Vhs/DVD clarity question

[Oldretiredguy]

Click OK here but note the YUV. If yours doesn't say that. Holler. Now when you zoom in on the Output Video Pane it should appear smoother.

Here is what mine looks like.

[Oldretiredguy]

After posting the above I saw that you had the 3 boxes at the bottom checked. I had not done that. After doing it, I have the same as yours.

R

[Brad]

Your most recent "New Hawaii capture.avi" is an example of tracking error (i.e. the auto-tracking briefly failed to keep the tape in line with the heads).

[Oldretiredguy]

Your most recent "New Hawaii capture.avi" is an example of tracking error (i.e. the auto-tracking briefly failed to keep the tape in line with the heads).

And how do I remedy that condition? Is it something that has gone out of whack in my player?

R

[RWH]

Oldretiredguy

This a just a temporary setup so you can inspect your own clips. I'm not claiming it's the best way just a simple way. Our settings are a little different. Mine are probably messed up from me messing around.

Just got your latest video. I'd say leave that tape alone for now. Wait for an expert.

[jagabo]

Your most recent "New Hawaii capture.avi" is an example of tracking error (i.e. the auto-tracking briefly failed to keep the tape in line with the heads).

And how do I remedy that condition?

A tape that has been partially played and rewound several time starts getting uneven winding of the tape around the spools. That can cause a drag against the casing. Fast forward the tape all the way to the end, then rewind back to the beginning, maybe a few times. That will even out and loosen up the windings. Another way is to whack the flat front or back of the tape against your leg (or some other soft-ish surface) several times.

[Oldretiredguy]

I think I figured out how to fix the tracking problem. Time will tell. I captured another segment of the tape. Not sure where to go from here.

[RWH]

Oldretiredguy

Have you experimented with the proc amp? Is it still out of your comfort zone?

I'm still downloading your latest video. I'm so slow. Lot's of views, no comments, what does that mean?

By the way what's my percentage of your pool winnings?

[Oldretiredguy]

Howdy, if you keep helping me I will definitely owe you big time. As to your question, I don't know enough yet to even consider doing anything because I have no clue as to what to do. I keep running into other things that are either distractions or just that I am totally confused. I know it is all a walk in the park for you guys but I don't have a clue. I thought I was doing pretty good just getting the captures and posting them.. It sure would be nice to have a day with one of you in a room with the equipment at hand and showing me what to do when and where. I get the capture and then I don't know what to do with it. Where do I start to dissect it and what do I look for? You know what I mean?

R

[Oldretiredguy]

And to make matters worse, my beloved Denver Broncos are playing tonight.

R

[jagabo]

Your black level is still too low (though recoverable in software). Bump the blacks up with the proc amp.

[Oldretiredguy]

jagabo, I will do exactly as you tell me to if you will give me explicit instructions. I don't know yet what you are asking me to do.

[jagabo]

Use the proc amp to make the darks a little brighter. You've been told how to do that many times in this thread.

[RWH]

Oldretiredguy

Try this open up One Touch Grabber. Click the yellow gear. Those are "proc amp" controls. Those sliders are just like the controls on an old TV. You can adjust these controls while you are capturing.

You can still use VirtualDub to capture. VirtualDub has "proc amp" controls also. It has 2 controls available with your device. But you cannot adjust these controls while you are capturing.

To me using the One Touch Grabber controls makes sense.

When your ready we can go one step at a time. Pick a spot in your brain and tuck in the word histogram. Think of it as a simple but useful friend.

[Oldretiredguy]

Ok jagabo. I guess I will just have to go back and read through this all again. I can tell you are losing patience with me. I don't want to waste any more of your time. So, when I feel that I know what you are talking about , I'll be back. Until then, thanks to all.


R

[Oldretiredguy]

Ok RWH, here is what I came up with. By the way, when I open Grabber and get the proc amp open, is there a way to get rid of the black screen in that program? I'm going to have to do a log in because it timed out.



R

[addu]

@old retired guy.............Use Powerdirector upscale feature of ur vhs recordings and u will be contend to see ur footages are recorded recently with any hd cameras.

[Oldretiredguy]

Never mind. The file got too big and now I'm too frustrated to start over. And my Broncos are getting beat. Bummer. Good night.

