Is it possible to restore this video?

[digicube]

Video is from VHS-C. I have a JVC HRS-7600 with TBC on and using SVHS cable. Should I be using composite cable for VHS video? I don't know what the terms are for the defects on the video.

[LMotlow]

There is no such thing as "SVHS cable". SVHS is a tape format, not a wire. s-video is a type of signal transmission and cable. If your playing device has s-video output, s-video cable can transmit DVD, VHS, VHS-C, SVHS, SD s-video output from cable boxes, Hi8/video8 from cameras with s-video outputs, etc., etc. etc.

If you're using a VHS-C adapter, it's either defective or your JVC isn't playing it correctly. If you've set your JVC to play SVHS tape, that's incorrect. Most of the defects are caused by mistracking.

The analog tape was encoded to lossy DV. That's a different matter. Can't help you with that.

[jagabo]

You may be able to get rid of most of the black comets with multiple captures and a median filter in AviSynth.

[sum_guy]

It looks like a tracking problem with the issues at the bottom of the screen, the black streaks are going to require a major avisynth project. I wouldn't even know where to start with the black streaks. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.

[digicube]

Thanks for the advice. It's not an important video, I'll just leave it as it is.

[johnmeyer]

The S-Video cable is always preferable, but it has nothing to do with your problem. I agree with sum_guy that it looks very much like a tracking problem, especially because of the occasional breakup at the bottom of the screen which is almost certainly a loss of tracking.

Before you give up, I have several easy things you should try during capture.

First, read your VCR manual to find out about how to control tracking. You are looking for two things: how to reset the auto tracking, and how to override auto-tracking with manual tracking. The first thing I'd do is play through a problem section, like the one you posted, and just before the tape gets to that section, re-set the auto-tracking. On many VCRs this is done by simultaneously pressing the Channel Up and Channel Down buttons on the VCR itself, although as I already said, you have to read the manual for your VCR.

If that doesn't do anything, try manually adjusting the tracking. Doing this is a little like manually focusing a camera. To do that, you rack the focus ring in one direction until the picture goes out of focus, and then rack it in the other direction until it goes out of focus again. You then rack back and forth, a little less each time, and begin to "sense" the middle where everything is in perfect focus. If you do this with tracking, you should find that as you move the tracking in one direction, the picture will start to break up more. You then move in the other direction far enough that the picture once again breaks up or goes away. Hopefully, as you move back and forth through the two points where the picture breaks up, you may see those "black comets" disappear. Keep your capture going as you do this, and you can insert this better video into the capture you've already done. Since manual tracking won't change, you may find that later in the tape, you'll start to see comets or breakup at the bottom of the screen. Rewind the tape a little, and then repeat the process. Keep the capture going and then delete the sections where you backed up.

I've done this quite a few times over the years with problem tapes. It usually doesn't work over the entire section of the tape, but I very often can get several minutes of noise-free capture where previously it looked like your example.

Another thing. If this tape was recorded using the 6-hour (EP) speed, you may find that you have a setting on your VCR to help improve playback when the picture is jittery. Your video doesn't look too jittery, although at the very beginning I do see the vertical up/down bounce that this features is designed to improve. Once again, read the manual and see if your VCR has this feature. If it does, try enabling it. I think this is less likely to help than my previous recommendation, but it is worth a try. Make sure to turn this feature off before you capture your next tape.

Finally, one last setting may help improve the quality of other transfers even if it doesn't help this one. It looks to me like the noise reduction circuits in your VCR are enabled. Whenever you transfer and digitize VHS tapes, you want to turn off ALL "enhancement" circuits. These circuits add sharpening, and also try to reduce noise. Both reduce detail and degrade the image. When viewing on your TV, it may look better, but when transferring to digital, you are losing a lot of detail, for all time. What's more, while you certainly don't want noise, the digital noise reduction tools that are discussed in this forum can do a great job of reducing that noise without losing the enormous amount of detail that you lose when the simple analog noise reduction circuits in your VCR are enabled.

So, you are looking for two separate features: one that "enhances" the video (that will be the sharpening) and another that does noise reduction. The first one can often be defeated with a switch or menu setting called "edit."

[jagabo]

I think the black comets often appear when playing S-VHS tapes in a VHS deck.

[digicube]

Thank you. That is very informative and helpful.

[JVRaines]

If you've set your JVC to play SVHS tape, that's incorrect.

I've never come across one, but there is such a thing as SVHS-C.

[Cornucopia]

I've got 2 of those cams taking up space in my closet, so I know they exist.

Scott