Supported tape formats are VHS, SVHS, Umatic, Video8, Hi8, Philips VCR, EIAJ, SMPTE-C with support for SMPTE-B in work, and plans to support more such as Video2000, "2 Quaduplex, Betacam SP etc we need more FM RF samples of broadcast formats and more obscure consumer/prosumer formats even SMPTE-A, so feel free to join the community on Discord/Reddit and help the decode work advance with providing data for more formats if you can! Please read the wiki for info on capture hardware, visual list of tested devices and updated full scope info on the workflow!
I can't wait to try this out, this can save money of having to send my tapes to a specialist digitizer who does ordinary s-video capture, but I need to find out where in my VCR can I retrieve the RF signal.
This is extremely interesting to me, as I do a bit of VHS-to-digital conversion. Any chance that there will be turnkey packages in the future, where a card and some software can be easily installed into a computer, and a VCR with suitable mods plugged up and off we go? And may I assume that a better VCR (like my pro editing decks) will give better results due to better tracking servos and higher S/N on the FM signal?
This is just a very basic overview of the software toolchain for windows users mostly for the inital calling the decoders part, we have a wiki and plenty of capture hardware a full 90+ page wiki, its not a magical blackbox its all openly available hardware and software, today the current clock gen capture setups (2x CX Cards + ADC for linear with same clock refrance) are pretty turnkey, and can be scaled at cost. With RF capture the head amplifyer and clean heads and magnetic condition are the weakest link, slightly better mechs make a margainal at best diffrance if not way out of spec.
VCR setup is covered by the hardware install guide which is full scope cross formats not just VHS, Sony 8mm has a dedicated doc though, and RF capture guide is fairly 1-2-3 in the wiki but yes more videos are comming, I spent the last 3 years writing full docs and there is a extensive list of VCRs that have been tapped for RF capture on the wikis tap list page, its pretty straight forward once you know what to look for, but even with videos written media is the most useful as its mostly copy paste oprations as a end user.
Interesting to see some TBC corrector and deinterlacer based on raw signal processing before exporting rather than do it on exported material. To also have more control over parameters 😅
TBC / Dropout detection is on inital FM RF processing, then chroma decoding and dropout concealment is handled in the S-Video/CVBS on file domain during chroma-decoding and encoding to YUV domain then you can run it though QTGMC/IVTC etc on the final standard file output, but we are working on intergrating vapoursynth into the export tool, but it beats my FORA310p and the TBC in JVC/Panasonic decks by a massive margin, but the best thing is not the TBC but having that full 4fsc signal we can decode/preserve any VBI data there too 😉
@@TheRealHarrypmDo I understand correctly that if I want to digitize s-vhs tape + hifi sound I need 3 pcie Conexant boards and modified s-vhs recorder to get the whole frame? Where I can find example how to modify recorder? Thanks
@@deaddycruel 2x CX Cards + Clockgen Board that provides a shared clock source standard ADC for linear audio capure like a normal USB desktop interface would but on the same clock source so they are all with the same timing. The vhs-decode wiki has a hardware installation guide and over 50 decks tapped with pictures for example refance. Video8/Hi8 can be done just like LaserDisc with the DomesDay Dupliucator or a single crystal modded CX Card + Amplifyer. My next video will be fabricating the clock gen mod and workflow demo, as its all condenced into a single capture script after hardware setup.
@@TheRealHarrypm there is almost no vbi remaining there, it gets eaten by headswitching (and by bandwidth destruction that vhs does especially to those tiny digital ttx signals) which is happening exactly during VBI interval....only way to capture teletext is probably to capture .ts stream from satellite....and watch on vlc, because it has ttx decoder. but no, you won't find ttx treasures on old vhs tapes....just a random character here and there.....
@@ivok9846 What do you mean no VBI? headswitching is at the bottom of VHS... decoding to a 4fsc frame and then using the vhs-teletext with deconvolving on the VBI space has been common place for archival and extraction of teletext data for 5 years, we have TBs of FM RF public archvies that are case and point on this, of couse SNR of the tape matters regardless.
What does the "TBC" program at the end of the process do? Does it only work with RF captured files split up into two? Can it process/enhance any old video file and apply some correction similar to a frame TBC and/or Line TBC?
