Help a Newbie Capture Home VHS Videos

[Alwyn]

I don't think the cat is all that bad. It's a small bright area in an otherwise quite dark image; a real challenge. Sure there's blown-out whites on a portion of the fur for a short time overall, but gee, slap in a tape, poke in a DVD and you're done. If you were capturing it, you'd have to be there, for those few seconds, to drop the levels for the cat's back otherwise the rest would be under-exposed. Perfection? No. Acceptable to the general population? IMO, probably Yes.

It would be interesting to see how other parts of that tape, with better overall exposure, converted.

[Alwyn]

Then clearly you don't do much capturing. Last I knew, you only did a few daytime airplane videos, here and there, not anything with any sort of volume or difficulty. That's probably why you've "not come across it". Lack of experience.

Correct, over the last 3 days I captured 20 hours of VHS off 10 tapes, bob de-interlaced it with QTGMC and converted it to 30 MP4s for distribution. You?

And yes, I had to adjust the levels for each tape. And for four sections, did a separate capture because of drastically different levels.

[Sharc]

Some Digital videocams offer(ed) to select various compression strenghts using real-time H.264 compresion. Quality vs filesize compromise, using solid-state storage media. Tendency to blur and mush fast motion sceenes = reduced true resolution, sometimes worse than what you got out of (S-)VHS. Some offering 1920x1080 interlaced, and/or 1280x720 progressive. Digital video history ....

Anyway, gone off topic. Let the OP do his work and report his findings - if he ever comes back.

[cholla]

Spending some time shooting video would really help some folks understand the nature of analog/film camcorder footage.

The film camera is just that. I do not consider it a camcorder. It uses Super 8 film & does not record audio.

You misquoted this: So I'm correcting it.

The camera I usually use is a Fuji Finepix XP140 Series.

That Fuji looks like something from 15 years ago, a good point-and-shoot just before smart phones existed.

Considering this model was first manufactured in March 2019 6 years instead of 15.
I purchased it a little over 3 years ago.

The IBM Simon, released in 1994, is widely considered the first smartphone. I

This would mean the first smart phone is 29 years old.

That being said I would not compare the RCA VHS camcorder to any of the above cameras.
I wish I had taken it back to where I bought it for refund.

It was the RCA camcorder I wish I had taken back NOT the FUJI.
I thew it away long ago.
This is what the RCA I had looked like:

[Attachment 87775 - Click to enlarge]

[cholla]

I don't think the cat is all that bad.

It would be interesting to see how other parts of that tape, with better overall exposure, converted.

Thanks Alwyn
I thought the capture was very close to what is on the VHS tape.
So to improve it filters & software would be required.
That would not be how the RCA camcorder recorded the VHS tape,

I will see what I can do about making some more clips.
I have the Pet DVD done.
I have another vacation VHS tape with the same camcorder.
I will take some clips from it.

[Sharc]

I don't think the cat is all that bad. It's a small bright area in an otherwise quite dark image; a real challenge. Sure there's blown-out whites on a portion of the fur for a short time overall, but gee, slap in a tape, poke in a DVD and you're done. If you were capturing it, you'd have to be there, for those few seconds, to drop the levels for the cat's back otherwise the rest would be under-exposed. Perfection? No. Acceptable to the general population? Yes.

Let the OP - and everyone else - decide what one thinks is "easy enough", "acceptable" and "good enough". I would never even dare to speak on behalf of the "general population". I can only speak for myself. Compare and make up your mind. Even the "perfect" relies on a comparison with the worse to place it right on the rating scale.

[cholla]

@ Alwyn,
These are 12 short clips from the VHS tapes to DVD .(All in one vob file).
A fairly good mix of videoing conditions.
1.Cheyenne Mountain Zoo Colorado Springs
2.Excaliber Las Vegas
3.Sitting Bull Falls NM
4.Carlsbad Caverns NM
5.Mount Rushmore
6.National Museum of Woodcarving Black Hills South Dakota
(When it closed I bought the desk & stool at auction)
7.Devil's Tower
8.Indianapolis Motor Speedway museum
9.Myriad Botanical Gardens OK City
10.Royal Gorge Bridge Colo.
11.Pikes Peak Colo.
12.Seven Falls Colo.

[Alwyn]

I would never even dare to speak on behalf of the "general population".

I wasn't, obviously. To help you understand what I meant, I've edited my comment.

This is what the RCA I had looked like:

What a ripper. I had a Panasonic that was almost that big; the VTR part was extra, hanging off the other shoulder!

The levels in "clip" probably are a bit high. Whether that's caused by the DVD process or the tape remains to be seen.

[cholla]

The levels in "clip" probably are a bit high. Whether that's caused by the DVD process or the tape remains to be seen.

