Issue with transferring PAL VHS to my computer
 

Hello VK friends,
I'm mostly an AK dweller but I'm hoping someone here can point me in the right direction with a video issue.

I just bought a PAL VCR bundled with all the extras to use here in the US. I have loads of PAL tapes that I recorded while living in the Czech Republic 1998-2003.

When I set myself up to capture the video onto my computer the video image looks great while recording. But when I am finished capturing the playback image has spots where color streaks appear that weren't there while recording. These streaks appear on the finished, rendered file. I've recorded three videos so far. The first one has this issue a lot. The second video is fine. This last video has the issue mildly in spots. All three videos looked perfect while recording.

So what might be causing this? Any suggestions what to do to fix this?

Thanks.

Can you link to some pictures? Hard to guess withut seeing it.

What software are you using on your computer? What PAL capture card do you have?
:worthless

I am using a program by a company called Honestech called VHS-to-DVD 7.0. I do not have a outboard video card.

When I open the program it shows a page where I can select PAL or NTSC.

The PAL VCR I bought comes with a PAL>NTSC converter box to use the player on a US TV. I was going to try using that converter between the PAL player and the Honestech capture device and try capturing in NTSC. But that will downgrade the overall quality and I was hoping to avoid that.

I also have a program that came with the computer called Cyberlink Power Director 10 I might try.

Here is a example of the problem. It's a sort of "ripping" or "tearing" effect especially when camera moves side to side or subject moves.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQAuULxhY-Q

Interlace issue.

Yes, and not just interlace, but something to do with motion detection and frame rate conversion. The capture hardware/firmware/software is just terrible, or has some wrong settings (if any are available).

Sorry to say I don't think you're going to get good results out of a low cost USB based capture device, I did look this one up and while it may be suitable for the home amateur I'd look into something far more robust for the serious work such as yours. I did look at the video and while the jitter was horrendous the actual source material looks quite good so you have something that's worthy of a better capture medium but this is going to need a good fiscal investment and while others here will argue I'd recommend something that is not USB based and editing software that actually supports the capture device.

Thank you for your replies.

Since my last post I have discovered that the Honestech software can be set to NTSC and if a PAL signal is sent it will convert it. As suspected the final result isn't as sharp but all that other ripping and tearing business is gone.

I can live with this for now. I'll post an example as soon as I get it uploaded.

Just uploaded;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uG-b9QyAmD4

That looks FAR FAR better! Wow I'm impressed at the overall quality of both the source and capture, I'd leave things the way they are now as this is right on.

The tapes have been stored in my home since returning from the Czech Republic in 2004. I have also been cleaning the tapes by using another deck to FF/REW them while holding a piece of Hoppe's 9 Silicone Gun Cloth against the play side. I then repeat with a piece of clean, dry fabric. I've been doing this with audio tape for a couple of years now and it works wonders with videotapes too.

First, why are your videos in 480p30 when then original had been PAL 625/50? You need to capture into D1 frame, 720x576 @ 25i, then deinterlace into 50p. This will preserve temporal resolution and will get rid of combing and ghosting.

To preserve 50p on Youtube, you need to upscale to at least 720 lines, that is, you would be upscaling into someting like 960x720p50.

If you are new to this, there are boxes that can convert into 720p50 for you in one go, but they will also add black pillars on the sides to hold the 4:3 picture in a 16:9 frame.

Second, verify that your levels and saturation are correct. The picture looks too saturated and too high-contrast to me, but need waveform and vectorscope to verify.

Third, judging by the channel ident, you need to shift chroma to the left a great deal.

Fourth, the video looks patchy, somewhat posterized, too coarse, not enough detail. Make sure you have enough bitrate.

Deinterlacing into 50p, correct levels and healthy bitrate should significantly improve what you have now.

This is how consumer-grade analog video can look: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noLN3a10zCY Granted, it has been shot with a semi-pro high-band camcorder. Still, something to strive for :) So far it is the best VHS/8mm video I've seen on Youtube.

I have recorded this with a PAL VHS camcorder (not SVHS), does not look as great as the video above, still at least the motion is preserved: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCQDaFFg3QM

Thank you for your suggestions. I will look into this further as time permits.

I have poked around within my current software and figured out how to apply some of the advice provided by @DVtyro including deinterlacing.

I am currently rendering a fresh capture of The Jazz Yatra Sextet which I uploaded last week. I can see it looks much much better as it renders. Hopefully the resultant file will demonstrate an improvement. I will update later.

Set the player at 1080p.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfjaOXpuxGc