VHS Capturing Snag

WHILE capturing vhs through an analog capture deck, many videos hit a snag, where they will freeze sporadically on an individual shot and hold for a few seconds and then continue recording. id say this happens about every 5 minutes..any thoughts?
Thanks

What type of converter are you using?
And, what type of drive are you trying to capture to? Is it, by any chance, a USB drive?
If you are monitoring the capture directly from the deck that you are capturing from, then it might be a problem with the deck, although that isn't likely since you say it is happening with different types of tapes.
Most converters, like the Canopus models, have analog inputs to connect your deck, and a firewire output to your computer. There could be a problem with the converter, but it sounds like it might also be a problem with the drive you are trying to capture to, if the lagging you are noticing is being monitored in the FCP log and capture window.

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Red giant shooter suite - vhs capture - order of tools

Hello everyone,
I have some VHS captures that I want to improve. While I understand that VHS is an already limited format, I wanted to improve it a bit using the shooter suite tools.
My question is: in what order should I apply instant HD, denoiser 2, and frames? My aim is for turning the content into 1080p 24 frames per second. Also, if any one has any recommended settings, it is greatly appreciated.

I think your aim, 1080P is too high. VHS effectively is around 240 - 280 vertical resolution. Even 720 may be very high already.
Using SSuite 12.6.1 you still can't make up what isn't there to start with. You can somewhat limit the damage, but that is all.
I would start out with Instant 4K, with the quality setting to 20+, then Denoiser 2 or alternatively Neat Video, and finally Frames. You may skip Frames altogether by exporting with the same framerate as your source material, to keep quality loss to the minimum.

VHS Captured With DV Converter Judders In Compressor/DVDSP, OK In iDVD.

This is more a statement than a question.
Some people will be familiar with my inability to produce judder-free DVDs from HDV or AIC footage burned in iDVD ........ which I have previously described +ad nauseam.+
Well here's something entirely different!
Yesterday I copied an old, very poor quality VHS tape to DV via my DAC 100 converter.
Apart from the lousy colour and pictorial quality, the video played OK in the timeline so I exported it to Compressor and burned in DVDSP.
The DVD exhibited the same kind of judder I get when I try to encode HDV in QT Movie and iDVD.
I wasted another DVD getting the same result, so in desperation I exported my project to QT Movie and burned it in iDVD.
The results - PERFECT - at least as far as image steadiness was concerned!

iDVD 7.0.1 and Compressor 3.0.3
I was hoping this would crack the old problem, but no.
I used a 40 second sequence with the camera panning very slowly across a street of houses with strong contrasty vertical and horizontal lines formed by windows, doors, drainpipes and rooflines etc. in the first half and a person walking across the frame etc. slowly in the second half. The 6' walker was a fair distance away only filling about 45% of the height of the frame.
4 test QT Movies were exported and burned in iDVD on one DVD. These were the straight video and then 3 versions with the Shift Filter in the +1, None and -1 settings.
They all looked the same, with jitter not so much on the vertical lines as the horizontal ones, which was a little surprising. The person walking across the frame definitely exhibited jitter.
All these problems disappear when encoded in Compressor or down-converted to DV by the camera during capture and burned in iDVD.
Still, it was worth a try.
I'm wondering whether it is possible to hack into iDVD and maybe alter field etc. settings in there!
There has to be some simple reason why there is a dramatic difference between Compressor/DVDSP and iDVD and it's nothing to do with quality or power or cost.
Incidentally a friend of mine went on a world tour, using an identical HV20 and rough-editing on her MBP as she went. The resulting rough edits were burned in iDVD and the DVDs sent back to her family. These DVDs apparently were jittery but the family didn't mind!

VHS Capture Through Mini DV Camera...

I am sending the "OUT" of my VCR to the "IN" of my mini DV camera to capture VHS tapes into Premiere through firewire.
Will this cause a level of compression from the mini DV camera or is it simply a pass through with NO compression?
Thanks!

No, DV is a mild compression. Let's be clear - "uncompressed" video is only used for the highest quality broadcast-type work and takes specialized hard drives and capture cards to work with, and is severe overkill considering VHS is the source. DV is a great choice for what you are doing. Consider that DV uses about 5:1 compression, while DVD is 25:1 or so. To put things in perspective, there are practically no cameras out there that even shoot "uncompressed" video, as they all use some type of compression (not talking about RED or super-high end units).
Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

Conapos ADVC 110 or DV camera for VHS capture

Hello, I am looking to capturing old family VHS into my Mac Pro and make DVDs. I've been reading a little on the ADVC 110 and it seems like a nice analog converter. I just wanted to get your opinions.

