If you think about digitization devices, you have:
- DVD recorders that digitize to MPEG-2 on a disc
- Capture devices that save in some version of lossy (AVCD110, MiniDV camcorder, Pinnacle 710 USB, Elgato video capture, etc.)
- Capture devices that let you save in lossless codec in VirtualDub (all the ATI units(?), AJA units (?) etc.)
- Capture devices that let you save the raw RF signal (Domesday Duplicator)
Where does RetroTink5 fit in? It's superpower is that it has a built-in upscaler and deinterlacer that works in real-time. But you can turn it off and can capture in the native 480i in VirtualDub with HuffYUV. At that level, the only difference between it and an ATI is that the data exits the RetroTink via HDMI, so you need to add an HDMI-to-USB device to get it into your computer. (RetroRBG suggests the Magewell 32060.)
Do you think of the RetroTink5+Magewell be in the same category as the ATIs? Or another category?
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Originally Posted by Darryl
All of those should be in your third dot point. -
RetroTINK is for video game consoles, the videotape use has issues. Was not made for tapes. Does not fit at all.
Want my help? Ask here! (not via PM!)
FAQs: Best Blank Discs • Best TBCs • Best VCRs for capture • Restore VHS -
It is a TV/monitor upscaler, why would you even classify it as a video tape capture device? HDMI was never meant to be a capture port, the only reason HDMI streamers exist is because video game enthusiasts like to record or live stream their experience, but since retro games consoles do not have a HDMI port for a HDMI streamer to connect, a device like RetroTink was born to fill that gap, Just because it has an analog video input doesn't make it a video tape capture device.
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Nothing wrong with HDMI->USB. The Startech USB3HDCAP captures VHS via HDMI nicely.
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Startech USB3HDCAP does not capture analog video, it streams HDMI/DVI over USB, The thread is about Retrotink which is an analog to digital upscaler.
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Originally Posted by Dellsam
The thread is about Retrotink -
I was not criticizing HDMI to USB streamers though, I was pointing out their purpose. You're picking the wrong argument.
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Well, we all capture HD broadcast from HDMI ports when a direct dump of the stream is not possible (i.e. proprietary set-top box).
And for analog VHS, a well established workflow exists, using specific DVD-Recorders playing the role of the capture device, and outputting a proper interlaced digitized signal on their HDMI ports. The step of dumping the HDMI stream is also well managed.
I never used that RetroTink device, so I cannot comment about it. But what is important there is the quality of its A/D conversion and the respect of the analog signal specifications while digitizing; its output format is not that relevant.
I would be suspicious if it claims to perform embedded TBC features, but that's another story. -
Want my help? Ask here! (not via PM!)
FAQs: Best Blank Discs • Best TBCs • Best VCRs for capture • Restore VHS -
Then I am definitely suspicious.
I hope that the internal "buffering" options can be turned off, and then the device being used in the classic workflow with a proper time base correction before feeding it as a digitizer (very few are the cards featuring somehow internal tb correction).
But all this is only my speculation, I never used the RetroTink. -
In the 1% of the time yes and I even recommended it before, unfortunately 99% of the time is cheap chinese RCA to HDMI gadgets that most of them output only 720p/1080p de-interlaced with wrong color space and levels without any option for 480i/576i, Add to that, not all HDMI to USB capture devices are transparent, if you feed them 480i/576i they will spit 720p or 1080p. Since the market is flooded with them due to their very low price a newbie will most likely end up getting one since some guys are glorifying this workflow and then they wonder why their capture looks crappy.
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