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  1. Hi,
    I know this is a well posted topic but I have spent the last couple of days searching posts to find if anyone has actual resolved the FLICKER or in my case strobbing capture from VHS S video using the Black Magic Intensity Pro capture card. So far I have had no reply from the BM team on the subject.

    If my understanding is correct I need a TBC to resolve this but I can not work out if I need a line TBC or a frame TBC or both. I would love to hear from someone who has resolved this problem and what kit he / she is using.

    To be honest I find this card too much of a prima donna. It would not work with my existing HDMI graphics card eventhough my PC has been displaying and editing HDV for a couple of years now, I have had to upgrade to some fancy gaming graphics card with 2 gig of memory just to display the capture preview. It now tells me that my hard drive transfer rate is too slow yet windows gives me a rating of 6.2 for that, anyway I digress, but I have become fed up of throwing money at this bit of kit when I wonder at the end of the day if my s video vhs capture will be any better than a £30 honestech video box I have.... sorry to rant

    Help desperately needed and now skint !

    Paul
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  2. You should post a sample of your "flicker" caps. But the Intensity Pro is overkill for capturing VHS and won't give you caps that look any better than those from a decent standard definition capture card.
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  3. Hi jagabo, not sure how to do that as I don't use screen cap software but will have a look.

    All thats happening on S Video capture of any VHS source is the signal is being dropped loosing picture and sound 3 or 4 times a second or all together for a few seconds. When the capture file is played back in divx, media player, VLC, Vegas 11 or what ever its the same. Googling the net it seems to be a common problem aned put down to the Time Base requirements of the capture card. I have no problems with capturing s video upto 1080i from any digital source.
    Reason for capturing VHS with an intensity pro is very simple cos non of my 12 previous capture cards are supported by Windows 7, and I am predominantly HDV now but saying that I can remember once posting that I could not understand why anyone would want to move on and not capture with the original Pinnacle Studio !! I think there are still improvements to be made in the world of VHS capturing, I have 22 years worth of VHS original tapes that I keep squeezing a bit more quality out of

    Never had anything to do with TBC units as I have always seen them as production studio kit but I guess that the cost of that kit has come down so much it's ended up in my PC!

    Has anyone used a TBC with the Intensity pro?

    Ta
    Paul
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  4. Banned
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    How do you know an external TBC will kill the flicker? Even if you knew how to post a screen capture, it wouldn't tell us much (still images don't flicker). By a "sample" we mean a few seconds of the video you've captured. Popular frame TBC's are available for $200 to $400. An external line TBC will cost plenty more.

    What do you mean by "VHS s video" capture? Do you mean you're capturing from S-VHS tape? Or do you mean you're capturing VHS tape thru an s-video cable? S-VHS and s-video aren't the same thing. S-VHS is a tape format; s-video is a type of data transmission.
    Last edited by sanlyn; 22nd Mar 2014 at 09:25.
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  5. Sorry i'll try and be more specific, I am trying to record video signals from VHS and SVHS tapes using a VHS tape player and also a device which is a SVHS camcorder (both support the SVHS standard incase you are wondering) using a lead plugged into the S Video output socket on the said equipment which video information is encoded on two channels: luma (luminance, intensity, "Y") and chroma (colour, "C"). This is plugged into the breakout cable on the Blackmagic intensity pro card on my hi-specification PC and are using their supplied Media Express version 9.1 capture software.

    "How do you know an external TBC will kill the flicker?" Well I don't but there are posts on this site that say it will but are not specific so hence my post asking if those people who have come to this conclusion, Have they tried it ? did it resolve the problem and if so do I need a line tbc or frame tbc or both. As you say they are expensive bits of kit so I need to know which ones worked on resolving the problem before I buy!



    Here is some video i have captured.

    ta
    Paul
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    Thanks for the sample and the info. Does this tape play normally when direct to your tv instead of during capture? Is it a problem with this tape sample, or with all tapes you capture using the setup you describe ?
    Last edited by sanlyn; 22nd Mar 2014 at 09:25.
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  7. Originally Posted by harleydee View Post
    All thats happening on S Video capture of any VHS source is the signal is being dropped loosing picture and sound 3 or 4 times a second or all together for a few seconds.
    That's a much better description of your problem than "flicker". Indeed that describes a loss of sync on the part of the capture card (and I've seen your sample now). But a TBC may have the same problem of the signal is too far off spec. A TBC basically captures the video, stores it in a frame buffer, then outputs a signal with perfect timing from that frame buffer. If the TBC can't sync to the source video the contents of that capture buffer will be corrupt, much like your captures.

