Record old VHS to HDD with Hauppauge HD PVR [Solved]

Video is fine but there is no sound. The best I can get is a scratching noise from the recording. There is nothing wrong with the equipment. I have both sound and video in windows. I tried 'cat /dev/video1 > video.mp4' and 'mplayer /dev/video1' and cat with a pipe to ffmpeg and my latest command is 'ffmpeg -i /dev/video1 -vcodec copy -acodec copy -bsf:a aac_adtstoasc Krou.mp4'. I have the latest firmware in my hdpvr and a two days old install of Arch.
Edit! I found out that my hdpvr still outputted audio thru the RCA-port on the back, so just switching the audiocables to the back solved it.
Last edited by jai134 (2013-11-29 16:04:46)

Try checking your capture volume.

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Hi!
Besides of all i want to thank you for the time you gonna lose to read this post.
I bought a lenovo ideacentre B520 and i want to record my old vhs tapes.
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Capturing from old vhs tapes

I want to capture a bunch of old VHS tapes into CS6. I have an analog to digital converter that I'm going to plug a VCR into and a Firewire cable from the converter into my computer.
1.) Can anyone recommend any general settings for making sure I get the highest quality possible?
I'm looking at using the following settings:
Sequence Preset
DV - NTSC
Standard 48kHz
and then going to:
- File > Capture
- Press play on the controller at the bottom of the window
- Press record on the controller at the bottom of the window
Any advice will be greatly appreciated!

There are a few ways to take care of this. One is to crop the 2 pixels from the top and the 2 from the bottom from the source when you export. If you do that, you can scale it up a bit to take care of it, or stretch to fit. Either way, it is unlikely to be noticeable since the analog wasn't picture perfect to begin with. Or, you can just leave the black above and below. Hardly noticeable at all - depending on how you display it. If you put it full size on a white web site then it is a problem. Playing it out on a DVD is not problem at all. Nobody sees that far to the edge on most TVs anyway. Although more and more they show the entire picture.
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Copying old VHS tapes

AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!
My wife volunteered me to copy her aunts crappy old VHS tapes to DVD. In order to do this, I have to capture the footage and then output it (I really should have gotten one of the stand alone recorders),
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Also, I tried capturing using Quicktimes recording feature, but this kept stopping as well!!

1
To Play back analogue video with a signal that is good enough to copy reqyuires a Time Base Corrector. This is a device that stabilises the inherent jitter caused by tape players, replacing the sync signals with good quality sync. The resultant signal is then stable enough to record.
you can buy a domestic version of this, which can be used with a DVD REcorder:
http://cpc.farnell.com/cyp/ctb100/time-base-corrector/dp/AV11954?_requestid=5518 23
there is a combined TBC and analogue video to Firewire converter which can be used to digitise the VHS for editing with Final Cut:
http://desktop.thomsongrassvalley.com/products/ADVC300/index.php
2
If you buy a Panasonic recorder you can set the firstplay to 'track' which will only playback the video content without menus.
Message was edited by: Gary Scotland

How to convert old VHS tapes to digital

I am hoping someone can give me an overview of what kind of equipment/software is necessary to convert VHS tapes into a digital format that could be saved in iMovie. Do I just need the right cables for the VCR or something more complicated? Thanks!