This workflow is based around the FM RF archival capture method, captured from from virtually any tape formats test points, there is also a RAW composite decoder but its not as powerful codebase as tape or laserdisc decoding from source FM signal directly, the tools excluding the chroma-encoder are only ment to work with the tbc files. The tbc files the decoders create is a 4fsc signal frame streams basically S-Video or Composite (2 or 1 file + JSON with TV system and metadata info) on a tape less digital file format full analog in the digital domain and is possible to play back to a CRT or deck via a DAC like a FL2000 chip for example. You can control a massive amount of veribles as tape formats are always Y/C seprated channels on file and there is already tools for noise reduction and such. The TBC code thats used is full signal frame its far more powerful then a frame or line tbc you would find in hardware and beats out Datavideo/FORA/Panasonic/JVC kit and of course analouge devices AIO chips found in modern SDI or PCIe solutions while adding no SNR loss due to no AD/DA extra stage and with source RF the code can be re-run at any point in the future. The tbc-video-export is just a wrapper tool for the handling the decode tools and chroma-decoder then pipes the colourised frames to ffmpeg to make a final starting point video file for then use in standard A/V tools, there is many profiles you can use also but its basic interaction is kept very simple.
Does the deck that is being used have any relation to the quality of the capture/rip, sorry don't know what it is called. Essentially the file before it is decoded in software? I guess more simply, would a professional deck produce better results than a consumer one?
@@anthonyjacoway7364 FM RF captures is the name, these are just PCM sampled RF files like audio but bigger numbers, the ultimate quality factor is always going to be dependant on the heads and the state of the solder joints between them and the head amplifier and then the head amplifier IC itself. Primarily if your joints are inspected reflowed and the deck is fully serviced the heads will be the only factor to worry about in the general real-world usage. Now higher end decks have slightly better mechanisms which are more stable these are somewhat preferable but honestly the top end decks unless you've got a pile of them to keep a single mechanical model in service there's no point you're better off with consumer or prosumer decks from the 90s. Those are the only marginal factors of quality difference with the RF capture workflow, assuming all of our factors are in order and your power supply is not spewing tons of interference noise into circuit or there's tons of noise from external sources like a microwave or worse etc. If basic conventional capture looks functional, RF capture should look great is the basic rule of thumb here.
@@TheRealHarrypm Thanks for the detailed response. I've known about laserdisk Decode for a while, but only had a todlers understanding of that and limited interest. But I have a rather large interest in VHS, and looking to eek out a bit more quality from my professional deck which I've been using since 2020 to do VHS archiving using Componet. In comparison between my svidieo deck and my component deck. the component deck is a night and day difference in quality. So I'm intrigued by this! if nothing else, it can give me something to research in my spare time.
@@anthonyjacoway7364 Yeah you'll love the wiki then pretty much everything is compiled on there, and we support a lot more tape formats than VHS today too!
Can you publish a clip at full screen with the entire datas of the tape? (macrovision... timing data... and other?) just to have an idea of the real capacity of the tape. (excluding linear audio that i think can't be readed from the rotating head)
The tape used here is a 30sec snip I use for decoder testing from a VHS-C camcorder tape out of my personal libary, there is no macrovison and no audio was not captured, but there is a couple full demo tapes on the internet archive linked in the vhs-decode wiki including this data used in the video.
@@adriasanchezcaballe Yes it's standard VHS signal and tape, just a smaller spool, in fact the footage used in this demo video is from a compact PAL cassette.
@@mr.alexgonzal2974 If you're talking about using an audio capture card. No. It does not have enough bandwidth as the DdD and CX Cards etc sample in the MHz/MSPS range that's a few extra zeros of scope of information. We do have a CVBS decoder, but only the MIRSC is particularly suited for raw capture of that. The whole point of the decode process primarily is to bypass all baseband/standard A/V output ware possible. Also "Easycaps" are called Easycraps I don't even recommend them for reference capture card not when stuff like the GV-USB2 exist and SDI equipment is just so cheap off of the used market they do incredibly poor job.
VHS, S-VHS, Umatic, Betamax, Video8, Hi8, Philips VCR, SMPTE-C are also supported and implimentaton for SMPTE-B is in process and samples are needed for outher formats like 2" quad and more of Philips formats, right now Video8 video and NTSC HiFi decoding is on-par to surpassing hardware decoders in Digital8 camcorders there is a dedicated Sony 8mm page on the vhs-decode wiki for using the standard Jig RF tap method with a vast majorty of camcorders being viable, RF capture is like Laserdisc Video/HiFi is one 1 test point meaning easy capture and sync of audio.
I have heard of the VHS decode project before and found it interesting but I didn’t think you needed to write code every time you wanted to digitise a tape.
It's not code they are command arguments to trigger functions this is how all basic applications work just there is no clicky buttons. This is not the digitisation it's the conversion of a analogue FM archive to baseband then to digital YUV 2 steps.
@@tedwardtaylortv You get used to it very quickly, because you're only setting frequency and TV system (and tape format if it's not VHS) and then adjusting it for edge cases so you're only ever really setting 3 things 90% of the time. If you look at the command list there is actually two sets of commands for general use shorthand such as -n or -p and long hand such as shown in the video for a clear description, so it becomes a read the label copy paste mental process, or just edit the input and output names in a text editor and copy paste literally. Eventually we can probably get rid of the TV system then tape format flags for general use and just only have them as a manual override, but some very fancy code for identifying such a signals would have to be implemented and there's a lot more things to work on like SECAM and speed optimisation.
