How to capture *UNCOMPRESSED* vhs audio+video?

[10gigtriforce]

yeah like the title says Im trying to capture *UNCOMPRESSED* video and audio *at the same time in the same output file* from a vhs tape. Ive found several solutions that can capture worthless lossy versions but not uncompressed. Ive tried asking on other forums but they cant seem to get it through their heads that I do NOT want crappy lossy captures. I can capture uncompressed audio via audacity but then I gotta figure out how to sync it with the video which is a hassle. Isnt there anything out there that can capture uncompressed 480i video and audio at the same time and output them to the same file?

If so is there also one that can capture both uncompressed rca and toslink audio for use with laserdiscs and vhs stuff?

[DB83]

Virtualdub


But do think before you ask nor complain when your captures are rather large.

[10gigtriforce]

Its ok ive got about 20TB of free space so size isnt a concern to me. What capture device would I use with that software to get uncompressed video and audio?

[johnmeyer]

There is zero reason I can think of to ever capture video "uncompressed." This is especially true when capturing VHS tapes which have artifacts that are about a thousand times worse then any compression artifact you might get from using a lossy codec (assuming you set it to the highest quality setting).

However, back to my point, if you use a "lossless codec," you can get some very significant disk space savings without ANY compromise in quality. I realize that you have plenty of disk space, so the very large savings in disk space doesn't matter to you, but there is another thing you need to look at: disk speed. With compressed video, the disk can keep up with the video as it is being captured and fed into the computer. But with the fantastically large files which result from capturing uncompressed, there is a very good chance you will start dropping frames and have glitches.

So, use HuffYUV, Lagarith, or some other lossless codec (others can suggest a more modern alternative to those two, although HuffYUV should work great for VHS).

Finally, if getting the ultimate quality is your goal, your much bigger decision is what hardware you will use for the capture. Since it is analog video, there are an infinite number of ways the digitizing hardware can look at the video and create digital bits. If you get that wrong, you can end up with levels, color, and other issues. I recommend you head over to DigitalFAQ.com and look at some of his guidelines for how to capture VHS.

John

[Nands67]

10gigtriforce,

Yes you can

John Meyer is correct about hardware hdd read/write speed cpu etc.

However I disagree with the lossless codec.

True that file size is not an issue, to some maybe if you don’t have it.

Important that there is minimal process running and turn off anitivirus and everything else possible, a dedicated system would be preferable.

Operating system on ssd and can set your capture program to high priority.

[DavesArchives]

I capture my VHS and Beta footage in PRORES 422 HQ. I split the SVID output to BNC which is then converted to SDI, then capture to my Blackmagic Video Assist recorder. It's very close to lossless. I have an Atomos Ninja V that I've been thinking of using to capture the video in PRORES RAW. Maybe overkill, but I'd like to compare it to my previous transfers if I can get around to it.

But, to answer your question, yes, this process is totally worth it. It's surprising how much information you can squeeze out of analog tapes with the correct hardware.