VHS captures are washed out.

[Grandpa2390]

Let me start by saying I connected my vcr to the tv directly and the videos are pretty vibrant. but when I plug it into my magewell capture card pro, when I play the video through vlc and other programs, the video appears washed out. I can't find the settings, or don't know where to look, to fix this.

again, the video looks great when played to the tv, but a bit washed out when played through my computer's capture card to programs like vlc. If I have to live with it, I guess I'll have to. better than nothing. but I'm hoping something can be done.

edit:
i found a setting in virtualdub that allows me to adjust the contrast. that helps... what's the deal then. if adjusting the contrast helps, is my tv automatically editing it then and my computer is capturing what it's really putting out, and I should edit the contrast afterwards?

[johnmeyer]

This could be an incorrect levels setting. Some systems use 0-255 as the range for dark to light, and others use 15-235. If you don't use the right one, you'll end up with video that looks hazy and lack punch. If you look at that video on a levels scope, you will see that neither the blacks or the whites are anywhere near the limits.

If your capture card has any analog settings (a "proc amp") those need to be set correctly.

[Grandpa2390]

This could be an incorrect levels setting. Some systems use 0-255 as the range for dark to light, and others use 15-235. If you don't use the right one, you'll end up with video that looks hazy and lack punch. If you look at that video on a levels scope, you will see that neither the blacks or the whites are anywhere near the limits.

If your capture card has any analog settings (a "proc amp") those need to be set correctly.

Sounds good. thanks!

[jagabo]

Almost every capture device has a proc amp (processing amplifier) that allows you to adjust the brightness, contrast, saturation, etc. before capturing. Look though the Video menu in VirtualDub's capture module. It may be on the Video -> Capture Filter, Video -> Crossbar, etc.

TVs are often set to increase contrast and saturation. So what you see on the TV may not accurately reflect what's on the tape.

[amaipaipai]

I really recommend you change this settings after you capture it, I'm sure you can use avisynth to adjust the levels, increase the saturation, etc.
Post a small sample, jagabo have some very handy avisynth scripts to help you out with this one.

[jagabo]

I recommend you adjust the proc amp at least roughly before capturing to be sure you're getting good use of the limited range of 8 bit caps. Then fine tune in software later. Make sure you don't crush darks or blow out brights.

[JVRaines]

Avisynth is great, but make sure you convert without crushing black or white levels because you will never get that contrast back, ever.

[amaipaipai]

That's the point.
It's like shooting raw in photography, you get low levels of everything, but, you can do a post production latter and recover the levels or adjust it the way you see fit, if you crush the levels while capturing, there is no way you can recover that latter.