Audio Delay when Capturing VHS

[harjo02]

I've seen a few posts along these lines but nothing that helps me with my audio delay problem. The problem gets worse as the VHS capture goes on (audio is off a few seconds early on and then its off a ton by the end of the video).

I'm capturing VHS tapes through a Pinnacle PCTV capture card. I've tried capturing the audio two ways: 1) running audio cable from tuner card to mic jack and AC97 codec and an nVidia audio controller, and 2) from VCR directly into AC97 codec mic jack with audio out cables.

Either way, I get crappy sound/video sync. Any thoughts? I've used various capture softwares (by the way, Pinnacle PCTV capture card doesn't like to play nice with other capture software), various audio input methods, various audio bit rates, etc.....nothing helps. I don't have this problem capturing cable video stream using same audio capture methods.

If nobody has a fix, what is the best capture card for pulling video off a VCR???

Thanks in advance!!!

[rcb]

Had a similar a/v sync prob about a yr ago with a winfast card.. like you, tried a bunch of fixes with no luck. Very exasperating.

Picked up a canopus advc 100 and installed ScenalyzerLive as cap app.
Continued encoding/authoring/burning thru TMPGenc Plus and TDA...

Been happy ever since.

[FulciLives]

Does this happen with all captures are just with some/all VHS captures?

If the answer is that it happens only with some/all VHS but NOT other higher quality video signals then you might need a TBC device. If it happens even with high quality video signals then a TBC might not be the answer.

A few tips:

Some on-board sound cards will cause A/V sync issues. It is usually better to use a PCI audio card. All you really need is the 16-bit PCI SoundBlaster which typically sells here in the USA for around $30.00

Also of note about the sound card. You should NOT be using the MIC input. There should be another input which is usually called a LINE input. If there is no LINE input then you definately should get a sound card that does such as the aforementioned SoundBlaster.

Try VirtualVCR since it has a method of synching up the sound using a dynamic resampling method. If your computer is fast enough this should work well.

Otherwise I suggest you try either iuVCR or TheFlyDS and set AUDIO to MASTER STREAM which should work.

I've tried all three of those capturing programs but TheFlyDS works best for me in keeping sync.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[harjo02]

Thanks for the info. I'll give it a try.

Outside of what I'm doing, is there any better way to capture GOOD VHS-->DVD??? I keep reading about the Canopus setups but I don't want to part with money considering I have what should be adequate.

I'm an FNG (F***ing New Guy) and you know what blows me away? The convoluted mess in software involved in capturing, editing, decoding, encoding, transcoding, ripping, burning of DVDs and/or VHS!!! It seems like I've got to have 5 different applications open just to rip a DVD or to capture and edit. GordianKnot and Ulead come in handy, but damn..........to rip a DVD, I've got to have 5 titles; to capture VHS, I've got to have another 5; to burn DVD9 to DVD5 I've got to have 5 more.........

Any input on the best hardware/software combination??? I'm a bit fed up (if you've seen my posts) on Pinnacle and wondering if I'm doing it wrong of if that's just the 'nature of the beast'. Comments?!?

[DaveS]

Otherwise I suggest you try either iuVCR or TheFlyDS and set AUDIO to MASTER STREAM which should work.

FulciLives - I had found that setting the 'master stream' in iuVCR to off kept the frame rate at 29.97 but setting the master stream on caused the frame rate to vary slightly which threw off my encoder (I think I used video, not sure if there's a difference in the impact of each) - the explaination of how to fix it (e.g. turn master stream off) came from ivan the iuvcr developer - just input to you for your future consideration..

[snafu099]

using a hardware encoding capture card or usb device should give you a one step method.

I use the ADS IntandDvd-2 $150-us, they also have the DvdExpress for $99-us. Audio is always insync unless you force it cap with seperate audio and vid streams.

http://www.adstech.com

[FulciLives]

Otherwise I suggest you try either iuVCR or TheFlyDS and set AUDIO to MASTER STREAM which should work.

FulciLives - I had found that setting the 'master stream' in iuVCR to off kept the frame rate at 29.97 but setting the master stream on caused the frame rate to vary slightly which threw off my encoder (I think I used video, not sure if there's a difference in the impact of each) - the explaination of how to fix it (e.g. turn master stream off) came from ivan the iuvcr developer - just input to you for your future consideration..

Currently I am using TheFlyDS which works pretty much the same as iuVCR but gives me better audio sync (at least on my system).

I use AUDIO as the master stream and you are correct that you will end up with a frame frate that is not exactly 29.970fps (or 25fps if you are in PAL land).

However it IS in sync so my solution to get 29.970fps is to use this line in an AviSynth AVS script:

AssumeFPS (29.970, true)

Now you can use CCE without problems

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
I load the original captured AVI file into VirtualDubMod for editing and import the edits ito my AviSynth AVS script as the line JUST after the avisource("filename") line. The AssumeFPS line is my last line in the script. I then feed the script through TMPGEnc Plus and do just an audio encode to LPCM audio. Then I feed the script through CCE for the video. I then normalize the WAV audio file and convert it to AC-3 then import the MPV from CCE and my AC-3 into my authoring program. Works like a charm

If you try this method make sure you set up TMPGEnc Plus to link to SSRC for audio sampling.