I recommend that you download the free iMovie HD6 for those with iMovie 08 who do not have a prior version of iMovie HD6. You can get it here: http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/imovieHD6.html
And, do this tutorial: http://www.apple.com/support/imovie/tutorial/
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+So, your method worked using just a VCR, a camcorder, and your computer? No special converters?+
Yes, I just used the AV connectors that came with my camcorder to hook the camcorder to the VCR....which was in a combo TV/VCR unit so I could see the footage on my tv, just to make it easier. The AV connector cable has a special prong that fits into the camcorder, and those white/red/yellow prongs at the VCR end. The TV/VCR is a few years old, certainly not anything fancy or new.
I didn't bother with a converter since I just used the camcorder.
My computer and that VCR are not physically close enough to try to import directly, and since I wanted the digital tapes of the original footage, recording first to the miniDV tapes worked for me. Canopus makes a couple of nice converters...they are around $150-250, I think.
Then, to connect to the computer with the camcorder you will need a 4-6 pin Firewire cable.
+I might do it sooner or I might put it off for awhile while I practice messing around with iMovie.+
The benefit of recording from VHS to miniDV tapes is that the tapes are digital, they store easily and the footage will not degrade before you get around to creating your iMovies and DVDs. iMovies can take up lots of drive space, so don't be thinking that you will just import them all and save them for editing later. You would need a huge amount of space for this. Most of my movies are just under 2 hours, and occupy between 25-40 GB each. A couple of my movies were well over 100-140GB!!!! Yes, that is correct. I have a couple of external drives that I use for my movies while I am creating them. I usually have about two or three that I am working on at the same time.
+We want to put them in a digital format that will be easier to store and play and safer from eroding over time, so I guess the end format I'm looking for is DVDs.+
Because DVDs can break/crack/warp/melt/etc, you should consider exporting your finished iMovies back to the camcorder so that you have the miniDV tapes for more permanent storage and as a backup to your DVDs.
That is one of the big reasons that I don't use iMovie 08---it does not permit exporting back to a camcorder.
Although I do not save my created iMovies on my computer after I have made the DVD and exported the edited movie back to tape, I do save all my iDVD projects as disk images. A disk image can be up to 4.7 GB--even my large movies were automatically compressed down when put into iDVD. The limitation in iDVD is the total length of the movie in TIME, not SIZE. I use single-layer DVDs, which can hold up to 2 hours of content. Creating disk images allows you to have an exact copy of your iDVD projects, self-contained so that you can delete the original iMovies and the original iDVD projects. You can use the disk image to burn your disks when you first create them, and any time in the future. It is a good backup for the entire DVD.
Enjoy being creative with your movie projects! Post back with any more questions, and feel free to email me if you want.
Regards,
Beverly

Logging old VHS/Beta tapes to FCP. Best route for picture quality?

Logging old broadcasts recorded on VHS. Most look very good for the time from, some have slight "ghosting" and other carious imperfections. I am using one of the best VCRs and Beta Machines ever made in Sony Super VHS and Super Betas. Both have S-Video outputs. Logging with Formac Studio and I also have a Canopus ADVC-100. Shall I go this route because the picture quality won't get any better? Or any other suggestions? Thanks.

I have an AJA IO, which is an older capture device, and have done quite a few jobs like you are describing. The IO (or another high-quality capture device) allows you to input S-VHS, or another analog signal, such as YUV component video, which many beta decks have, and capture the material to an uncompressed 8- or 10-bit QT, thereby preserving the maximum quality possible. Converting to DV compresses the footage, which can't be undone later down the pipeline, so if you are planning to output to another compressed format, such as MPEG-2 for DVD, you will compress it yet again and lose even more quality. I guess it all depends on the deliverables you need.
-van

Capturing old VHS tapes

Hello.
Can anyone out there tell me the best way to capture old VHS tapes on to my imac? i.e. what software is best to use? What format is best? Best way to clean up the tapes/ machine before playing them? Basically any little tip and tricks for a good result.
I have searched and googled but cannot find information relavent to my set up. I have already imported quite a few tapes and the results vary from not too bad to terrible.
I would say that I have about 30 tapes that I want to go through and take bits from and am willing to give up a lot of time but only if the results are worth it. So far that has not been the case.
The set up I have at the moment is:
Hitachi VHS recorder (good one at the time)
Canopus advc-55
27" imac i7.
Also have Final Cut Express installed but find the capture/ achiving far easier in imovie.
Any help appreciated,
Pat.

