ANALOG CAPTURE
What is analog capture?
It is the process of acquiring analog signals (in our case, audio and/or video) in the digital form, to manipulate it in different manners; here, I'm going to talk mainly about VHS and LD, but could be applied also to S-VHS, Beta, Video2000, CED, VHD... actual film scanning is beyond the scope of this guide.
Why I should do this?
The analog audio/video sources are obsolete nowadays; it's more difficult to find out VHS tapes or LD discs today, a lot more than a DVD or BD; the best way to restore somehow an analog source in the analog domain is to use proper pieces of hardware, and record the result on an analog tape (like S-VHS); recordable analog video discs are almost impossible to find, cost an arm and a leg and more, and need a more difficult to find compatible recorder/player... so, it's way easier to "import" the analog signal in the digital realm, because at the end the final result could be obtained as a DVD, a BD, or a digital file.
But aren't all movies/concerts/etc. available in digital form?
Sadly not... there are many movies, concerts, series, documentaries etc. still not released on DVD, BD, or any other digital form, for many reasons; the original sources are lost, the rights are helded by some studios which do not want them to be released, some are not interesting enough (for economic or artistic reasons)... so, our mission is to "port" that movie/concert/etc. in digital form, "as is" or eventually restore it.
Well, I would like to do the best capture; what do I need?
first be sure there are NO digital versions ALL around the world; and when I say digital version, I mean DVD, BD, HD-DVD, DVB and HDTV recordings, digital downloads, previous captures... it's frustrating to discover that, after you have spent the last three months (and a lot of money) to find, buy, ship, capture, restore the most exclusive laserdisc version of your favorite movie, an extreme high quality and highly acclaimed japanese BD version exists... so, DO your research online, ask your friends, investigate in this and other forums... do your homeworks!
After you are 100% SURE THAT NO DIGITAL VERSION of the material you would like to capture exists, it's time to get the analog source...
Best player you can afford:
at the contrary of digital disc players, where a really cheap player plays a disc with a video and audio quality really close to a top player, analog tape and disc player quality differs a lot from one to another... for example, the best laserdisc player could play a good disc with a quality near to a good non-anamorphic DVD disc, while a very cheap and slightly out-of-alignement player could reveal an image quality worst than a VHS...
So, be prepared to spend a certain amount of money in a good player; try to get one new (even if it's almost impossible today); if used, try to find out a barely used player - even if it's quite hard to know it, you could have good hints just looking at the player itself... if it has missing/broken parts, it's dirty, the cosmetic appareance is not that good... probably it was heavely used, so stay away from it, unless it's one of those rare standard player, like Video2000, VHD etc.; in this case, be sure to find a good technician who could service it, and remember it will cost quite a bit.
there are a lot of analog capture cards, so it's quite difficult to say which is the best ones... please take a look at these threads, where I did my homeworks and found great products; maybe you could find them useful, too!
High-end video capture cards - http://forum.fanres.com/thread-83.html
High-end audio capture cards - http://forum.fanres.com/thread-82.html
Best hardware and software:
usually, the newest and faster computers are the best choice, but for analog video/audio capture, you don't need the latest and most powerful computer; an used one will cost you not that much, and the capture quality will be exactly the same. My advice is to go for a desktop PC, with at least a dual core fast processor (1.5Ghz or more), Window XP, PCI and PCI-E free slots; the best solution will be to have one computer just for the capture purpose!
The only software I use for video AND audio capture is VirtualDub: free, quite easy to use, and, with a powerful enough hardware, you will get a perfect capture, with no dropped frames - of course, the settings should be carefully chosen; also, a lossless codec MUST be used; HuffYUV and Lagarith are the most used, and of course you should set them, too, with the proper settings.
Any other hint?
What is analog capture?
It is the process of acquiring analog signals (in our case, audio and/or video) in the digital form, to manipulate it in different manners; here, I'm going to talk mainly about VHS and LD, but could be applied also to S-VHS, Beta, Video2000, CED, VHD... actual film scanning is beyond the scope of this guide.
Why I should do this?
The analog audio/video sources are obsolete nowadays; it's more difficult to find out VHS tapes or LD discs today, a lot more than a DVD or BD; the best way to restore somehow an analog source in the analog domain is to use proper pieces of hardware, and record the result on an analog tape (like S-VHS); recordable analog video discs are almost impossible to find, cost an arm and a leg and more, and need a more difficult to find compatible recorder/player... so, it's way easier to "import" the analog signal in the digital realm, because at the end the final result could be obtained as a DVD, a BD, or a digital file.
But aren't all movies/concerts/etc. available in digital form?
Sadly not... there are many movies, concerts, series, documentaries etc. still not released on DVD, BD, or any other digital form, for many reasons; the original sources are lost, the rights are helded by some studios which do not want them to be released, some are not interesting enough (for economic or artistic reasons)... so, our mission is to "port" that movie/concert/etc. in digital form, "as is" or eventually restore it.
