Using OBS to Capture Videotapes with a USB Capture Device on Windows
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- Опубліковано 23 тра 2024
- In this tutorial, I cover the equipment, software, and settings needed in order to successfully capture video from your old, analog videotapes using OBS. This tutorial was put together assuming you are using the adapter that I recommend purchasing in the video.
NOTE: FOR PAL RECORDINGS - In the Settings menu in OBS, click on the “Video” tab and type in "720X576" as the "Base (Canvas) Resolution". In your device capture settings, change the "Resolution" setting to "720X576" and change the FPS setting to 25.
#OBS #DigitizeVideo #VHS
LINKS:
Step-by-step tutorial on my website: timfordphoto.com/digitizing-v...
USB Capture Device: amzn.to/3AtxSMI
USB Capture Device Drivers: www.startech.com/en-us/audio-...
OBS: obsproject.com/
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
00:00 - Introduction
00:28 - Hardware and Software That You'll Need
2:43 - Configure OBS Settings
7:50 - Adding and Configuring the Video Capture Device in OBS
11:20 - Removing the Overscan Area
11:53 - Deinterlacing
12:50 - Verifying and Listening to Audio (the Audio Mixer)
13:37 - Hitting Record!
14:10 - Finding the File You Created - Наука та технологія
I appreciate you giving the "If you're going to make it into a DVD, use these settings." tips in this tutorial.
your video is a work of art ! I had so many headaches with the bloody resolutions and sources and outputs... THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART !
What a fantastic teaching video!
Thank you so very much!
I found that having a second screen working enabled me to pause the teaching while trying out the OBS software on the second screen.
I went on a deep dive trying to find the right settings. Yours is literally the most useful one thanks bud.
One of the best tutorials, Ive seen on OBS and a suitable Video card. Ive just ordered one of the StarTech adapters and looking forward to doing some transferring.
Want to thank you for your video setting up OSB for recording. Followed your settings and worked the first time. Wish I had found your channel before spending hours with other channels.
Hey Tim, you are a great Instructor. with your Help I was able to get my system up and running in a very short time. thanks
I appreciate your step-by-step directions. I was using OBS to transfer from my camcorder hi8 to my computer but I needed to understand how to set up and use OBS settings and this was absolutely perfect! Thank you for posting this very helpful guided tutorial. 🙌
Tim, you saved me so much time! I was able to get this up and capturing quickly. Appreciate it. :)
What an excellent tutorial! Well done, thank you!
First, thank you, thank you, thank you. There is no way I could've got all those settings by myself. I am deeply indebted. I am digitising family video tapes for my mother (she's 87) and I know she'll be over the moon. Thank you.
Thanks for the perfect walkthrough! Was able to mimic these settings (with some slight variations) to extract footage from my old Sony DCR-SR42 Camcorder.
Awesome, video - Very specific and just what I was looking for. Thanks for sharing!!
Thank you for this! I wouldn't have gotten it set up without your help. Currently capturing. Now let's just hope everything's fine with the captured file.
This would save me so much time, I have been recording from a vhs into a hdd recorder then transferring it to dvd , putting dvd into laptop and laptop doesn’t recognise the format and won’t play it. I have now downloaded the OBS program and am ordering the device you use in this tutorial. Thank you very much for producing such a perfect lesson.
Just used this video to get myself sorted and it all works so Thanks for the great video and easy to follow directions and instructions.
"Resize Overscan Area"...... I've been trying to figure out how to do this forever!!! Thanks so much!
Thank you so much!!! I had to digitize some tapes for my job and I used the default software it came with which simply was just atrocious (would randomly stop recording and had no option to prevent upscaling or aspect ratio and absolutely no audio adjustments) but OBS has been wonderful. Much appreciated.
EXCELLENT! Thank you VERY much! Even using PAL the tutorial was thorough and free from useless hype. Bravo!
Dear Mr. Ford this is a great guide!
Thank you so much for this !!! Very very clear and helpfull
Excellent tutorial. So helpful. Thank you.
Great work, Much info from you well vested and educated. Keep it up.
Excellent. Just excellent. If I could slip you a donation I would. Clear, concise, no BS. Well done.
