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  1. Member
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    Can any Blu-ray recorder (eg Panasonic) record video in H264 from SCART socket?

    Do these recorders even have such sockets at all?
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    Some did have an SCART port, but mostly destined for the UK or German markets.

    SCART is old, like from the 70s or 80s, it was mostly phased out once HDMI cable about.

    Only the earliest Blu-ray recorders from Panasonic included an SCART, they were quickly replaced by RCA/S-Video and HDMI connectors in subsequent generations.

    H.264 was developed/targeted at that time for "streaming devices" like iPads, Phones, and streaming playback devices like Roku or Streaming sticks.

    Each version of compression has many profiles, intended for different purposes. H.264 streaming profile was much poorer quality than H.262/MPEG2. H.264 was considered an auxiliary format that didn't look that bad on small devices because you couldn't "See" the details anyway and could overlook artifacts.

    Apple adopted H.264 but using a different profile for QuickTime and FinalCut .. so its not as bad.. but it confuses the heck out of talking about H.264 unless you tack on what profile your using.

    In the years when Blu-ray could capture video to Blu-ray they almost always captured "first" to MPEG2 and "transcoded" with a hardware chip "when necessary" to H.264 for viewing over a web browser or app on a phone or device.

    In the UK/Euro models they also captured in "DR" format which was more like a "broadcast kit" of pieces of a program, you got a video stream, and one of many audio and multilingual close caption streams.. only when a DR is played back is a custom "bespoken" binding of the elements comes together based on how you set up the recorder to "present" the program.

    Blu-ray recorders also captured broadcast MPEG-TS HDTV resolution streams as well as DR streams.. but was honor bound to "downconvert" to SD resolution at MPEG2 before burning to a Blu-Ray disc.. much to the disappointment of many Blu-ray recorder owners.

    Today (or as of 2012) Game capture boxes will capture direct to H.264, some thumb drive over the air DVRs will capture to H.264. Lorex 8 channel composite security camera recorders will record to low quality H.264

    But the Game Capture or Blackmagic Professional H.264 (which is no longer made) are probably the better H.264.. the finished recordings however often aren't entirely standards compliant and require some cleanup or massaging after recording to be playable on other devices.. or Burnable to Blu-ray. - But (None) have analog signal cleanup, like time base correction or frame sync buffering.. which VHS or Beta tapes usually need.
    Last edited by jwillis84; 22nd Sep 2022 at 05:01.
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  3. mr. Eric-jan's Avatar
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    BMD and Atomos have good HDMI recorders that record to SD card(s) or USB-C storage
    there's a difference in make of equipment also.. US/Europe, also due legislation..

    Question is: you really want to write to optical disc ? keep in mind that consumer devices have build in copy protection in the HDMI standard (HDCP)
    If there will be any BluRay recorders, it will most likely not have a HDMI input connector, (SCART is no use at all, maybe look for RCA component video input, but is most unlikely) it only records from it's decoder/tuner, also again, due legal reasons….

    A solution would be using converters, but you need users experiences… and record in 4K ? an PC with a Decklink card comes in mind, it depends ..resolution, budget, kind of footage, your goal, and eaz of use..
    (Optical storage is mostly replaced by flash storage or streaming services, or private network storage, NAS)
    Last edited by Eric-jan; 5th Oct 2022 at 18:07.
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    I do not want to record from HDMI, because I have SCART/RCA output from VHS.
    I can use DVD Recorder, but the MPEG2 quality, even for SD, is average and takes up a lot of space.
    I wonder if I could not dump to BR discs in better quality - in H264 or in high bitrate in MPEG2.
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  5. mr. Eric-jan's Avatar
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    The device you are looking for, does not exist, even when, it would not have any analog video input (so...you will not find "any" standalone BluRay recorder)
    the solution will always be a combination of devices, there are not many good capture devices to use with any computer, (there are some affordable pro options)
    even a "gameplay" recorder needs a steady video signal, because the video signal of a games console is already stable enough, quality of such a recorder can be good enough for VHS quality, you get what you pay for, even in case of a dvd recorder, one dvd can hold one hour of "perfect" VHS quality (dvd in video format)
    I see no reason for use of any BluRay thingy in this case.
    It also depends on your budget, don't expect too much for a few dollars.
    Converting (stable) analog video to SDI or HDMI gives more options and better quality.
    (also keep in mind the "view point" of tv systems > PAL or NTSC, PAL VCR's can have more and better options for playback in some cases)
    (A SECAM type of recording from VHS tape, will be played back as PAL on a compatible VCR)
    (hardware h.264 encoders will have limited options to set different compression ratio's, only the better ones will support 60 frames, these are some of things to look for….)
    (also checkout the meaning/difference of intra and inter frame encoding)
    (on one BluRay disc you can "author" footage that is encoded in MPEG2, h.264, or h.265 codecs)
    Last edited by Eric-jan; 20th Oct 2022 at 16:30.
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    The device you are looking for, does not exist, even when, it would not have any analog video input (so...you will not find "any" standalone BluRay recorder)
    The Panasonic DMR-BWT460GN Bluray recorder has Composite In:

