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  1. Member
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    First, I've never posted here, so if this is not in the appropriate place, has been answered elsewhere or simply runs too long, I'm sorry.

    I've been converting my family's home video tapes to DVD for a while now. The usual process, which took some trial and error to achieve, goes like this: capture to M-JPEG avi with Nerovision; crop, correct aspect ratio and deinterlace with VirtualDub; pretty it up in VReveal and finally author the DVD in PowerDirector. It works fine, I like the results and I don't like running into things which may force me to rethink part of the process, but I'm posting here, so something did come up.

    So I have a few VHS tapes with louder-than-usual audio, which causes irritating distortions when recorded at full volume. Obviously lowering the volume would fix the problem immediately. Obviously the Universe won't let me get away with that.

    Here's the device I use for capturing:

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    The Zolid High Speed DVD Maker. It's a cheap USB thing but has served me well so far. It turns out, though, that it's impossible to change the volume of the audio that passes through this thing. You get two options: no audio, and full blast. If anyone has a way to give me some decent control over the volume on this device, that would solve the problem right here. Otherwise, well, read on.

    Naturally I then tried plugging my audio cable directly into my PC's line in port, which did finally enable me to set the volume to any level I damn well please. Sadly, it also gave the video stream (still coming in via the Zolid) a couple seconds headstart. Now I've had some synchronization issues in the past, usually when I record more than 15-20 mins of video, but I'm not prepared to find out manually by how many milliseconds the audio stream needs to be shifted around exactly because it's a nightmarish thing to do and I'm bound to get it wrong. I want my audio synced during capture.

    So now I'm hoping someone has an easy solution. I've been thinking (perhaps very wrongly) that it might help to have an internal capture card for my PC, where I can plug both video and audio cables in and have them record in sync again, while also being able to change the volume at will. Now I've looked around on eBay a bit and found this, a cheap PCI TV-tuner/capture card quite similar to the one I used in an older computer, way back when I first started this project. It has an audio input port, but I'm not sure wether that will guarantee a correctly synced video file. If anyone knows wether this would solve my problem, or knows of any other solution, well... I'd be very happy with that. Thanks.
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  2. Member hech54's Avatar
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    Both of my VHS players have volume controls/adjustments buried in their menus. I found after I had the same problem as you are having....you might want to check that. Also I don't think de-interlacing is required or even recommended for DVD.
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  3. Member M Bruner's Avatar
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    After loading the captured file into VD, I would save a file as a Wave file (File->Save Wave). Then load the new Wave file into Audacity, Trim off the part of the wave file that throws your volume off. Save the corrected audio (File->Export as Wave..). Load the trimmed audio into VD (Audio->Audio from Other File...). Then do your "crop, correct aspect ratio and deinterlace with VirtualDub" procedure in in VD (see above), and continue from that point on.
    There are no problems - only chances to excel.
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  4. Member
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    Ah yes, I should probably have mentioned that I'm using an uncle's VHS player for its superior quality to ours, but he misplaced the remote control and there aren't many controls on the machine itself beyond 'power', 'play', 'stop' and 'rewind'. Maybe I should insist on another thorough search of his house...

    I think I added the deinterlacing to the procedure so I could watch the files on my computer as well, but I was nevertheless going to look into it again, especially since I discovered just today, while playing some newly captured clips, that MPC deinterlaced them on its own (it never did that for me before, perhaps it's because I cleared my computer and re-installed everything just this week).


    Edit: ^ I'll take a look at Audacity, do you mean it's possible to edit out the clipping caused by the volume, or were you talking about trimming the length of the audio to sync it up with the video? In the latter case, I've had to do that before and I really don't like it very much, it's difficult to get it just right. Of course, I'll have to resort to that anyway if there's no other option.

    Thanks for the replies so far

    Edit the 2nd: \/ Whelp, that's years of using MPC and I still didn't know I could do that (adjusting synch on the fly). That would make things easier for sure. It's just that I find it difficult to get right when the video doesn't have people speaking clearly into the camera, but I guess it's manageable... I'll also look at DelayCut, and that Audacity plugin. Still, if anyone knows if the PCI card I linked is any good, do let me know. I think it would still be easier if I could just plug the VCR straight into the PC.
    Last edited by Peter84072; 24th Jun 2011 at 10:11.
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  5. Originally Posted by Peter84072 View Post
    In the latter case, I've had to do that before and I really don't like it very much, it's difficult to get it just right.
    I don't quite understand. You can easily find out how much it's out of synch. Close enough anyway that you won't notice it any more. I play the video using Media Player Classic - Home Cinema. Use the +/- keys on the keyboard to adust the synch on the fly until it looks and sounds OK to you. I use DelayCut usually, to completely do away with the delay. Of course, you can also use Audacity, as M Bruner suggested. And yes, audacity can also lower the amplitude to do away with the clipping. There's even a plugin for Audacity that can help restore some of the lost quality:


    http://terrywest.nl/utils.html
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  6. Member 2Bdecided's Avatar
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    I'm with Peter - fixing synch issues will drive you mad - use a capture method that preserves sync!


    You can loop the audio through a mixing desk to change the volume. Or something with a headphone output.

    Or solder one or more appropriate resistors into a patch lead. Or buy the same thing in a box...
    http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110704878214#ht_2047wt_1135
    (there must be cheaper options, but I couldn't see them straight away).

    Cheers,
    David.
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  7. Member
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    Originally Posted by 2Bdecided View Post
    I'm with Peter - fixing synch issues will drive you mad - use a capture method that preserves sync!


    You can loop the audio through a mixing desk to change the volume. Or something with a headphone output.

    Or solder one or more appropriate resistors into a patch lead. Or buy the same thing in a box...
    http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110704878214#ht_2047wt_1135
    (there must be cheaper options, but I couldn't see them straight away).

    Cheers,
    David.
    Awesome, simple hardware solutions so I won't need to muck around with complicated software solutions is exactly what I need!
    In fact, my dad has an old amplifier sitting around here, which I think has a headphone output, so I'll have to take a look at that. Be awesome if it works, thanks for putting me on the right track in any case!


    E: Well, I've got it all set up and it seems to work like a charm. Haven't tried capturing yet (and won't until tomorrow), but playing the tape while previewing in the capture software it's obviously doing what it must. I really should have thought of it myself, so thanks again!
    Last edited by Peter84072; 24th Jun 2011 at 13:26.
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