Capturing from VHS

[pharaohc]

I am going to convert all my TV programmes from VHS to VCD/DVD, but I am greatly suffering from frame dropping problems. There is a time that the frame captured to frame dropped ration is >1! (1188/1224). Please help!

My configuration:
Interl P4-1.6G Mhz
256 DDR ram
60gigs 7200 HD
WinTV PVR

[TheInformer]

Your machine certainly sounds as if it's ninja enough to handle capturing, so let's look elsewhere:

- Have you enabled DMA on your hard drive?
- Are you doing a real time capture to MPEG1/2 format?
- If not, are you using HuffYUV as your capture codec?
- Are there other programs running in the background?

[pharaohc]

Have you enabled DMA on your hard drive?
As I can see, both my harddisks(system and capture file) are in Ultra DMA mode.

Are you doing a real time capture to MPEG1/2 format?
Hmm...I just use the "Capture Video" (F6) in VirtualDub. I guess I am not?

If not, are you using HuffYUV as your capture codec?
I have tried both, and only, HuffYUV and no compression. Both have a similar result.

Are there other programs running in the background?
I have closed all programs in system tray except the volume control and the Intel Active Monitor (which can't be closed)

One thing annoying me most is that while the others suffer from audio out-of-sync problem, I have totally no problem in this!

Thank you.

[MOVIEGEEK]

Possible solutions:
1)run scandisk & defrag.
2)uninstall any software/drivers that you've installed since >1% frame loss.
3)reinstall WinTV drivers.

Good Luck

[Fred©]

If your VHS are old tapes, the frame drops is caused by the dusty on them... the video frame is dropped to became synced with audio... you may have to clean your tapes...


also, capture at 352x480 ( not higher than that to avoid noise) or 352x240 (both in NTSC) or use the PAL settings...

Fred©

[oldfart13]

"If your VHS are old tapes, the frame drops is caused by the dusty on them... the video frame is dropped to became synced with audio... you may have to clean your tapes... "

Dust? You mean drop outs due to age? Yeah, well that happens alot with magnetic media. What (pray tell) would you suggest to clean the tapes with? Never cleaned a tape in 25 years of home video use. Cleaned vcr or vcr heads, but not the tape...

Your captures will never look any better than the original source material no matter how much you try to tweak the cap. I don't know what you are using to cap with but I've gone all the way up to 704*480 5Mbps CBR and they look as good as the LD or tape that was the source. If you think it will do any good and your capping AVIs or DV-AVIs and you want to convert, there are lots of programs (like TMpegenc) with lots of filters for them. You'll have to experiment to see what works for you on a particular capture.

Good luck...

[Fred©]

yes oldfart13,
I meant that, but, as I speak portuguese, I didnt found the name to what I wanted to say... in portuguese, means mofo, but in english, I suppose it is moisture... it has a strong smell of old clothes...

when you play a "moistured" VHS into a clean VCR, its heads becames dirty the same time...

Here in Brazil I know lots of VHS cleaning services, but dont know about foreign services...

Fred©

[pharaohc]

Thank you for all your kind reply.

"If your VHS are old tapes, the frame drops is caused by the dusty on them... the video frame is dropped to became synced with audio... you may have to clean your tapes... "

It's the first time I heard this. But the truth is, before I tried VHS, I have plugged my PS2 in by S-Video and still got the same result....and I have to admit that my VHS play is kinda old.

Once I have a thought that perhaps the input from S-Video/Composite is more powerful than Antenna. Anyone?

[jeffoz1]

Hi

I sympathise with your troubles. It has taken me quite a while to get the knack of this capturing business.

I can say that I have been able to capture some very ratty old (and smelly) VHS tapes being played back through an even oder Pioner unit basic mono audio). I capture with a WinTV card using Virtualdub.

What is critical apart from the great suggestions given already is that you should turn off the video displays in virtuadub (both overlay and preview). Also as suggested earlier keep reducing the resolution till the frame drop becomes minimal.

I disagree with the quality only being as good as the source. If you try the TV filter in Virtualdub, the chroma noise cleanup is quite dramatic.