    From what I've read, the Intensity Pro is very sensitive to timing problems. Maybe from an overactive Macrovision detector. TBCs are designed to handle slightly out of spec sync so one may work for you.
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  8. Thanks Jagabo thats the conclusion I have come to, will probably try a cheap TBC and see what happens.

    Sanlyn, tapes play fine on any of my 5 VCRs and analogue camcorder and get the same problem from all these so its not the tapes or player. Can capture S Video signals from any digital source ok so leads, card and software installed and functioning ok. Its when capturing from VHS either Composite or S Video outputs I have the problem.

    Still nothing from Blackmagic. Not been pleased by the lack of support from these people but really pleased with this forum.

    I am open to further comments please and will let you know the outcome.
    Thanks
    Paul
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  9. Member vhelp's Avatar
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    i could be wrong, but are your equip pal_60 ?

    theres been know problems with that region setup for some capture cards. maybe try a different setting.

    just for kicks i removed all the black frames to see if video would play smoothly but that failed since there are other possible issues, perhaps dropped frames during capturing, or is part of the sync issue. anyway.

    i wish there were an easier script way to detect all 'black' frames (ie rgb 0,0,0) and remove them in real-time during script run, but after a few hours thinking about it i gave up. but something like the pseudo code below might work, in script language of course or maybe someone could code it in their spare time and post it the next time a situation calls for it.

    function isBlackFrame: integer
    begin
    if frame is black then return isBlackFrame=framenumber;
    end;

    deleteframe(isBlackFrame)


    anyway, as an excercise, if you copy/paste code below into a text file and saveas filename.avs, and open in virtualdub, it should play with a bit of distortion.

    Code:
      x = "D:\demo - of flicker - Untitled 01.avi"
    
      LoadPlugin( "C:\PLUGINS\ffms2.dll" )
      A = FFAudioSource(x)
      V = FFVideoSource(x)
      AudioDub(V, A)
      swapfields
    
    ## numbers inside () we keep, the rest we throw away inside deleteframe() ##
    
    #0,1,2,(3),
    #4,5,(6),
    #7,8,9,10,11,(12),
    #13,14,15,(16),
    #(31),
    #32,(33-36),
    #37,38(39), 39,40,(41), 42,(43), 44,45,(46-48)
    #49,(50-55),(59-61),(64-68),(70-71),(73-81),(86-89),(93),(95-98)
    #(101),(103-110),(113-114),(119-121),(127),(137),(141-143),(146)
    #(149-150),(152-153),(158-159),(162-165),(171-174),(176-177)
    #(179-183),(187),(189-190),(192-193)
    
      DeleteFrame(
    \0,1,2, 
    \4,5,
    \7,8,9,10,11,
    \13,14,15,
    \17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,
    \32,
    \37,38,
    \40,
    \42,
    \44,45,
    \49,
    \56,57,58,
    \62,63,
    \69,
    \72, 82,83,84,85, 90,91,92, 94,
    \99,100, 102, 111,112, 115,116,117,118, 122,123,124,125,126,
    \128,129,130,131,132,133,134,135,136, 138,139,140, 144,145,
    \147,148, 151, 154,155,156,157, 160,161, 166,167,168,169,170,
    \175, 178, 184,185,186, 188, 191)
    Last edited by vhelp; 4th Mar 2012 at 16:58.
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  10. Thanks Vhelp, We use PAL I ( 50 fileds 25 fps) here in the UK. THe only options I am given for analogue capture in the Intensity setup are PAL and PAL Progressive. They do not say which PAL system they are. All the flavours of PAL are 50 field except PAL M which is 60f 29.9fps and I think is Brazil.

    Ta
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  11. harleydee, did the TBC work? I'm having the exact same issue. I'm about to purchase a DataVideo TBC-1000, but want to make sure this will indeed fix the issue.

    Ditto on response from Blackmagic - nothing.
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  12. Hi, I have ended up with a 1T-TBC from TV One who I found very helpful in sorting out the problem. It works a treat and the results are fantastic making most of my 24 year old VHS-c camcorder tapes look the same quality as broadcast SD video. I am now re-capturing 20 years worth of tapes !!

    Interestingly, I get the best result capturing from a new budget S-VHS JVC player/ recorder (HR-S5965) I purchased and put away in a cupboard some 10 years ago incase they became extinct than capturing from the original Panasonic camcorda or Panasonic dubbing editing player both of which I kept as they were the origuinal recording machines and both of which have been serviced recently including new belts. They produce a "better" looking analogue picture but the TBC does not seem to like them as much as the newer but much cheaper machine.

    Anyway well pleased that I am now reaping the rewards of my investment and thanks everyone for your help.

    Cheers
    Paul
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