I have used my ADVC-110 for years, with excellent results.
Yes, the ADVC-300 is a step up and can especially help clean up degraded video recordings; it includes noise reduction and image stabilization capabilities. But it's also 2x the price of the 110 and you have to learn how to set & adjust its features to obtain the benefits.

Imovie video NTSC to PAL from VHS captures only in Black & White, HELP!

I'm trying to capture video via a Pinnacle Moviebox to Imovie. PAL VHS through the box is fine, no problem. As soon as I switch to NTSC setting and run an NTSC VHS tape the picture reverts to Black and White. Changed the cable, changed the VHS player, talked to Pinnacle, no advice offered. I am getting deperate! Need to transfer tapes urgently for a show-reel. All advice gratefully accepted.

Check your settings and cables: feeding composite video through a s-video cable yields B&W image.
So set the (S)VHS deck to either composite-out/s-video-out and use a corresponding composite/s-video cable and feed that into composite-in/s-video-in.
Also remember that a SCART connector can use either composite or s-video.
...there are quite many permutations that can go wrong there!
Also older PAL TVs play NTSC as B&W.

FCE 4 Froze At The End Of VHS Capture Through DAC-100.

I spent a large part of yesterday copying a 2 hour VHS tape to FCE 4 via my DAC-100.
At the end of the 2 hours I pressed the esc key only to hear a warning "thud" bleep and find that FCE had suddenly frozen.
After I force-quit I found the 25GB file was useless.
I tried again with a 30 minute capture with the same result.
During each attempted capture I had briefly answered an email.
Assuming that my short internet use had caused the end freeze I tried again, not using any other computer function and succeeded.
Whilst using the web is the chief suspect, could there be another obvious cause? (I am sure that in the past I have used the iMac whilst capturing).
The irritating thing was that it waited until the capture was finished before freezing!

That is interesting Armando.
Thanks to your info I can now use Spaces!
Here are the results:-
1. With FCE capturing in Window 1, I can switch to Window 2 and open Mail (or any other app), use it and go back to Window 1. (This works with both camera and converter captures).
The Mail name is still in the menu in Window 1 and I can't bring up FCE's name but it does not matter because pressing esc stops the capture and puts FCE's name back in the menu.
2. For it all to work, I must OPEN the new app in the new window. If the app is already open, even though I "wake" it up in Window 2, it will lock FCE when I go back to Window 1.
3. As mentioned previously, if FCE locks whilst capturing from a camera, I can simply manually stop the camera, FCE will unlock and I get the "End of Tape" message. The capture is successful. But this technique does not work when capturing with a converter.
So, you have shown me that I can use other apps whilst capturing by using Spaces, but it does not explain why I have the original problem.
I have just done some capture tests on my G4 eMac (OSX 10.4.10) and opening other apps during capture does not cause a problem.

VHS Capture via the Blackmagic Deck link Extreme 2 card

Is this even possible? I'm trying to capture VHS video with the extreme 2 card and all I get is an image that looks like old time film with the jumping of the frames like it is being hand cranked. I have better results with an anologue to digital converter via firewire, but I thought that the extreme card was suppose to be able to capture pretty much anything.
Cannot figure out the settings to make it a smooth capture.
Help me, I'm melting.

What settings are you using in FCP? What Easy Setup? How is the deck connected?
I don't know the Decklink software interface all that well, I use AJA. But with the AJA you have to tell the card via the AJA Control Panel what connection you are routing to the card and which it should use. It might be expecting a Component signal and you are feeding it a composite one.
Shane

No audible audio from VHS capture

I captured the material on a VHS tape, but can't hear the audio after putting the clip on the timeline. There are levels showing on the audio mixer, but they are around -42 even with the master up to +12db. Any ideas as to how to get audible audio?