I'm late to the party, your guide was a great help selecting the myriad of options in OBS. As an aside I had problems getting OBS to recognize the video source.. I am using a HDMI upscaler and a HDMI to USB converter. It turned out many moons ago I had disable the camera option on my desktop, as it does not have a built in camera. Reenabling the camera for OBS resolved the problem.
Brilliant - this made it so clear and I got there first time!
Thanks for the recommendation on the capture device from StarTech. I returned a junky one that used default driver vs their own. Huge quality difference.
its a great video, with all the necessary information. Thank you for sharing!
Wow! Great job dude. You helped me out so much. Thanks for your time and effort it is appreciated.
Great video, thank you, TIM 👍
thanks so much, going to have a lot of fun creating visual art
Thanks buddy. Your video was super helpful for me to start going.
Many many thanks! It's like a lesson at all. I found answers of all my questions. Cheers! :)
Thanks, The video was a great help. First time user of OBS. Thanks again.
Thanks a lot for this, very clear and helpful
Brilliant presentation and educational!
Thank you for this 'how to' video.
Big help!
Great instructions, thank you very much! 👍
Mr Tim Ford, thank you. what a legend
YOU JUST SAVED MY LIFE THANK YOU
tim youre an absolute legend! thank you so much!
I Convert MP4 files to VHS And digitize them for Retro VHS content. I use PAL also and i selected mono because my VCR is Older, This Tutorial Helped me Setting up my Startech Capture card Thank you!
Wonderful video.
Still good today!!! Wonderful job.
NOTE: FOR PAL RECORDINGS - In the Settings menu in OBS, click on the “Video” tab and type in "720X576" as the "Base (Canvas) Resolution". In your device capture settings, change the "Resolution" setting to "720X576" and change the FPS setting to 25.
IF YOU ARE NOT GETTING ANY AUDIO (NTSC AND PAL) - check the following settings in Windows:
Make sure your privacy settings are configured properly. Select Start > Settings > Privacy & security.
Under App permissions, select Microphone.
Make sure that the Microphone access and Let apps access your microphone toggles are turned On.
Lastly, scroll down under Let apps access your microphone and make sure that the toggle next to OBS is turned on.
60fps for my computer
Hi Tim , thank you for the tutorial . I still can't get the audio to work.
@@JackieShroffFanWhich capture device are you using?
A big THANK YOU!! TIM :)
Wow! That's a lot of settings... glad I found this channel or I'd be crazy confused 😱
I Subscribed and clicked All 🤗
YOU'RE A HERO sorry my caps lock was on but you deserve a shout!
Very helpful .Thanks.
Life saver!! Thank you so much
thank you so much this was a great help
Brilliant, thank you very much
Very useful video, taken me hours tweaking various settings and there's no way I'd have stumbled on that combination any time soon!
One thing I did find, bearing in mind I'm using a different USB device which probably doesn't capture whole frames like yours does, plus I'm using PAL, I found it's better to set your FPS to double the standard, since setting mine to normal PAL (25) resulted in a capture of only half the frames, because each frame was being sent interleaved, ie, two scans per frame, requiring a capture of 50 FPS, then the recording played 25fps smoothly, albeit with one new frame and one repeated frame due to being a 50fps recording, but if I didnt set it that way, I was only getting 12.5 FPS recordings, and with terrible resolution, presumably cos it was only half as many discrete pixels vertically per frame captured.
My Video settings in OBS are
Base resolution 720x576
Output Resolution 768x576
FPS 50 PAL
The reason for the different base & output resolutions is that old cathode ray TVs had the equivalent of slightly rectangular pixels, so if you want to make the same pixelated image look the same aspect ratio on a modern video screen, you have to stretch the pixels a bit.
I wonder if it is your capture device causing issues. Even without deinterlacing, the video playback on recorded files should be 25 fps without any issues with choppiness. I usually recommend doubling the frame rate after you've recorded your initial file if you are doing more advanced deinterlacing (using a tool like AVISynth, for example), but with a more "all in one" solution like the one I teach in the tutorial, there shouldn't be an issue with choppy playback. But, if doubling the framerate worked for you with the capture device you are using, great! Which capture device is it that you are using if you don't mind me asking?