FM RF capture of source media --> Software Demodualtion, Time Base Correction, and sampling to a 4fsc signal frame --> Chroma Decoding to YUV Data And it beats out anything Panasonic/JVC have, or Analog Devices for that matter. (And yes that 4fsc is backwards compatible via DAC to analog hardware)
For this to have any merit it should work as follows: Capture the three signals, Video RF, HiFi RF and linear audio all at once, De-interlace with QTGMC filter, Have a visual option to crop the frame (AR locked or free), Have the option to resize to a legal resolution (like 1440x1080), Embed both HiFi and linear into 4 ch audio (2 stereo ch HiFi+linear), Output to a lossless compression plugin such as HuffYUV. The whole process doesn't have to be in real time, Capturing the 3 signals is done in real time into a buffer while starting the processing immediately from the buffer in non real time until everything is done without any human intervention once all the parameters are set before starting the capture.
All at once, from the same clock source more accurately, as that avoids the main hassle of manual audio sync from reference in post, the sample used in the video was created years before the clockgen mod was created and standardised. This video is just a basic motions of use too, the next decode video will be featuring a clockgen mod synchronised capture file set, alongside a very updated version of the ld-analyse tool. tbc-video-export's last update has brought 720x576 & 720x480 SD and IMX 720x608 (576+32) PAL & 720x512 (480+32) NTSC profiles with the VBI area even good old IMX50 has been added for that legacy support, although bare in mind the export tool is only intended to get you quick rush files for sharing and FFV1/V210 lossless files ready for post, pretty much go use Resolve/Vapoursynth to deal with the rest, it still the workflow after data leaves the decode suite domain like any standard baseband capture chain. (for now 😉) Its worth noting processing will never be triggered during sampling at least not with current workflow procedure in an archival situation, it can be done but can cause issues on lower end systems even more so if the data is being compressed or converted or moved around in real time though this issue is more so on the DomesDay Duplicator side as CX Cards are PCIe direct.
@@TheRealHarrypm but do you, on vhs-decode wiki page, ever mention where does one plug the linear audio (from the vcr) to be captured? let's say it's mono vhs tape: you plug the rf to modded cx card, and the mono audio? now reading "External Clock Mod (Clockgen Mod)" on cx cards page: tell me you're not actually having a 4 pcb contraption (1 "base" pcb and 3 daugtherboards) on top of modded cx card just to capture linear audio? AND that you absolutely need headswitching input to keep it all in-sync? my god you took this far! say you have old machine, just one (mono) audio chinch output: do you plug it into L or R channel, ie does software facilitate for that option of converting one mono channel to "double (L and R) mono" incase vcr doesn't have scart?
@@ivok9846 Baseband i.e line-out outputs of back of a VCR is the defacto, your either capturing mono or dubble mono or HiFi Stereo in most cases with a clockgen setup, I can add more pictures to the wiki but I think most get the point, linear direct tapping is also possible with most decks but its not really mentioned in the wiki but has been done and does work, but if you only can capture single mono then thats a copy paste post problem or just put a splitter on it. (But the oldest VCRs we expect people to realisticlly use is later 90s units not really 1980s ones, some of those had FM RF on a BNC but we have yet to find ones with as good as test point output) The clockgen board is a affordable and simple way to have 2ch baseband audio capture + 1 ch for headswitch, there is lots of configs possible but the clockgen mod is just what was easy to standerdise, people have made more condenced versions using jumpers and diching the crystal board, that will be noted on the wiki with comming updates but this version is all neat and somwhat tidy so it does work well. Headswitch is not critical, never has been with the code base, but could be useful and costs next to nothing storage wise so it was an why not addition.
That's a whole lot of opinion in one message. First, it has plenty of merit without any of the above, much less all of it. It's got a high cost, to be sure, in time and effort, but "to have any merit"? is incredibly pretentious. Also "a legal resolution" yeah there's no laws on resolution, and any conversion to 1080i or 1080p of VHS or similar old SD material, involves choosing a method of upconvert, from simple bicubic or bilinear resizing, all the way to handing it to a machine learning model (AKA Topaz Video AI and the like) and hoping for the best (sometimes those work well, and sometimes they make things ridiculous). Keeping the original video at the original resolution, gives you a choice on how to generate an upconverted version in the future.
You really should read the wiki rather than posting the question in 3 separate places lol. The TBC format is only intended for files that are decoded from source RF archives, the only point of converting standard media to baseband media on file is for playing around with hardware or playing with software not for practical preservation or restoration use.