Hi
Canopus advc-55 - should work OK
I use a Canopus ADVC-300 as this has two important (to me) features
• TimeBase correction - mend's small drop outs
The Capture doesn't halt
Audio is keept in sync - even when drop out frames
• Picture enhanzing
Then I prefer to use
• iMovie HD6 - and this set to Capture NOT in a cut up version as then drop out frames will trigger new clips (called save as individual clips in iMovie HD6 pref - I turn it off)
Else I don't need anything else.
Capturing in FinalCut Express or Pro - is more problematic to me as they are much more sencitive and halt's Import much easier. (Much more baby-sittings) - my notes on this following.
Analog to Mac/Digital
From
• S-VHS, VHS, VHS-C - Camera or VCR (VHS-C needs adaptor cassette - SVHS/VCR in such cases)
• Video 8, Hi8 ...........................................( Camera / Digital8 Camera or special VCR-player )
Can be done via
• Camera and tape or video trough (if present) (miniDV or Digital8)
• A/D-box
    Several brands (Must be FireWire)
        Canopus ADVC-55 (now Grass Valley ADVC-55) - (only on way)
        Canopus ADVC-110 (now Grass Valley ADVC-110) - (two ways)
        Canopus ADVC-300 (now Grass Valley ADVC-300) - (Timebase/code-correction)
        EyeTV
• VCR --> DVD (result needs conversion to be of use)
Captured/Imported by
• iMovie 1 to HD6
• iMovie’08 & 09 & 11
• FinalCut Express or Pro
• Final Cut Pro - X ( iMovie’11 Pro? )
• QuickTime Pro
• iDVD
SCART - Must use an SCART-adaptor with in and out switch. The one that came with Camera is one way. Camera ----> VCR/TV - not other way around.
RCA - Connect right way around
USING the S-Video out than RGB-video (Composite) from SCART will give a significantly better result !
Why
• Want to do a DVDs
• Want to edit
Connect VCR to A/D-box via SCART---RCA (EU) or via RCA---RCA (US) and set SCART switch to out (if used). The A/D-box may have an in resp. out side. Connect to in-side. Set A/D-box Input selector to Analog in.
My ADVC-300 has two sets of dip-switches on bottom - for PAL they are set to
Left one number 6 is set to on - all others in off state.
If 6 in off state then it is NTSC
From A/D-box via FireWire 6-pin to 6-pin or 9-pin end to Mac FW port.
Now turn A/D-box or Camera ON
Start iMovie or QT or FinalCut
Select Import or Capture
Re-wind tape in VCR or Camera
Start - Play on VCR or Camera
Import or Capture Now
See that the saved movie is collected on a hard disk with sufficient space
1 hour needs 13.5Gb
8 hour needs 105-110Gb (e.g. a 240VHS tape recorded in LP-mode)
How to store the material
• As is - Icon with a Star on it (iMovie HD6)
• As a set of DVDs
• Collected in a folder - FinalCuts Scratch folders + Movie document on an external/second hard disk
• As DiskImages
• Back to miniDV tapes
Do not use LP-mode with miniDV tapes. Two major problems.
a. When Camera dies - so does the tapes - Can’t be play-backed securely on other Camera even if
brand and type number is the same - the tolerances are to small
b. Audio goes out of sync due to 12-bit recording and/or drop outs in video makes video and audio
not walk in pace / parallel. Resulting in a very tough re-sync problem.
Yours Bengt W

Export old VHS to DVD. Best Quality?

I am fairly new to FCE4. I copied all my home videos from VHS to my computer via Sony DCR-HC30. They became ".dv" files. Now I am finished editing/fixing the first video and I am ready to export it. All I want to do is to be able to make a dvd out of it and watch it on a hdtv. I know it will be very hard to get the old VHS quality videos to HD, but what would be the best setting under "Export" to get the best quality out of them. I tried to do a HD export watching a youtube video and after I did it it said it would take 11hours, thats way too long for me. Any help would be great.
Also, I have done a few projects on IDVD as far as creating the dvd menu and chapters. Is there a way to do that on FCE or is it better after export to run it through IDVD to get my dvd menus and give it an actual dvd feel when I insert it into a dvd player?