@@timfordphoto A few questions.
1: Why 720x480? Why not 640x480?
2: Why 29.97 FPS? Isn't all media shot at 24 FPS?
@@alexslusher16 720x480 and 29.97 fps are industry standards for digitizing standard definition NTSC video. 24 fps is generally used for film production.
Thank you bro, u are legit!! I am using a VCR in a DVD Recorder, DVD is using composite to hdmi, then a hdmi capture card then OBS
oh wow thank you for this!
Thanks!
Thank you for this tips. ;-)
Thanks for this informative and interesting video! Lossless capture and upscaling videos please!
I tested the Elgato Video Capture (white dongle, not gameplay capture) and it does in fact work with OBS to capture video.
But I'm not sure how to tell if it captures Fields. OBS lets me select "YADIF 2X" or "Deinterlacing Disable" during recording with the Elgato, but to my eye, I don't see a difference between the two.
In either case, the MP4 video is not very sharp. The deinterlaced file is bigger however, so maybe it works?
I used Elgato's latest driver from their website, and after installing, it doesn't appear in Device Manager. From what I can see the driver file itself dates from Oct 2014.
My feeling is Elgato only maintains their driver for use with their very easy to use proprietary capture program (which highly compresses the video), and not for external use such as retro console game streaming capture etc.
Per Elgato's website, the video resolution is: 640×480 (4:3 NTSC) compared to the StarTech which is 720x480 NTSC.
Excellent instructional video, articulated for all levels and professionally presented.
I have a question on this : What would be the settings for recording a video from a video source that is high quality, for example, recording a video higher resolution and quality than an analog 4:3 resolution video source as here. What would the settings be for a movie that is 1920x1080 resolution, I would want a high quality output but the smallest size MP4 video file ?
Amaysing to see all these setting just to copy a video..!
Really a tutorial done very well! Congratulations! A question: if I want to capture directly in 1080 would it be possible or should I capture in the original format and upscale?
Thank you
I would upscale in post rather than during the capture process. There are better tools than OBS out there for that kind of work.
Thank you!
Nice video 👍
Transfer VHS is a good idea!
I'm using a RCA to HDMI converter which converts the signal to Any recommendations on how to set aspect ratio to 4:3 without a dip in quality?
Thank you Tim for this instructional video.
I have an issue as well, but not sure if it's a video setting or something wrong with the cord or machine?
When I play my PAL VHS into a Mac computer via the Easier CAP converter using OBS program there is red and green banding across the screen along with the image jumping/left and right.
I followed the deinterlacing steps and various settings but nothing fixes it.
I've plugged the VHS player straight into the TV and the playback is fine. Only once I plug into the computer and playback with the Easier CAP converter this issue arrises.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Unfortunately I don't have a Mac or the EasyCap device. Did the EasyCap device come with any software you can use to at least verify that it's working correctly? It's possible that it's not compatible with OBS, I had that happen with a Diamond Multimedia capture device on Windows. OBS just didn't like it for some reason.
Thanks for the great video Tim. I am still getting a stuttering in the bottom third of the screen of my recording/playback. Any other settings that I should be checking or setting besides what you mentioned in your video? Thanks.
Very strange. Which adapter are you using?
@@timfordphoto Roxio Video Capture USB. It seems to work fine in the Roxio software but the recording is not as sharp.
I haven't used that adapter. Maybe there's a compatibility issue between it and OBS. Does it show up as a "camera" in the Windows Camera app?
@@timfordphoto No, it showed up as a game card and video card. I went ahead and used the Roxio software instead of OBS. Thanks for your help anyways. Your video was great!
Hi, thanks for this nice effort. I am having difficulty getting audio from my VCR to come through. It used to work. I've been going through a number of tutorials and may have confused things. Thanks in advance!
I am using an Elgato capture device. Wondering if I need to use OBS at all - since the videos will be likely used in Premiere Pro.
Well, after a hard boot of the system, the audio is back, thanks
Thanks for the video. Please share settings for lossless capture. Best.