R

[Brad]

To hide the black video screen:

1. Hit the Minimize icon within the program.
2. Restore the main panel by clicking on its icon on the Windows taskbar.

Sometimes I have to maximize and minimize another program in the background to get this to work, and I'm not sure why it works at all. The black video window ends up minimized in the lower-left of the screen with the caption "Video Window" while the main panel lets you hit the gear icon.

[jagabo]

The file got too big and now I'm too frustrated to start over.

You don't need to capture while you're making the adjustments. You can see the proc amp adjustments while previewing. Start VirtualDub, go to capture mode, select Video -> Histogram and Video -> Preview. You should see the incoming video signal with a histogram below. You can use the proc amp adjustments in VirtualDub (probably in Video -> Capture Filter or Video -> Crossbar) but that doesn't give you a live view. Ie, you can't see the results of the adjustments while making them, only after you close the proc amp window and return to previewing.

Assuming One Touch Grabber works as others have said, start it up. (If its big black window is in the way move it to the left so that most of its window is off the screen, leaving just the "gear" button and other controls at the right edge visible.) Press the "gear" button to bring up the proc amp. Take note of the default values in case you want to go back to them (the Default button can also reset all the settings). Move the Brightness and Contrast sliders around to see what effect they have on the picture and histogram. In a shot with a lot of bright and dark areas you should see the histogram fill most of its window but should not extend into the red areas to the left and right. Here's a simulation of what you will see:



The circled black area (and the black borders and a few other dark patches) are responsible for the red area in the histogram. You don't want to see a lot of red at either end (darks at the left, brights at the right) of the histogram. Adjust the proc amp to get rid of the red. Since you probably don't want to "ride the pot" while capturing so go through the tape and find shots with the brightest and darkest elements. Make compromise adjustments to the proc amp so that the histogram hardly ever goes into the red. Then capture your video. Of course, not all shots will have full black and full brights so the histogram will not always extend fully to the left or right.

[Oldretiredguy]

Very good tutorial here jagabo. Thanks for the help. I will try this as you described. If I'm reading correctly, I can be running the tape and make adjustments as it is running? Or do I have to pause it?

R

[jagabo]

If I'm reading correctly, I can be running the tape and make adjustments as it is running? Or do I have to pause it?

You can do it either way. Although, some players display the picture differently when paused. And pausing a VHS player causes more wear on the tape. So it's not recommended that you pause in one spot for a long time.

[Oldretiredguy]

I tried it as you suggested but when I go video >>preview I get a picture and when I add video >>histogram the picture starts to flash to the point where it is unviewable. The histogram does come up and I can see the changes in it when I move the sliders around but I can't view the picture to see the effects that they are having. I don't know if I'm doing something wrong or what. It seems to be VirtualDub that is not working as stated. I'll try it without Grabber running and see if that makes a difference.

R

[RWH]

Oldretiredguy

I think you should do this to hide the black borders for testing, monitoring the histogram.

Gee I don't know if you should capture with the borders cropped or not

[Oldretiredguy]

I'm back to being stuck in b/w too.

R

[jagabo]

I tried it as you suggested but when I go video >>preview I get a picture and when I add video >>histogram the picture starts to flash to the point where it is unviewable.

Try Video -> Preview Acceleration -> Off.

[Brad]

I get the same problem using VirtualDub's Histogram view. Changing the Preview acceleration option to Progressive - both fields and then clicking around a lot between Overlay and Preview, I eventually get a working Preview mode that then allows the Histogram to be viewed at the same time. But getting it to work seems to be completely random.

EDIT: Disabling Aero seems to make it work better.

Gee I don't know if you should capture with the borders cropped or not

Nope; especially not if the destination is DVD.

[sanlyn]

Problems when viewing with the adjustment settings are not uncommon. VirtualDub and many other capture apps react differently with different capture drivers. No cause for alarm, but sometimes it's a pain if you can't actually see the effects while adjusting. As long as the histogram shows what you want, that's all you need. When you close the histogram view, things should return to normal.

I have to make a different set of small adjustments for each of my ATI cards. And with one one of them I don't hear audio unless I turn on the audio viewer and turn it back off again. Go figure.

[Oldretiredguy]

I'm pulling what little hair I have left out. I can't seem to get back to a color picture. I'm stuck in B/W/.

R

[RWH]

Close everything, reboot. Take walk.