Hi
DVD is limited as standard to SD-video (Standard definition) (old CRT-TV quality).
There are no practical/working HD-DVD versions at all.
Neither iDVD or Roxio Toast™ will help.
DVD-Studio Pro got a HD-DVD function - BUT this only play back on some few Toshiba players.
Only way to get HD - is via Blu-Ray - require Roxio Toast™ 10 Pro incl BD-component
and BD-burner + BD-disks - AND BD-Player
I've made a list on this.
*DVD quality*
1. iDVD 08 & 09 has three levels of qualities.
iDVD 6 has the two last ones
• Professional Quality *(movies + menus up to 120 min.)* - BEST
• Best Performances *(movies + menus less than 60 min.)* - High quality on final DVD
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2.Video from
• FCE/P - Export out as full quality QuickTime.mov (not selfcontaining, no conversion)
• iMovie x-6 - Don't use ”Share/Export to iDVD” = destructive even to movie project and especially so
when the movie includes photos. Instead just drop or import the iMovie movie project icon (with a Star on it) into iDVD theme window.
• iMovie’08 not meant to go to iDVD. Go via Media Browser or rather use iMovie HD 6 from start.
3. I use Roxio Toast™ to make an as slow burn as possibly eg x1 (in iDVD’08 or 09 this can also be set)
This can also be done with Apple’s Disk Utilities application.
4. There has to be about or more than 25Gb free space on internal (start-up) hard disk. iDVD can't
use an external one as scratch disk (if it is not start-up disc).
5. I use Verbatim ( also recommended by many - Taiyo Yuden DVDs - I can’t get hold of it to test )
6. I use DVD-R (no +R or +/-RW)
7. Keep NTSC to NTSC - or - PAL to PAL when going from iMovie to iDVD
8. Don’t burn more than three DVD at a time - but let the laser cool off for a while befor next batch.
iDVD quality also depends on.
• DVD is a standard in it self. It is Standard Definition Quality = Same as on old CRT-TV sets and can not
deliver anything better that this.
HD-DVD was a shortlived standard and it was only a few Toshiba DVD-players that could playback.
These DVDs could be made in DVD-Studio Pro. But they don’t playback on any other standard DVD-layer.
*Blu-Ray / BD* can be coded onto DVDs but limited in time to - about 20-30 minutes and then need
_ Roxio Toast™ 10 Pro incl BD-component
_ BD disks and burner if full length movies are to be stored
_ BD-Player or PlayStation3 - to be able to plyback
The BD-encoded DVDs can be playbacked IF Mac also have Roxio DVD-player tool. Not on any standard Mac or DVD-player
Full BD-disks needs a BD-player (in Mac) as they need blue-laser to be read. No red-laser can do this.
• HOW much free space is there on Your internal (start-up) hard disk. Go for approx 25Gb.
less than 5Gb and Your result will most probably not play.
• How it was recorded - Tripod vs Handheld Camera. A stable picture will give a much higher quality
• Audio is most often more critical than picture. Bad audio and with dropouts usually results in a non-viewed movie.
• Use of Video-editor. iMovie’08 or 09 or 11 are not the tools for DVD-production. They discard every second line resulting in a close to VHS-tape quality.
iMovie 1 to HD6 and FinalCut any version delivers same quality as Camera recorde in = 100% to iDVD
• What kind of movie project You drop into it. MPEG4 seems to be a bad choice.
other strange formats are .avi, .wmv, .flash etc. Convert to streamingDV first
Also audio formats matters. I use only .aiff or from miniDV tape Camera 16-bit
strange formats often problematic are .avi, .wmv, audio from iTunes, .mp3 etc
Convert to .aiff first and use this in movie project
• What kind of standard - NTSC movie and NTSC DVD or PAL to PAL - no mix.
(If You need to change to do a NTSC DVD from PAL material let JESDeinterlacer3.2.2 do the conversion)
(Dropping a PAL movie into a NTSC iDVD project
(US) NTSC DVDs most often are playable in EU
(EU) PAL DVDs most often needs to be converted to play in US
UNLESS. They are plabacked by a Mac - then You need not to care
• What kind of DVDs You are using. I use Verbatim DVD-R (this brand AND no +R or +/-RW)
• How You encode and burn it. Two settings prior iDVD’08 or 09
Pro Quality (only in iDVD 08 & 09)
Best / High Quality (not always - most often not)
Best / High Performances (most often my choise before Pro Quality)
1. go to iDVD pref. menu and select tab far right and set burn speed to x1 (less errors = plays better) - only in iDVD 08 & 09
(x4 by some and may be even better)
2. Project info. Select Professional Encoding - only in iDVD 08 & 09.
Region codes.
iDVD - only burn Region = 0 - meaning - DVDs are playable everywhere
DVD Studio pro can set Region codes.
1 = US
2 = EU
*unclemano wrote*
What it turned out to be was the "quality" settings in iDVD. The total clip time was NOT over 2 hours or 4.7GB, yet iDVD created massive visual artifacts on the "professional quality" setting.
I switched the settings to "high quality" which solved the problem. According iDVD help, "high quality" determines the best bit rate for the clips you have.
I have NEVER seen iDVD do this before, especially when I was under the 2 hour and 4.7GB limits.
For anyone else, there seem to be 2 places in iDVD to set quality settings, the first is under "preferences" and the second under "project info." They do NOT seem to be linked (i.e. if you change one, the other is NOT changed). take care, Mario
TO GET IT TO WORK SLIGHTLY FASTER
• Minimum of 25Gb free space on Start-Up hard disk
• No other programs running in BackGround eg EnergySaver
• Don’t let HD spinn down or be turned off (in EnergySave)
• Move hard disks that are not to be used to Trash - To be disconnected/turned off
• Goto Spotlight and set the rest of them under Integrity (not to be scanned)
• Set screensaver to a folder without any photo - then make an active corner (up right for me) and set
pointer to this - turns on screen saver - to show that it has nothing to show
Yours Bengt W