I still need to make a video but here’s the write up on my website - timfordphoto.com/lossless-422-digitizing-of-video-tapes-using-obs/
Speaking for recording to a computer video file, to get the full 60 fps that the VHS is providing, you need to set the framerate to 59.94, not 29.97. I also use a canvas and recording resolution of 1440x1080.
Interlaced NTSC video is 29.97 fps. There are methods to deinterlace the video into a 59.94 fps clip, but that's not the purpose of my video. 1440x1080 is upscaling of the video, which I generally do in post processing. I tried to keep this tutorial as simple as possible and not introduce concepts that were too advanced for most folks.
@@timfordphoto I see. Thanks for the video! It taught me some settings I did not know before, like the rate, control bitrate, and tune.
Hey, Tim, thank you for this detailed tutorial. I followed your instructions with a Diamond VC500 but that device is not the best option with OBS. I have since purchased a StarTech SVID2USB232.
There is a recent video called "How to convert VHS videotape to 60p digital video (2023)" on a UA-cam channel called The Oldskool PC. Have you watched that one? Although I don't think it's necessary to use a higher resolution for VHS captures as he does, I have noticed that choosing 59.94 FPS for the frame rate results in smoother video. At the 13-minute mark of his video, he mentions that the StarTech capture device defaults to a contrast level that is too high. Have you noticed this? I've adjusted the contrast level to 20 and it seems to be accurate.
Lastly, is it important to set the scale filtering to Lanczos as shown at the 20-minute mark of that video or is it okay to leave that setting disabled? Your video doesn't include that step and my settings are a combination of yours and his.
I've not seen the video on converting VHS to 60p. My video was mainly meant to be a fairly simplified version of how to reliably digitize standard definition source material using OBS, so I didn't want to get into anything too in-depth like changing frame rates. I do hope to be able to record another video on lossless capture of standard definition material via OBS, in which I hope to discuss my preferred method for deinterlacing, which results in a 60 fps file. Even in that case though, I prefer to capture the source material at it's native frame rate. If you like the look of your captures at 60 fps though, I don't see any reason why it's a problem.
I didn't really notice an issue with the contrast using the Startech.com device. I believe that device is introducing its own type of compression, so it's definitely possible that some adjustments could be necessary. I can take another look at it when I get a moment.
For the resize filter, it might depend on your source. I usually use filters like those when postprocessing using AviSynth after capturing the video, and even then I'll mess around to see which one does the best job for the particular tape I'm working with. But again, if you like the results you are getting out of using Lanczos, go for it! Things like resizing are often trial and error in terms of what works best, which is why I kept my tutorial as simple as possible.
Hope this helps!
Tim, thanks so much for this extremely helpful tutorial, very professionally done. It worked first time! What would you suggest for recording at the best quality for playback on an HDTV? My source is an S-VHS playback VCR and I'm transferring both regular VHS and SVHS family recordings via an S cable and L/R RCA cables for sound. Thanks so much. RM
Depending on how much work you want to put in, you could try going a different route and capture the video using VirtualDub, then go through the process of upscaling it after the fact. I just put together a video showing how that's done. You can view it here - ua-cam.com/video/66F4l0dqdX8/v-deo.html
Alternately, you could try changing the settings in OBS so that your Base/Canvas Resolution and the Output Resolution are both 1440x1080, the FPS is 59.94 and then bump your recording bitrate to something significantly higher, such as 10,000 Kbps. Hit "OK", then right click on your preview in OBS and choose "Transform" and then "Fit to Screen." Lastly, right click on the preview and choose "Scale Filtering" then select "Lanczos." I'm assuming you've also already set deinterlacing to "Yadif 2x."
@@timfordphoto Tim, thanks for the speedy reply and providing a couple of options. I'll give it a try. Thanks again.
Thank you so much for this video, do you have any advice on being able to compress the video so I could freely send via email or text without having to turn one video into many large clips
There are various free video encoders out there that can be used to compress video. I like Shutter Encoder. www.shutterencoder.com/en/
Great video! I was able to get a .mp4 clip recorded and then uploaded to UA-cam. You mention lossless capture. Is there a widescreen resolution that works well with UA-cam uploads?
