VHS Capture with VirtualDub-Several Problems

[Daniel90]

Hello, I am trying to conert VHS to my computer and ultimtly to DVD, i do not have much money to spend and can only really use Virtualdub to do this. Today I tried to do this, i pluged my vcr into my computers tv tuner card using composite cables (Yellow, White, Red). I set it to compress to a divx codec and mp3 audio. There were several problems, first off I was dropping an incrediably high amount of frames and as a result the audio gradually got out of sync. I have read hundreds of guides on how to do this and all seem contradict one another. Could somebody please explain to me the settings/proccesses I need to use in order to keep frame drops to a minimum and too hopefully prevent the audio getting out of sync. Any help on thsi would be greatly appreciated.

[guns1inger]

Encoding to Divx on the fly takes a much faster machine that you have. Try capturing to something that uses less compression, then converting later. This will allow you to do a quality based encode or a multi-pass encode and get a better result.

Try capturing to DV-AVI or Huffyuv first.

[Daniel90]

Thanks for the quick reply, i was thinking that divx was part of the problem. I forgot to mention before that I only really have 18GB or so of space on my HDD which I can use for capturing, will these compressions create huge files?? Also, if i convert to divx in virtualdub after i capture off the vcr will i expirience the same problems?

thanks again

[guns1inger]

You probably don't have enough space, although it depends on how long the video is. DV-avi requires approx. 13 GB per hour of running time, so you could capture up to around 80 minutes of footage. However you may not have enough space to convert it to anything else.

Your problem is encoding in real time. Once you have to footage on your HDD, encoding can progress at whatever speed it has too, without worrying about dropped frames etc. But when you are capturing, you need to be able to grab every frame that comes through as it does so.

What device are you using to capture ? Perhaps it does real-time mpeg-2 encoding.

[redwudz]

Also, for capturing, a second drive is a good idea. Your boot drive is used by your OS at times, and that can make capturing more difficult without dropping frames.

[Daniel90]

Thanks for the replies guys. I am using an Asus TV 1734. The vhs I am capturing is only about an hour long and the divx file that was produced was only 470MB so maybe I can do this on my current HD. Do you guys recommend using DV-avi codec? Is my current sound compression to MP3 suitable?? Also what resolution do you recommend capturing the video at (it is in 4:3 aspect)? All in all will capturing in DV-avi and then converting to divx give a suitable file which I can then burn to DVD?

[guns1inger]

If you capture as DV avi then you only have one choice - 720 x 576. If you then want a standard DVD, put this file into FAVC and let it work it's magic. If you want a Divx file, I would use AutoGK with a width of 640 pixels. AutoGK will do the rest.

[Daniel90]

Okay, i think i've got all worked out, i am going to list the steps i will take below, if I make any mistakes can someone please notify me of them and correct them.

1. Capture VHS in Huffyuv codec at 720x576 pixels and with default Audio compression.
2. I have freed up 100GB of HD space, should this be enough to house a 45-60min VHS in Huffyuv codec?
3. Despite the end result being a massive file size, will i still be put the video onto a single 4.7 DVD+R disc?

Any further tips or advice would be greatly appreciated .

[guns1inger]

Step 4 : Encode to DVD compliant mpeg-2 video and AC3 audio.
Step 5 : Author to DVD compliant structure
Step 6 : Burn with Imgburn.

You have not listed any encoding or authoring software. If you don't need a menu, or can live with a simple text based still menu, I would suggest FAVC or DVD Flick. These will encode and author for you, and save you having to worry about bitrates etc.

[themaster1]

Okay, i think i've got all worked out, i am going to list the steps i will take below, if I make any mistakes can someone please notify me of them and correct them.

1. Capture VHS in Huffyuv codec at 720x576 pixels and with default Audio compression.

Well your other option would be to record with a Dv codec which take less space

Personnally i had a tape to record recently (1hr) with not so many space so i chose this option and i find the result very good.

[Daniel90]

Okay ive tried using Huffyuv codec at 720x576 but within the first few seconds of capturing i am already dropping frames. Data format is YUY2 and audio compression is set to PCM (No Compression). Why I am i still dropping frames? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

EDIT: My PC has nothing running in the background, CPU is around 50% when capturing, it is dropping frames even when encoding to YUY2 (No Recompression). If you need any more information just ask, any help will be greatly appreciated.

