark scenes that I have in my collection. Basically tapes from a few Christmas's for my B-day at a relatives house. Very poor lighting in all of them. The rest of the tapes are not nearly as bad. Thats a good thing I guess.

-- merged --

Ok. Silly question, but what is the best way to hook the 1002B to the system? I have a set of RCA (red & white) from VHS mixer 2 track input, then 2 track output to the AIW cable. Is this correct?

-- merged --

Ps- with this setting, I am getting no sound. Ugh! :mad:

The proper chain is this:
1 VCR >
2 mixer >
3 capture device (ATI card, in this case)

No sounds usually means something is wired wrong, volume is off somewhere, etc.

It works fine without the mixer in the loop? Not sure why a setting could be affected when the mixer is added to the chain?

I am using RCA cables plugged into the " 2 track input/output jacks" section of the board. Should I try maybe other plugs like the 1/4 TRS jacks? It seems so simple yet for the life of mean, I can't figure this out!