Are you talking about standard definition widescreen (letterbox) or do you mean converting a standard definition video to something like 1920x1080? If it's the latter, I don't recommend forcing a standard definition video into a widescreen format. Instead, I'd upscale the video incrementally, starting with a deinterlaced upscale to 960x720, then upscale that file to 1440x1080. That's how I usually do it. I'm hoping to put a video together at some point showing the steps I take on upscales like that one. 1440x1080 works well on UA-cam.
@@timfordphoto Looking forward to the next video already! Yes, I'm hoping to make the videos more "UA-cam" friendly. In short, I can make the video output (scaled) resolution setting in OBS 960x720, leaving the base (canvas) resolution at 720x540 for a 29.97 common FPS value?
@@ldjack2 What I'd do in that case is make the "Base (Canvas) Resolution" 720x480 and the "Output (Scaled) Resolution" 960x720. No need to rescale the input twice. When I do my larger upscales (the ones that go up to 1440 x 1080), I've been using Topaz Labs Video Enhance AI. I'm hoping to do a longer tutorial on how all of that works at some point.
Tim - apologize if you have covered this elsewhere but - wondering about process to use a Canopus ADVC 110 capture device with OBS. Program is not seeing my VCR feed - though it has worked in a direct capture in Premiere Pro. Thanks
OBS doesn't work with FireWire devices. I use Scenalyzer Live for FireWire capture (it's free - www.videohelp.com/software/ScenalyzerLive)
Thanks for the quick reply!
@@timfordphoto
Hello Tim! great video, thank you very much! it all worked almost perfectly except that after the first time I played the tape (where it played flawlessly), now it is the video capture is breaking down constantly with the blue screen, but on the camera the recording is still fine. do you have any idea of what could have happened?
I'm not sure. Which USB adapter are you using?
@@timfordphoto Exactly the one you suggested. I believe it is defective.
Hmm, you might want to check with startech.com support to see if that's a known issue and if they can send you a replacement. Have you tried any other tapes in the machine?
Thanks for this useful video. It was very well done, with complete and accurate instructions.
One thing I encountered at about the 9:15 time marker when you clicked on "Configure Video". In my case, the dialog box has the VCR Input greyed out. I cannot click to check this box. Any ideas why?
Which USB adapter are you using?
@@timfordphoto It's a VGB100 from August International. It works on Windows 10 with the Honestech VHS to DVD software they sent. I don't believe they've updated their drivers in quite awhile.
Yeah, that's the issue then. Not all of these USB capture devices work the same way. As long as everything else works though you should be fine.
@@timfordphoto I'm able to record video, but presently I'm not getting audio.
Can you look at your Microphone settings and make sure that Microphone access is turned on, as well as "let apps access your microphone"? I know your input isn't technically a microphone but Windows often doesn't know the difference.
Hey Tim, I got mine to work using vidbox capture card. I’m using AV out into the red, white, yellow cords to transfer.
I followed all the steps for PAL recordings. My footage file still seems slightly pixelated compared to the OBS preview window. Do you know if there might be a fix for this or is it the best I can do?
Not sure, maybe you could try raising the Kbps to something higher than the 3500 that I suggested? The files will be larger but it should improve the quality. Maybe go as high as 5000 and see if it helps.
@@timfordphoto thanks mate!! I’ll give it a crack
See my comment, I had the same problem
What are your thoughts in making the resolution 1440x1080 (Still 4:3 aspect ratio)? Is this worth doing and in your experience does it make a difference in quality? I've seen it recommended elsewhere.
I prefer to do upscaling after capturing, I think you can get better results with several other programs. You might also have performance issues depending on your computer. But it might still be worth giving it a shot just to see if you like the results. I've personally been doing that using Topaz Video AI.
in the tools menu you can set a recording time
Genuinely wonderful, i dont think ive ever had a better video tutorial than this, got everything mostly working, however for some reason it refuses to read audio, video is fine, but no audio, nor does it pickup in obs
EDIT: found out why, in my microphone settings it was disabled to be able to be used for desktop apps. That fixed it instantly
Hi, I'm still having trouble with these settings while using a MiniDV camcorder. The aspect ratio off, due to it being 16:9, and I can't seem to get the audio settings correct. I think I can fix the ratio issue. But the audio keeps recording the desktop's mic as well as the camcorder's audio. At "use custom audio device" it only gives me the option to choose my desktop mics.
