Elgato Video Capture - Nonlinear Audio Drift with VirtualDub

[varosha]

Hello, I am trying to digitize some VHS tapes using VirtualDub and an Elgato Video Capture card, and I've been having some issues recently.

After recording, my audio track is shorter than the video stream by around 2-5 seconds. I can fix this in VirtualDub after recording, but the sync issue seems to be non-linear: When I make the video and audio streams the same length, the very beginning and end of the recording has perfectly synced audio, however at some point in the middle, the sound is out of sync by about half a second. I don't notice any pitch changes throughout the recording, though half a second of sync on an hour-long tape makes it very difficult to find where the problem occurs. VirtualDub reports no frames dropped, and I haven't noticed any inconsistencies or skipping in the video itself, so I'm curious to what is causing this.

I opted not to use VirtualDub's "sync audio to video" setting because no matter what settings I change, it causes the audio to either skip or change pitch rapidly, but if this setting works and there's just something I've misconfigured, I'd be grateful to know.

The VCR is a consumer Matsui unit, and the Elgato capture card is going straight from that into my PC as I don't own a TBC unit. However, I've tried recording with Elgato's own software and it doesn't seem to have this problem (everything syncs fine), leading me to believe it's not a tape/VCR/timebase issue but rather a software (or PC hardware?) problem. I want to use VirtualDub as it can record raw footage (I am using HuffYUV), Elgato's own software only saves to very poorly compressed MP4 so I don't want to use that.

Can anyone help me figure out what the issue with the sync is, or point me in the correct direction? Thank you.

[codehound]

Elgato's own software only saves to very poorly compressed MP4 so I don't want to use that.

Not correct my friend. Click the very top gear icon next to the i (information) icon.

With dialog box Game Capture HD Preferences open > click the Sharing tab.

Uncheck box. Click ok.


[Attachment 58815 - Click to enlarge]

The resultant TS (Transport Stream) file produced will be in sync.

[lollo]

For a lossless HuffYUV capture, give AmarecTV a try

[varosha]

Not correct my friend. Click the very top gear icon next to the i (information) icon.

With dialog box Game Capture HD Preferences open > click the Sharing tab.

Uncheck box. Click ok.


[Attachment 58815 - Click to enlarge]

The resultant TS (Transport Stream) file produced will be in sync.

Thank you, however I think there's some confusion with ambiguous labelling from Elgato. Mine's a standard-definition RCA-to-USB one labeled "Elgato Video Capture", not the Game Capture HD device. It had its own software that only supports MP4 and no option for raw video, quite different to the one you have shown. Are the software interchangeable perhaps, and if so does it capture raw video?

For a lossless HuffYUV capture, give AmarecTV a try

Thanks. I'll take a look at this too and let you know if anything improves.

[dave_van_damme]

For a lossless HuffYUV capture, give AmarecTV a try

Does Eligato Video Capture work with AmarecTV? I've read that it doesn't (source: https://www.reddit.com/r/speedrun/comments/2tk6gh/does_elgato_work_with_amarec/)

[lollo]

It just takes 2 minutes to try...

[codehound]

Thank you, however I think there's some confusion with ambiguous labelling from Elgato. Mine's a standard-definition RCA-to-USB one labeled "Elgato Video Capture", not the Game Capture HD device. It had its own software that only supports MP4 and no option for raw video, quite different to the one you have shown. Are the software interchangeable perhaps, and if so does it capture raw video?

Thanks. I'll take a look at this too and let you know if anything improves.

It will work with OBS - I use this daily so can walk you thru some settings to get reasonable results. You will be able to choose from a variety of formats for Saving.

But I'm not quite sure what you mean by raw video. This capture device is bargain basement. (No insult intended.) From the Elgato literature "Digitize video from a VCR, camcorder and other analogue video sources for playback on your Mac, PC and iPad"

https://obsproject.com/

[dellsam34]

OBS is a screen capture not an analog video capture software, It should see a capture device not a camera imaging device, big difference. Analog video has to be captured according to the rec.601 standards AVI 4:2:2 YUV2 and their luma levels.

[codehound]

OBS is a screen capture not an analog video capture software

I know what it is, I use it professionally daily, hence my remark:

so can walk you thru some settings to get reasonable results.

OP is searching for software to work with his Elgato unit without the mp4/audio sync issues.

What would be your suggestion for software for his Elgato Video Capture device to accommodate "the rec.601 standards AVI 4:2:2 YUV2 and their luma levels." ?

[dellsam34]

OP is searching for software to work with his Elgato unit without the mp4/audio sync issues.

What would be your suggestion for software for his Elgato Video Capture device to accommodate "the rec.601 standards AVI 4:2:2 YUV2 and their luma levels." ?

It has been already suggested in post #3, The OP hasn't provided feedback yet.

[varosha]

AmaRecTV seems to ask me to pay for their video codec, and I'm not really sure I want to spend money until it's a last resort.
As for raw video capture, actually I had just meant lossless, though I am not picky if there's slight compression as long as they're in as high quality as I can get with this card. I'm not expecting studio-grade quality I would just like to convert tapes for personal use for myself and family
As for the suggestion of OBS, I'll give that a try and tell you how I get on. I have used this software before but didn't spring to mind. Any settings I need to optimize apart from the standard resolution and frame rates matching that of PAL?

[lollo]

AmaRecTV seems to ask me to pay for their video codec

Use version 310 https://www.videohelp.com/software/AmaRecTV with HuffYUV (or your favourite lossless codec) and check if Elgato is compatible.

if there's slight compression

In general, you do not want to capture lossy compressed, use lossless YUV 4:2:2 as above. It's true that sometime the quality loss if you do not plan any restoration is acceptable.

[varosha]

OBS has worked without issue on lossless preset, no syncing issues, thank you to all who helped with this thread

[lollo]

Be careful with OBS for Analog VHS capture:
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/401618-I-just-captured-VHS-with-a-Rec-709-colors-s...ead-of-Rec-601

[lordsmurf]

OBS is screen recording software, not analog capture software.
Do not use it.
It was not made for this task.