Vhs/DVD clarity question

[Oldretiredguy]

That clip was made with VirtualDub. I did the setup but couldn't get it to take the settings that were suggested. I'll try again. Maybe I need some more help with the settings.

R

[jagabo]

Once again, don't bother capturing the entire tape. Capture a short segment or two and upload them here. Then we can tell you what is wrong and what adjustments to make.

[Brad]

Wow I've never seen an attachment here get 152 views within 2 hours. Lotsa lurkers on this thread.

[Oldretiredguy]

For some reason, I can't upload anything. The connection keeps reseting and I get and error message. I'll try later.

R

[sanlyn]

vaporeon800, as you are more familiar with setup and VirtualDub capture with the device being used, oldretiredguy seems to need some assistance.

For some reason, I can't upload anything. The connection keeps reseting and I get and error message. I'll try later.

That happens at times. But when you do get an error message, let us know what the message says. We can't offer help if all we know is that it's an "error".

[RWH]

Oldretiredguy
If you have a file open in VirtualDub select File > File Information Can you post a screenshot of that.

[jagabo]

For some reason, I can't upload anything. The connection keeps reseting and I get and error message.

Try a very small cap. Just a few seconds.

Regarding your Hawaii.avi, the levels were bad. There were crushed darks and brights. That's what the video card's processing amp are for. You can adjust the brightness, contrast, hue, and saturation there. Maybe sharpness too (but you generally want that set at "neutral" for VHS caps, otherwise it will just increase noise).

[Oldretiredguy]

I think I figured it out. The clip was over 500 meg. I don't know what I'm doing wrong this time. It is coming out b/w. I am using an s-video cable this time. Could that be it?

R

[RWH]

From hawaii.avi 720x576 and framerate is wrong

[Brad]

I take it your valuable tape is also second/third generation like the Hawaii sample? (i.e. not the original tape from the camcorder)

Downloading test.avi now.

[Oldretiredguy]

I take it your valuable tape is also second/third generation like the Hawaii sample? (i.e. not the original tape from the camcorder)

Downloading test.avi now.

No, it's the original. I shot it from my own little camera in 1985. I have never copied it to another vhs but did try to copy it to a dvd when I had the LiteOn dual dvd player/copy machine. Why do you ask? I am in the dark here. The post above yours gave me a ton of info but none of it means anything to me yet.

R

[Brad]

Just clarifying because there's only so much that can be done with multi-gen material. Original is always best, obviously.

Go back into the capture settings and set the Frame Rate to 29.9700 instead of 27.972. Click on Video -> Capture Filter in VirtualDub and make sure that it says NTSC_M there.

You should be able to make that Video Calibration popup go away by disabling OSD/On-Screen Display in the JVC's menus (it will also prevent other icons like the the time code from appearing until you re-enable).

I'm seeing a lot of trails left by the DNR. People familiar with these JVCs: is this typical...?

[jagabo]

I don't know what I'm doing wrong this time. It is coming out b/w. I am using an s-video cable this time. Could that be it?

Not only that, but it's capturing the same field twice rather than capturing both fields (in some parts of the video). Did you turn on deinterlacing?

And again, both darks and brights are crushed, especially brights.

[Oldretiredguy]

Done and done. I will check the settings on the JVC.

R

[Oldretiredguy]

I don't know what I'm doing wrong this time. It is coming out b/w. I am using an s-video cable this time. Could that be it?

Not only that, but it's capturing the same field twice rather than capturing both fields. Did you turn on deinterlacing?

And again, both darks and brights are crushed, especially brights.

I didn't change anything as you suggested. I don't even know what or where those settings are.

[jagabo]

Did you turn on deinterlacing?

I didn't change anything as you suggested. I don't even know what or where those settings are.

I looked at the video before it had completed downloading. The early part had the repeated fields. When I had the complete file I could see that the problem cleared up later. So it's not something you did, probably some error in the playback.

Regarding the greyscale capture. It could be from a bad s-video cable. One pair of wires carries the greyscale picture (luma), another pair carries the color (chroma) information. A greyscale picture can also happens when capturing composite NTSC (North America, Japen) video as PAL (much of the rest of the world) or PAL60 (a mix of NTSC and PAL properties used in multisystem VHS decks in PAL regions), or vice versa. For the time being you might find it simpler to capture composite video (yellow cable) rather than s-video. Also, try using a tape who's provenance is known. Record something off cable TV or some other source. Then use that tape for your capture tests.

