Digitizing VHS tapes

What would be the most efficient (and least lossy) way to convert a boxful of tapes?

Other urls found in this thread:

youtube.com/watch?v=sn_TDa9zY1c
avisynth.nl/index.php/Median
my.mixtape.moe/lekghq.webm
twitter.com/NSFWRedditVideo

There isn't really much choice: a VCR and a capture card.

enjoy your 320 x 200 videos.

This

Also, why the sudden VHS hipster uprise all of the sudden? This is the 100th thread this week about this.

Remember and you probably already know
S-video > RGB

If that is the only option available to you

...

then rip the dvdrw.

>HDMI out

Intradesting, isn't that like using S-Video or RGB and then using an upscaler that outputs to HDMI?

Wonder if there is any difference between that and using that HDMI out on that VCR.

I can't tell on it but does it have TBC? that would be better at capture than having your capture shit on you because it doesn't recognize a signal, no?

There are only two Easycaps worth anything. The Original Somagic Easycap, and the UTV007 Easycap.

>>Somagic
Video Output
YUYV
720x480 (480i)
720x576 (576i)

>>UTV007
Video Output
YUY2
720x480 (240p 480i)
720x576 (288p 576i)

While I have yet to test the UTV007, I do have the Somagic (SMI Grabber) to confirm that it sin't trash.

>>This Corresponds to the Somagic

My bad, it's UYVY 4:2:2
These were the options in VirtualDub under Video>Set Custom Format.

You can only use what it highlighted.

>> Somagic
This is the PCB of my Somagic Easycap.
The chip in the middle reads...

"Somagic:
SMI-2021CBE
H4G447.1

Get a VCR with RGB/Component out, get a capture card that supports one of them.

Once you get one of the two Easycaps, follow the steps shown in this video...
youtube.com/watch?v=sn_TDa9zY1c
If you want to be anal and have it lossless like me, I use Logarith Lossless to record in Video>Compression. and after Choosing Yadif Double Keep both fields in, Video>Video Filter>Deinterlace, I render it in Logarith Lossless, making a 720x480p50/60 Lossless video.\

I've done VHS, Video8, and Hi8 using this and it looks awesome. You won't be dissapointed.

What's the best software for saving output from one of these capture cards? I tried to get ffmpeg working but it didn't recognize the card.

VirtualDub, maybe?

give this task to small business

it would be better to use composite or s-video out
hdmi out will likely be upscaled and deinterlaced by the device, there's no benefit to recording an upscaled image, just a waste of time and space
and there are better software deinterlacers than whatever that does
not to mention the video won't look any better, as VHS is really low quality, i doubt s-video even provides anything over composite with VHS

depending on how much time you have, and how important the videos are, you can also squeeze a better picture out of a tape by recording it multiple times and averaging the result, filtering out random errors

...

>RGB

way to be misleading. You're all talking about composite, which are the typical red/white/yellow RCA (phono) plugs.

>i doubt s-video even provides anything over composite with VHS

indeed, VHS's video signal is similar to composite in that luminance and chroma are carried in the same signal rather than being separated like svideo or component.

I used one of these $12 doodads from amazon and it worked fine. Used OBS to capture it. Unfortunately required windows and it's own drivers, but it did work fine through my VM.

It's totally a gimmick. There were a bunch of DVD players that were like $20 that advertised HDMI out as a way to "make your movies HD" when Blu-ray came out. It looks like boiled assholes and elbows.

Though I did have one that had HDMI out but didn't upscale. It was really just meant to have an output for both audio and video that used only one cable. Getting my TV to stop trying to stretch it to 1920x1080, on the other hand, was a bitch.

rgb > svideo > rca > rf

Nice. What software?

oh, should have linked to it
avisynth.nl/index.php/Median

Some early 2000 Sony Handicams are able to digitize Hi8/Video8 and with some aftermarket software mod even VCR through line-in.

>Also, why the sudden VHS hipster uprise all of the sudden?
Just wanting to digitize OOP titles stuck in licensing limbo, and home movies possibly.

>recording it multiple times and averaging the result, filtering out random errors
Never thought of this. Thanks user for the solid advise.

also, be sure to clean the play head, and adjust the tracking as well. i don't know how familiar OP is with VHS/VCR's, so it might be worth point out

s/rca/composite/
"rca" is a connector type (well, technically a company name, but whatever) and isn't only used for composite. audio and component use rca connectors as well

mum and dad's wedding tapes

Are all of these generic capture cards UVC?

for archival, keeping interlaced video interlaced isn't a bad idea, but if you actually want to play the video, you should deinterlace it
no modern display is natively interlaced, so one way or another, it will be deinterlaced, better to process ahead of time with a high quality deinterlacer, than rely on a simpler solution in media players or tv's
i recommend QTGMC for this task, it's slower than things like yadif, but does a much better job retaining detail, it uses motion estimation to interpolate the missing lines

clip related, PAL Hi8 recording, 50i (25fps) deinterlaced with QTGMC (vapoursynth) to 50p/50fps
>Error: Your image contains an embedded file.
my.mixtape.moe/lekghq.webm

also, instead of line-doubling and using lagarith, consider leaving it interlaced and using ffv1, which has better compression than lagarith (yuls and msu do better, but they're both proprietary and uncommon, while ffv1 is part of the ffmpeg project)

...

If that's the only resolution the video is available in, then it's obviously the best one you retard

>"In modern-day digital terminology, NTSC VHS is roughly equivalent to 333×480 pixels luma and 40×480 chroma resolutions (333×480 pixels=159,840 pixels or 0.16MP (1/6 of a MegaPixel)).,[35] while PAL VHS offers the equivalent of about 335×576 pixels luma and 40×240 chroma (the vertical chroma resolution of PAL is limited by the PAL color delay line mechanism)."
-- wikipedia

and yea, as said, the only copy IS the best copy, not every VHS is a commercial film that has a release on a better format

I for one love VHS homemade porn

OP here, thanks for all of your solid advice. As said, it's for my parents. Our last VCR died , but it looks like the general consensus is to use a capture card. Shit's expensive in the used market, but I don't want to risk damaging a friend's while I try to clean it... Still cheaper than dropping 30 shekels per tape to have a business do it