The DVD looks the same as the VHS tapes to me.
The clips were not from the Pets VHS tape.
From a couple of other VHS tapes.
I believe it was the RCA camcorder that recorded the "levels a bit high".
I do not remember the settings for the camcorder but it could have been I set it that way.
I'm not concerned with perfection on these.
I just wanted to preserve them on DVD & probably a HDD.

[Yeah69]

Hello It is me again .. the OP. I would like to first thank everyone that has replied to my questions and others as we pick your brains for information it is greatly appreciated. I would like to provide you an update for my project of converting my VHS-C tapes to .. digital.

I have not really begun this project yet: I am working on trying to find an acceptable VCR with TBC. From my research it appears that Panasonic was the only brand that had Frame based TBC instead of Line based TBC..For those that have done this often.. do you find there is a big difference between them?

My VHS-C capturing adventure is on hold until I can find a decently priced VHS player with TBC.
I do (as I said) have a Magnavox VCR but I am trying to wait until I can find (an affordable one) YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE that has TBC.

Along with the tapes and VCR I was also given a computer that was packed away to use as the ' Digital ' workspace. This is a Windows 7 pc that has a firewire port and dvd recorder on it already.

After given the PC and looking through the files I discovered some video files that appear to be ones that were already transferred from some of the VHS C tapes. (family)
Upon playing some of these videos in VLC it seems like there is no sound. These are mpg files. I don't understand why I cannot hear anything from the original file but I can after it is transcoded. A quick google search said I should transcode the files using handbrake. When I did this to one of the files.. sure enough sound started working. I was happy to see that.

However the video is quite dark... I can edit the video during playback in VLC to raise the hue and gamma.. But I was hoping for a better way to fix this so its just ' Looks Nice when you play it ' or if I plan to upload it to youtube.

Question is there a free program I can use to edit the files to make them look and sound better first?
Question do I transcode the file into the mkv first and then edit the file or edit the mpeg first then transcode?
Question are there ' Best settings to use with handbrake ' when I transcode?

Thank you again for everyone's responses even those that have Hijacked my post LOL.

[cholla]

Post the mediainfo on the "already transfered files".
Especially the audio format.

You could just try mkvtoolnix.
Open the file in it & let it convert it to a .mkv.
It does not encode it just multiplexes a file.
Sometimes this will fix a problem.

I believe Handbrake not only transcodes but encodes as well.
It is better if you do not need to do this.

For a VCR with TBC or how to use a TBC.
I have never done that.
I do not have the hardware for it & I do not plan to buy any.

[Sharc]

My VHS-C capturing adventure is on hold until I can find a decently priced VHS player with TBC.

Decently priced and decent working condition. Good luck, patience, and - as a prerequisite - a solid portion of frustration tolerance

[The 14th Doctor]

What is your VCR budget? Aramkolt has some models up for sale at DigitalFAQ. Around $600 for the JVCs and $1200 for the Panasonics last time I checked

[lollo]

My VHS-C capturing adventure is on hold until I can find a decently priced VHS player with TBC.

https://vcrshop.com/category/vcr/?filter_media-format=s-vhs

"Decent" price is not an option, look for quality

[Alwyn]

Thank you again for everyone's responses even those that have Hijacked my post LOL.

Just helping out Willow traveller while we were waiting for you to reappear.

Question is there a free program I can use to edit the files to make them look and sound better first?

Any decent NLE will do this, at least allow adjustments to make it "look better". I've never used it but KDenLive is free and has the occasional recommendation. The venerable VDub2 has a great filter (you need to install it) called colormill which allows fine control of all the normal video color/"look" parameters. You can do basic edits such as trimming off the ends and removing bits in the middle. My install doesn't export to MPEG 2 but MP4 (h264, h265) would be more appropriate these days, which it does do.

If you have issues with audio, you may have to export it out and work on it separately.

Question do I transcode the file into the mkv first and then edit the file or edit the mpeg first then transcode?
Question are there ' Best settings to use with handbrake ' when I transcode?

Generally, unnecessary transcoding isn't desirable. MKV I think is overblown for basic video files.

My workflow would be to do editing on the MPEG 2 file, then, when finished, export it as MP4.

[The 14th Doctor]

My VHS-C capturing adventure is on hold until I can find a decently priced VHS player with TBC.

https://vcrshop.com/category/vcr/?filter_media-format=s-vhs

"Decent" price is not an option, look for quality

They are from the US Lollo, so VCRShop wouldn't be a much use unless they somehow had a lot of PAL tapes.

But I agree, at this point condition matters moreso than model. And the price should dictate the condition. Really aren't a lot of suggested VCR sellers out there outside of VCRShop for PAL, and Lordsmurf or Aramkolt for NTSC.

[Sharc]

Sometimes it is helpful to ask friends and be surprised what lies around - abandoned - in their basement or attic.

Looking for quality is fine, but ultimately one depends on a trusted seller, moneyback/return option (rarely), or a "try before buy" which is often not feasible .....

