VideoHelp Forum - Capturing and VCR

VideoHelp Forum - Capturing and VCR https://forum.videohelp.com/ Everything about capturing analog TV, S/VHS or Cam using Video cards, TV-Cards, or MJPEG or MPEG1/2/4 hardware realtime capture cards. Also VCR, VHS hardware recording problems. en Tue, 19 May 2026 18:30:28 GMT vBulletin 60 https://forum.videohelp.com/images/misc/rss.png VideoHelp Forum - Capturing and VCR https://forum.videohelp.com/ VHS tape has multiple color format that change during playback https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/420563-VHS-tape-has-multiple-color-format-that-change-during-playback?goto=newpost Mon, 18 May 2026 08:26:17 GMT Hi, I got a tape that consist of a compilation of recorded footage splitted into clips that chain together. The problem is that the tape likely contains PAL format colors and SECAM format colors, I just noticed that a part of my original capture record contained noisy colors of plain blue and... Hi,
I got a tape that consist of a compilation of recorded footage splitted into clips that chain together.

The problem is that the tape likely contains PAL format colors and SECAM format colors, I just noticed that a part of my original capture record contained noisy colors of plain blue and red and when I watched that part on my CRT with my VCR it just appeared fully colored without a problem.

I use virtualdub to record the tape.

Is there a way for it to change the color format by detection during the playback ?
Or do I have to record both part aside and merge them back together after the 2 records ?

Thanks for considering ]]> Capturing and VCR Hamilthon https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/420563-VHS-tape-has-multiple-color-format-that-change-during-playback Very strange problem with VHS https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/420557-Very-strange-problem-with-VHS?goto=newpost Fri, 15 May 2026 20:13:31 GMT Hi everyone! I have a very strange problem with my VCRs.

I have two VCRs: a JVC HR-J770MS and a Samsung SV-DVD3E. I'm getting constant blue/colored horizontal lines/noise on the screen.

I've tested this on three different TVs (two CRTs and one LCD), and the problem appears on both.

I've already tried:

- Two different SCART cables and one composite cable
- Several different VHS tapes
- Cleaning the heads

I'm completely lost and I really don't know what to do anymore, so if anyone has any ideas I would be very grateful even if it doesn't work :)

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]]> Capturing and VCR VicTeam https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/420557-Very-strange-problem-with-VHS Sony HVR-M25N Deck Problem https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/420556-Sony-HVR-M25N-Deck-Problem?goto=newpost Fri, 15 May 2026 10:13:42 GMT Hello there.

I recently bought this device. I have 200 HDV tapes to convert, but it's having this problem: when I turn it on, it makes a noise and then shuts down (Attached video File). I haven't taken it to anyone to fix yet; I'd like advice from the technicians here first. If the solution is too complex I'll put it up for sale.

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]]> Capturing and VCR Litaiff https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/420556-Sony-HVR-M25N-Deck-Problem Hi8 video Capture workflow - finishing to Atomos Ninja Blade https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/420545-Hi8-video-Capture-workflow-finishing-to-Atomos-Ninja-Blade?goto=newpost Wed, 13 May 2026 12:10:21 GMT Hi,

I hope anyone with skill can help,

I'm an amateur enthusiast trying to digitise my over 120 video8 tapes, (I couldn't afford using an external service for this so I decided to go solo)

I know you guys know your stuff,

Just wondered on a yay or nay in your opinion on the following setup:

Starting with a s-video out from Camcorder into the following setup:

1: SONY RDR-HXD870 (has a reasonable TBC), then out again via s-video to

2: Analgue-to-SDI converter (blackmagic design), into -

3: Decimator Design MD-HX - the out via HDMI cable to

4: Ninja Blade, (writing Pro Res LT 1080p)

Looking forward to any advice you may have

Cheers,
LP :cool: ]]> Capturing and VCR lpdg1 https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/420545-Hi8-video-Capture-workflow-finishing-to-Atomos-Ninja-Blade Audio drift with VirtualDub 1.9.11? https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/420521-Audio-drift-with-VirtualDub-1-9-11?goto=newpost Fri, 08 May 2026 22:45:04 GMT Hi all!

