Capturing old VHS material

[pharma71]

When capturing old and used VHS material (second generation copy or older) I face the problem of many dropped frames. This sucks! Is there a possibility to capture old material in the original quality? When capturing audio from an old LP to the hard drive there is no problem to make a digital 1:1 copy.

Any idea?

[snowmoon]

Old VHS has the problem of vertical sync being lost. The best remedy for this is to beg/borrow/rent/buy/steal a TBC ( Time Based Corrector ) to help regenerate the signal so that your capture software can lock on to the signal better. The best ones do a frame at a time, but even the ones that work on a few scanlines at a time will help.

Some high end VCR's have then built in.

Good luck.

[mp3superfreak]

pharma71:

You were not clear as to how you are capturing your VHS material. Are you using an analog capture card?

I've captured hours of old VHS material using my Canon ZR10 digital camcorder as the "bridge". I record from VHS to ZR10 using analog in, then capture to my PC via FireWire. Believe it or not, my captures look better than the originals.

If you have a family member or friend that has a digital camcorder with "analog in" or "analog pass-through", then borrow it. Trust me, it's worth the extra time and effort.

[pharma71]

Sounds good and easy. I will have a try and let you know.

Thanx a lot.

[pharma71]

By the way: would a digital capturing card instead of my analog do the same job as the digital camcorder. If yes, which one is to take?

Greetz!