The only documentation to pay attention to is the offical wiki or the discord, the decoding process is now mostly fully cross platfrom as stated in the wiki/readme, I have only started pushing videos as the export tool (tbc-video-export) is now hammered out for production removing the need for WSL2 for windows users, or the old script for MacOS users. The software chain is python based its been on windows for over a year now even longer for the dev group with native builds rather then self contained binarys, the domesday duplicator one of many RF capture tools is limited in reliability on windows so most capture chains are based off Linux due to reliability and more affordable CX Cards and multi input scyncronised capture for Video RF + HiFi RF + Linear etc, but yes this basic demo workflow video is entirely windows 10 based using the latest self contained binarys, the capture video I plan on making will go over the reality of flexibility with RF capture, the next video will also feature the newest updates to hifi-decode once those are merged.
@@TheRealHarrypm ok.. but if you knew very well, then you wouldn't have made the mistake in the first place, or at least would have caught it while watching your vid before posting. It sounded more like a gen z who didn't grow up with vhs. 🙄
@@michaelbinbc If you paid attention to the video, It was produced at 2:00 a.m, not to be nitpicky but this video was hammered out after people poking me to push something. I left it in as an Easter egg for people to bitch about 🙂 I literally write the entire VHS-Decode wiki which is my focus not so much video content but written and I did grow up with VHS and majority of my childhood was filmed on VHS hundred+ of hours of it In fact the tape used in this video is a segment of one from my personal archives.
@@SFtheGreat Very clean only differance would be SNR, with good condition blank tapes and recording SP with 1080i feed down converted from a HVR-Z5e via composite out first gen clean tapes don't look more impressive then well stored native VHS recorded to media from camcorders, there is a slight difference between recorded on and recorded to media though, I don't have a good enough collection of camcorders and perfect condition blanks to make a proper video on it yet.
@@TheRealHarrypm I have some S-VHS camcorder concert recordings. I also sonder if this archiving method could be used for PAL D-VHS tapes, as those never had a digital output.
@@SFtheGreat W-VHS / MUSE / HiVison Yes (we have a decoder for it now) but D-VHS is basically HDV digital data, easy to migrate with firewire +- encryption stuff, but not much exists on D-VHS is it died very quickly.
@@IceColdFever3520 If it's confusing then you haven't read the wiki or particularly paid attention to the video. This is software, and it's not codes it's command arguements that interact with the software to set and trigger functions and it won't change and a GUI in-fact makes this process more clunky and less effective in the current workflow because you can already see what it's decoded with a delay, as shown in the video with ld-analyse. 99% of the work is hands off, learning some command arguments it's a hell of a lot better than paying a kidney for limited conventional equipment.
@@TheRealHarrypm Correct, it is daunting to read through, it feels like reading a court document. Ill wait for someone to do a comprehensive video guide including how to set it up hardware wise. agree with ur last comment 100 %
@@IceColdFever3520 This is the comprehensive video guide. It's all self contained binarys for windows, it still requires understanding analogue media regardless.
@@TheRealHarrypm I understand. Do you have a video on how to hardwire the system? I've looked through the wiki, but I'm having trouble visualizing how everything comes together. I think a video would do a better job of explaining it.
@@IceColdFever3520 literally hundreds of photos on the tap list doc, every time a community member publishes anything it gets collected and added to the wiki for other users to know where to go to get the RF. That was the first wiki page established and the most critical one visually speaking. The hardware installation guide covers the rest in 1-2-3 photos. I do plan on making a video about a full hardware installation with adjusting a new impedance matched amplifier and without
@@280634157 The decode community has a discord and r/vhsdecode, virtually no one uses Facebook it's a poor quality and non-real time capable platform today. The code base is pretty much all python but some bits are in other languages.
Supported tape formats are VHS, SVHS, Umatic, Video8, Hi8, Philips VCR, EIAJ, SMPTE-C with support for SMPTE-B in work, and plans to support more such as Video2000, "2 Quaduplex, Betacam SP etc we need more FM RF samples of broadcast formats and more obscure consumer/prosumer formats even SMPTE-A, so feel free to join the community on Discord/Reddit and help the decode work advance with providing data for more formats if you can!
Please read the wiki for info on capture hardware, visual list of tested devices and updated full scope info on the workflow!
you're the GOAT for providing more visual documentation, which is always based. W, boss
I can't wait to try this out, this can save money of having to send my tapes to a specialist digitizer who does ordinary s-video capture, but I need to find out where in my VCR can I retrieve the RF signal.
more visual documentation is always good
Seriously, this is a great video showcasing VHS-Decode. Can't wait for more uploads.
Excellent video demo. More analysis videos please!
This is extremely interesting to me, as I do a bit of VHS-to-digital conversion. Any chance that there will be turnkey packages in the future, where a card and some software can be easily installed into a computer, and a VCR with suitable mods plugged up and off we go? And may I assume that a better VCR (like my pro editing decks) will give better results due to better tracking servos and higher S/N on the FM signal?