Well, I would like to do the best capture; what do I need?
- try to get the best version available - and different copies of the same title if possible
- try to get the best player you can afford - and service it if needed
- try to get the best capture device - think a very good used one is really cheap nowadays!
- try to use the best hardware and software - newest if fastest and better *USUALLY*
first be sure there are NO digital versions ALL around the world; and when I say digital version, I mean DVD, BD, HD-DVD, DVB and HDTV recordings, digital downloads, previous captures... it's frustrating to discover that, after you have spent the last three months (and a lot of money) to find, buy, ship, capture, restore the most exclusive laserdisc version of your favorite movie, an extreme high quality and highly acclaimed japanese BD version exists... so, DO your research online, ask your friends, investigate in this and other forums... do your homeworks!
After you are 100% SURE THAT NO DIGITAL VERSION of the material you would like to capture exists, it's time to get the analog source...
- LD: the best analog format, the last one produced at the very beginning of this century... more than 50,000 titles available, could be found used - and sometimes new - quite easily online; many times it's the only way to find a specific video version, or different audio mix, commentary, soundtrack; it's possible to capture digital audio tracks bit-pefect, in all their formats - PCM, AC3, DTS
- VHS: the last resource; difficult to find new, used tapes could be warn and/or have drop outs (very probable) that will ruin the capture; do not forget that in some rare cases, an analog recording of a TV airing made on VHS could be the only way to obtain a certain material!
- Other analog sources on physical support: S-VHS titles are very few, and they should be all available on other formats; VHD and CED are old analog disc format, and they need related players; there are some titles still not available on other formats, though; don't forget MUSE laserdisc, the only analog HD disc format (that need a proper HD capture card)
Best player you can afford:
at the contrary of digital disc players, where a really cheap player plays a disc with a video and audio quality really close to a top player, analog tape and disc player quality differs a lot from one to another... for example, the best laserdisc player could play a good disc with a quality near to a good non-anamorphic DVD disc, while a very cheap and slightly out-of-alignement player could reveal an image quality worst than a VHS...
So, be prepared to spend a certain amount of money in a good player; try to get one new (even if it's almost impossible today); if used, try to find out a barely used player - even if it's quite hard to know it, you could have good hints just looking at the player itself... if it has missing/broken parts, it's dirty, the cosmetic appareance is not that good... probably it was heavely used, so stay away from it, unless it's one of those rare standard player, like Video2000, VHD etc.; in this case, be sure to find a good technician who could service it, and remember it will cost quite a bit.
- Laserdisc: the best ones are the MUSE players, which could also play NTSC laserdiscs; after them, the best ones are the Pioneer, Elite in particular, but other brands could be great as well.
- VHS: try go get a good S-VHS player/recorder; Panasonic and JVC are the best ones; also, industrial players, even VHS, are great, but it could be hard to find out a new one, or one with low usage.
- Other standards: find a specialized website/forum, and investigate which could be the best ones.
there are a lot of analog capture cards, so it's quite difficult to say which is the best ones... please take a look at these threads, where I did my homeworks and found great products; maybe you could find them useful, too!
High-end video capture cards - http://forum.fanres.com/thread-83.html
High-end audio capture cards - http://forum.fanres.com/thread-82.html
Best hardware and software:
usually, the newest and faster computers are the best choice, but for analog video/audio capture, you don't need the latest and most powerful computer; an used one will cost you not that much, and the capture quality will be exactly the same. My advice is to go for a desktop PC, with at least a dual core fast processor (1.5Ghz or more), Window XP, PCI and PCI-E free slots; the best solution will be to have one computer just for the capture purpose!
The only software I use for video AND audio capture is VirtualDub: free, quite easy to use, and, with a powerful enough hardware, you will get a perfect capture, with no dropped frames - of course, the settings should be carefully chosen; also, a lossless codec MUST be used; HuffYUV and Lagarith are the most used, and of course you should set them, too, with the proper settings.
Any other hint?
- avoid cheap players, even if they are new... better a great high-end used player than a new entry level one
- avoid DVD recorders... I agree they are useful and easy to use, but they record in a lossy format, that reduce overall quality of the capture
- avoid USB capture cards... even if they are cheap, you could find a better PCI capture card for the same price
- cables are important in the analog realm... a lot more than digital cables; it could make a lot of difference
- set the proper brightness, contrast, color settings before capture... yes, you could always tweak them after, but it's better to start with the best material
- calibrate your hardware - display and player - using a proper software, and optimize your computer for the best performances
- capture only using lossless codec... so be sure to buy a capture card that allows that, because there are some which could capture only in MPEG2!
Sadly my projects are lost due to an HDD crash...
Fundamental Collection | Vimeo channel | My blog
Fundamental Collection | Vimeo channel | My blog