Requesting advices for beginner (both ways analog/digital)

[Azhash]

I see, interesting thank you for your answer.
The VCR are PAL yes i think, i have a thomson VPH 7090 wich says PAL NTSC SECAM and the other one is a Samsung DVD V-6500.
Yes, it plays normally when connected to the TV with analog.

The tapes just say SECAM for the movies and PAL SECAM for the one wich have tv recordings.
I also made sure that for example virtualdub was capturing PAL, it seem to default to PAL-D (dunno what that means tho)

I see, i plan to add solmething to the chain like the E15 yep, but both VCR having the same issue feels like it's not really from the VCR themselves idk. And for the S/video adaptor, ok i see, i wont use that anymore ty
I recorded the issue with the TV recording tape there so i can show u more precisely the type of signal im getting, i also noticed that the audio was messed up (pitch up and stereo not working), hopefully its a matter of settings in VirtualDub (wich is what i used to record this):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmZBxO2XbcA

Could the issue be in my settings/drivers/codecs? So far i've been testing various settings, but i dont honestly know what i'm doing.

[The_Doman]

I also tried to capture with S/Video when available, with the VHS i seem to have a pretty clear image but it's black and white, i cant tell if it comes from the adaptor, cuz it's basically a peritel to S/video adaptor.

Regular VHS players do not have S-Video, simple/passive SCART/Peritel adapters won't/can't change that:

That won't work, your/a regular VCR has NO S-Video output on the SCART connector available.
Scart adapter boxes or cables only route the signal pins to the different connectors, they do not convert the signal!

Also installed the codecs (i think) like huffyuv and amv4. (Cant figure out how to convert amv4 files to something else tho, and if i understand its a 30$ codec so i might not want to pick that to actually capture)

You not need the paid codec, the free codecs like Huffyuv, Lagarith will work fine and have no relation to the capture problem.
I use Lagarith myself most of the time.

The tapes just say SECAM for the movies and PAL SECAM for the one wich have tv recordings.
I also made sure that for example virtualdub was capturing PAL, it seem to default to PAL-D (dunno what that means tho)

Why not use:
Google: PAL-D
also:
Google: SECAM MESECAM

I recorded the issue with the TV recording tape there so i can show u more precisely the type of signal im getting, i also noticed that the audio was messed up (pitch up and stereo not working), hopefully its a matter of settings in VirtualDub (wich is what i used to record this):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmZBxO2XbcA
Could the issue be in my settings/drivers/codecs? So far i've been testing various settings, but i dont honestly know what i'm doing.

The problem is not codecs but driver/compatibility settings of the capture-card not understanding the (MESECAM?) signal from your VCR's.
SECAM/MESECAM variants often cause problems what i read here on the forum:
Videohelp: SECAM
First thing to try is to set your capture card to SECAM variants and see if you can get a better image?

See for example the options one of my capture devices shows (Dazzle DVC100):

Here using it to adust the video standard "on the fly" to SECAM B for PAL60 capturing.

[Attachment 78362 - Click to enlarge]

See also:
AA Productions: Graphstudio Proc Amp Control

[Azhash]

Ah thanks, i see. I have been reading the whole SECAM wikipedia page and now i understand. I'm from france so most likely all my media is SECAM-L i think. It also explains why the S/video signal is B&W, SECAM-L apparently is NOT a signal that can ever go through S-Video properly.

I then double checked the capture card specs and indeed it does only NTSC and PAL, so that's where the issue is! I guess this card will be good for old game capture but i will never be able to actually capture SECAM VHS on it right? Or is there some way to convert SECAM to PAL with a VCR or a dvd recorder? (i assume not)

You not need the paid codec, the free codecs like Huffyuv, Lagarith will work fine and have no relation to the capture problem.
I use Lagarith myself most of the time.

Ah thank you, im trying Lagarith now on a PAL PS1 capture and its pretty good!

I have a specific question, when u record TV with a VCR on a PAL/SECAM VHS, what is deciding if its gonna be a PAL or a SECAM signal? The TV signal? The VCR recorder? just curious.
On the same subject, if i shoot with a Panasonic ag-455 (wich apparently is a PAL camcorder) onto a PAL/SECAM blank tape, the signal will be PAL right?
Is it possible that they made a EU variant of the camcorder that shoot SECAM? or is SECAM never really something that camcorders do?

I never realised SECAM was a thing, and i understand why nobody mentionned that before as it's really just a few countries that are then restrictive with 90"s tech. That explains why i NEVER saw a NTSC tape in english in my country actually, people had no point into even trying to import those.