For the aspect ratio, you can try 768x432. For the audio, you'll need to disable the desktop's mic. If you open the Settings window, then go to the "Audio" tab (on the left), you can entirely disable your desktop audio. I'm not entirely sure how or why OBS is considering your MiniDV camcorder as well as the desktop's mic as the same source, but I'm guessing that disabling the desktop mic should result in you only hearing the MiniDv audio. Here's what the settings menu looks like with the desktop audio disabled - timfordphoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/disable-all-audio-2023.jpg
The best vidio
So far I been recording my Videotapes and followed your steps with the DVD settings. I am having a problem where the audio just stops recording in the middle of recording. The video capture is all there but not all audio. Help please? 😊
Which USB adapter are you using?
Hi - Excellent stuff - just got one issue - video is working other than no sound. I clicked on 'Monitor and Output' for my Audio Capture but no sound - Even the volume bar is not moving.
If I changed the Audio Capture to 'Built in Analog Stereo' I get massive feedback
Am using a RCA AV2HDMI Converter box connected to HDMI port on a HDMI USB Video Capture device plugged into the USB of my laptop.
Any ideas please..am stumped!
Thanks...
Would you be willing to try using a separate device altogether for the audio capture portion?
I’m using a similar device (a USB capture device) it’s got a SCART socket on the VCR end and I’m using OBS with the PAL settings as I’m in the UK. I get video give, but can’t get audio no matter what settings I try!? On the equaliser on the OBS Home Screen there is no activity, it’s like it’s not receiving any signal, any ideas why I can’t get audio? I’m only using a windows 10 laptop and not a PC
You could try getting a separate audio device and use it as the audio source. Just plug your audio outs from the camera into the audio input device. I have this one and it works well with OBS - amzn.to/3J8Ay6V. You'll need to configure OBS to use that device as the audio source, but it should just be a matter of choosing a new "Audio Input Capture" device and then selecting that new adapter as the source.
I'm having an issue with a jumpy/choppy image both when previewing and recording. I was hoping the settings you walked through in the tutorial would solve it, but the example footage you used was even choppier than mine (Lars and Carson Daly are popping across the screen🙂). Any idea how to fix?
A few things to try first - turn off "Game Mode" in Windows (Just type in "game mode" in the Windows search bar and the setting should come up). Under "Encoder Settings" (in the "Output - Recording" setting) try using CRF for rate control instead of CBR. The default value of 23 is a good starting point. Then (in the same menu) change your "CPU Usage Preset" to one of the faster settings like "veryfast".
The reason my footage looked choppy is because I used Camtasia to record the tutorial and it doesn't handle recording me recording a video very well. It's basically trying to do a screen capture of a computer that's simultaneously doing a video recording. The actual file that I recorded had smooth playback.
@@timfordphoto Much appreciated, Tim, but no change. The problem appears before recording--choppy when just playing the tape, and the settings seem unable to improve on the original signal but can make it worse (e.g., setting to "veryslow"). It's the same across multiple setups...PC, Mac, different capture devices, different tapes, different VCRs. The only common element is OBS.
Which capture device are you using?
@@timfordphoto Digitnow Capture Card, HDMI upscaler + Guermok Capture Card, and ADS Pyro A/V Link...all choppy
I've used the Digitnow capture card with success, so that one should work. Are you capturing to a network drive or some kind of shared (or cloud) storage? Also, if you look in your settings, then go to the Audio tab, are all of those inputs disabled? I've seen audio inputs create lag in other programs like VirtualDub, so that could be happening in OBS as well if you have multiple inputs enabled.
The capture device you suggest is only for Windows, but I'm on Mac, so need to use a different device. How do I find a device that captures fields? None of them seem to indicate that.
I'm not sure, I'll try to do some searching to see what's compatible with OBS on a Mac and captures fields.
