Help with old VHS recording.

dpetto wrote on 2/23/2008, 10:20 AM

Hello All,
I was given an old (1990) VHS tape of a high school basketball teams hilights. The school wants to use parts of it for a commemeration type of thing, but the tape is not without issues! I have captured it onto the computer using two different VCR's (an old one and a newer one) and it pretty much comes out the same. I'm getting a picture, but there are wavy lines in the middle of the screen, it's veiwable but very distracting. It doesn't seem to be a tracking issue because I tried adjusting the tracking and it didn't help. Does anyone have any suggestions of anything I can do in Vegas (7) or some other way to make this issue go away or at least look a little more pleasing to the eye?

Comments

johnmeyer wrote on 2/23/2008, 10:47 AM

Wavy lines in the middle are something I usually see from off-the-air VHS, not from cameras. If you can post a short clip, I can come up with ideas on how to fix it. I have got to assume that these lines were not there when the tape was shot. One possibility is a ground loop in your capture setup. Make sure the tape deck and your computer are connected to the same wall outlet. If you have a ground loop, it will probably affect the capture regardless of what deck you use.

Wavy lines nearer the top are something that can be fixed by using a time base corrector, although this doesn't seem like it is what you are seeing. However, if you can get a capture device that includes a TBC, it would be worthwhile trying that.

Fixing wavy lines using post-production filters is almost impossible, since the "waviness" is generally not consistent.

dpetto wrote on 2/24/2008, 10:56 AM

Hi John, thanks for the input. Here is a link to a short clip.
http://dpetto.blip.tv/#707623
The picture is bad enough as it is, but the wavy lines really make it worse. I don't think it's a capture problem because the tape views with the wavy lines in it when looking at it on a VCR hooked to a tv.
Someone else on another forum brought up the TBC issue as well. I wouldn't mind purchasing one (TBC) if I knew that it would fix the problem.

Thanks
Dave P.

johnmeyer wrote on 2/24/2008, 11:30 AM

Thanks for the clip. That helps a lot.

Now that I've looked at the clip, I don't think a TBC will help much, although the clip does exhibit some flagging. If you can find a VCR or a convertor box that includes a TBC, it would certainly be worth a try.

It looks to me like one of two things is true with this clip. Either it was recorded in EP (6 hour) speed on really bad tape, or it has been dubbed from the original. Or both. This sure doesn't look like an original tape.

I captured the video you posted and tried a few filters I have, but was not able to make any improvement. Other than playing with the tracking control, which you've already done, I can't suggest anything useful. You've already tried two different VCRs which rules out dirty heads (which usually make the picture snowy, not wavy).

However, when playing with the tracking control, you have to make sure that you turn off automatic tracking. The menu for that may not be obvious. Most VCRs are set up to automatically adjust tracking, and even if you press the channel up/down (which is the usual input to the tracking control on cheap VCRs), the VCR may try to readjust the tracking automatically.

Bottom line on this one: I think you're going to be stuck with what you've got.

dpetto wrote on 2/24/2008, 1:22 PM

John,
Re. the quality--yes it's really bad. It was done 18 years ago by basketball coaches that really know nothing about video editing, but they do know basketball! Who knows how many generations it is away from the original copy and what speed they recorded it in. Even today in my dealings with coaches, most are fairly clueless on all of this video stuff & understandably so.
If I can find someone with TBC I will give it a try & maybe it will help.

Thanks a million for your input.

Dave P.

JJKizak wrote on 2/25/2008, 5:59 AM

Definitely a recording of the original or several generations older. TBC may help but will not fix. Also recorded in EP mode. I know of nothing that can fix this but the original tape may be much better. I have had several tapes sent to me with this exact performance. The ADVC 300 could do nothing to fix this. TBC (JVC UNIT) helped so little it was unmeasureable. Go back to these people and see if there are other tapes available.
JJK

dpetto wrote on 2/26/2008, 11:32 AM

They are trying to find another tape, but so far no luck! Will be run through a TBC unit today so we will see what happens.