This is just a very basic overview of the software toolchain for windows users mostly for the inital calling the decoders part, we have a wiki and plenty of capture hardware a full 90+ page wiki, its not a magical blackbox its all openly available hardware and software, today the current clock gen capture setups (2x CX Cards + ADC for linear with same clock refrance) are pretty turnkey, and can be scaled at cost.
With RF capture the head amplifyer and clean heads and magnetic condition are the weakest link, slightly better mechs make a margainal at best diffrance if not way out of spec.
Awesome video, are there any videos going through setting up and sodlering the hardware to import the RAW vhs data?
VCR setup is covered by the hardware install guide which is full scope cross formats not just VHS, Sony 8mm has a dedicated doc though, and RF capture guide is fairly 1-2-3 in the wiki but yes more videos are comming, I spent the last 3 years writing full docs and there is a extensive list of VCRs that have been tapped for RF capture on the wikis tap list page, its pretty straight forward once you know what to look for, but even with videos written media is the most useful as its mostly copy paste oprations as a end user.
@@TheRealHarrypm thank you, I'll check it out
Interesting to see some TBC corrector and deinterlacer based on raw signal processing before exporting rather than do it on exported material. To also have more control over parameters 😅
TBC / Dropout detection is on inital FM RF processing, then chroma decoding and dropout concealment is handled in the S-Video/CVBS on file domain during chroma-decoding and encoding to YUV domain then you can run it though QTGMC/IVTC etc on the final standard file output, but we are working on intergrating vapoursynth into the export tool, but it beats my FORA310p and the TBC in JVC/Panasonic decks by a massive margin, but the best thing is not the TBC but having that full 4fsc signal we can decode/preserve any VBI data there too 😉
@@TheRealHarrypmDo I understand correctly that if I want to digitize s-vhs tape + hifi sound I need 3 pcie Conexant boards and modified s-vhs recorder to get the whole frame? Where I can find example how to modify recorder? Thanks
@@deaddycruel 2x CX Cards + Clockgen Board that provides a shared clock source standard ADC for linear audio capure like a normal USB desktop interface would but on the same clock source so they are all with the same timing.
The vhs-decode wiki has a hardware installation guide and over 50 decks tapped with pictures for example refance.
Video8/Hi8 can be done just like LaserDisc with the DomesDay Dupliucator or a single crystal modded CX Card + Amplifyer.
My next video will be fabricating the clock gen mod and workflow demo, as its all condenced into a single capture script after hardware setup.
@@TheRealHarrypm there is almost no vbi remaining there, it gets eaten by headswitching (and by bandwidth destruction that vhs does especially to those tiny digital ttx signals) which is happening exactly during VBI interval....only way to capture teletext is probably to capture .ts stream from satellite....and watch on vlc, because it has ttx decoder.
but no, you won't find ttx treasures on old vhs tapes....just a random character here and there.....
@@ivok9846 What do you mean no VBI? headswitching is at the bottom of VHS... decoding to a 4fsc frame and then using the vhs-teletext with deconvolving on the VBI space has been common place for archival and extraction of teletext data for 5 years, we have TBs of FM RF public archvies that are case and point on this, of couse SNR of the tape matters regardless.
more visual documentation is always good
more visual documentation is always good
What does the "TBC" program at the end of the process do? Does it only work with RF captured files split up into two? Can it process/enhance any old video file and apply some correction similar to a frame TBC and/or Line TBC?
This workflow is based around the FM RF archival capture method, captured from from virtually any tape formats test points, there is also a RAW composite decoder but its not as powerful codebase as tape or laserdisc decoding from source FM signal directly, the tools excluding the chroma-encoder are only ment to work with the tbc files.
The tbc files the decoders create is a 4fsc signal frame streams basically S-Video or Composite (2 or 1 file + JSON with TV system and metadata info) on a tape less digital file format full analog in the digital domain and is possible to play back to a CRT or deck via a DAC like a FL2000 chip for example.
You can control a massive amount of veribles as tape formats are always Y/C seprated channels on file and there is already tools for noise reduction and such.
The TBC code thats used is full signal frame its far more powerful then a frame or line tbc you would find in hardware and beats out Datavideo/FORA/Panasonic/JVC kit and of course analouge devices AIO chips found in modern SDI or PCIe solutions while adding no SNR loss due to no AD/DA extra stage and with source RF the code can be re-run at any point in the future.
The tbc-video-export is just a wrapper tool for the handling the decode tools and chroma-decoder then pipes the colourised frames to ffmpeg to make a final starting point video file for then use in standard A/V tools, there is many profiles you can use also but its basic interaction is kept very simple.
