Current best practices for VHS capture?

[Alwyn]

And the abuse continues, yet again.

[armyofquad]

It's all good, do what makes you happy. But, if you're happy with your minimalist approach, and aren't looking for advice or tips to improve capturing, why are you here?

[Alwyn]

It's all good, do what makes you happy. But, if you're happy with your minimalist approach, and aren't looking for advice or tips to improve capturing, why are you here?

Who's that directed at, Army?

[lordsmurf]

And the abuse continues, yet again.

Your continued use of the word "abuse" is ridiculous.

a·buse
verb
1. use (something) to bad effect or for a bad purpose; misuse. (similar: misapply, misemploy, mishandle, exploit, pervert, take advantage of)
2. treat (a person or an animal) with cruelty or violence, especially regularly or repeatedly.

Kid: "My teacher makes me learn stuff! My teacher tells me my wrong answer is wrong! He's abusing me!"

[Anonymous5394]

This forum and its friendly 'banter' is great for learning about vhs capturing.

[armyofquad]

My previous comparison video wasn't exactly scientific, since it compared 2 videos with multiple variables, so really is only useful as a generalized example of what one could expect by putting in a bit more effort in general.

Anyways, I pulled out an old RCA VCR with only composite output because I wanted to verify the sound on a tape was on the tape, and not a machine sound of the JVC VCR. It turned out that the sound was the tape - but the tape was a flickering nightmare on that VCR. Out of curiosity, I plugged the composite output to the composite input of the Panasonic DMR-ES15, and holy crap! These things are miracle boxes.

Check out the sample below:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/8rbu3nuyzsef23wwhz5fy/panasonic-sample.mp4?rlkey=5gnqcp...1rqidto8e&dl=0

Not bad for a $55 eBay purchase, shipping included. At the bare minimum, if you're going to capture VHS, grab one of these.

[Alwyn]

@Armyofquad, could I use that clip in post 36 above on my YT channel? I'll attribute you.

[armyofquad]

@Armyofquad, could I use that clip in post 36 above on my YT channel? I'll attribute you.

Sure, go ahead.

[dellsam34]

Anyways, I pulled out an old RCA VCR with only composite output because I wanted to verify the sound on a tape was on the tape, and not a machine sound of the JVC VCR. It turned out that the sound was the tape - but the tape was a flickering nightmare on that VCR. Out of curiosity, I plugged the composite output to the composite input of the Panasonic DMR-ES15, and holy crap! These things are miracle boxes.

The right side video is not really that good, Your could benefit from a better VCR, Keep in mind a good VCR can eliminate 80-90% of the problems in most cases.

[armyofquad]

Anyways, I pulled out an old RCA VCR with only composite output because I wanted to verify the sound on a tape was on the tape, and not a machine sound of the JVC VCR. It turned out that the sound was the tape - but the tape was a flickering nightmare on that VCR. Out of curiosity, I plugged the composite output to the composite input of the Panasonic DMR-ES15, and holy crap! These things are miracle boxes.

The right side video is not really that good, Your could benefit from a better VCR, Keep in mind a good VCR can eliminate 80-90% of the problems in most cases.

The VCR used in that example is an RCA VR603HF. I don't know much about this model, it was a freebee given to me by family members, probably an average home use VCR. An ebay sold search brings up a few of them that have recently sold for $40.

Clearly not as good as the JVC HR-S5900U VCR I picked up. Still a basic home use VCR, but an SVHS VCR with s-video.

The tape is an 80s JVC blank that looks like this

[Attachment 72862 - Click to enlarge]
A decent blank of the time period.

The recording was made 40 years ago in 1983.

Clearly the tape has degraded over the years, given that is plays with as much flicker as it does on the RCA VCR. Plus, it's an SLP recording.

But yes, while what the Panasonic did with the RCA playback of the tape is something of a miracle and turns a flickery mess into something watcheable again, it could be better. So here's another comparison - the RCA through the Panasonic on the left this time, with the JVC through the panasonic on the right.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/u3juftk06uxhiic6oemd5/rca-vs-jvc.mp4?rlkey=6taydy43czxy...rxpt8jm8d&dl=0

[Alwyn]

That's great Quad, Dellsham should be pleased.

The only further test to complete the puzzle is how how the JVC handles that tape with the ES15.

Any chance of doing that one for us?

There's lots of unsubstantiated claims flying around about VCRs but your tests are great because they actually show the facts.

I'll steal this one too, if I may.

[armyofquad]

That's great Quad, Dellsham should be pleased.

The only further test to complete the puzzle is how how the JVC handles that tape with the ES15.

Any chance of doing that one for us?

There's lots of unsubstantiated claims flying around about VCRs but your tests are great because they actually show the facts.

I'll steal this one too, if I may.

Sure, go ahead.

This example is both with the ES15.

Do you mean an example of the JVC VCR without?

[Alwyn]

Yes, one more, just the JVC without the ES15. Then we can compare the crummy VCR with the JVC without ES15 enhancements.

[armyofquad]

This thread has been a complete and utter failure!

I asked for best practices for VHS capturing - no one offered any real workflow or specific advice, and not once did anyone mention the importance of setting the capture to interlaced, or how to do that!

What do I need to do to get real answers to my questions on this site?

[jeby1980]

You literally led off this thread with "I know a thing or 2 about video conversions", so capturing as interlaced is pretty much 101.

I've modified my workflow as follows:

Sony VHS player - RCA output (i'd use S-video if i could find one locally)
Fed through Videonics MX1 to remove the timing issues
Captured via USB dongle Avermedia DVD EZ Maker7
Captured with AmarecTV as interlaced 720x480 YUY2 16bit AVI

Then I use Avisynth+ to do the following to the AVI:
Deinterlace with QTGMC
Denoise with TemporalDegrain2 or TemporalDegrain2_fast (understand that this step extends processing time significantly)
Spline64 Resize to 640x480

There are some other details in Avisynth+ but im not gonna go into those if you're gonna be a crybaby

[armyofquad]

I've seen reference to QTGMC multiple times in threads - no explanation as to who, what, where, when, or why.

It's like pulling teeth to actually get useful information around here.

[jeby1980]

follow this video to set it up. as you can see, it's a bit too involved to convey via a post forum https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4PyyQoz6eo&t=441s

I found AVSPmod really useful as you can run quick comparisons on the selected script settings.

QTGMC is a script that deinterlaces. There are different settings to it and you gotta play around with it. Turn them up too high and things get smeary.

http://avisynth.nl/index.php/QTGMC this link gives some explanation on QTGMC

But yes, it's a complicated subject that gets even more muddy when individuals eek out every bit of picture clarity that most laymen would not even perceive.

[VHS-Heaven]

All the dropbox links are dead now, this is very disappointing. I wish you uploaded to youtube