[themaster1]

Could be many things, not fast enough computer/hdd, bad vhs player, the software you use or a cable problem too

So try to enlighten us of what you have/use

Assuming you got a very good vhs player(s-vhs player),cables & computer the problem comes from the software.

Most desync problems comes from the fact the capture card have no audio inputs so you are forced to use another input.

In my opinion recording in uncompressed yuv is not a good idea because the hard drive is satured of data meaning: too much data to write in a short period of time.

Try with codecs like mjpeg ones to see if you get dropped frames still ,could be a good indicator

[Bjs]

Daniel90

What other capture products do you have .

Count motherboard pci slots , and tell us which slot has what device inserted .

Ps : include motherboard make and model .

[Daniel90]

Okay I will try and give as much info as I can. I have a DSE VHS/DVD player connected to my ASUS TV 1734 capture card via composite cables (yellow, white and read ones) so audio and video is being fed directly to the capture card. My computer has an Intel P4 3.2Ghz Proccessor with Hyper Threading, I have 1GB of DDR RAM, 200GB SATA HDD and a nVidia 6200 TC Video Card with 256Mb of memory. I have two other devices in the PCI slots beside the video card, one being the TV 1734 Capture Card and the other being a 56k modem which i do not use. My motherboard is an Asus PTGD1-LA. I am pretty sure my computer is fast enough to handle the recording, i have a feeling that i have not set something properly within virtualdub and that it is responsible for the dropped frames, any help in configuring settings would be greatly appreciated.

PS. I tried the MJPEG codec and the same thing happened, all lossless codecs seem to drop frames at roughly the same rate. I also did a test capture with no VHS in the machine (so only the default blue screen was showing) and still i was dropping frames??? I am also using VDUB v 1.7.5 so my settings appear different to the ones displayed in guides and such.

Here is an image of the sidepanel showing information after 10 seconds of recording, maybe it will help solve this problem:

Please disregard the remaining disk space, it was accidently set to a smaller partition.

[themaster1]

Well you know 4 frames dropped is nothing if its 4 frames dropped over 60min of recording it's nothing

I don't know about vdub capture section because i can't open it(incompatibility with my card) but if there is an audio/video sync option called "resample audio dynamically" or "adjust stream offset" one of them might be helpful.

And for the sake of quality result try to use a s-video cable

[Daniel90]

I'd be more than happy if i only dropped 4 frames over the entire 60min video, problem is that this screen capture was taken after 10 seconds of recording! So at that rate I would lose 24 frames each minute which is unacceptable for a 60min video. Thats why I figure I have done something wrong within the settings. Any help is greatly appreciated.

[themaster1]

try with the following settings:

1)refresh rate of your graphic card = 60 hertz

2)(vdub)

- audio compression = 22khz - mono - pcm
- video size 320x240 or 288 if pal
- mjpg codec or lossless(huffyuv)
- record smtg like 15min of video

for the video part be sure it's set on YUY2 mode when you capture

if everything is fine i guess you can try with an larger size frame...as 720x576

keep us posted

[Daniel90]

Thanks for the reply. I tried everything you said, i set refresh rate at 60hz, used huffyuv codec at 320x288 and set audio compression to default PCM (32khz 16Bit Stereo) becuase I couldn't change the default audio settngs. Unfortuently it was still dropping frames at the same rate, roughly 38 frames dropped each minute with 0 inserted, this of course resulted in the end product being out of sync. Any further help is greatly appreciated, i have no idea why this keeps happening .

[themaster1]

Well i don't know
All i can say is if your vhs player cable are ok/good then it's software related

The fact that you lose X frames every 1 minute suggest to me that there is something wrong with the software.Possibly the sound part

Try to record in .mpg with win dvr i know this software is stable or try the software called fly 2000tv (not sure if it's compatible with your card)

Message me for more details

[Daniel90]

Thanks for the help guys. I actually ended up fixing the problem by unchecking "Drop frames when frames are too close together" and "Add frames when frames are too far apart." These options were found in the timing settings, I knew it was a simple setting that I had wrong, anyway all fixed now with zero frames dropped after 60mins of recording .