Does the deck that is being used have any relation to the quality of the capture/rip, sorry don't know what it is called. Essentially the file before it is decoded in software? I guess more simply, would a professional deck produce better results than a consumer one?
@@anthonyjacoway7364 FM RF captures is the name, these are just PCM sampled RF files like audio but bigger numbers, the ultimate quality factor is always going to be dependant on the heads and the state of the solder joints between them and the head amplifier and then the head amplifier IC itself.
Primarily if your joints are inspected reflowed and the deck is fully serviced the heads will be the only factor to worry about in the general real-world usage.
Now higher end decks have slightly better mechanisms which are more stable these are somewhat preferable but honestly the top end decks unless you've got a pile of them to keep a single mechanical model in service there's no point you're better off with consumer or prosumer decks from the 90s.
Those are the only marginal factors of quality difference with the RF capture workflow, assuming all of our factors are in order and your power supply is not spewing tons of interference noise into circuit or there's tons of noise from external sources like a microwave or worse etc.
If basic conventional capture looks functional, RF capture should look great is the basic rule of thumb here.
@@TheRealHarrypm Thanks for the detailed response. I've known about laserdisk Decode for a while, but only had a todlers understanding of that and limited interest. But I have a rather large interest in VHS, and looking to eek out a bit more quality from my professional deck which I've been using since 2020 to do VHS archiving using Componet. In comparison between my svidieo deck and my component deck. the component deck is a night and day difference in quality. So I'm intrigued by this! if nothing else, it can give me something to research in my spare time.
@@anthonyjacoway7364 Yeah you'll love the wiki then pretty much everything is compiled on there, and we support a lot more tape formats than VHS today too!
Can you publish a clip at full screen with the entire datas of the tape? (macrovision... timing data... and other?) just to have an idea of the real capacity of the tape. (excluding linear audio that i think can't be readed from the rotating head)
The tape used here is a 30sec snip I use for decoder testing from a VHS-C camcorder tape out of my personal libary, there is no macrovison and no audio was not captured, but there is a couple full demo tapes on the internet archive linked in the vhs-decode wiki including this data used in the video.
@@TheRealHarrypm thank you
Would this work for PAL VHS-C home tapes used with an adapter to VHS?
@@adriasanchezcaballe Yes it's standard VHS signal and tape, just a smaller spool, in fact the footage used in this demo video is from a compact PAL cassette.
Is posible to capture cvbs video signal form a audio jackhead and record it form audiacity? (i dont have a easycap capture card)
@@mr.alexgonzal2974 If you're talking about using an audio capture card. No. It does not have enough bandwidth as the DdD and CX Cards etc sample in the MHz/MSPS range that's a few extra zeros of scope of information.
We do have a CVBS decoder, but only the MIRSC is particularly suited for raw capture of that.
The whole point of the decode process primarily is to bypass all baseband/standard A/V output ware possible.
Also "Easycaps" are called Easycraps I don't even recommend them for reference capture card not when stuff like the GV-USB2 exist and SDI equipment is just so cheap off of the used market they do incredibly poor job.
would Video8 tapes work with this method?
VHS, S-VHS, Umatic, Betamax, Video8, Hi8, Philips VCR, SMPTE-C are also supported and implimentaton for SMPTE-B is in process and samples are needed for outher formats like 2" quad and more of Philips formats, right now Video8 video and NTSC HiFi decoding is on-par to surpassing hardware decoders in Digital8 camcorders there is a dedicated Sony 8mm page on the vhs-decode wiki for using the standard Jig RF tap method with a vast majorty of camcorders being viable, RF capture is like Laserdisc Video/HiFi is one 1 test point meaning easy capture and sync of audio.
I have heard of the VHS decode project before and found it interesting but I didn’t think you needed to write code every time you wanted to digitise a tape.
It's not code they are command arguments to trigger functions this is how all basic applications work just there is no clicky buttons.
This is not the digitisation it's the conversion of a analogue FM archive to baseband then to digital YUV 2 steps.
@@TheRealHarrypm no, but it’s still having to remember commands and not just pointing and clicking.
@@tedwardtaylortv You get used to it very quickly, because you're only setting frequency and TV system (and tape format if it's not VHS) and then adjusting it for edge cases so you're only ever really setting 3 things 90% of the time.
If you look at the command list there is actually two sets of commands for general use shorthand such as -n or -p and long hand such as shown in the video for a clear description, so it becomes a read the label copy paste mental process, or just edit the input and output names in a text editor and copy paste literally.
Eventually we can probably get rid of the TV system then tape format flags for general use and just only have them as a manual override, but some very fancy code for identifying such a signals would have to be implemented and there's a lot more things to work on like SECAM and speed optimisation.
Is this what I think it is? Software tbc?