[RWH]

Oldretiredguy

In the File > File Information. It needs to say 720x480 and 29.97. In the very first line. The 720x480 means NTSC.

[RWH]

Under "Video" -> "Set custom format..."
- Frame size (left column = 720, right column = 480. (meaning, capture to 720x480).



- Data format set to "YUY2 (YUV 4:2:2 interleaved)
Click OK

Ok, here is where I run into trouble. I get an error message here that my capture device doesn't support this format.

Is this still an issue?

[Oldretiredguy]

Oldretiredguy

In the File > File Information. It needs to say 720x480 and 29.97. In the very first line. The 720x480 means NTSC.

In the setup I have tried to do what you said but when I click ok I get the error message that the capture device can't do that or some such thing. I can get the 720 x 480 or 5 something but it's the other setting YUY or ???. That combination is giving me fits. Anyway, if that's the problem then I guess I will have tor return the device and find something that will work.

[Oldretiredguy]

Under "Video" -> "Set custom format..."
- Frame size (left column = 720, right column = 480. (meaning, capture to 720x480).



- Data format set to "YUY2 (YUV 4:2:2 interleaved)
Click OK

Ok, here is where I run into trouble. I get an error message here that my capture device doesn't support this format.

Is this still an issue?

Yes.

[Oldretiredguy]

My eyes are starting to cross. I think I will have to call it a night. Also, wifey is calling. Demands attention. Damn.

R

[jagabo]

If YUY2 isn't available, what other choices do you have? Also, be sure you have a valid video feed while making these adjustments.

[sanlyn]

I'm seeing a lot of trails left by the DNR. People familiar with these JVCs: is this typical...?

Yes, of some models. The 7000 series wasn't top of the line but more midstream priced, where the DNR tended to trail and smear a little worse than in pricier tbc units, but IMO all JVC's had that problem to an extent (Panasonic AG's had even less of it, but it was there). They had about 1/2 the tbc and processor memory of top-line models, although I read where that should have been enough for all but the most godawful sources.

This is badly damaged source with very fast and sweeping camera motion. If DNR could be turned off but tbc left on, it would be better to denoise with more modern filters. These AVI's also look like EP tape. That's a guess, but that's what they look like. I think 2nd-gen or more would look worse, with a lot more chroma bleed and ringing than seen here (???).

[sanlyn]

If YUY2 isn't available, what other choices do you have? Also, be sure you have a valid video feed while making these adjustments.

Whatever he's doing, the first two sample captures say YUY2 in Avisynth info().

[jagabo]

Whatever he's doing, the first two sample captures say YUY2 in Avisynth info().

MediaInfo here says HFUY but shows the colorspace as RGB. I suspect the capture driver was set to RGB and he had HuffYUV set to convert incoming RGB to YUY2.

[sanlyn]

Whatever he's doing, the first two sample captures say YUY2 in Avisynth info().

MediaInfo here says HFUY but shows the colorspace as RGB. I suspect the capture driver was set to RGB and he had HuffYUV set to convert incoming RGB to YUY2.

I see "RGB" as well (but I read where MediaInfo often refers to 4:2:2 as RGB). But it's hard to say what happened there. The frame rate is still 27.970 Numbers in the audio interleave area tell me the audio will be out of synch -- but the first few frames are rather jumpy, so that might be throwing a few numbers off.

Well, there's always tomorrow. Wish I knew more about the '500' USB. It works for others, it oughtta work here. But I think we oughtta help Ray a bit more with his capture settings.

[Brad]

According to the Capture Pin, the device only supports UVYV and Y8.

Y8 = monochrome, but it only claims to support that at 360x240 and I couldn't even get it to display an image at that so I don't think this is involved in the issue.

As I said before, it needs to be set it to UYVY and not YUY2 in this case (they're the same thing with the bytes in a different order). I think he already had it set to UYVY initially and we confused the issue thanks to the error messages.

[sanlyn]

So what is used to losslessly compress UYVY during capture? Both avi samples were submitted as YUY2, according to Avisynth info(), which MediaInfo often lists as being "RGB". That little quirk of MediaInfo has misled us on several occasions. I applied an Avisynth filtyer that works in YUY2 (II think it was CNR2 on the the first sample, which had color), and it worked OK.

The black and white sample looks as if it might have been captured with Y8, as you say, or else the s-video connection was bad.

[jagabo]

Huffyuv handles UYVY. I think it rearranges UYVY to YUYV (YUY2) for output.

[sanlyn]

I guess that must be what happened.