Weird Colors in VHS

[GarishDonkey]

Hi

I found a big box with VHS tapes from a family member that passed away. I want to digitalise the VHS tapes so I can share them with my family.
I bought of Aliexpress an "Easycap" thing to convert them to mp4. I have also the old VHS played from the family member.
When I'm converting the video to mp4 I see that there are these weird colored lines on the on the video. Sometimes the colors are normal for a few seconds.

So my questions are:
Can I fix the movie so that the colors are normal?
Is thix because the VHS player or the Easycap device are not working properly anymore?
Or is the problem with VHS itself?

Any tips or suggestions are welcome.
Below are images of the footage.


[Attachment 58793 - Click to enlarge]

[Attachment 58794 - Click to enlarge]

[Attachment 58795 - Click to enlarge]

[orsetto]

Hard to tell from still pictures: there could be several different causes.

Despite the marketing claims on buying websites, these EZcap type of USB devices are anything but "easy". They can be very picky about the tape recordings and the VCRs connected to them. Often one needs a more expensive VCR and some expensive add-on processing boxes before they'll work well.

You might have a problem with the connector sockets in the old VCR, or the wire you are using to connect the VCR to the EZcap. If there is an intermittent short in the wire or cracked solder inside the VCR, that can cause splashes of color noise that look like this.

Have you tried very slowly adjusting the manual tracking override to see if that clears things up a little?

Aside from those potential technical issues, these snapshots (to my eye) indicate this tape might not be camera original: it is a copy made from the original, possibly even a copy of a copy. This tends to build up spurious color noise in the tape itself, which can be difficult to remove. Sometimes a premium VCR with color noise reduction feature helps a lot, sometimes you can do it with software filters.

You could get more useful help if you post a small clip of the actual video made with your EZcap here (just a few seconds that show the color noise clearly). Also let us know if this color noise only shows in the digital capture, or is it also visible when playing the tapes direct from your VCR to TV?

[GarishDonkey]

Thank you for the response.

Have you tried very slowly adjusting the manual tracking override to see if that clears things up a little?

I have no idea how I should do this. I've never used VHS tapes before.

You could get more useful help if you post a small clip of the actual video made with your EZcap here (just a few seconds that show the color noise clearly).

https://youtu.be/fzmObD0ikkM

Also let us know if this color noise only shows in the digital capture, or is it also visible when playing the tapes direct from your VCR to TV?

So I didn't test this before because I could not find the right cable to connect to my tv. But I found one and I was suprised to find out that everything is fine there. The colors exactly as they should be and there are no weird lines. So I guess the problem is with the Capture device?

Thank you

[orsetto]

Have you tried very slowly adjusting the manual tracking override to see if that clears things up a little?

I have no idea how I should do this. I've never used VHS tapes before.

With most VCRs, you can adjust the tracking by pressing the channel up or down buttons on the front panel while the tape is playing. When you see a lot of snow or jumpiness or color flicker, or the sound has static, adjusting the tracking manually this way sometimes helps (tap the channel up or down buttons until the picture gets better, if you overdo in one direction just press the other button to get closer). Most tapes play OK with the automatic tracking circuit, so each time you eject a tape the VCR resets to "auto tracking" unless you override it with the channel buttons again.

You could get more useful help if you post a small clip of the actual video made with your EZcap here (just a few seconds that show the color noise clearly).

https://youtu.be/fzmObD0ikkM

Great: that shows the green color bar problem very well. It does look like an issue with the EZcap: it may be defective, or your video cable is defective, or it may be picking up interference from your computer or household power wiring. Some people get lucky and the EZcap just works, but a lot of people encounter frustrating problems like this.

Also let us know if this color noise only shows in the digital capture, or is it also visible when playing the tapes direct from your VCR to TV?

So I didn't test this before because I could not find the right cable to connect to my tv. But I found one and I was suprised to find out that everything is fine there. The colors exactly as they should be and there are no weird lines. So I guess the problem is with the Capture device?

Yes, if the tape looks good direct to the TV, I would suspect an issue with your capture device.

Wait a couple of days for more people here to view your sample video, then offer their opinions on the cause/cure. Someone may have experienced this same issue and know exactly how to fix it.

[dellsam34]

That looks to me like standard problem, PAL, NTSC setting, There is no information in your post about what tape standard and what setting you are using in the capture app. But the easycrap is your major problem.