FM RF capture of source media --> Software Demodualtion, Time Base Correction, and sampling to a 4fsc signal frame --> Chroma Decoding to YUV Data
And it beats out anything Panasonic/JVC have, or Analog Devices for that matter.
(And yes that 4fsc is backwards compatible via DAC to analog hardware)
For this to have any merit it should work as follows:
Capture the three signals, Video RF, HiFi RF and linear audio all at once, De-interlace with QTGMC filter, Have a visual option to crop the frame (AR locked or free), Have the option to resize to a legal resolution (like 1440x1080), Embed both HiFi and linear into 4 ch audio (2 stereo ch HiFi+linear), Output to a lossless compression plugin such as HuffYUV. The whole process doesn't have to be in real time, Capturing the 3 signals is done in real time into a buffer while starting the processing immediately from the buffer in non real time until everything is done without any human intervention once all the parameters are set before starting the capture.
All at once, from the same clock source more accurately, as that avoids the main hassle of manual audio sync from reference in post, the sample used in the video was created years before the clockgen mod was created and standardised.
This video is just a basic motions of use too, the next decode video will be featuring a clockgen mod synchronised capture file set, alongside a very updated version of the ld-analyse tool.
tbc-video-export's last update has brought 720x576 & 720x480 SD and IMX 720x608 (576+32) PAL & 720x512 (480+32) NTSC profiles with the VBI area even good old IMX50 has been added for that legacy support, although bare in mind the export tool is only intended to get you quick rush files for sharing and FFV1/V210 lossless files ready for post, pretty much go use Resolve/Vapoursynth to deal with the rest, it still the workflow after data leaves the decode suite domain like any standard baseband capture chain. (for now 😉)
Its worth noting processing will never be triggered during sampling at least not with current workflow procedure in an archival situation, it can be done but can cause issues on lower end systems even more so if the data is being compressed or converted or moved around in real time though this issue is more so on the DomesDay Duplicator side as CX Cards are PCIe direct.
@@TheRealHarrypm but do you, on vhs-decode wiki page, ever mention where does one plug the linear audio (from the vcr) to be captured?
let's say it's mono vhs tape: you plug the rf to modded cx card, and the mono audio?
now reading "External Clock Mod (Clockgen Mod)" on cx cards page: tell me you're not actually having a 4 pcb contraption (1 "base" pcb and 3 daugtherboards) on top of modded cx card just to capture linear audio?
AND that you absolutely need headswitching input to keep it all in-sync?
my god you took this far!
say you have old machine, just one (mono) audio chinch output: do you plug it into L or R channel, ie does software facilitate for that option of converting one mono channel to "double (L and R) mono" incase vcr doesn't have scart?
@@ivok9846 Baseband i.e line-out outputs of back of a VCR is the defacto, your either capturing mono or dubble mono or HiFi Stereo in most cases with a clockgen setup, I can add more pictures to the wiki but I think most get the point, linear direct tapping is also possible with most decks but its not really mentioned in the wiki but has been done and does work, but if you only can capture single mono then thats a copy paste post problem or just put a splitter on it.
(But the oldest VCRs we expect people to realisticlly use is later 90s units not really 1980s ones, some of those had FM RF on a BNC but we have yet to find ones with as good as test point output)
The clockgen board is a affordable and simple way to have 2ch baseband audio capture + 1 ch for headswitch, there is lots of configs possible but the clockgen mod is just what was easy to standerdise, people have made more condenced versions using jumpers and diching the crystal board, that will be noted on the wiki with comming updates but this version is all neat and somwhat tidy so it does work well.
Headswitch is not critical, never has been with the code base, but could be useful and costs next to nothing storage wise so it was an why not addition.
That's a whole lot of opinion in one message. First, it has plenty of merit without any of the above, much less all of it. It's got a high cost, to be sure, in time and effort, but "to have any merit"? is incredibly pretentious. Also "a legal resolution" yeah there's no laws on resolution, and any conversion to 1080i or 1080p of VHS or similar old SD material, involves choosing a method of upconvert, from simple bicubic or bilinear resizing, all the way to handing it to a machine learning model (AKA Topaz Video AI and the like) and hoping for the best (sometimes those work well, and sometimes they make things ridiculous). Keeping the original video at the original resolution, gives you a choice on how to generate an upconverted version in the future.
Any video about the new hardware with dual input ?
Its on the to-do list after the CX Card updated video.
Gracias, thx 💖
do u think I can convert a lossless FFV1 VHS capture to tbc?
You really should read the wiki rather than posting the question in 3 separate places lol.
The TBC format is only intended for files that are decoded from source RF archives, the only point of converting standard media to baseband media on file is for playing around with hardware or playing with software not for practical preservation or restoration use.