1. are the levels on the vhs at -48? if so you need to run them out the vhs into a mixer gain up then into the 3000. the 3000 has led's on the front make sure the first 2 led's of 3 are solid with your gain level when the vhs is playing (this is at approx -12db) I've got a 3000 too and you can monitor out the rca out on the back. just don't create a loop, the feedback will kill your recording... basically if you're going out of the vhs to the mixer to the 3000 do not have the 3000 sound going to the mixer with ANY volume...Turn it to 0. then you can monitor through the 3000 to a mixer to your speakers or amp then speakers.
computer firewire ---->3000 ----> mixer --->amp/powered speakers
** THEN you need to disengage the capture window (open-apple 8) to hear what's on the timeline...wierd bug i think... not sure why this happens..maybe Bogsian or the others may know the technical reasons why this happens...maybe something to do with input/output engaged for capture disables the output through that device...wow i almost sound technical.
hope this helps

Recomended VHS capture decks

I have been editing video for 3 years now (mainly mini dv from a Sony VX2100) but i'd like to get a VHS deck so i can edit some old home videos to dvd/web. Anybody have prior experience with VHS decks?

You'll probably get some used consumer one fr JVC with some kind of TBC function. Their HRS-7000 - 9800 model should have them. It's a must since old VHS tapes are likely to have major dropouts and tracking problems. W/ out digital TBC, the capture will abort on it own because of illegal video in digital video. This is especially true of there's nothing recorded on it or excessive tracking errors on tapes recorded at LP or EP. I've done almost 1,000 hours of legacy VHS archive capture and it can't be done w/ TBC technology.
The TBC (time base corrector) also helps to clean up the bad chroma problems associated w/ legacy composite color under system w/ a limit of 3.58 Mhz. In otherwords, the red color smearing will be a minimal. Quite an amazing difference in quality.
Holy moly, that's really old school stuff but there was a time in history in the mid 80-90s where it was the only viable technology there.

Decent VHS capture hardware costs $170 or more?

Hi folks,
I'm just making sure I understand correctly -
Decent hardware to capture RCA/Composite outputs from e.g. a VHS VCR will cost something like $200? For Canopus / Grass Valley DV Bridges. There's nothing cheaper.
This is what folks have suggested in a couple of threads I've been in.
FWIW I'm not against buying used stuff, but I can't buy anything complicated. I can barely get new, "easy" stuff to work (like PE).
Thanks!
Mike

There are cheaper divices around but the usually give out of sync problems.
Grass Valley converters are not complicated. Just hook them up and capture.
All you need is the red/white/yellow cables and a firewire cable.
Your computer does need a firewire connection.

Best VHS capture

I need to get some footage off a VHS tape, i have a Mini DV camcorder.
Should i plug the VCR straight into my inputs to my Mini DV cam and record the footage i need or can i just use my DV cam as a go between and have my VCR out going to my Mini DV input, use firwire from my DV cam and capture with FCP or do i need to record for best results.

Whenever I've gone VHS to DV, I've done what you first mentioned and recorded from the VCR to the MiniDV tape and then captured off of that. The advantage is you can log your footage so if you have to go back and re-capture, you won't have to deal with the VCR anymore.
That's what I'd avise,
Cameron

VHS capture problem

I have a Plextor 402 connected to my iMac and have EyeTv software running with it. I am able to watch video from the VHS using EyeTV. But I am NOT able to capture it directly to Final Cut Pro. I don't want to record using EyeTv. I would much ratter go straight to Final Cut Pro. Is this possible with the Plextor 402 or do I need to get something else?

Thanks for the help I had a bad feeling that was the problem. Didn't know why and didn't want to spend two hundred dollars without making sure. Thank again for timely response!

VHS Capture

if i am capture my vhs through one of those capture boxes
rca in - firweire out
what should my device control and capture/input settings be in FCP 6.02

Jon --
I see you've been doing some research...
Good deal on you!!
The biggest issue for you now is to make sure your DEVICE CONTROL is set to Non-Controllable Device.
You won't get timecode... but you WILL get the video/audio that you need.
Good luck,
CaptM

How do I capture the entire VHS videotape without stopping?

Why does PE12 stop capturing VHS videos whenever it reaches blank tape? I'd like it to keep going to the next scene. I have "Split Scenes" unchecked. Using a ADVC-300 in-between tape deck & PC.

J B.
I have had no hands on experience with VHS capture when blank spaces are involved in the tape.
But, from all that I have read, this type of thing is to be expected.
a. if you had digital tape and timecode breaks were encounted
b. if you had VHS tape, the blank space would be looked on as Stop.
I do not see how this issue can be overcome in Premiere Elements capture.
Until proven otherwise, I would say cannot be done in Premiere Elements to give one continuous video when blank spots in VHS tape.
ATR

VHS Capturing Snag

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