I've recently upgraded my VHS capture setup from barebones (standard VCR into ElGato) to something that is actually useful. (Please see "Capture Setup" below). I have been trying to capture through this setup, but I have noticed significant audio drift. This starts small, but by the end of an hour long capture, the audio is noticeably off (couple seconds behind).

Background
I retrofitted Windows 7 onto my HP EliteDesk 800 G3, which was a bit of a hassle, but seems to be running well now.
I have installed the recommended Windows 7 ATI TV Wonder 600 USB drivers that are available on this site.
I am sending both S-Video/Audio from the HS-U795 through the DVR-640H, and into my ATI TV Wonder 600 USB, which as far as I can tell is connected to a USB 2.0 port.
I am saving to a secondary internal SSD (OS not installed on it).
VirtualDub does not show frames being dropped.
Video is compressed with Huffyuv v2.1.1
Audio is not being compressed.
Audio Playback is disabled during capture.

Timing Settings:
[X] Drop frames when captured frames are too close together
[X] Insert null frames when captured frames are too far apart
Null frame burst limit: 10

Resync mode:
[X] Do not resync between audio and video streams

[X] Automatically disable resync when integrated audio/video capture is detected

Audio latency determination:
[X] Automatic - Number of audio blocks to use at start: 30

Things to note:
VirtualDub shows CPU usage fluctuating between 15%-50% (which seems strange to me, but maybe this is normal)
I am noticing jitter of -3ms at times, but I do not know if this is significant enough to cause a major delay.
I did try having audio bypass the DVR-640H entirely, but that resulted in worse drift.
I have experimented with multiple tapes, and drift is consistent across them.
I forget if I mentioned this, but I don't appear to be getting any dropped frames.
I did notice that the DVR-640H was set to "progressive" not "interlaced", so I'm trying an new capture now.
I wonder if some internal conversion is happening causing a progressive sync issue.

I have attached some screenshots of my configuration as well as capture in progress.

Thank you in advance for any help or suggestions. I'm looking forward to getting involved here.

Capture Setup

Hardware
VCR: Mitsubishi HS-U795
Line TBC: Pioneer DVR-640H
Capture Device: ATI TV Wonder 600 USB
Capture Software: VirtualDub 1.9.11

HP EliteDesk 800 G3 SFF
OS: Win7 Home Premium
Ver: 6.1.7601 SP1 Build 7601
CPU: Intel i5-7500 @3.40GHz
RAM: 16GB DDR4
C Drive: NVMe (Internal) 1TB
E Drive: SSD (Internal) 512GB
BIOS: HP P-1 Ver. 02.50

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]]> Capturing and VCR dream_emulator https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/420521-Audio-drift-with-VirtualDub-1-9-11 Tapeless analog capture advice request https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/420519-Tapeless-analog-capture-advice-request?goto=newpost Fri, 08 May 2026 19:13:06 GMT Hello,

I've been looking at analog tapeless options available and have a question, wich of these options is superior? Any other options that's not some insane ccd sensor hack to propose? My budget is around 100-150 for the whole setup.

-Mini DVR: Cheap but seems not fitting for analog, apparently they capture only half the lines with interlaced video so meh, and audio is garbage

-UNISHEEN UR230A and all it's clones: Same apparently, its probably "ok" for digital to digital but not for analog to digital, and its quite expensive really for what it is (im seeing it between 70 and 110€).

-Blackmagic and other professional devices: Too expensive for me i think

-Raspberry Pi 3B(wich i already have for another project): seems i can cook up something, but i might have to upgrade to a pi 4B to have PCI and a NVMe drive (to write the video files and not go through usb or sd card wich use same bandwidth).
Basically i got a Hauppauge WIN TV USB-Live2 (composite and S/Video input and works in linux and most likely on a Pi) usb dongle for about 45€, and the Pi3B was 25€, still cheaper than a unisheen,but i do need to get buttons, maybe a screen and a battery.
The pi would run software to capture the video in USB from the dongle, no deinterlacing on the fly (a 4B with good RAM could deinterlace on the fly i think?), just writing with probably some compression if Pi 3B and could be lossless with Pi 4B (matter of traffic in the USB ports and cpu load, the Pi 3B is a little short for capturing as best as possible). Then deinterlace later on on PC or in the Pi.
I know it sound complicated, but, firstly its fun and interesting, secondly i can setup things how i want and its probably still a bit cheaper than a professional setup already built? i'd say 130 150€ total maybe if i manage to get good prices.
Could also plug it in at home on my other Hauppage capture device that has component input, so it double as a home capture device