In your very helpful video, you set 720x480 / 720x540, the latter for "square pixels." The entire resolution thing, and overscan, are very confusing. Have you considered making a tutorial that explains just that?
I've been operating under the assumption that my Hi8 camcorder puts out a 4:3, ratio, but the final result cuts a bit off each side. 720x480 might fix that. I'll try it.
As for final product, we'll be sharing the output files for viewing on _whatever_ and our primary concern is archiving the videotapes. So 720x480 / 720x540 is good general purpose setting?
Good idea on a video explaining resolution and overscan. Overscan literally varies from tape to tape depending on the source, so it can be confusing. You can handle it either by cropping it out during the capture process, or you can crop it out later if you plan to do any video editing.
720x480 is a 4:3, non square pixel aspect ratio that is intended to be viewed on older standard definition equipment, which nowadays most people no longer have - the result being that the captured video looks a bit stretched out when viewed on a modern device.
If you are capturing your tapes with the intent being to be able to watch them on any type of modern device (even an HD TV), then 720x540 is the way to go in order for them to display with a correct aspect ratio. The only time I'd stick with 720x480 is if you plan to either burn the files to a DVD (for use in a DVD player) or if you want a more "pure" source that you are going to be performing further video editing on at a later time. If you plan to do some video editing in a tool like Premiere, you can do your aspect ratio adjustment and cropping in the software rather than during the capture process.
I put this tutorial together as more of a "one stop shop" kind of solution, but you might consider keeping the files at 720x480 for archival purposes if you have access to video editing software. I also have a written tutorial on lossless capture using OBS on my website if that's something you might be interested in. The resulting files using that method are pretty massive though.
Hope this helps.
@@timfordphoto Thank you for replying. I tried the 720x480 / 720x540 setting and it looks like what I got was that many pixels carved out of the full 1920x?? available pixels in the monitor area of OBS -- I probably sound like a clueless idiot here -- and only a portion of the image from the Hi8 camera. I'm using the ClearClick Video2USB capture device, FWIW. I'm a pretty savvy computer user, photo editor, photographer, but this has me stymied.
@@timfordphoto Also, I've noticed the stretched-out that you mentioned in the output...
Is this the device you are using? amzn.to/46RpSUM
If so, it looks like it's trying to upscale your video to a 1080p resolution, which would explain the somewhat strange results you are getting in OBS. Are there any settings you can change on the device?
Yes, that's the device. Looks like it wants to give me 1440x960, or 720x480 x2. What output ratio would I select with that to get square pixels?@@timfordphoto
Hey I have a question. I’ve been able to record audio from my vhs to my laptop using obs and now for some reason the audio is picking up all the noise in the living room and in the background but not from my vcr which is connected by a video capture card to my laptop. How do I just capture audio from my capture card and not background audio?
Go to "Settings" and then choose "Audio" from the list of options on the left. In the Audio options, under "Global Audio Devices", click on the dropdown for "Desktop Audio" and select "Disabled". Do the same for "Desktop Audio 2" if it's listed.
Alternately, if "Desktop Audio" is shown in your Audio Mixer (in the main interface) just drag the level slider all the way to the left. You should only have one input device showing levels in your Audio Mixer when digitizing from a VHS tape.
@@timfordphoto thank you! And should the mic auxiliary be clicked under global audio or the usb link?
@@chuckcelano5605 Mic/Auxiliary audio should be disabled. I'm not sure what you mean by USB link though.
Thank you for the great tutorial, and above all for the PAL inputs (!!!). Unfortunatly my OBS do not have the "use custom audio device" check box in the VHS Capture properties. Actually my computer doesn't have any audio recording device enabled. I have no mics connected. So, still unable to record audio with my USB video grabber. All the best!
EDIT: tried everything again but with my laptop: all the options are there, but OBS does not deal with the video grabber right - not good image, and the audio come and go. Not a good driver I guess, although Power Director 12 does a pretty decent job, both audio and video capturing (having the well-known and stupid copyright protection issue).
Which capture device are you using?
