Analog video conversion in 2020

[johnstoneturbo]

I am a retired guy trying to do a better vhs video conversion with family tapes than before.
Originally I used my 2005 Mac with a Canopus 55 with a “normal” VHS player to achieve poor video quality with many stops based on tape glitches.

I have read lately that VHS capture is best with uncompressed looseless or MPEG-2 as too much quality is lost with H.264. Lossy ProRes422 also apparently works. I also realized that a better VCR, such as the JVC HR-S9500U with integrated TBC makes a world of difference in quality and those glitchy start/stops during the process. Many also say PC’s make the best choice to avoid getting defaulted into H.264.

My question is then, with my iMac Pro running Catalina, is there an external capture device that quality results for the VHS analog tapes Or do I need to run Bootcamp for PC software and capture device to achieve high quality results? FCPX is my editing software.

Thank you for your input and support

 

[MightyGem]

NTSC VHS is roughly equivalent to 333×480 pixels and PAL VHS offers the equivalent of about 335×576 pixels, so whatever you use, the finished quality is not going to be great.

 

[krs]

Some discussion about TBC benefits here.

VCR with TBC

I am looking at this VCR and wanted to know I should get it.

forum.videohelp.com

But as MightyGem pointed out, the resolution you will get is limited by the NTSC VHS format.

The problem I had when digitizing VHS tapes is that the automatic tracking control didn't always work and finding a recorder with a manual tracking control locally wasn't that easy.

 

[johnstoneturbo]

Thanks for these comments. I was surprised at the various video sites comments that such work digitizing analog vhs video is best done by PC kit and not done on a Mac. Forcing the output to be H.264 losses about 30% of the already low VHS quality, which I certainly experienced the first time around.

I can correct some of that with the above noted JVC deck with TBC, noted in forums as top of the line for this purpose. There does not seem to be any agreement on an external analog capture card to provide looseless or MPEG2 output. I would like to import the best quality of this low quality VHS into FCPX, which will then produce H.264 video.

 

[krs]

Can you elaborate where you get the information from that you posted?
For instance that H.264 gives 30% less quality than MPEG-2?
When I check that on the net I don't see that at all - it says

A codec based on the H.264 standard compresses a digital video file (or stream) so that it only requires half of the storage space (or network bandwidth) of MPEG-2. Through this compression, the codec is able to maintain the same video quality despite using only half of the storage space.

H.264 Video Compression

It's also not clear to me why you think you are somehow forced to convert the video to H.264
Last time I digitized a VHS tabe, I used an EasyCap device.
Maybe not the best, but it provides several output options.
I'm no expert in this area (or any other for that matter), but I think you need a device that does the conversion in hardware and where you can chose the output format.

 

[johnstoneturbo]

Thanks for this input. Here is what I received from Digitalfaq site. I looked in my notes, but could not find the 30% link from the DigitalVideo site. Regarding H.264, these sites recommend no compression before editing so one gets the max from the low res vhs. The link you included notes H.264 is a universally accepted standard for hi-res video to reduce the very large file sizes. This is what I used the first time and the results were indeed poor.

Being an Apple guy and getting my first iMac in 2005 to produce family video’s from camcorders (which I love and never go back), I have come to realize, perhaps, that while the Apple product is great for digital video of various resolutions, it lacks for the older VHS technology capture to maximize the capture of already low quality.


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Poor quality is expected from consumer ("normal") VHS VCRs, or Canopus DV boxes, or both. Canopus is an example of an expensive low-quality device (and HD cards are the other).

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Massive quality loss with H264.
MPEG can be fine, but only if bitrate is good, broadcast/Blu-ray specs, more than DVD.
Lossless best.

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Correct. ProRes422 is not really that lossy, better than MPEG and older specs like MJPEG.

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Correct.

In addition, some form of external TBC will be required. You can get an actual TBC, or go the budget route of ES10/15+DVK (which has some image quality hits, ES10/15 downsides, but vastly better than the VHS/Canopus quality hits you've seen before).

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Nothing will work with macOS 10.15. Earlier OS X would work with Videoglide, and give some narrow choices in capture cards (ATI 600 USB, few clones), with 640x480 max res. So Bootcamp it is. Win7 best, Win10 workable (but narrows card choices some).

FCP is fine, good editor. Capture on Windows, edit on Mac, done that myself many times.

 

[krs]

I don't really understand all these quotes you poste and where they come from, but the first issue is that you need a 64-bit application that works with these capture devices.
Catalina (macOS10.15) no longer supports 32-bit applications and that's what the videoglide software seems to be.
Which iMac Pro do you have? Would that run Mojave on an external drive? With Mojave you could use Videoglide.
Or contact the Videoglide team and find out if and when they will update their softwareto 64-bit.

 

[Rich M]

I’ve done hundreds of hours of analog video to digital video captures, from a lot of different professional tape formats, including Type C 1-inch, Betacam SP, Digital S, 3/4” U-Matic, DVCAM, and Mini-DV. I’ve also done a lot of hours of VHS captures.

The key to a good VHS capture is:

• A GOOD capture card
• A VHS machine with a Y/C output.
  The Y/C output bypasses all the color lousy processing circuitry in the VHS machine.
• A TBC is helpful, but not necessary, at least with the Kona card I use.

I use a Kona LHi capture card. It’s expensive, but does a fantastic job. The analog to digital conversion is done in hardware, as opposed to in software. That makes a huge difference.

However, no matter how good the capture card may be, it’s VHS...a video format that was awful when it came out in the 70s and is still bad now. But careful handling of the process can result in acceptable video quality.

 

[johnstoneturbo]

Thanks for the support

 

[bobmmor]

I’ve done hundreds of hours of analog video to digital video captures, from a lot of different professional tape formats, including Type C 1-inch, Betacam SP, Digital S, 3/4” U-Matic, DVCAM, and Mini-DV. I’ve also done a lot of hours of VHS captures.

The key to a good VHS capture is:

• A GOOD capture card
• A VHS machine with a Y/C output.
  The Y/C output bypasses all the color lousy processing circuitry in the VHS machine.
• A TBC is helpful, but not necessary, at least with the Kona card I use.

I use a Kona LHi capture card. It’s expensive, but does a fantastic job. The analog to digital conversion is done in hardware, as opposed to in software. That makes a huge difference.

However, no matter how good the capture card may be, it’s VHS...a video format that was awful when it came out in the 70s and is still bad now. But careful handling of the process can result in acceptable video quality.

Hi Rich, Im searching also for a good way of going from VHS to Digital. Im not to Comp Savy so if My Player has a Y/C Output, Or I need to purchase one, Could you tell me what else I will need (Brand wise) to Transfer between the VHS player and my Mac? Also you mentioned a Kona LHi capture card is this an SD card? Is This better than DVD? Thanks for any Input! Bob