[The_Doman]

Ah thanks, i see. I have been reading the whole SECAM wikipedia page and now i understand. I'm from france so most likely all my media is SECAM-L i think. It also explains why the S/video signal is B&W, SECAM-L apparently is NOT a signal that can ever go through S-Video properly.

Possible yes, wrong/incompatible video standard settings of a capture card often results in a B/W image and possible other artifacts.
But about your mentioned VCR's:
The Thomson VPH 7090 is a S-VHS and has S-Video out.
The Samsung DVD V-6500 is a combo DVD player/regular VHS VCR which only outputs composite when using the VCR!
The S-Video (and component) output only work when using the DVD player functions!.
You see this problem/limitation often with VHS and DVD combo units.

I then double checked the capture card specs and indeed it does only NTSC and PAL, so that's where the issue is! I guess this card will be good for old game capture but i will never be able to actually capture SECAM VHS on it right? Or is there some way to convert SECAM to PAL with a VCR or a dvd recorder? (i assume not)

If the card/driver gives no option for SECAM besides PAL/NTSC then there is not much you can do indeed.
Unless there are some other drivers available which support/enable it?
I am not familiar with SECAM/MESECAM playback with VCR and/or conversions to other formats.
Getting a (cheap) USB capture card/stick which supports SECAM/MESECAM is an easier option i think?

Ah thank you, im trying Lagarith now on a PAL PS1 capture and its pretty good!

Lagarith is a bit less demanding with disk i/o compared to Huffyuv which often can be advantageous.

[Azhash]

If the card/driver gives no option for SECAM besides PAL/NTSC then there is not much you can do indeed.
Unless there are some other drivers available which support/enable it?
I am not familiar with SECAM/MESECAM playback with VCR and/or conversions to other formats.
Getting a (cheap) USB capture card/stick which supports SECAM/MESECAM is an easier option i think?

Yeah i dont think that card can.
I got a Hauppauge HD PVR for the SECAM, it works and all but after a few research, it seems that it's a troubled device, apparently it can only work with it's software that goes with it, and sometime freeze and need to be disconnected from the 6V... wich is jst damn unfortnate.
Technically yeah it works, but do you guys think there is a way to use it in VirtualDub Amarek etc? I saw a post with someone making a graph in graphstudio but i couldnt understand anything they were saying. Apparently they made it work and write a mp4 file directly, but would there be a way to use the graph to get the signal to VirtualDub? (i wish i understood how graphs work but im kinda at a loss with it)
Using the software from Hauppague is quite a pain and there is litterally no parameters available sadly

On another note, i've been using the Avermedia internal card to capture PS1 footage, i've researched about deinterlace etc, fiddled with it a lot in virtualdub and in amarek, but i couldnt find settings that were really that great, either its too smooth either it has artifacts when i deinterlace.
Would anyone know some settings i could use? (i searched but only found very surface level amarek tutorials for it) for both resolutions that the pS1 can output idealy (as it depend on the game)
The hauppauge is kinda weird with ps1 deinterlace, i have zero acess to any settings and its mostly clean but lacks the authenticity of the raw graphics.

[Alwyn]

The GV-USB2 can input SECAM L, according to the driver. I have no access to SECAM tapes so I can't verify, one way or the other.


[Attachment 92071 - Click to enlarge]

i've been using the Avermedia internal card to capture PS1 footage, i've researched about deinterlace etc, fiddled with it a lot in virtualdub and in amarek, but i couldnt find settings that were really that great

It is preferable to deinterlace after capture. VDub does a reasonable job with it's internal deinterlacing filter, or you could use QTGMC, which is an AVISynth component, or there are a couple of GUIs for it, including this recently created one. I haven't tried it.

[rgr]

Ah thanks, i see. I have been reading the whole SECAM wikipedia page and now i understand. I'm from france so most likely all my media is SECAM-L i think.

SECAM was recorded on tape in only two standards – SECAM (Western Europe) or MESECAM (Middle East & Eastern Europe). During playback, MESECAM is converted to PAL already in the VCR.
These L, H, B/G, and D/K are broadcast standards. SECAM_H was used in France since 1984 (SECAM_L before).

It also explains why the S/video signal is B&W, SECAM-L apparently is NOT a signal that can ever go through S-Video properly.

The cable doesn't care what signal runs through it. If both the sender and receiver are SECAM-compatible, there won't be a problem.