@@timfordphoto Hi! Conexant Polaris aka USB Video Grabber SVG 2.0 A3
@@67RFMC Oh, okay. Yeah, every device seems to work differently and not all of them play well with OBS. The one I recommend to purchase is relatively cheap though and I've had zero issues using it together with OBS.
@@timfordphoto If I find more tapes I will look into the device you recommend. OBS is a great software. Thanks for your video and support. Best regards!
Watched all and listened closely. Question, does this interact with windows 10 well? I bought an elgato capture device, and freezing at set-up. Reviews state windows 10 no good.
Not about to find a windows 7 machine to make this work. Let me know plz and I’ll grab one of these off Amazon. I have 30 vhs tapes to convert and nothing now but frustration. Than you.
I don't have an Elgato device to test with but I know that device will work with VirtualDub. I plan to do a VirtualDub tutorial soon that'll discuss capturing from VHS using a USB device.
Hey mate, great video. I can see my usb device showing up in the source section but im not getting any video signal when I click it. Do you know the fix for this?
Which device are you using? Sometimes it helps to try different USB ports and/or reinstall the driver for the device.
@@timfordphoto I have a Sony hi8 camcorder with AV out port connected to a capture device, (similar to the elgato video capture device but not that brand). Then plugged into my MacBook Pro running obs. What is a driver and how do I restart it?
@@curtisnicotra Oh, on a Mac I'm not entirely sure how to reinstall a driver. I'm a Windows user. Do you know the specifics of the USB capture device, such as brand and model? Also, are you getting any audio at all?
@@timfordphotoThe capture device brand is DIAMOND and model number is VC500MAC Rev2. And yes Im getting audio just no visual
@@curtisnicotra I had a lot of trouble with the Diamond capture device on Windows. It would work maybe one time, then the video would just turn black. Does yours work with the capture software that they provided? That was the only way mine would work.
At 9:30 it only gives me "Video Proc Amp" and "Camera Control" tabs, is that because I'm using a cheap Redgo device? My videos are coming out in black and white with occasional color.
Probably, yeah. There are so many of those capture devices out there. I tested three of them and liked the StarTech.com one the best because it played well with OBS and captured audio in stereo.
Any idea how to get the color working? Everything else is set to your recommendations. The tapes work in color on a TV, just not in OBS.
@@AlexSalikan Hard to say without having the device to play around with, but you could close OBS, then open the Windows "Camera" app (just type in "camera" after hitting the Windows key on your keyboard) and see if Windows recognizes the device as a camera. You'll see a little icon in the top right that lets you switch from your webcam to the capture device if Windows sees it. I'm assuming you have a webcam. If not, Windows might just automatically recognize the device as the default "camera." If the device is working in there, see if the signal is showing up as being in full color. If not, the device itself might have issues.
@@timfordphoto Yeah, it’s still in black and white when I do that. Is there anything I can do to fix this device, or is it garbage?
@@AlexSalikan Doesn't sound very promising. You could try a couple more things - try a different USB port, or try deleting the device from the Windows Device Manager, then have Windows re-install it. You could also maybe try a different playback device just to see if it's an issue with your VCR (or whatever you are using to playback the content). I think it's an issue with the device though, honestly.
sir I’m using this video capture thru my hi8 handycam, but why’s mine has no colors? the output in OBS just black and white, but in my handycam screen it’s has colors, and I’m using S-Video (Sony CCD TRV98E) hope you reply this!
Which USB adapter are you using to digitize from your camera?
@@timfordphoto It’s solved by asking my local, it seems like S-Video only convert black and white thru my easycap, and then I bought a/v out and it works!
My Elgato Game Capture HD allow only 640x480. If i try to Custom resolution screen is just black
Trying to record audio from my capture card from a vhs tape
Can this be done with the elgato video capture device?
If you set for 50 or 60 fps the video will look a lot smoother :)
Yeah, I think when I do an updated version of this tutorial I'll recommend 50 or 60 fps for deinterlaced video.
Is there a newer version of this? Something is missing on my end and I cannot figure it out.
I need to record an updated version. I have a written version on my website that I try to keep updated with newer interface images - timfordphoto.com/digitizing-vhs-tapes-using-obs/