VHS capture dark at DVinfo.net

Kell Smith · January 12th, 2011, 05:54 PM

Forgive if this is a newbie question, but this is the first time I"ve tried to capture VHS footage.
I captured it through FCP with analog pass-through on a PD170.
Used the AV out from the VCR, then out to firewire from the camera.
The original footage isnt great, but the capture is much, much worse. It's very dark.
What am I doing wrong? THx in advance.

Peter Manojlovic · January 12th, 2011, 08:49 PM

Is there a way to check the IRE levels...

Is the camera a Japanese or US market??

Kell Smith · January 13th, 2011, 10:46 PM

US
I can adjust setup levels in the camera mode, but not the VTR mode.
I don't see a way as of yet to adjust the incoming setup level in FCP - but looking again. It's FCP 4.5.
It seems that adjusting setup to 7.5 for incoming video would solve the issue - surprised there is not an easy way to do this? Or am I missing something very obvious?
I'm sure someone here has run into this before. How did you fix it? Thx

Bob Hart · January 14th, 2011, 10:06 AM

My personal preference after a few experiments was to copy the vision to tape on a PD150, then capture it to the computer in a separate step.

The many glitches you can get on old VHS recordings seem to upset the direct capture to the computer more than when the recording was copied to the PD150 and then captured. DVCAM seemed to be more robust than MiniDV when these glitches came along. I had tried copying on a JVC VHS/SVHS>MiniDV deck.

This is some old footage recovered via this route.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTl7ZsM3Fvo

Kell Smith · January 14th, 2011, 12:34 PM

Thanks. I guess if need be that's one way to get it done. Thing is, I've got a stack of old VHS tapes to transfer, each much longer than the 40 min MiniDV tape. So it would be a lot more convenient to just dump the entire thing at one time. It seems very strange that there's a lot out there about analog pass-through capture, but no one mentions this issue. I'm wondering if I'm missing something here that's right in front of my nose.

Peter Manojlovic · January 14th, 2011, 03:31 PM

"It seems that adjusting setup to 7.5 for incoming video would solve the issue"

Yes....0 IRE is for Japan...They've got a different black level setup..

Kell Smith · January 14th, 2011, 06:33 PM

The question is,, how do I do that in this situation?

January 12th, 2011, 05:54 PM	#1
Kell Smith Major Player Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: USA Posts: 436	VHS capture dark Forgive if this is a newbie question, but this is the first time I"ve tried to capture VHS footage. I captured it through FCP with analog pass-through on a PD170. Used the AV out from the VCR, then out to firewire from the camera. The original footage isnt great, but the capture is much, much worse. It's very dark. What am I doing wrong? THx in advance.

January 14th, 2011, 10:06 AM	#4
Bob Hart Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: PERTH. W.A. AUSTRALIA. Posts: 4,477	My personal preference after a few experiments was to copy the vision to tape on a PD150, then capture it to the computer in a separate step. The many glitches you can get on old VHS recordings seem to upset the direct capture to the computer more than when the recording was copied to the PD150 and then captured. DVCAM seemed to be more robust than MiniDV when these glitches came along. I had tried copying on a JVC VHS/SVHS>MiniDV deck. This is some old footage recovered via this route. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTl7ZsM3Fvo Last edited by Bob Hart; January 14th, 2011 at 10:17 AM. Reason: error

January 12th, 2011, 08:49 PM	#2
Peter Manojlovic Major Player Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Hamilton Ontario Posts: 769	Is there a way to check the IRE levels... Is the camera a Japanese or US market??

January 13th, 2011, 10:46 PM	#3
Kell Smith Major Player Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: USA Posts: 436	US I can adjust setup levels in the camera mode, but not the VTR mode. I don't see a way as of yet to adjust the incoming setup level in FCP - but looking again. It's FCP 4.5. It seems that adjusting setup to 7.5 for incoming video would solve the issue - surprised there is not an easy way to do this? Or am I missing something very obvious? I'm sure someone here has run into this before. How did you fix it? Thx

January 14th, 2011, 12:34 PM	#5
Kell Smith Major Player Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: USA Posts: 436	Thanks. I guess if need be that's one way to get it done. Thing is, I've got a stack of old VHS tapes to transfer, each much longer than the 40 min MiniDV tape. So it would be a lot more convenient to just dump the entire thing at one time. It seems very strange that there's a lot out there about analog pass-through capture, but no one mentions this issue. I'm wondering if I'm missing something here that's right in front of my nose.

January 14th, 2011, 03:31 PM	#6
Peter Manojlovic Major Player Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Hamilton Ontario Posts: 769	"It seems that adjusting setup to 7.5 for incoming video would solve the issue" Yes....0 IRE is for Japan...They've got a different black level setup..

January 14th, 2011, 06:33 PM	#7
Kell Smith Major Player Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: USA Posts: 436	The question is,, how do I do that in this situation?