Hi8 Tape to Laptop out of sync

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strugglingmom

New Member
Hello, I am new here and new to using OBS. I have an old Sony Camcorder that uses Hi8 tapes that I would like to digitize. My son ordered me a capture card and got my laptop set up to use OBS with the capture card. The camcorder is connected directly to the laptop. My son has since left to go back to school. I can use OBS just fine to put the video on my laptop but when I go back and watch what was captured the audio goes out of sync 10-15 minutes in. It starts out fine but drifts out of sync. I have watched and read so much about how to fix this but nothing seems to work. I have very little knowledge and was hoping someone could help. Thanks.
 
Last edited:
Suslik V

Suslik V

Active Member
Reason unknown. There are some threads on the forum about capturing issues (de-synchronization), but without clear solutions ( for example: https://obsproject.com/forum/thread...-doing-conversion-from-vhs.183342/post-670519 ). Likely, capture device is not suitable for the task or PC is too weak.
You may share your experience in the capture by posting OBS log-file (it has info about how well capturing performed):

Please post a log with your issue! Here's how...

OBS Studio creates a log file each time you run it which contains very useful diagnostic information. Without a log file, it's much harder for any support volunteers to figure out problems and your post may be ignored. To upload a log file, go to the Help menu > Log Files > Upload Last Log...
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Some thoughts about capturing of old tapes with OBS:

What is best OBS Studio Settings for capturing (PAL) 8mm Hi8 S-video to digital

Hello, can someone please recommend what is the best OBS Studio settings for capturing (PAL) 8mm Hi8 S-video and converting to digital. I have some old Sony (PAL) Hi8 90min (HMP) Metal Particle & (HME) Metal Evaporated tapes that I would like to convert to MP4 format in the very best quality...
obsproject.com obsproject.com
 
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strugglingmom

New Member
Thank you for your response. I'm reading reviews for the capture device on other people using it without issue on OBS so I'm not sure why it won't work for me. Maybe it's my computer.
 
koala

koala

Active Member
According to your log, your capture device outputs a resolution of 640x480, so go to settings > Video and set base (canvas) resolution and output resolution both to 640x480. This will 1:1 output to your recording what your capture device grabs. This is a lower resolution than you configured previously, so the system load will be much lower, so chances are good your audio is in sync with that. Audio getting out of sync is an indication of system overloading.
 
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strugglingmom

New Member
I was watching a few videos and playing around with settings to see if I could get something to work. Is this the best settings I should have?
 
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strugglingmom

New Member
strugglingmom said:
I was watching a few videos and playing around with settings to see if I could get something to work. Is this the best settings I should have?
Click to expand...
Sorry, Just realized my response made no sense.
Anyway, I just tried changing the settings as suggested and I don't have that option. See pics.
Screenshot (7).png
Screenshot (8).png
 
J

JohnPee

Member
Looking at your Log file, your system may be underpowered for what you are trying to do without some optimisation.

Analyzer | OBS

OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) is free and open source software for video recording and live streaming. Stream to Twitch, YouTube and many other providers or record your own videos with high quality H264 / AAC encoding.
obsproject.com obsproject.com
 
Suslik V

Suslik V

Active Member
Summarizing all above.
Code: 
15:51:55.749: audio settings reset:
15:51:55.749:     samples per sec: 48000
15:51:55.749:     speakers:        2
...
15:51:56.966: WASAPI: Device 'Microphone (USB2.0 MIC)' [96000 Hz] initialized (source: Mic/Aux)
15:51:56.967: WASAPI: Device 'Speaker/Headphone (Realtek High Definition Audio)' [48000 Hz] initialized (source: Desktop Audio)
...
15:51:56.497: Loaded scenes:
15:51:56.497: - scene 'Scene':
15:51:56.497:     - source: 'VHS' (dshow_input)
...
15:51:57.044: [DShow Device: 'VHS'] settings updated:
15:52:09.641:     video device: AV TO USB2.0
15:52:09.641:     resolution: 640x480
15:52:09.641:     fps: 30.00 (interval: 333333)
15:52:09.687:     sample rate: 44100
...
15:54:07.246: video settings reset:
15:54:07.246:     base resolution:   1366x768
15:54:07.246:     output resolution: 1280x720
15:54:07.246:     fps:               30/1
For your current tape (all tapes from different devices are different and thus may require different settings for fps and resolution):
  1. Set OBS Settings > Audio > Desktop Audio device to Disabled (you only capturing your capture card, so anything else is not needed otherwise your PC speakers will be recorded too)
  2. Set OBS Settings > Audio > Mic/Aux device to Disabled (you only capturing your capture card, so anything else is not needed otherwise your default mic built-in/connected to the PC will be recorded too)
  3. Set OBS Settings > Output > Base (Canvas) Resolution = 640x480 (type it manually in format WIDTHxHEIGHT, where the "x" letter is separator)
  4. Set OBS Settings > Output > Output (Scaled) Resolution = 640x480 (see p3. for details)
Then comes the hardest part.
If you cannot change (and usually it is not possible, and it is normal) the capture card sample rate to 48000Hz in the properties window for the video capture device source in OBS (you named the source "VHS") , then I recommend to
5. Set OBS Settings > Audio > Sample Rate = 44.1 kHz (this is 44100Hz) to match your capture device.​

