Capturing VHS

[samcut]

Hey all, What are the different methods of capturing VHS & converting it to DVD. Will a hardware encoder do this or can I go through my camcorder to firewire? Just trying to figure out the different methods on hooking up a VHS player to your PC.

Cheers, Sam

[Greg12]

not all DV cameras can be used as DV VCR's


But if you can, that is the BEST way to go.


It's a hardware DV encoder.

[Xesdeeni]

The question is, how do I fix all of these nasty dropouts on the VHS tape once I've captured it?

I've got a 8 year old tape that I want to preserve, but it's got droputs (black horizontal stripes, mostly starting at white portions of the image and going right).

Since this is of a commercial broadcast (my favorite team winning the championship), I'm sure I can't take it some place to restore it. But isn't there some way to fix this once I've captured it? A VDub plugin?

Any ideas?

Xesdeeni

[spidey]

You'd want to de-interlace it I guess, as well as some noise filters. Yo'll not be able to thoroughly get rid of them, but you probably can clean it up a little.

You can't change your source files. The dub you do, can be a cleaner look of the source VHS, but as far as removing them entirely, that will probably not be possible.

[Allan55]

If its just a few frames, even periodically, you could cut them out.

If you can capture to Type-2 AVIs then VirtualDub has a ton of filters built-in and there are also lots more available (go to VDub's site). You'll need to play with short clips to get the best mix of filters and settings for your video

Allan

[samcut]

Anybody else have comments. You can plug a VCR into the Sony TRV120 and run it through Firewire. I believe that is one way, however, any other suggestions? Maybe the Dazzle Hollywood hardware encoder?

Much thanks,
Sam

[ironwood321]

You could try one of those video signal stabiliser boxes as I found this sorts out any problems I have with bad syncs. i.e.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/products/details.php?cartid=0204031357271458661&moduleno=29182...r=&modulecode=

Or build this project which consist of TV chips and it will reconstruct your sync information for you. I have some modification details for S-VHS output.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/products/details.php?cartid=0204031357271458661&modulecode=&mo...turer=Velleman

If you are playing back on one of those supped-up new fangled s-vhs video go in to your on screen option and switch on video stabiliser as some come with a sort of TBC (time base corrector) and put the video into edit . dub mode NOT picture enhance like sharp, soft etc

[Tim Newton]

You could try one of those video signal stabiliser boxes as I found this sorts out any problems I have with bad syncs. i.e.

What is that box? A Time-Base Corrector? How much does that cost in US $$$? Are they available for NTSC TV signals and are they available in the USA?

Thanks!

Tim

[woodie]

Am I right in assuming that what people are saying in this post is that you can capture VHS tapes on to your hard drive by connecting the VCR to a compatible Camcorder (Sony) and then connect the camcorder via a firewire card without going through a tape in the camcorder. This can be done without any special software ?? I've been trying to do this for months w/o much success. Any help (with specific details please) would be greatly appreciated.

[ironwood321]

>What is that box? A Time-Base Corrector? How much does that cost in US $$$? Are they available for NTSC TV signals and are they available in the USA?

I believe NTSC ones are available as my instructions said this was a PAL only unit but did go on to describe that the original manufactures who ever they where do produce a NTSC one which seems to be the same part number. I have not tried it with NTSC signals but it might work.

The boxes are not Time base correctors which lock signals on to constant pixel clocks and straightens sync via a lot of field memory etc.

These only alter the video level so its exactly 1v peak to peak which it should be and recreate any sync it detects horizontal and vertical effectively improving synchronisation and cleaning up the video signal.

Then the sync is easier to capture with a video capture card as it not degraded or rounded which happens to it after is broadcast and record and played back etc.