I am getting some camcorder as of now and planning on getting one camcorder for the most common vintage formats.
Let me know if there is options i havnt seen yet and thank you for reading! ]]> Capturing and VCR Azhash https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/420519-Tapeless-analog-capture-advice-request Wanted: Toshiba-W704 VCR https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/420507-Wanted-Toshiba-W704-VCR?goto=newpost Wed, 06 May 2026 03:03:51 GMT Anyone have this model vcr? I need it for a project if anyone has one to sell. Please message me. thanks Anyone have this model vcr? I need it for a project if anyone has one to sell. Please message me.

thanks ]]> Capturing and VCR jham55 https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/420507-Wanted-Toshiba-W704-VCR Domesday Duplicator - good, or no? https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/420494-Domesday-Duplicator-good-or-no?goto=newpost Mon, 04 May 2026 03:07:16 GMT Hi. Are the Domesday Duplicators, or VCR Decode (https://www.videohelp.com/software/VHS-Decode) devices, a good investment? Do they really help clean up a VHS tape enough so it can be digitized? I am really interested in this. Please, if anyone can give me the scoop on these devices, and if... Hi. Are the Domesday Duplicators, or VCR Decode devices, a good investment? Do they really help clean up a VHS tape enough so it can be digitized? I am really interested in this. Please, if anyone can give me the scoop on these devices, and if they are worth buying, i'd appreciate it. ]]> Capturing and VCR snafoo https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/420494-Domesday-Duplicator-good-or-no Kudos to whoever can figure out what other models have this VCR Chassis https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/420484-Kudos-to-whoever-can-figure-out-what-other-models-have-this-VCR-Chassis?goto=newpost Sat, 02 May 2026 16:01:01 GMT This has been about impossible. Does anyone know of another vcr model that his this chassis and Drum? Nobody has seen this before. I need to find a replacement. It was in an RCA T19065 TV VCR combo. This has been about impossible. Does anyone know of another vcr model that his this chassis and Drum? Nobody has seen this before. I need to find a replacement. It was in an RCA T19065 TV VCR combo.

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]]> Capturing and VCR jham55 https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/420484-Kudos-to-whoever-can-figure-out-what-other-models-have-this-VCR-Chassis black and white image with horizontal purple and green stripes https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/420483-black-and-white-image-with-horizontal-purple-and-green-stripes?goto=newpost Sat, 02 May 2026 15:58:29 GMT Hi, I'm using the Gembird USB Videograbber (Chipset: UTV007) and VirtualDub2 to digitize a HI8 cassette through a Sony CCD-TR713E camera. Most of the digitized material is in black and white with purple and green horizontal stripes. Sometimes, there are a few frames in normal color. Sometimes, entire episodes that were filmed later are also in normal color. Sometimes, the black and white parts alternate with the color parts at a specific pace until everything becomes black and white... Please tell me what the problem might be and how it can be solved. It's really frustrating to see this black-and-white-purple-and-green sh**

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]]> Capturing and VCR Fitzcarraldo https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/420483-black-and-white-image-with-horizontal-purple-and-green-stripes Multiple Blackmagic Intensity Pro cards simultaneously - Media Express conf https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/420476-Multiple-Blackmagic-Intensity-Pro-cards-simultaneously-Media-Express-conf?goto=newpost Fri, 01 May 2026 11:07:58 GMT Hi everyone,

I'm running a VHS and magnetic video digitization business and recently built a dedicated capture PC with 3x Blackmagic Intensity Pro cards installed simultaneously.

The good news is that Windows recognizes all three cards correctly, and OBS picks up video and audio from all of them without issues. However, I cannot get Media Express to work with any of the three cards. It detects them but shows no video signal, even though the signal is clearly coming through (confirmed via OBS). My guess is that the three cards are conflicting somehow within Media Express.

