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hello_hello · 21st January 2012, 18:06

I'm probably not the best person to offer advice on this as I've only captured VHS tapes a handful of times and I think I just recorded straight to DVD format and burned them to disc. I thought maybe someone else would come along, however.....

The card's own software? What is it? I own a DTV2300H and it uses the PVR2 software. I did a search for your card and the same software I'm using is listed for your card.
http://www.leadtek.com/eng/support/s...imageField.y=9
Is that what you're using?

Admittedly I haven't updated the version I have for quite a while but the version I'm using is pretty flexible. I assume the capture formats available wouldn't be dependent on the card but I could be wrong. Anyway.... once I switch to an analogue input and then go to the configuration menu the top tab lets me specify the input type (NTSC or PAL etc), the middle tab lets me adjust the colours, and the bottom tab is where capture format is set. There's preset configurations such as VCD, DVD, AVI etc, but clicking the Add button allows me to set up a capture profile (also using the installed system codecs if desired for video and audio) as well as select the resolution etc. There's a default profile called Uncompressed AVI (lossless I assume) which is maybe what you should be using if you wish to crop and edit and re-encode. In theory whatever you see coming in should be what gets recorded, although the AVI profile seems to default to 320x240 so you might want to change that.

I'm not sure about the aspect ratio problem..... big edit here...... I wrote something about 4:3 vs 16:9 aspect ratios but then thought "we're talking about VHS tapes, not DVDs". Isn't VHS either 4:3 or 4:3? Is there such a thing as 16:9 VHS?
Are you sure it's actually coming in as 4:3? Depending on the capture software or the resolution you've chosen it might be assuming the incoming pixels are square which would mess with the aspect ratio. What resolution are you capturing in? I'd assume you want 720x576 for PAL or 720x480 for NTSC.
Another thought.... the PVR2 software also lets you specify the aspect ratio via the right click menu. I'd assumed it only applied to the TV tuner but it still seems to be available when selecting a capture input. Whether it has an effect on what's captured I'm not sure...

I guess the capture format and the program(s) I'd use for editing and converting would probably be a little dependent on the output format I wanted to end up with. What final format are you aiming for? If it's DVD you might also want to capture in interlaced mode and keep it interlaced, if you want to end up with AVIs or MP4s etc then progressive might be better.

MediaInfo might be able to give you some helpful information regarding the files you've recorded so far.

Any of that any help?

As I said I'm no expert but I've got a couple of VHS tapes belonging to a friend who wants me to convert them and they've probably got a years worth of dust on them since she gave them to me, so maybe if you're using the same software as I am and having problems, it'd be a good excuse for me to drag out the VCR and refresh my memory regarding the PVR2 software and get them done at the same time.

21st January 2012, 18:06	#5 \| Link
hello_hello Registered User Join Date: Mar 2011 Posts: 4,829	I'm probably not the best person to offer advice on this as I've only captured VHS tapes a handful of times and I think I just recorded straight to DVD format and burned them to disc. I thought maybe someone else would come along, however..... The card's own software? What is it? I own a DTV2300H and it uses the PVR2 software. I did a search for your card and the same software I'm using is listed for your card. http://www.leadtek.com/eng/support/s...imageField.y=9 Is that what you're using? Admittedly I haven't updated the version I have for quite a while but the version I'm using is pretty flexible. I assume the capture formats available wouldn't be dependent on the card but I could be wrong. Anyway.... once I switch to an analogue input and then go to the configuration menu the top tab lets me specify the input type (NTSC or PAL etc), the middle tab lets me adjust the colours, and the bottom tab is where capture format is set. There's preset configurations such as VCD, DVD, AVI etc, but clicking the Add button allows me to set up a capture profile (also using the installed system codecs if desired for video and audio) as well as select the resolution etc. There's a default profile called Uncompressed AVI (lossless I assume) which is maybe what you should be using if you wish to crop and edit and re-encode. In theory whatever you see coming in should be what gets recorded, although the AVI profile seems to default to 320x240 so you might want to change that. I'm not sure about the aspect ratio problem..... big edit here...... I wrote something about 4:3 vs 16:9 aspect ratios but then thought "we're talking about VHS tapes, not DVDs". Isn't VHS either 4:3 or 4:3? Is there such a thing as 16:9 VHS? Are you sure it's actually coming in as 4:3? Depending on the capture software or the resolution you've chosen it might be assuming the incoming pixels are square which would mess with the aspect ratio. What resolution are you capturing in? I'd assume you want 720x576 for PAL or 720x480 for NTSC. Another thought.... the PVR2 software also lets you specify the aspect ratio via the right click menu. I'd assumed it only applied to the TV tuner but it still seems to be available when selecting a capture input. Whether it has an effect on what's captured I'm not sure... I guess the capture format and the program(s) I'd use for editing and converting would probably be a little dependent on the output format I wanted to end up with. What final format are you aiming for? If it's DVD you might also want to capture in interlaced mode and keep it interlaced, if you want to end up with AVIs or MP4s etc then progressive might be better. MediaInfo might be able to give you some helpful information regarding the files you've recorded so far. Any of that any help? As I said I'm no expert but I've got a couple of VHS tapes belonging to a friend who wants me to convert them and they've probably got a years worth of dust on them since she gave them to me, so maybe if you're using the same software as I am and having problems, it'd be a good excuse for me to drag out the VCR and refresh my memory regarding the PVR2 software and get them done at the same time. Last edited by hello_hello; 21st January 2012 at 18:31.