Best settings for capturing VHS videos played thru ancient VCR (PD12 / bundled)

Overhear

Newbie Joined: Aug 23, 2023 13:51 Messages: 2 Offline

Solved by

Aug 24, 2023 09:35

I bought a Diamond One-Touch Video Capture device years ago and just got around to attempting to transfer some old videos from VHS tape. The device came bundled with PD 12 (12.0.4823.0) and I'm attempting to capture videos played through my ancient Quasar (VHQ-401) VCR -- images below.

Can anyone suggest best PD-12 settings for getting the highest quality output? Are there settings available in newer PD versions that are worth upgrading for?

I've scanned the forums and appreciate the point made by @BarryTheCrab's and others about the value of using a better quality VCR, altho I have no idea if my old clunker can be improved upon.

I'd appreciate any input.

one touch device

BarryTheCrab

Senior Contributor Location: USA Joined: Nov 06, 2008 22:18 Messages: 6240 Offline

Aug 24, 2023 19:45

The Diamond is fine.
The VCR is a boat anchor.
You need, minimal, S-VHS player, JVC, Mitsubishi, even the Philips 960B an underrated sleeper. Condition matters.
PowerDirector for capturing...meh.
If you must...
capture hi bitrate mpeg2 (12k).
If you have wiggles and crooked vertical lines, you need some type of Time Base Correction.
Tape goes fast/slow in micro-moments and needs a digital buffer for best playback.
A cheap semi-cure for TBC is a Panasonic ES-10, ES-15, ES-25, in that order strong to weak.
Honestly, get a decent S-VHS player, or you're starting out crippled. HP Envy Phoenix/4thGen i7-4770(4@3.4GHz~turbo>3.9)
Nvidia GTX 960(4GB)/16GB DDR3/
Canon Vixia HV30/HF-M40/HF-M41/HF-G20/Olympus E-PL5.
Tape capture using 6 VCR, TBC-1000, Elite BVP4+, Sony D8 camcorder with TBC.
https://www.facebook.com/BarryAFTT

Overhear

Newbie Joined: Aug 23, 2023 13:51 Messages: 2 Offline

Aug 26, 2023 17:34

Quote The Diamond is fine.
The VCR is a boat anchor.

Very funny, and I'm sure true!

Thanks so much for your insight -- very, very helpful.

Meanwhile, one of the downloads from Diamond completely disabled my laptop, so I've spent the past 2 days running scans trying to determine if it was malware or just an incompatible driver. I'll have to consider whether it's worthwhile to continue doing this DYI or if I should ask a pro. At this point I'm very inclined to do that latter, especially because I really only have a few videos worth digitizing.

Thanks very much again for your help.

BarryTheCrab

Senior Contributor Location: USA Joined: Nov 06, 2008 22:18 Messages: 6240 Offline

Aug 26, 2023 18:39

Quote
Very funny, and I'm sure true!

Thanks so much for your insight -- very, very helpful.

Meanwhile, one of the downloads from Diamond completely disabled my laptop, so I've spent the past 2 days running scans trying to determine if it was malware or just an incompatible driver. I'll have to consider whether it's worthwhile to continue doing this DYI or if I should ask a pro. At this point I'm very inclined to do that latter, especially because I really only have a few videos worth digitizing.
Thanks very much again for your help.

It all begins with a good S-VHS player.
You only need the driver for the Diamond, other software is not needed. HP Envy Phoenix/4thGen i7-4770(4@3.4GHz~turbo>3.9)
Nvidia GTX 960(4GB)/16GB DDR3/
Canon Vixia HV30/HF-M40/HF-M41/HF-G20/Olympus E-PL5.
Tape capture using 6 VCR, TBC-1000, Elite BVP4+, Sony D8 camcorder with TBC.
https://www.facebook.com/BarryAFTT

BarryTheCrab

Senior Contributor Location: USA Joined: Nov 06, 2008 22:18 Messages: 6240 Offline

Aug 30, 2023 19:16

Any progress on the Diamond dongle driver dilemma? HP Envy Phoenix/4thGen i7-4770(4@3.4GHz~turbo>3.9)
Nvidia GTX 960(4GB)/16GB DDR3/
Canon Vixia HV30/HF-M40/HF-M41/HF-G20/Olympus E-PL5.
Tape capture using 6 VCR, TBC-1000, Elite BVP4+, Sony D8 camcorder with TBC.
https://www.facebook.com/BarryAFTT