VHS rolls

michelehamilton · Post by **michelehamilton** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 6:15 pm

I am trying to capture a VHS tape.. the tape rolls when viewd..so when I capture it, MSP will turn a few seconds of it gray instead of rolling..

In the old days.. we had tracking.. but that is automatic now..any ideas for how to stop the rolling?

Thanks sooo much!

Michele:)

Gorf · Post by **Gorf** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 10:29 pm

Does it roll when you watch the tape on a regular TV? If so, then it's not an issue you should be dealing with in MSP.

Most VCRs with auto-tracking have a manual feature allowing you to tune the track. Can you download a manual for the VCR to work out how to do this?

michelehamilton · Post by **michelehamilton** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 1:25 am

Yes.. it rolls when I watch it.. but seeing it roll is better than the gray that keeps happening IN PLACE of the roll in MSP.

It honestly doesn't seem to be the tracking.. it's .. like.. a jitter in the film... I really think the tape is damaged...and there is nothing I can do about it.. but I would rather see it jitter than to just turn gray..

Anyone else had that happen?

Thanks so much!!

Michele:)

THoff · Post by **THoff** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 1:52 am

I suspect you are looking at Macrovision. If it is a commercial tape, plays OK on your TV but cannot be recorded without the bars, that's what it is.

michelehamilton · Post by **michelehamilton** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 1:54 am

It's a video that someone taped of a talent show..it's home done..

It's not bars.. just jitters...

Terry Stetler · Post by **Terry Stetler** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 2:10 am

Michele,

You stated that it's a non-commercial tape and that it rolls when you watch the VHS tape on the TV too?

If so that means the problem has nothing to do with MSPro. More likely the tape is damaged, either by age, temperature or ambient magnetic fields. Most often these conditions weaken the synch pulse and colorburst signals on the tape, causing playback problems in mass quantities.

Absent a strong enough synch pulse the TV, capture device & software have no idea where a frame starts, causing the roll. A damaged colorburse signal will cause washed out and/or changing colors.

The only way to correct this is to have a local video service company attempt to repair it for you.

They do this by feeding the tapes signal through a processing amplifier (Proc Amp) that has a built in time base corrector (TBC). This device will repair the weakened/damaged colorburst and synch pulses that can still be read before writing the repaired signal to a new tape.

Some glitches may still remain where there are highly degraded or totally absent signals, but using a good service company will minimize the losses.

Can you buy your own Proc Amp? Sure. Consumer models run about $150, but they're not up to this task. Professional models run several hundred dollars and have signal processing based on the algorithms used by NASA. Mine cost $700 a few years ago.

Example;

http://www.signvideo.com/single_dual_pr ... cessor.htm

michelehamilton · Post by **michelehamilton** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 2:54 am

Thank you, I think that's the answering I was seeking.. I just wanted to make sure there was nothing else *I* could do..

Sounds like it needs professional help..

Thanks so much for your time!!

Michele:)

zzstudio · Post by **zzstudio** » Sat Sep 09, 2006 7:13 pm

michelehamilton wrote:Thank you, I think that's the answering I was seeking.. I just wanted to make sure there was nothing else *I* could do..

Sounds like it needs professional help..

Thanks so much for your time!!

Michele:)

FWIW: I have witnessed my canopus MVR card perform some pretty amazing feats of stabilization on crappy tapes, of course its $500 buck card too, but its a sweet piece of gear!

zzstudio · Post by **zzstudio** » Sat Sep 09, 2006 7:15 pm

Terry - are you saying anything NASA produces has a price as high as the Moon? lol.

Those tv pictures that came back from the Moon, they needed help big time from those algorerthims that hadnt been invented yet... lol lol.

Yes, I remember seeing them "live"