Archiving old VHS home movies

I have a Canon MV500i camera and I am finally getting round to a project of getting all my old VHS home videos into digital format. I have turned on the AV To DV Out, and I have no problem showing the film on the camcorder, but how do I get iMovie show it? If I have no tape in the camcorder, iMovie does not allow import. If I place a tape in and click import - it imports the tape and doesn't show the av import. What am I doing wrong?

Hi Gwyn.
I have just started transferring my old VHS home movies using a Canon MV830i. I don't know if yours will have exactly the same buttons as mine but I assume they are similar.
I recorded the VHS footage onto the DV tape in the camera. I then imported it separately into iMovie. It takes ages but it was easy to do.
My camcorder was set to VCR. The AV terminal was connected to one of the scarts on the back of the video. We had to buy a scart adapter with an input/output switch to connect the cable to. (The adapter only cost a couple of pounds.) There is a button on my camcorder (under the LCD screen) marked "rec pause". We pressed that and it said "pause" on the LCD screen. We set the video playing and then pressed the play/pause button on the camcorder and it started recording. This all sounds terribly complicated but was actually quite easy.
I recorded an hour at a time (as the DV tapes are an hour) and then transferred that into iMovie. I transferred 7 hours of VHS in total so the whole process took 14 hours!
Unfortunately I hadn't set iMovie to limit the length of clips as they were imported and some of them were very long. It made editing difficult and it ended up using huge amounts of my hard drive. I have now reduced my 7 hours to one hour with some heavy editing and we've produced our first DVD.
I'm now about to start on the next batch. Fortunately there will be less this time. (Child number one had 7 hours of her baby years. Child number 2 has 3 hours. And poor child number 3 seems to have hardly any!)
Rachel

Record old VHS to HDD with Hauppauge HD PVR [Solved]

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