More over, likely, your PC is already configured to match this Sample Rate value too. Thus, just check if the "shared mode" for your capture device "audio in" set to the same value. I have no idea how this "audio in" device will be named in your PC. Yeah, single capture card is usually two devices - one is video, second is audio. This way your PC "seeing" media hardware. Anyway, here is screenshot of the settings inside Windows you are looking for:
Windows 10, Sound panel Default Format in shared mode (for mic)
On the screenshot the device named Microphone Apollo Thunderbolt Audio but yours, of course, will have different name.
You may search online How to change "sound control panel" settings in Windows 10 to find this window.

And one more thing. It is better to keep all your input/output devices in your PC at the same sample rate when they running in "shared mode". OBS log says that your mic "Microphone (USB2.0 MIC)" set to 96000Hz and speakers "Speaker/Headphone (Realtek High Definition Audio)" set to 48000Hz that is not good for the capture if you ever decide to capture them with OBS. Here, for synchronization the "bitness" doesn't matter.
 
koala

koala

Active Member
According to your log, you get a perfect recording. No errors, no warnings.

The only thing I wonder is the frame rate. If you're capturing a NTSC source, that should be 29.97 fps, not 30 fps. It makes a difference on the long run, since 29.97 fps is 2997 frames in 100 seconds and 30 fps is 3000 frames in 100 seconds - 3 frames less, which is a few milliseconds that add up over an hour long video to a small audio/video discrepancy.

What did you set for deinterlacing? Right-click your capture device > Deinterlacing. The best deinterlacer is usually Yadif. You can simply deinterlace to 29.97 by using Yadif (than set Settings > Video > Common FPS to 29.97 or try to reconstruct 59.94 fps by using Yadif 2x, then set Settings > Video > common fps to 59.94. Try both and see what is resulting in better video quality.
 
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Lawrence_SoCal

Active Member
strugglingmom said:
Thanks for everyone's thoughts. I changed the settings suslik v suggested and no change. I couldn't find where the capture card might be able to be changed to 48000Hz so I'm assuming I couldn't change it, so I did step 5 instead.
Click to expand...
If it works, then no worries. However, changing the device audio sampling rate is usually done at the Operating System device driver level (if driver coded to allow such), rather than within OBS Studio

Article that might help, if you wish to revert back to more common /standard sampling rate of 48000Hz (remember to keep capture device audio sampling rate and OBS Studio's Audio setting set to same sampling rate)
https://www.tenforums.com/sound-audio/129811-where-change-windows-sampling-rate-hidden.html
 
S

strugglingmom

New Member
koala said:
According to your log, you get a perfect recording. No errors, no warnings.

The only thing I wonder is the frame rate. If you're capturing a NTSC source, that should be 29.97 fps, not 30 fps. It makes a difference on the long run, since 29.97 fps is 2997 frames in 100 seconds and 30 fps is 3000 frames in 100 seconds - 3 frames less, which is a few milliseconds that add up over an hour long video to a small audio/video discrepancy.

What did you set for deinterlacing? Right-click your capture device > Deinterlacing. The best deinterlacer is usually Yadif. You can simply deinterlace to 29.97 by using Yadif (than set Settings > Video > Common FPS to 29.97 or try to reconstruct 59.94 fps by using Yadif 2x, then set Settings > Video > common fps to 59.94. Try both and see what is resulting in better video quality.
Click to expand...
Deinterlacing was on "disable" so I went and put it on Yadif and 29.97. It is still off. I didn't try the Yadif 2X with the 59.94 but it sounds like that might just be the same thing but a change in picture quality but I will go try that too just for kicks. I'm wondering if I should try buying a different capture device. If you think that might be the issue does anyone recommend one? We are armatures when it comes to this.
 
S

strugglingmom

New Member
Lawrence_SoCal said:
If it works, then no worries. However, changing the device audio sampling rate is usually done at the Operating System device driver level (if driver coded to allow such), rather than within OBS Studio

Article that might help, if you wish to revert back to more common /standard sampling rate of 48000Hz (remember to keep capture device audio sampling rate and OBS Studio's Audio setting set to same sampling rate)
https://www.tenforums.com/sound-audio/129811-where-change-windows-sampling-rate-hidden.html
Click to expand...
I'm not sure I want to mess with my drivers. This is above my knowledge. LOL
 
Suslik V

Suslik V

Active Member
OBS developers recommend expensive modern devices that usually don't have old interfaces (jacks that your old camera/recorder supports).

Certified Devices | OBS

OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) is free and open source software for video recording and live streaming. Stream to Twitch, YouTube and many other providers or record your own videos with high quality H264 / AAC encoding.
obsproject.com obsproject.com

But if you have only few tapes, and the sound recorded with monotonically increasing delay, then it easily can be adjusted in post-production.

One more question: can you try "mpv player" to playback your recordings (or at least "VLC Player" but not Windows media player)? Is there de-sync too?
 
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