Color issues in my VHS video and editing issue afterwards

[billybatts]

I'm having problems with certain blues/greens in my tapes (picture samples included). It's the worst when it comes to animation. What's causing this? I'm using a pretty good condition JVC S7600U VCR with a USB-Live2 Video Capture device (could this be my problem?). When I plugged the VCR directly into my HDTV, I noticed these issues, but they were less pronounced and cleaner looking.

Also, I captured in lossless AVI (Lagarith) using AmaRecTV 3.10 (YUY2, 720x480 @ 29.97 FPS). When I convert to H.264 MKV using HandBrake, I'm getting a 4:2:0 chroma subsampling. Why is this? Is there something wrong with the Lagarith codec or AmaRecTV itself, where it's giving me a bad lossless copy? Or is HandBrake specifically causing this problem? How can I get the end result to be 4:2:2, which is what VHS should be?

Can anyone help me with these issues?

[dellsam34]

Try wiggling the S-Video socket, Some cables and sockets go bad over time due to plug-unplug, If you see color flicker that mean it's time for a new cable and possibly reflow the socket soldier joints, For 4:2:0 yes it's Hanbrake setting.

[billybatts]

Try wiggling the S-Video socket, Some cables and sockets go bad over time due to plug-unplug, If you see color flicker that mean it's time for a new cable and possibly reflow the socket soldier joints, For 4:2:0 yes it's Hanbrake setting.

So with handbrake I can't do 4:2:2 at all? Will it matter since they're old VHS tapes? Would a huge difference be seen between 4:2:0 and 4:2:2?

[dellsam34]

Yes but not obvious to the average viewer.

[billybatts]

Yes but not obvious to the average viewer.

Thank you for that info. Do you think there's a program as easy as HandBrake that does 4:2:2 and de-interlacing well or no? I don't have time to master a complicated program right now and HandBrake has done a great job and is simple for me.

[dellsam34]

I use script software I don't have any experience with handbrake, Maybe some members who use it can shed some light here.

[Brad]

In both I see right-shifted ghosts possibly caused by multipath interference at the time of original recording. A ghost of the Horizontal Blanking Interval is visible.

But I thought normally these ghosts would be just as pronounced in luma.

The highlighted portions in image #2 are just VHS. The low chroma bandwidth causes these incorrect colors. In the original it was a hard boundary; quick transition. On VHS it's a soft boundary; slow, smeared transition.

[jagabo]

Handbrake doesn't deal well with interlaced video. It will screw up the chroma when it converts to YUV 4:2:0. Pretty much all distribution formats are 4:2:0.

And why would you bother with the Simpsons? That's easily available on DVD. Not great quality but much better than your VHS.

[lordsmurf]

This is apparently a VCR issue. Everybody read the first post it again.

The Simpsons was a test.

Discussing Handbrale (lousy) complicates the conversation.

That capture cards is blah, but unlikely to cause the this exact error.

The s-video ports are possibly a problem. But there's an easy test -- capture composite. If both do it, knowing what I know about the model, it'll be more internal. Not something seen often, but happens. For your sake, hopefully it's just the s-videp. Re-solder will be needed, assuming it's not simply the cables. Try other cables first, cheapest, easiest.

[billybatts]

This is apparently a VCR issue. Everybody read the first post it again.

The Simpsons was a test.

Discussing Handbrake (lousy) complicates the conversation.

That capture cards is blah, but unlikely to cause the this exact error.

The s-video ports are possibly a problem. But there's an easy test -- capture composite. If both do it, knowing what I know about the model, it'll be more internal. Not something seen often, but happens. For your sake, hopefully it's just the s-video. Re-solder will be needed, assuming it's not simply the cables. Try other cables first, cheapest, easiest.

Thank you for the info, will try changing the cables and see if that does anything.

[jagabo]

The first order chroma blur and shift and blur is pretty easy to fix:


[Attachment 59512 - Click to enlarge]

That was with MergeChroma(aWarpSharp2(depth=30)) and ChromaShiftSP(x=3, y=1) in AviSynth.

[billybatts]

The first order chroma blur and shift and blur is pretty easy to fix:


[Attachment 59512 - Click to enlarge]

That was with MergeChroma(aWarpSharp2(depth=30)) and ChromaShiftSP(x=3, y=1) in AviSynth.

Is it possible to edit an MKV losslessly? Or no?

[jagabo]

Is it possible to edit an MKV losslessly?

Yes, if you use a lossless codec.