Inventive Software
20th April 2006, 11:39
Hi there. First post in this forum, so please be nice to me! ;)
I recently purchased said hardware from Aldi with the intention of transferring some VCRs to my computer for touching up. I use Windows 98SE, and don't have USB 2.0. I'm not getting XP for quite a while. I live in PAL country.
The first capture I did wasn't bad, but could have been better. I used VirtualDub 1.6.14. There is a lap counter at the top (OK, the thing I captured was the first GP Masters race) and that is virtually illegible. I think this is to do with the resolution it captures at. Also, there is quite a lot of noise, but I think this is down to the quality of the source VHS. However, the resolution is my next problem.
I can't select any other custom resolutions to capture at. I'd imagine this is to do with the limitations of the hardware, but I'm shocked, as the software that's provided with the hardware states that it can capture at a higher resolution (up to 720x576), but only in MPEG-2 format. Even then, the quality isn't good at all. There's quite a lot of blurring in the image.
The setup of my hardware is that I have a VCR that has done me proud for a couple of years, no problems to speak of. Has one SCART socket, and connected to this socket is a SCART to composite converter that plugs in directly. Connected to that is an RCA lead, and they are connected to the capture device.
I haven't yet tried VirtualVCR, but I don't think that'll help. What I wanna do is capture to a lossless AVI so that I can touch it up and get it looking nicer. How many would suggest "ditch the shite hardware and get something internal"? I will do that, but budget constraints ATM mean that I'm stuck with this and have to make do.
Edit: I solved the problem by finding a computer with USB 2.0, and it appears the increased bandwidth offered by USB2 gives higher resolutions. I think it captures raw and doesn't do hardware compression, which is understandable. VirtualVCR didn't help.
I recently purchased said hardware from Aldi with the intention of transferring some VCRs to my computer for touching up. I use Windows 98SE, and don't have USB 2.0. I'm not getting XP for quite a while. I live in PAL country.
The first capture I did wasn't bad, but could have been better. I used VirtualDub 1.6.14. There is a lap counter at the top (OK, the thing I captured was the first GP Masters race) and that is virtually illegible. I think this is to do with the resolution it captures at. Also, there is quite a lot of noise, but I think this is down to the quality of the source VHS. However, the resolution is my next problem.
I can't select any other custom resolutions to capture at. I'd imagine this is to do with the limitations of the hardware, but I'm shocked, as the software that's provided with the hardware states that it can capture at a higher resolution (up to 720x576), but only in MPEG-2 format. Even then, the quality isn't good at all. There's quite a lot of blurring in the image.
The setup of my hardware is that I have a VCR that has done me proud for a couple of years, no problems to speak of. Has one SCART socket, and connected to this socket is a SCART to composite converter that plugs in directly. Connected to that is an RCA lead, and they are connected to the capture device.
I haven't yet tried VirtualVCR, but I don't think that'll help. What I wanna do is capture to a lossless AVI so that I can touch it up and get it looking nicer. How many would suggest "ditch the shite hardware and get something internal"? I will do that, but budget constraints ATM mean that I'm stuck with this and have to make do.
Edit: I solved the problem by finding a computer with USB 2.0, and it appears the increased bandwidth offered by USB2 gives higher resolutions. I think it captures raw and doesn't do hardware compression, which is understandable. VirtualVCR didn't help.