Recording VHS tape

[classystyle990]

I am recording a VHS tape, and my setting in OBS for resolution is 1920x1080. It seems the video is getting cropped/I'm only seeing the upper left quadrant of the film. Is there some other setting I need to adjust to be able to record the full screen?

 

[Suslik V]

It seems the video is getting cropped/I'm only seeing the upper left quadrant of the film.

Make sure that you set right resolution in the "Video Capture Device" properties (accessible via the right-click menu over the source in OBS).

Also, there is no much sense to record VHS in FullHD. The only reason I see is when your capture card scales the feed up to 1920x1080 and no other options exist. Common resolutions are: 640x480, 768x576, square pixels, de-interlaced, aspect ratio 4:3. May look blurred in comparison to modern videos, but this is by design.

 

[classystyle990]

Might be a silly question, but how do I know whether to select 640x480 or 768x576?

 

[Suslik V]

This depends on format of the original data (film/type).
480 for NTSC (59.94 or 29.97fps) systems;
576 for PAL (50 or 25fps) systems.

 

[classystyle990]

Sorry, I know nothing about this stuff. Should I record at both formats, and see which one works best?

 

[Suslik V]

Better to read manuals (for VHS player, TV set and Capture device). As for the resolution and frame rate - unlikely you will notice the difference at the first glance. Also, it is not that simple to get good results with OBS from the first try. Here is example: https://obsproject.com/forum/threads/audio-out-of-synch-with-video-vhs-tape-recording.193937/

 

[ElaraHong]

For VHS, I’d keep the capture settings fairly simple and avoid heavy processing in OBS. Match the capture device to the tape’s PAL/NTSC format and use a stable USB connection. If the preview looks clean, do a short test recording first before capturing the whole tape.

 

[Unimatrix36]

480 NTSC is used in USA and Japan. It also use 60 Hz/FPS
576 PAL is for Europe and use 50 Hz/FPS
So it depends where you have recorded stuff because the VHS player might output stuff differently.