Thoughts on this capture method?

[BillyJeanB]

I found this video showing an interesting way of capturing from VHS, https://youtu.be/ZxDqTxPj78M

Basically, VCR > Panasonic DVD recorder (DMR-EH57) with 480i HDMI out > BlackMagic Intensity Shuttle > AVI

What do you think of this method? Could the DVD recorder introduce much visible compression when converting to HDMI?

To me it seems the main benefit of this would be not having to deal with the analog capture devices which seem a bit more difficult to use, tell me what you think.

[lordsmurf]

An EZcap is known garbage, no surprise here.

What's surprising is that the Blackmagic isn't also having fits, as it's known to do on VHS sources.

Panasonic DVD recorders introduce artifacts, usually posterization (color palette compression, banding) and aggressive NR (even when supposedly "off").

You're essentially using the DVD recorder as the converter, since it's HDMI out. That can have negative issues, as HDMI can often deinterlace and upscale, which is not what you want at all.

The choice is not binary:
- garbage EZcap device, OR
- HDMI/HD flawed capturing

There is a 3rd choice, using known-good SD hardware for a quality transfer.
We discuss those here all the time: http://www.digitalFAQ.com/forum/video-capture/

[BillyJeanB]

An EZcap is known garbage, no surprise here.

Yeah that is not much of a comparison. Also stuff like the EZcap makes people believe more in the "VHS looks horrible" stuff, when clearly it can look great when you have even just decent capture stuff.

Perhaps the capture device isn't having problems because it is already a digital signal, VS the analog inputs. I've seen how badly it handles those.