Using OBS to Capture Videotapes with a USB Capture Device on Windows

In this tutorial, I cover the equipment, software, and settings needed in order to successfully capture video from your old, analog videotapes using OBS. This tutorial was put together assuming you are using the adapter that I recommend purchasing in the video.

NOTE: FOR PAL RECORDINGS - In the Settings menu in OBS, click on the “Video” tab and type in "720X576" as the "Base (Canvas) Resolution". In your device capture settings, change the "Resolution" setting to "720X576" and change the FPS setting to 25.
#OBS #DigitizeVideo #VHS

LINKS:

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

00:00 - Introduction
00:28 - Hardware and Software That You'll Need
2:43 - Configure OBS Settings
7:50 - Adding and Configuring the Video Capture Device in OBS
11:20 - Removing the Overscan Area
11:53 - Deinterlacing
12:50 - Verifying and Listening to Audio (the Audio Mixer)
13:37 - Hitting Record!
14:10 - Finding the File You Created

[cryptomaniac]

I appreciate you giving the "If you're going to make it into a DVD, use these settings." tips in this tutorial.

[fft]

your video is a work of art ! I had so many headaches with the bloody resolutions and sources and outputs... THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART !

[ladysaedie]

First, thank you, thank you, thank you. There is no way I could've got all those settings by myself. I am deeply indebted. I am digitising family video tapes for my mother (she's 87) and I know she'll be over the moon. Thank you.

[timfordphoto]

NOTE: FOR PAL RECORDINGS - In the Settings menu in OBS, click on the “Video” tab and type in "720X576" as the "Base (Canvas) Resolution". In your device capture settings, change the "Resolution" setting to "720X576" and change the FPS setting to 25.

IF YOU ARE NOT GETTING ANY AUDIO (NTSC AND PAL) - check the following settings in Windows:

Make sure your privacy settings are configured properly. Select Start > Settings > Privacy & security.

Under App permissions, select Microphone.

Make sure that the Microphone access and Let apps access your microphone toggles are turned On.

Lastly, scroll down under Let apps access your microphone and make sure that the toggle next to OBS is turned on.

[gibson]

I went on a deep dive trying to find the right settings. Yours is literally the most useful one thanks bud.

[TheDrut]

This would save me so much time, I have been recording from a vhs into a hdd recorder then transferring it to dvd, putting dvd into laptop and laptop doesn’t recognise the format and won’t play it. I have now downloaded the OBS program and am ordering the device you use in this tutorial. Thank you very much for producing such a perfect lesson.

[henryfardell]

What a fantastic teaching video!
Thank you so very much!
I found that having a second screen working enabled me to pause the teaching while trying out the OBS software on the second screen.

[tomschmidt]

I'm late to the party, your guide was a great help selecting the myriad of options in OBS. As an aside I had problems getting OBS to recognize the video source.. I am using a HDMI upscaler and a HDMI to USB converter. It turned out many moons ago I had disable the camera option on my desktop, as it does not have a built in camera. Reenabling the camera for OBS resolved the problem.

[chrisdonahue]

"Resize Overscan I've been trying to figure out how to do this forever!!! Thanks so much!

[prayash]

Thanks for the perfect walkthrough! Was able to mimic these settings (with some slight variations) to extract footage from my old Sony DCR-SR42 Camcorder.

[roncurry]

Want to thank you for your video setting up OSB for recording. Followed your settings and worked the first time. Wish I had found your channel before spending hours with other channels.

[OhDaddy]

Hey Tim, you are a great Instructor. with your Help I was able to get my system up and running in a very short time. thanks

[justdesi]

Thank you for this! I wouldn't have gotten it set up without your help. Currently capturing. Now let's just hope everything's fine with the captured file.

[Allan-]

One of the best tutorials, Ive seen on OBS and a suitable Video card. Ive just ordered one of the StarTech adapters and looking forward to doing some transferring.

[geraldoakley]

Just used this video to get myself sorted and it all works so Thanks for the great video and easy to follow directions and instructions.

[anthonyb.]

Thank you so much!!! I had to digitize some tapes for my job and I used the default software it came with which simply was just atrocious (would randomly stop recording and had no option to prevent upscaling or aspect ratio and absolutely no audio adjustments) but OBS has been wonderful. Much appreciated.

[generic]

I Convert MP4 files to VHS And digitize them for Retro VHS content. I use PAL also and i selected mono because my VCR is Older, This Tutorial Helped me Setting up my Startech Capture card Thank you!

[gavsmith]

Very useful video, taken me hours tweaking various settings and there's no way I'd have stumbled on that combination any time soon!
One thing I did find, bearing in mind I'm using a different USB device which probably doesn't capture whole frames like yours does, plus I'm using PAL, I found it's better to set your FPS to double the standard, since setting mine to normal PAL (25) resulted in a capture of only half the frames, because each frame was being sent interleaved, ie, two scans per frame, requiring a capture of 50 FPS, then the recording played 25fps smoothly, albeit with one new frame and one repeated frame due to being a 50fps recording, but if I didnt set it that way, I was only getting 12.5 FPS recordings, and with terrible resolution, presumably cos it was only half as many discrete pixels vertically per frame captured.
My Video settings in OBS are
Base resolution 720x576
Output Resolution 768x576
FPS 50 PAL
The reason for the different base & output resolutions is that old cathode ray TVs had the equivalent of slightly rectangular pixels, so if you want to make the same pixelated image look the same aspect ratio on a modern video screen, you have to stretch the pixels a bit.

[ObiWanBillKenobi]

Speaking for recording to a computer video file, to get the full 60 fps that the VHS is providing, you need to set the framerate to 59.94, not 29.97. I also use a canvas and recording resolution of 1440x1080.

[mawelsh]

Thanks for the recommendation on the capture device from StarTech. I returned a junky one that used default driver vs their own. Huge quality difference.