USB Capture Devices (online info sparse on these models)

[Kong]

Thanks guys. You'z the bestest

[Kong]

Hello...

Trying to create a lossless digitizing chain for VHS cassettes. The original discussion is here:

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/420889-Problems-Digitizing-VHS-Cassettes

In this thread, the following devices were recommended as part of that chain:

• GV-USB2

• USB-Live2

• 710-USB

The 710-USB I could find nothing useful on at all. I can only find the GV-USB2 eBay, I think it was the USB-Live2 that I found on Amazon. I can find precious little else in terms of information or purchasing.

Can anyone point me to where I could get a little more info so I could at least compare the devices and then make a purchasing decision?

Thank you.

GVUSB2 uses Techwell 9910 made in Taiwan
Hauppage uses the Conexant Polaris made in Indonesia
Diamond VC500 uses the Conexant Polaris made in China

The best one from this list is the GV-USB2 but only buy it from Amazon, do not buy it from a third party seller.

If you are looking to capture VHS you will need a Panasonic dvd recorder in the chain, or you will get dropped frames and a jumping unstable picture.

It would be useful to know will you be using windows 10 or windows 11?
For any of these capture cards to work and for the drivers to load you have to turn off core isolation settings.

Hi...

This was all discussed in another thread I started here, and yeah, I do plan to purchase probably an ES-10 or 15.

I have a Mac (MacOS v15.7.4), and a Win11 workstation. I prefer doing this sort of thing on my Mac, but ultimately, it doesn’t matter. As long as everything works with Win11, and from what I hear, this is the least problematic version of Windows for this.

[Gary34]

The Pinnacle cards work well on Windows 11 and 10 but I’ve heard they work better on windows 11 than 10. That said with newer operating systems your mileage may vary. I know Alwyn will chime in there. I never could get WinDV to work in windows 10 for me and that works for Alwyn so it just depends. Windows 7 is a less problematic OS for capture generally but 10 and 11 can work fine.

I bought an ES-15 for $123 dollars on eBay then the remote for $14. Of course there is always risk with eBay but it works fine from what I can see. I’m happy with it. You want the remote to set it up. Here’s the guide on setting it up. https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/403635-Panasonic-DVD-recorder-passthrough-settings...-ES15-DMR-ES25)

[Kong]

The Pinnacle cards work well on Windows 11 and 10 but I’ve heard they work better on windows 11 than 10. That said with newer operating systems your mileage may vary. I know Alwyn will chime in there. I never could get WinDV to work in windows 10 for me and that works for Alwyn so it just depends. Windows 7 is a less problematic OS for capture generally but 10 and 11 can work fine.

I bought an ES-15 for $123 dollars on eBay then the remote for $14. Of course there is always risk with eBay but it works fine from what I can see. I’m happy with it. You want the remote to set it up. Here’s the guide on setting it up. https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/403635-Panasonic-DVD-recorder-passthrough-settings...-ES15-DMR-ES25)

Wow... Got to order a remote as well. Nothing is ever just simple and straightforward. But... obviously I needed to know, so thanks.

[Kong]

Hey guys (not that anyone’s waiting by their computer for the next chapter in this saga ), I have made purchasing decisions. I just wanted to run these by should anyone see a glaring issue here.

DVD recorder:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/206527033388?_skw=panasonic+dmr-es15+dvd+recorder&itmmeta=01M...3ABFBMxoTpnIto

USB capture device:
https://www.amazon.com/DATA-connection-video-capture-GV-USB2/dp/B00428BF1Y?crid=1SKJ93...18&sr=1-2&th=1

This should complete the chain, and help me free myself of ~200 VHS cassettes (though I’ll keep a few for nostalgic reasons). And, I’ll probably wait until next month before I pull the $$ triggers. Unfortunately. But, I’ve already had to do too much this month, and don’t want to let impatience turn me into a spendthrift (and yes, I am aware that the ES15 could disappear).

Kong (a.k.a. Keithiepoo)

[Sharc]

^^^^ Looks reasonable. Good to go.

[Kong]

^^^^ Looks reasonable. Good to go.

Awesome sauce. And thanks.

[Gary34]

One downside that I have wondered about with DVD recorders is posterization or banding. I get banding with the DVD recorder in the workflow but I also get it with it out of the workflow and my full frame TBC in the workflow. I kinda wonder if that is just a Panasonic thing and maybe it is from my Panasonic 1980. Then again it is 8 bit color so it’s kinda hard to keep away from banding completely.

[Sharc]

One downside that I have wondered about with DVD recorders is posterization or banding. I get banding with the DVD recorder in the workflow but I also get it with it out of the workflow and my full frame TBC in the workflow. I kinda wonder if that is just a Panasonic thing and maybe it is from my Panasonic 1980. Then again it is 8 bit color so it’s kinda hard to keep away from banding completely.

It has nothing to do with Panasonic. Banding (aka posterization) is due to finite resolution by quantizing analog signals and applying integer maths. In 8 bit world one can only discriminate 256 steps (e.g. 256 brightness steps, 0,1,2,3 ....255). Values in between these steps are rounded up or down to the next integer step which causes banding. These rounding errors may worst case accumulate with every processing step (like tweaks, color space conversions and round trips etc.), but they can eventually be "ironed out" by applying dithering (sort of averaging).
Also, natural (VHS) noise acts as dithering. Therefore banding and posterization become more prominent with strongly denoised material.

If you want to avoid it you would have to stay in analog world, or convert to digital using infinite bit depth and floating point maths with a mantissa of infinite precision.

[Gary34]

Maybe the severity of banding is worse with the Es-15 compared to a frame TBC. Idk. I haven’t used my es-15 a lot. I have mainly just put my frame TBC behind the Es-15 to fix the luma on moldy tapes that I have “cleaned” and put in a regular VCR because I don’t want them contaminating my 1980. The TBC 3000 fixes the luma and I noticed it helps with the vertical jitter as well.