Video capture USB vs PCI-e card

[videocapn00b]

I have some old family tapes that I want to digitize. I'm looking to get decent quality videos with synced audio. So nothing super-high quality but just something decent.

I've bought one of these crappy EasyC(r)ap copies from the net and I have tried capturing with these using Honestech TVR provided on CD. All the videos especially those with more action had missing frames so the output video was lagging and is useless. The audio doesn't go out of sync but it looks like some frames are still missing. Is this something normal with that kind of device or is just mine faulty? I tried using other capturing software but the result were always the same.

Then I have read some decent reviews about EzCap 116 so I made an order and have paid with Paypal abut after a month my device didn't arrive. I've sent one mail asking if they have sent the device and when can I expect it to arrive. Two days later I got entire amount refunded back to Paypal, but no reason why did I got refund or no response to my email. Then I have sent one more email asking for explanation on what happened but didn't got the reply to that email too more than 10 days after. I find that very odd and unprofessional but there isn't much I can do and I'd like to get this done with.

Also, I have WinFast PxDVR 3200H PCI-e card. It's hybrid-device with digital and analog tv tuner with hardware mpeg-2 encoder that I used to capture video from VCR using provided WinFAST PVR 2. The output video I got was not as sharp as it was when using that crappy device and also I these lines (like these but not that severe). These lines were not that bad with that USB device and the video appeared not that blury (maybe a bit grainy).

I could prepare some samples of both videos for preview.

What are my options here:
1. Buy some other USB recording dongle like: Hauppauge 610 or Diamond VC500 or similar
2. Use the current WinFast PxDVR setup and maybe try with some other VCR?
3. Get another PCI-e video recording card?

Thanks upfront for all your replies!

[jagabo]

VHS is prone to lots of time base errors so capturing it can be pretty problematic. I suggest you start with a cleaner video source like a cable box, satellite receiver, DVD player, etc. Then try things in this guide:

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/112800-Why-does-your-system-have-audio-video-sync-issues

For best results don't attempt to use any high compression codecs during capture. Set the capture device to YUY2 (or UYVY, or other YUV 4:2:2 format; not RGB) and use a fast lossless codec like HuffYUV. Capture audio uncompressed.

Once you've verified you can capture an hour or so with no, or very few, dropped frames you'll be ready to start examining your VHS tapes.

For best results with VHS you wan't to disable any noise reduction, sharpening, or auto levels features in the VHS deck. And the capture device too. You can do all of that later, and much better, in software. You will also want to use a line time base corrector to eliminate all the horizontal jitter of VHS. It's hard to find old S-VHS decks now. Your best bet is to get an old DVD recorder with a line TBC.

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/319420-Who-uses-a-DVD-recorder-as-a-line-TBC-and-what-do-you-use

If your tapes are in really bad shape you may need a full frame TBC to maintain A/V sync and to prevent the capture device from quitting or crashing.

On the other hand, if you just want to quickly capture and don't want to spend time cleaning up the video you can just use a DVD recorder (with line TBC) and record 1 hour per DVD.

[videocapn00b]

I have tried to capture using VirtualDub both HuffYUV and uncompressed video/audio and I get a lot of dropped frames: http://prntscr.com/aqpkl8
My computer is i5, 8GB ram, SSD drive as primary and 2x3TB reds in RAID as secoundary drives, but after just 30 seconds I have 45 dropped frames capturing just that default blue screen from VHS (no cassete playing)...

I also tried using AMCap (also uncompressed audio/video) and there I had no dropped frames.
The problem with AMCap is that it doesn't have the HuffYUV listed in it's codec list (while VirtualDub does) -> http://prntscr.com/aqpuiw



Getting a DVD recorder is also an option...
Here's the list of the devices I could buy but I don't know if they support that TBC nor I have any experience with these kind of devices:
Sony RDR-GX3
Samsung DVD-HR750
DVD Recorder LG DR389
LG RH 4810V
Sony VRDMC5
JVC DR MH 300

Also a problem with that approach is that I don't need DVDs I just want the files in mp4 or mpeg format that I can upload to dropbox/keep on my computer.

[jagabo]

In VirtualDub's capture module go to the Capture -> Timing... options. Play with the sync options. Especially, the "Do not resync..." setting. And again, capture from a clean source to work out what works best for your capture device. Then start working on your tapes.

[Brad]

after just 30 seconds I have 45 dropped frames capturing just that default blue screen from VHS (no cassete playing)... http://prntscr.com/aqpkl8

I'm assuming you actually see a blue screen and the only reason it's not present in the screenshot is because you used Overlay. Note that VCR blue-backs are (almost?) always non-standard video, so they shouldn't really be used as a guaranteed-stable source.

I also tried using AMCap (also uncompressed audio/video) and there I had no dropped frames.
The problem with AMCap is that it doesn't have the HuffYUV listed in it's codec list (while VirtualDub does) -> http://prntscr.com/aqpuiw

You could try installing another lossless codec (I prefer Ut Video).

Getting a DVD recorder is also an option...
Here's the list of the devices I could buy but I don't know if they support that TBC nor I have any experience with these kind of devices:
Sony RDR-GX3

The specs do claim Time Base Correction. It "probably" works in passthrough, since at least one of their newer models does.

Also a problem with that approach is that I don't need DVDs I just want the files in mp4 or mpeg format that I can upload to dropbox/keep on my computer.

You wouldn't be using it to record DVDs.

[jagabo]

Also, don't enable audio playback while capturing with VirtualDub. That can cause dropped frames too.

[videocapn00b]

Also, don't enable audio playback while capturing with VirtualDub. That can cause dropped frames too.

Thanks! This actually works! Thanks a lot!!!