My questions:
1. Has anyone successfully run multiple instances of Media Express simultaneously, one per Intensity Pro card? Is this even possible, or is Media Express limited to a single instance?
2. If multiple Media Express instances are not feasible, what would you recommend as the best capture configuration in OBS for VHS digitization?

My current workflow (when Media Express works on my single-card setup) is: capture uncompressed interlaced MOV via Media Express → compress to H.264 and deinterlace to progressive in Adobe Media Encoder. The results are great and I'd love to replicate this quality at scale with 3 simultaneous captures.

Any advice from people who have worked with multiple Blackmagic cards in parallel would be hugely appreciated.

Thanks! ]]> Capturing and VCR Ferggue https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/420476-Multiple-Blackmagic-Intensity-Pro-cards-simultaneously-Media-Express-conf GV-USB2 vs. ATI TV Wonder 600 USB https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/420448-GV-USB2-vs-ATI-TV-Wonder-600-USB?goto=newpost Fri, 24 Apr 2026 14:38:10 GMT Sharing a clip from the bad tape portion of my ongoing GV-USB2 vs. ATI TV Wonder HD 600 USB comparison.

This tape was recorded in EP (SLP) mode in 1985 off broadcast television. It's my worst tape in the collection – heavy waviness and flagging at the top of the frame – which is exactly why I use it as a stress test. If a capture device handles this tape well, it handles most things well.

Setup details:

Player: Panasonic PV-VS4821-K (S-VHS) – no line TBC on this model
Connection: S-Video out to each capture device
OS: Windows 7
Capture software: AmarecTV
Codec: HuffYUV

This clip is part of a full 5-minute test. AmarecTV reported zero duplicate or dropped frames across the entire capture on both devices.
Post-processing was minimal by design. I deinterlaced using QTGMC at its least destructive settings via VCG Deinterlacer and output to ProRes 422. No denoising, no colour correction, nothing else. The two MOV files were placed side by side in a Premiere Pro timeline and exported as H.264 (MP4).

Based on what you can see in these two clips, the GV-USB2 handles this tape more resiliently than the ATI. This likely comes down to what's inside the device. A hardware teardown by Taruru (https://ikidomarinosaki.fc2.net/blog-entry-61.html) found that the GV-USB2 contains a Renesas (formerly Techwell) TW9910 10-bit video decoder, a Cirrus Logic CS5340 audio decoder, and a Syntek STK1150 USB bridge. The TW9910 datasheet specifies "advanced synchronization processing and sync detection for handling non-standard and weak signals."

I'm not an expert, but based on things I've read, I believe the following breakdown is accurate. If I've got anything wrong, please correct me.

There are three tiers of signal correction you can apply to an unstable tape:

PLL (phase-locked loop) – Built into most decent decoder chips, including the TW9910. Re-clocks the sync pulses on each line but doesn't touch picture content. This is what the GV-USB2 has. It's better than nothing – and better than what's in most cheap dongles – but it has a ceiling.

Line TBC / DVEC – Goes further by correcting the timing of the actual video lines, not just the sync pulses. Handles flagging, velocity errors, and mild jitter. Found in better S-VHS decks and some standalone TBC units. Sony's equivalent is DVEC (Digital Velocity Error Correction), built into MiniDV camcorders and the DVMC-DA2 – it does the same line-level velocity correction on the analog input path before DV encoding. The JVC line TBC has an edge over DVEC on badly degraded tapes because it also integrates DNR, but for typical consumer VHS they're in the same tier.

Full-frame TBC – Buffers an entire frame and reconstructs it from scratch. The heavy artillery. Handles severe instability, vertical roll, and the worst-case tapes. Standalone units like the DataVideo TBC-1000 operate at this level.

A few observations and questions:

Overall the GVUSB2 performs better, but there is at least one instance where the ATI600 performs better.
Often, a scene changes causes the waviness top go away. What is the reason for this?
The final commercial is very static with no camera movement and so both devices perform well. Why does movement trigger waviness?
What else do you notice about the two videos that points to differences in the way each digitizes?

