Missing audio from VHS video digitisation

[DaveBGold]

Hi there,

I've been trying to digitise some old VHS videos using an HD USB capture card and OBS Studio. While the picture comes over nicely, the audio is missing. The hardware I'm using is:


Video Recorder: Sony SLV-E530

Cables and Capture Card:
uhddadi Scart to HDMI Converter with HDMI Cable
UGREEN HD USB Video Capture Card

Laptop: Dell Inspiron 7610

I've attached the OBS sound settings files for the UGREEN capture card, the Windows sound settings file from the laptop and the OBS logfile [had to truncate it, since it was too big - but the error messages just repeat until the video is digitised and are of the following type:

15:04:47.978: UGREEN VCD: Error decoding video
15:04:48.010: warning: Found EOI before any SOF, ignoring
15:04:48.010: fatal: No JPEG data found in image

Any help troubleshooting the problem would be appreciated .....

Thanks

Dave B

 

[AaronD]

UGREEN HD USB Video Capture Card

If it's like this:

Amazon.com

Then I'd put it in the "cheap garbage" category. Seems like these things are the second most counterfeited in the world, behind SD cards. Who knows what's going to work and what doesn't, and how bad the "technically working" actually is? I have a pile of them myself, from before I figured that out...

If you really do need to capture HDMI, stick to the name brands with dedicated websites in *fluent* English, and that actually care about customer loyalty. They actually have some accountability to those customers, and they're expensive enough to be worth returning, so they're usually good.
Unlike the weird names that only appear on outlet sites like Amazon, Walmart, etc., with descriptions in "Chinglish". Outlets have good stuff too, but don't use *them* to sort by price; you'll get garbage that's too cheap to be worth returning, so the scammers profit regardless.

Expect to spend about $80 to $120 for a name brand single HDMI -> USB capture that's actually good.

---

But you don't need HDMI, or the converter to it. Get a capture card that takes the VCR signal directly, and record exactly what it gives you with no conversions. In other words, "a straight dumb wire" from the VCR to the file, with absolutely minimal processing. Change the settings in OBS to ensure that. You can process the file later, but if you record with bad processing, you're stuck with that unless you re-record.

Same shopping method: look for a name brand with a dedicated website in fluent English and good customer loyalty, and not sorted by price on an outlet site.

 

[DaveBGold]

Thanks, appreciate the prompt response and advice ......

all the best

Dave B