Something I've learned about capturing VHS (for newbies)

[liddle]

After spending hours capturing a range of VHS tapes over the past few months, I have discovered that there really is no one-size-fits-all solution. I had seen the regulars here saying as much in many threads from over the years, but I didn't really believe it until I saw it myself. Quite frankly, I suspected a lot of people posting here were just trying to sell used equipment, or to make the process sound so complex that people would just give up trying to do it on their own and pay a professional to do the job for them.

Yet what I've found is that a setup that works to get a good capture on one tape won't necessarily work for the next tape. I have scores of tapes that date from the late 1980s through the '90s and mid '00s. Some are home-recorded tapes of over-the-air tv broadcasts. Some are commercially produced tapes made by very-low-budget independent producers/distributors. And a few are very high quality tapes from major production companies. With the exception of a few from the late '80s/early '90s, most of the tapes are still in pretty good condition. (Some never even watched after initially recorded.) Even so, they really vary in how well they respond to various capture setup configurations.

I am capturing using a Hauppauge USB-Live2 and AmaRecTV software.

I have a Mitsubishi, a Sony, and a Panasonic VCR. And I'm using an Elite BVP4 proc amp.

I was very surprised to see how much a difference in image quality you can see between VCRs used for playback for the same tape. If I'd just stuck with one VCR, I'd never have known what I was missing.

I've also seen that on some tapes, the built-in line TBC helps, while on others it hurts. On some, a separate full-frame TBC (AVT8710, the black one) helps, while on others it hurts. On some, a DVDR for passthrough helps, while on others it hurts.

It's completely a matter of trial and error (at this stage, anyway).

[lordsmurf]

We all wish analog conversion was easier than it really is.
And now you know!

[Brad]

Quite frankly, I suspected a lot of people posting here were just trying to sell used equipment, or to make the process sound so complex that people would just give up trying to do it on their own and pay a professional to do the job for them.

How do we know that's not your plan?

[KarMa]

We all wish analog conversion was easier than it really is.
And now you know!

LMAO

I've probably spent the past 6 months learning how to capture a VHS, finally broke down and bought a nice JVC with a TBC which fixes most of my issues. Now I spend most of my time messing with off color hue from tape to tape (NTSC).