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GVUSB2_versus_ATI600_Bad_Tape_Test_VideoCaptureGuide.mp4 (77.91 MB)

]]> Capturing and VCR Darryl In Canada https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/420448-GV-USB2-vs-ATI-TV-Wonder-600-USB <![CDATA[4 different IODATA GV-USB2's tested with samples. Line-TBC-Like-Activity?]]> https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/420443-4-different-IODATA-GV-USB2-s-tested-with-samples-Line-TBC-Like-Activity?goto=newpost Fri, 24 Apr 2026 01:59:59 GMT Thought I'd make a new thread on this one inspired by this video https://youtu.be/amWY9CW6NBA?si=nsZFV0i2TRiukgeW - showing some possible line-TBC-like activity for certain IODATA GV-USB2's.

I've since obtained a total of 4 different GV-USB2 devices and I conclude that at least one of the 4 is different than the others.

For fun, see if you can tell which is different from the 4 samples:

https://mega.nz/file/pQ9zHDhY#0rQrSVVOg1sO390VyIDs3QKW5t6jh8SKXxVllMX-Fg8
https://mega.nz/file/sJsUUAKJ#8GL0SjXr7Xcc3O4r3OE9j-TCu_7k8i6saEiXeB8KSXY
https://mega.nz/file/lcFUxD7b#H5uJwc1eqBQaVXw5obIJMRhXUFCq0W4ZJqSpaHkaw5w
https://mega.nz/file/QBEA2A7a#1Ol-Vu6YNSdKGie7IFqsBYGYYmlO71C_8qVpNuV3tZs

Test setup:
1. My absolute worst VCR - a basic Panasonic Omnivision that I've held onto because it was my family VCR from the 90's that unquestionably saw several thousand hours of use for timeshiftimg TV shows. I can't even feel the head protrusion when cleaning the heads with paper. The heads being extremely worn also explains why the HiFi audio sounds like crap.
2. The tape being played is an original/commercial release of "The Fugitive" - likely an Ex-Rental that is in decent shape. Definitely has Macrovision.
3. Capture was done with AmarecTV 3.10 on a modest 2010 era Windows 7 laptop with an internal SSD, probably similar to the original poster.

I will say that horizontal errors seemed to appear worse when using other random capture programs I had on the machine like ArcSoft ShowBiz and the "Light Capture" app that comes with the IODATA. Not sure why AmarecTV seems to give the most benefit here? I didn't try it with virtual dub yet.

As for dropped frames, the frame drop counter (as shown in the original video) always stays at zero (even with obviously dropped frames if fast forwarding/rewinding) with ALL of the IODATA's for whatever reason with my test setup. On the other hand, a Tevion ATI600 clone did report dropped frames in AmarecTV which was particularly easy to trigger in ff/rew modes with this setup anyway, reporting dropping at least 10 frames immediately with each initiation of FF/REW. FF was definitely worse than rewind for obvious frame drops.

This explains why in the original video we never see the dropped frame counter go up. Could be that some VCRs do appear smooth in both FF/Rew though. I do have a SR-VS30U (which looks like what the original video was using) that I could see if I can further replicate what he did in his original video, but I have no reason to doubt what he showed.

I personally conclude from the test that some versions do improve horizontal stability and therefore DO act "like" a line TBC to a noticeable degree and that there must be multiple hardware variants. The basic frame drop statistics don't work for these on AmarecTV, so you can't really say that they don't drop frames on occasion based on this preliminary testing. Those with better analysis skills could probably compare each of the 4 videos to each other and note if any dropped frames compared to each other though.

I'm sure these don't contain physical memory like a real line or frame TBC would to buffer a line at a time. My guess is they ignore the horizontal line timing (the pause between lines) and just start writing data after the color burst of each line and starts that data at the far left of the digital image it writes. This is just like "left justifying" text and could be done in realtime.

Please feel free to truncate the length so that the files don't need to be accessed via megaupload due to size if you think it'd make it easier for others to view them.

Thoughts? Tests I should do next? ]]> Capturing and VCR aramkolt https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/420443-4-different-IODATA-GV-USB2-s-tested-with-samples-Line-TBC-Like-Activity