Input on VHS capture quality

[jtech1]

I am just getting started with some testing... and still have a few pieces of equipment to procure... but I am looking for feedback on a few issues I am seeing.

These two screen captures were taken as follows: VCR -> SVideo cable -> VC500 -> VirtualDub using Huffyuv (showed 0 dropped and 0 inserted frames). Play in VLC and stopped on the same frame in both to grab screen capture with SnagIt.
The beach video was originally shot on a Pana full size VHS video camera in 1995. This was a copy of the original tape (I figured this would test the TBCs in the VCR and give worst case results as compared to capturing the original recordings on all my other tapes. I included two captures from same VCRs of first gen movie tape for comparison (dogs).
The two VCRs used were a JVC 9900 and a Pana 5710.
I am still going to be getting a better capture card, and probably external TBC.
The other unit I used is circa 2008 Sony VCR/DVD deck with composite and no TBC... and the picture had terrible flashes of garbage all the way through... these were not present on the JVC and Pana decks I used for the images below.


My main questions I am looking for help with are:
1) Are the garbage lines at the bottom typical and not a sign of any capture or VCR issue?
2) Looking at edges of vertical objects (view teh full size image, not the thumbnails embedded below) you see a lot of shifted lines on both. I thought the line TBC was supposed to correct this?
3) I set VirtualDub to capture 720x480. Is this correct for SVideo?

Would a better capture card help with these issues? Any general feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[KarMa]

If your JVC supports EDIT mode, I would use that instead of the other options like Normal or Sharp.

[jtech1]

The two images of grass/dog were captured from video recorded by EZGrabber, and I just noticed they are 720x540. There is no 540 on the "Custom resolution" menu in VirtualDub, and when I tried to set VirtualDub to 576 it caused issues... I will have to try it again... honestly, I forget what the issue was. Under custom video formats, I don't think I change it from UYVY... but I see some examples on here set to YUY2... is there a thread that explains these settings?

Do these images tell you if the VCR heads are in good shape? Do you see anything that indicates they may not be?

[jagabo]

1) Are the garbage lines at the bottom typical and not a sign of any capture or VCR issue?

It's normal and most VCRs will have them. It's called head switching noise.

2) Looking at edges of vertical objects (view teh full size image, not the thumbnails embedded below) you see a lot of shifted lines on both. I thought the line TBC was supposed to correct this?

I think you're confusing comb artifacts caused by motion with those caused by horizontal time base jitter. Look at individual fields. Vertical lines are pretty straight. So the TBC is working, especially since it's a 2nd generation tape.


[Attachment 40784 - Click to enlarge]

3) I set VirtualDub to capture 720x480. Is this correct for SVideo?

Yes, for NTSC video. For PAL video it should be 720x576.

Would a better capture card help with these issues?

No.

Play in VLC and stopped on the same frame in both to grab screen capture with SnagIt.

A better method is to open the video in VirtualDub, use Video -> Copy Source Frame To Clipboard, then paste into an image editor. Or use VirtualDubMod and Video -> Snapshot Source Frame.

And video samples are better than still images.