@@TheRealHarrypm ye i figured that out just a second after searching this i just saw vhs tools lol
@@yoeymeme Yeah ld-tools suite but we refer to it as the tbc-tools suite but it started with LaserDisc stuff hence the carryover
Are you using Windows 10 or 11? This is open source so I thought you need Linux? Some documentation says not recommend for Windows.
The only documentation to pay attention to is the offical wiki or the discord, the decoding process is now mostly fully cross platfrom as stated in the wiki/readme, I have only started pushing videos as the export tool (tbc-video-export) is now hammered out for production removing the need for WSL2 for windows users, or the old script for MacOS users.
The software chain is python based its been on windows for over a year now even longer for the dev group with native builds rather then self contained binarys, the domesday duplicator one of many RF capture tools is limited in reliability on windows so most capture chains are based off Linux due to reliability and more affordable CX Cards and multi input scyncronised capture for Video RF + HiFi RF + Linear etc, but yes this basic demo workflow video is entirely windows 10 based using the latest self contained binarys, the capture video I plan on making will go over the reality of flexibility with RF capture, the next video will also feature the newest updates to hifi-decode once those are merged.
SP stands for standard play, not slow play. Slow play would be EP, or extended play.
Yeah I know very well, rest of the voice over was fine on the aspects that really mattered though 😉
@@TheRealHarrypm ok.. but if you knew very well, then you wouldn't have made the mistake in the first place, or at least would have caught it while watching your vid before posting. It sounded more like a gen z who didn't grow up with vhs. 🙄
@@michaelbinbc If you paid attention to the video, It was produced at 2:00 a.m, not to be nitpicky but this video was hammered out after people poking me to push something.
I left it in as an Easter egg for people to bitch about 🙂
I literally write the entire VHS-Decode wiki which is my focus not so much video content but written and I did grow up with VHS and majority of my childhood was filmed on VHS hundred+ of hours of it In fact the tape used in this video is a segment of one from my personal archives.
@@TheRealHarrypm you do a much better 2 am voice over than I do! My hat off to you.
@@RealHomeRecording Thanks, having melatonin deficiency is very fun, you sleep by exhaustion not by day night cycles 😂
Did you just say "Slow Play"?
You could say I was running a little slow that day 😂
@@TheRealHarrypm I wonder how would the quality look like from modern VHS releases.
@@SFtheGreat Very clean only differance would be SNR, with good condition blank tapes and recording SP with 1080i feed down converted from a HVR-Z5e via composite out first gen clean tapes don't look more impressive then well stored native VHS recorded to media from camcorders, there is a slight difference between recorded on and recorded to media though, I don't have a good enough collection of camcorders and perfect condition blanks to make a proper video on it yet.
@@TheRealHarrypm I have some S-VHS camcorder concert recordings.
I also sonder if this archiving method could be used for PAL D-VHS tapes, as those never had a digital output.
@@SFtheGreat W-VHS / MUSE / HiVison Yes (we have a decoder for it now) but D-VHS is basically HDV digital data, easy to migrate with firewire +- encryption stuff, but not much exists on D-VHS is it died very quickly.
this is confusing. i dont want to go into cmd and type codes in. is there no software?
@@IceColdFever3520 If it's confusing then you haven't read the wiki or particularly paid attention to the video.
This is software, and it's not codes it's command arguements that interact with the software to set and trigger functions and it won't change and a GUI in-fact makes this process more clunky and less effective in the current workflow because you can already see what it's decoded with a delay, as shown in the video with ld-analyse.
99% of the work is hands off, learning some command arguments it's a hell of a lot better than paying a kidney for limited conventional equipment.
@@TheRealHarrypm Correct, it is daunting to read through, it feels like reading a court document. Ill wait for someone to do a comprehensive video guide including how to set it up hardware wise.
agree with ur last comment 100 %
@@IceColdFever3520 This is the comprehensive video guide.
It's all self contained binarys for windows, it still requires understanding analogue media regardless.
@@TheRealHarrypm I understand. Do you have a video on how to hardwire the system? I've looked through the wiki, but I'm having trouble visualizing how everything comes together. I think a video would do a better job of explaining it.
@@IceColdFever3520 literally hundreds of photos on the tap list doc, every time a community member publishes anything it gets collected and added to the wiki for other users to know where to go to get the RF.
That was the first wiki page established and the most critical one visually speaking.
The hardware installation guide covers the rest in 1-2-3 photos.
I do plan on making a video about a full hardware installation with adjusting a new impedance matched amplifier and without
first
Please tell me I am also engaged in C++ player development. Do you have facebook?
more visual documentation is always good
Please tell me I am also engaged in C++ player development. Do you have facebook?
@@280634157 The decode community has a discord and r/vhsdecode, virtually no one uses Facebook it's a poor quality and non-real time capable platform today.
The code base is pretty much all python but some bits are in other languages.
more visual documentation is always good