Fixing Picture Size For VHS Transfer

[Jer]

Years ago I bought a Roxio VHS To DVD converter to transfer my VHS collection. The converter itself works great, but the software it comes with has issues. I am time and time again encountering a problem where the audio is a step ahead of the video for a second or two, then finds a way to check itself up. I used to run the program on higher end gaming laptops. I am now running it on a brand new LG Gram 17 - 16GB of RAM, 11 gen processor, etc. I do think the software is the issue, as it takes a second or two to start the recording after pushing the button.

I heard about OBS when I bought a cheap HDMI video capture and figured I could use the Roxio converter as well. I had zero problems adding the source, linking the audio, and so on. The problem comes in with picture placement. I have seen no indicator to set the resolution, so even though I set the video to fit the screen, there is still some cut off on the bottom. Full screen on the video also provides a lot more vertical black space as well.

Can anyone show me how to fix this? OBS starts recording the second I hit the button and has no syncing problems.

 

[koala]

You probably speak about the canvas size in OBS. Check Settings->Video->Base (canvas) resolution. See this as canvas, where the sources are painted you add to the sources dock in OBS. If you intend to use only a single source and have it cover the whole canvas without black borders, make sure all these resolutions (in OBS) match:

- the resolution in Settings->Video->Base (canvas) resolution
- the resolution in Settings->Video->Output (scaled) resolution
- the size of the capture device source
- the resolution in the properties of the capture device

VHS video has 4:3 aspect ratio, and common resolutions are 768x576 or 720x540.

 

[Jer]

I'm still seeing quite a bit of black space horizontally compared to the minimal black border with the Roxio program. Could this be due to the frame rate? Rate in Roxio is set to 29.97. The recommended rate for VHS from members here said 59.94.

Unrelated.. Why is it I cannot create video as MP4? When I do so it gets stuck in the encoding process.

 

[Jer]

I am also noticing the Roxio program was encoding to MPED2.

I am playing the files in Windows Movies and TV program. When I have the video file not at full screen, I see the horizontal black space. When I make it full screen I don't see the black space. The Roxio encodes had consistency in this regard.

 

[FerretBomb]

MP4 is not a recording-safe format. You should NEVER record to it directly. Record to FLV or MKV, then use the 'Remux Recordings' option under OBS' File menu to convert them to MP4 once the recording is complete. It takes seconds.

OBS will use whatever canvas size the user has specified.
The black bars are generally because you have a different aspect ratio video as compared to your monitor or video player window. Older video like VHS is usually 4:3 aspect, while modern monitors generally are 16:9 (much wider). Video players generally will 'letterbox' or 'columnbox' video to fit the screen or window. The bars may not actually be a part of the video, but be added by the player software to avoid distorting (stretching, squashing, or cropping) the video being played back.
You may need to double-click the Video Capture Device Source you assigned the Roxio to, and see if you can set a different resolution there. There's also a button (Configure Video or Configure Crossbar) allowing access to the device's settings interface, which may be needed to provide a clean capture with the right resolution, source format, framerate, and any deinterlacing settings that may need to be applied.

 

[Jer]

Right.. I am using the same monitor for playback when using both the Roxio software and OBS.

Here to show you the differences.

A test using the Roxio program

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A test using OBS with same settings as what the Roxio program was encoding (aside from MPEG2 and MKV comparison)

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Left side black space looks identical to the first test. Right side black space is larger. There is a much larger horizontal space on both sides in the OBS test.

Again.. When I go full screen all of that goes away. So, am I making too much of a big deal here?

 

[koala]

In digitized analog recordings, there is always a small black border all around the whole image. You never see this on TV, because TVs scale up the image for a little bit, so these small borders are outside the screen. In contrast, capture devices just scan what is in the analog signal and don't scale the image, so you will still see that small border. You can crop the borders away, by cropping the source, if you like. This will reduce the source size, so you should reduce the canvas and output resolution accordingly to not get the border into the video file.

And make sure you activate deinterlacing for your source in OBS, so you will not see the combing effect on movement - this is very prominent in your wrestling picture.

And given the mediocre quality in comparison to today's video quality, consider to just not import these videos at all. If you have unique self-made videos of yourself and with your family, do convert and keep them. But standup comedy and sports events? I doubt these are really important. Often, such material can be found on Youtube and other streaming services.

 

[Jer]

So.. Are you basically stating that I'm making a bigger deal about this than I should?

I am also transferring files from 8MM tapes. In these cases, OBS does not create the borders that I get in VHS transfers. For both I am using the Roxio converter.

I don't know anything about deinterlacing.

The 8MM tapes are of family stuff. The VHS transfers I make are for a community of VHS archivists who want to preserve original broadcasts and such for nostalgic purposes.