    Image
    [Attachment 67299 - Click to enlarge]


    How it works, I don't know.
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  7. mr. Eric-jan's Avatar
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    Do you own one ? Is it still for sale ? you know where you can buy one ? would be expensive if available, overkill for VHS, you should look into the manual of the website, it has some limitations … only recording to bluRay from HDD… is one of them.
    You can do better with other options than with this Dinosaur…
    In the days of DVD recording i could buy even DVD'Rs at the local kiosk optical recordable media is just not populair anymore solidstate storage or streaming/cloud-storage is the thing now.
    Or just do something with a HDMI passthrough device….
    Last edited by Eric-jan; 21st Oct 2022 at 09:17.
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    I was simply answering the OP's question, EJ. And yes, they are still on sale.
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  9. Captures & Restoration lollo's Avatar
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    The device you are looking for, does not exist, even when, it would not have any analog video input (so...you will not find "any" standalone BluRay recorder)
    https://eu.jvc.com/files/ecatalogues/pro/JVC-PRO-SR-HD1700-SR-HD1350-brochure/files/as...l/index.html#4

    http://pro.jvc.com/pro/attributes/DVD/manual/SR-HD1350-1700_Instructions.pdf

    The Panasonic DMR-BWT460GN Bluray recorder has Composite In
    For the JVC machines I read also Y/C input
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  10. mr. Eric-jan's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by Alwyn View Post
    I was simply answering the OP's question, EJ. And yes, they are still on sale.
    me too, i just don't see any advantage having such a device….
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  11. Captures & Restoration lollo's Avatar
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    me too, i just don't see any advantage having such a device….
    That is different from saying:
    The device you are looking for, does not exist, even when, it would not have any analog video input (so...you will not find "any" standalone BluRay recorder)
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  12. mr. Eric-jan's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by lollo View Post
    me too, i just don't see any advantage having such a device….
    That is different from saying:
    The device you are looking for, does not exist, even when, it would not have any analog video input (so...you will not find "any" standalone BluRay recorder)
    I don't want to set up the hopes too high for the OP, because my guess is it's not worth the money, and has not many benefits.
    Any (good) device would compress to h.265 i guess….
    Your example (JVC- PRO SR HD1700/SR HD1350)does only record h.264 from the (FTP) ethernet connection,
    directly it does only use mpeg2 dvd-format onto BR discs… it's a device from 2014

    BR discs are also expensive.
    Last edited by Eric-jan; 30th Oct 2022 at 13:21.
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  13. Originally Posted by Eric-jan View Post
    Originally Posted by lollo View Post
    me too, i just don't see any advantage having such a device….
    That is different from saying:
    The device you are looking for, does not exist, even when, it would not have any analog video input (so...you will not find "any" standalone BluRay recorder)
    I don't want to set up the hopes too high for the OP, because my guess is it's not worth the money, and has not many benefits.
    Any (good) device would compress to h.265 i guess….
    Your example (JVC- PRO SR HD1700/SR HD1350)does only record h.264 from the (FTP) ethernet connection,
    directly it does only use mpeg2 dvd-format onto BR discs… it's a device from 2014
    SD video will be interlaced. h.265, unlike h.264, has no interlaced optimisations in its encoding. (h.264 offers both PAFF and MBAFF optimisations, h.265 will only ever use separate field encoding)

    As a result h.265 offers far less benefit over h.264 for recording native interlaced content (the h.264 optimisations mitigate the h.265 improvements). (This is one reason why the regions that use DVB-T2 with h.265 encoding don't use 1080i or 576i as transmission formats - and instead use 1080p50, 720p50 or 540p50 - and yes, that last one isn't a typo)

    There would be little benefit in encoding PAL or NTSC composite interlaced sourced in h.265 rather than h.264 if you keep them interlaced, and since h.265 isn't a codec supported on HD Blu-ray (it only appeared with UHD Blu-ray) I'm not aware of any HD BD recorders that offer it as a recording codec.

    If the OP doesn't need the media to end up on a BD disc - then there are plenty of composite->h.264 encoder solutions like the Hauppauge HD PVR 2s that have internal h.264 compression chips (though they may not deliver the same quality as the x264 software encoder used offline) (I added MBAFF and PAFF options to the Linux driver for the HD PVR 2 in one of the few bits of coding I've done!)
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  14. mr. Eric-jan's Avatar
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    The question of the OP was to encode straight into h.264, in any case the analog video signal still needs to be clean and stable… after that a "gamer" recorder (like a ClonerAlliance Box Pro) will do nicely for VHS quality, no need to make things complicated, like using a computer , (the Haupage HD PVR2 needs an optional cable for analog video)
    A combo device like a VCR-DVD recorder from the thrift store will be the cheapest option, but will only do MPEG2 compression to DVD media
    Last edited by Eric-jan; 23rd Oct 2022 at 07:27.
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