[lollo]

My VHS-C capturing adventure is on hold until I can find a decently priced VHS player with TBC.

https://vcrshop.com/category/vcr/?filter_media-format=s-vhs

"Decent" price is not an option, look for quality

They are from the US Lollo, so VCRShop wouldn't be a much use unless they somehow had a lot of PAL tapes.

But I agree, at this point condition matters moreso than model. And the price should dictate the condition. Really aren't a lot of suggested VCR sellers out there outside of VCRShop for PAL, and Lordsmurf or Aramkolt for NTSC.

Agree on everything

[Barrythecrab]

There are a couple of sites I browse that have hi-end VCRs, Porter Electronics and Spencertified. I cannot testify to anything other than they both seem to be legitimate. I’d love to hear if anyone here has done business with them.

[Yeah69]

Post the mediainfo on the "already transfered files".
Especially the audio format.

You could just try mkvtoolnix.
Open the file in it & let it convert it to a .mkv.
It does not encode it just multiplexes a file.
Sometimes this will fix a problem.

I believe Handbrake not only transcodes but encodes as well.
It is better if you do not need to do this.

For a VCR with TBC or how to use a TBC.
I have never done that.
I do not have the hardware for it & I do not plan to buy any.

Hello and thank you for your post... I am sorry it took me so long Since the other computer is in a totally separate room in the home with no way to get it connected to the internet I had to find the right version for win 7 and download it and xfer it to usb and here is the info you requested. To re-iterate the problem is when I open this video file in VLC there is no sound but if I use Handbrake to ' do whatever its doing ' the sound works. You mentioned preferring not using handbrake and I agree anything to take steps out of this process would be ideal. Below is the information provided by Mediainfo:

General
Complete name : E:\Videos\20120915181731.mpg
Format                                   : MPEG-PS
File size                                : 5.69 GiB
Duration                                 : 1 h 27 min
Overall bit rate mode                    : Variable
Overall bit rate                         : 9 326 kb/s
Frame rate                               : 29.970 FPS

Video
ID                                       : 224 (0xE0)
Format                                   : MPEG Video
Format version                           : Version 2
Format profile                           : Main@Main
Format settings                          : CustomMatrix / BVOP
Format settings, BVOP                    : Yes
Format settings, Matrix                  : Custom
Format settings, GOP                     : M=3, N=15
Format settings, picture structure       : Frame
Duration                                 : 1 h 27 min
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
Bit rate                                 : 8 884 kb/s
Maximum bit rate                         : 9 100 kb/s
Width                                    : 720 pixels
Height                                   : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate                               : 29.970 (30000/1001) FPS
Standard                                 : NTSC
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Interlaced
Scan order                               : Top Field First
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.858
Time code of first frame                 : 00:00:00:00
Time code source                         : Group of pictures header
GOP, Open/Closed                         : Closed
Stream size                              : 5.42 GiB (95%)

Audio
ID                                       : 189 (0xBD)-128 (0x80)
Format                                   : AC-3
Format/Info                              : Audio Coding 3
Commercial name                          : Dolby Digital
Muxing mode                              : DVD-Video
Duration                                 : 1 h 27 min
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 256 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Channel layout                           : L R
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                               : 31.250 FPS (1536 SPF)
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Delay relative to video                  : -15 ms
Stream size                              : 160 MiB (3%)
Service kind                             : Complete Main
Dialog Normalization                     : -31 dB
compr                                    : -0.28 dB
dialnorm_Average                         : -31 dB
dialnorm_Minimum                         : -31 dB
dialnorm_Maximum                         : -31 dB

[cholla]

I was able to create a .mpg file that like yours would not play in VLC.
VLC had several audio tracks shown with this file but none played.
It was odd that MPC-BE could play the .mpg .

This is what I believe happened when your .mpg was created.

ffmpeg was used but the code used FFmpeg's MPEG muxer by default it creates a MPEG-1 program stream, which doesn't accept the AC3 audio.
The code would have been something like this:

ffmpeg -i input.mpg -c:v copy -c:a ac3 -b:a 256k -ac 2 output.mpg

You need to use the FFMPEG's DVD muxer.

ffmpeg -i input.mpg -c:v copy -c:a ac3 -b:a 256k -ac 2 -f dvd output.mpg

If it works like it did for my defective .mpg it will fix the problem.

If you don't use ffmpeg from command then Prowo's Clever can probably do this.

For Handbrake it is a good program but not the best for fixing this .mpg.

[Sharc]

Yep, exactly. And the 9500 is an excellent tape player. I really like it. It is for CAPTURING (and subsequent post processing) only when I would wish "less is more" with respect to its "native" NR.

There are certain other models you should try, but condition has to be excellent.....

The Panasonic NV-HS860 for example recovers more details (and more noise of course) from my SP VHS tapes which the JVC HR-S9500 simply suppresses - whatever settings I choose - and can't be recovered in post. Pros and cons rather than one for all.