Blue Distortion when Capturing Old VHS

[chitownclone]

Hello

I am the process of transfer old (audioless) reel-to-reel video that was transfered to vhs...to DVD. I have a PCI card with RCA/S-Video inputs.

I successful transferred 2 tapes without issue to my harddrive, but there are 3 more that don't encode very well. It seems that when the original video is 'choppy' the encoder tool replaces the areas with blue lines. Sometimes these are transpartent, sometimes solid (see pic below).

I plugged the VCR into the TV and the video played fine, so I have localized the problem to the video previewer/encoder. I have tried PowerDirector Pro, Windows Media Encoder, iuVCR and a couple of others..getting the same results.

Is this a setting that causes sections of tape to 'blue' when there is lack of data? Any ideas, I am pulling my hair out, trying to figure it out.

Thanks!!!

[oliverw]

Is this a setting that causes sections of tape to 'blue' when there is lack of data?

Sounds like it. Have you tried 'tracking' your VHS player to get rid of those choppy portions? When you plugged the VCR to TV, was everything totally fine? Did you see any distorsions anywhere?

You may want to try using another VHS player to see if that helps. Some players play tapes better than other ones.

Also, if you have any access to a Mac, you'll get the best results with Final Cut Pro (set Device Control to Non-Controllable Device).

~ow

[chitownclone]

The blue lines are coming from the encoder programs, not the VCR.

I actually tried 3 different VCRs...same issue. Then I tested the tapes that were coming in 'blue' on the encoder using my TV, and it worked fine.

On VCRs there is a background noise blocker, which basiclly displays a blue screen when there is static coming from the VCR if the blocker is on. If its off...you see the static.

It looks like there is a blocker like this in place for "lose of signal" within these encoders. Anyone have any idea what I am talking about or what it is?