Progressive scan VHS players

[jeby1980]

I've been doing a lot of VHS conversions lately that have been going well, but one thing I noticed was that when capturing to AVI via RCA cables, it is showing as a progressive scan file. I did not think that they made any VHS players that output in progressive scan. Do any of you know? I was wondering if this was a software capture error or if in fact it is a progressive scan file.

The player that i'm using is a Sony SLV-D370P, and while it has a progressive scan DVD player built in, it says nothing about the VHS player.

[davexnet]

Just because mediainfo says it's progressive, doesn't meanit actually is. Open in in Virtualdub, find a place with some steady movement and
look at it one frame at a time. Or post a sample here to the forum direct from the capture

[jeby1980]

Opened in virtualdub, and going frame by frame during motion, each frame is a completely different standalone image. See attached 5 frames.

[Bwaak]

VHS is interlaced only. But the content can be progressive. It can be 30 fps or 24 fps or whatever else cadence that can be. If the content is 30 fps, and your container does not correctly report the stream type, you can have the stream reported as progressive while having actual progressive content. Yay, the stars have aligned.

I see many 1990s music videos recorded as 30p (30 PsF if you will). I wonder have they been shot on film at 30 fps, or videotaped normally, then deinterlaced into 30p for film-like motion.

[jagabo]

It looks like it's been blend deinterlaced.

[Alwyn]

What digitiser and capture program are you using?

Re "RCA cables", do you mean the yellow, Composite video sockets? It's best to use an S-Video cable for video.

[jeby1980]

I'm using Avermedia DVD EZmaker7 with Power Director 14 to capture to a 640x480 @29.97fps avi. The connection I have is the composite video (single yellow plug for video, and red and white for audio channels). I dont have access to any VHS players with S-video output. Interestingly, this sony player I have outputs S-video, but only for the DVD side.

I wonder if the digitizer is deinterlacing?

[jagabo]

I wonder if the digitizer is deinterlacing?

Upload a short capture sample with moderate motion. A brightly lit scene with a sharp picture. Don't re-encode it. Don't send it to youtube.

[Bwaak]

I suggest capturing something that is supposed to have live look, like home video, news or sports. Although you never know... I see sports at 30p now on TV.

[dellsam34]

I'm using Avermedia DVD EZmaker7 with Power Director 14 to capture to a 640x480 @29.97fps avi. The connection I have is the composite video (single yellow plug for video, and red and white for audio channels). I dont have access to any VHS players with S-video output. Interestingly, this sony player I have outputs S-video, but only for the DVD side.

I wonder if the digitizer is deinterlacing?

Don't use the software that comes with the capture device, It usually have options for changing resolution and de-interlacing. Use vdub or AmarecTV, your captures should come out lossless AVI 720x480 @ 59.94 fps (fields per second), You can then use another program to de-interlace, set the aspect ratio flag and encode to a more manageable format such as h.264.

[jeby1980]

Interesting, when using vdub, it comes in at 29.97

Video:
Frame size, fps (µs per frame): 720x480, 29.970 fps (33367 µs)
Length: 4450 frames (2:28.48)
Decompressor: Internal DIB decoder (YUY2)
Number of key frames: 0
Min/avg/max/total key frame size: (no key frames)
Min/avg/max/total delta size: 0/690578/691200 (3001050K)
Data rate: 165573 kbps (0.00% overhead)

Audio:
Sampling rate: 48000Hz
Channels: 2 (Stereo)
Sample precision: 16-bit
Compression: PCM (Uncompressed)
Layout: 109 chunks (1.37s preload)
Length: 7119030 samples (2:28.31)
Min/avg/max/total frame size: 164568/261248/262144 (27809K)
Data rate: 1536 kbps (0.01% overhead)

[jeby1980]

I will say that I have tinkered with vdub and handbrake and never got the videos to look anywhere near as good as the ones I get from using powerdirector, encoded to mpeg-2.

[jagabo]

Interesting, when using vdub, it comes in at 29.97

It's supposed to.

I will say that I have tinkered with vdub and handbrake and never got the videos to look anywhere near as good as the ones I get from using powerdirector, encoded to mpeg-2.

The point isn't to get something that looks good to you at this point. It's to get a proper interlace capture. Once you done that you worry about making it look good.

[Alwyn]

Interesting, when using vdub, it comes in at 29.97

Dellsham refers to fields. Those numbers from mediainfo are frames per second. So, yes, 29.97 frames for capture is correct. When you deinterlace, you'll have the option of going to 59.94 frames per second 0converting each field into a frame).

[lollo]

it is showing as a progressive scan file

In the sample you provided, the 2 fields are from the same moment in time, so the souce is not a "real" interlaced video. You can process it as if was progressive.