Lossless VHS xfer on the cheap?

[ExperimentalAnimations]

I called around to see what it would cost to do a VHS to HDD (lagarith) transfer, seems to run at least $50/tape. It doesnt seem very economical when i just buy a $10 vcr from the thrift store and connect it to my gfx card, but i have a few questions regarding this:

1. Will windows or virtuldub/virtualvcr recognize the vcr when connected to the s-video port on my gfx card? If not, what is the next cheapest solution that will allow me to record to lossless?

2. It says in the capture guide that i should use my gfx card before using a tv tuner, however i have read that s-video incurs a much worse hit in quality than using composite, which will insure a more accurate reproduction of the source?

3. Does the quality of the vcr matter (ie more expensive=better picture)?

[Mtz]

You can try to record using some Media Center like itab48R (http://www.radiogears.com/).
After using it for transfering the tapes you can watch almost any movie.
French review (http://www.hdlandblog.com/2009/07/radiogear-itab-48-tnt-hd-et-mkv-le-test.html).

enjoy,
Mtz

[Ghitulescu]

For 10$ I would try it myself :)

But...

1. There is no lossless analog transfer. I don't want to cite myself, just do a search in this forum ...

2. your questions are answered in the sticky (and in the links provided there).

[zilog jones]

I doubt you could get a decent VCR for $10 unless you're very lucky. They can vary greatly in picture quality.

[reepa]

3. Does the quality of the vcr matter (ie more expensive=better picture)?
The better ones have timebase correction, which eliminates or at least reduces wobble. An s-video connector is also useful because it eliminates the need for chroma separation on the decoder (color is stored separately on VHS).

1. There is no lossless analog transfer. I don't want to cite myself, just do a search in this forum ...
S/he probably means s/he doesn't want to lossy compress the digitized video.

[squid_80]

Are you sure the S-Video port on your graphics card is for "video in" and not "video out"?

[Ghitulescu]

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=146548

[ExperimentalAnimations]

Are you sure the S-Video port on your graphics card is for "video in" and not "video out"?

Oh, i didnt realize it was just one way, its probably out.

So from the comments left, i need to get a VCR with timebase correction to reduce wobble, and i need a tv/gfx card with s-video in because svideo combines the color channels and somehow thats superior than composite. ok....

And i read the FAQ, it doesnt tell me anything about how vdub interacts with these cards or what other options there are to getting video in and which method provides a more accurate reproduction of the source.

[onesloth]

and i need a tv/gfx card with s-video in because svideo combines the color channels.

No.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-video

[Ghitulescu]

Oh, i didnt realize it was just one way, its probably out.

I my whole life as video amateur I haven't seen a single device that can uses the same pins for both input and output. I don't understand your confusion as any normal card labels the S-Video as TV out or similar.