Blackmagic Forum

Hi, i want to capture VHS tapes, i use the Intensity Shuttle, and a MacBook Pro 13" early 2015, 8GB RAM, 256GB internal storage, for long captures i need more storage to capture to, a "normal" external drive is too slow for that, so i want to know what to buy, I need a SSD drive i have figured out, most external SSD drives are USB C 3.1, and my MAC has Thunderbolt 2 and USB 3.0 "A" connections, what would be a good solution for me, (no budget) could i use the USB A 3.0 connection for a USB C SSD external drive ?
Is there also a way to "adapt" to my Thunderbolt 2 interface connection ?
I guess i want to connect a SSD drive like the Samsung EVO (PRO) or the T5 model to my MacBook Pro.

TIA,

To which format are you capturing? A normal USB 3 drive should be plenty fast for VHS in any decent codec.

Uli Plank wrote:To which format are you capturing? A normal USB 3 drive should be plenty fast for VHS in any decent codec.

No, i've allready tried that, I capture PAL(625i/p) 4:3, to 720×576p 24/25/50 and this gives "hang-ups" a freezed picture for some seconds while sound stays in sync after that, The external drive is a Porsche Design 2.5" 4TB USB (3.1) C one, and plugged into my 3.0 USB on my MacBook Pro, that's the reason of my question here.

Do you capture uncompressed?
Considering the quality of even the best VHS, that would be a total waste of space and drive speed.

never changed those settings, i will give that a try, and maybe stop some not needed background tasks,
had no problems on the internal storage.

Uncompressed 8bit SD is only 22MB/sec. This should work with any current disk, even over USB3.
There may be some compatibility issue with USB 3 (I had similar issue when capturing with MediaExpress).

I believe the compatibility issues are only valid for capturing over USB 3, no, the external drive i have isn't fast enough, to keep up with the captured data.

I tried another external drive i had, (Samsung 2.5" 1TB USB 3) and has no hang-ups while capturing to this one,
strange, i thought USB-C is faster, not in my case.

You should be able to capture SD (including uncompressed) to basically any "normal" current drive out there- except USB2 connected. You have some "other problem". SD today is nothing even for "simple" mechanical drive. All your mentioned ones are waaaay fast enough for SD. Stop trying to get faster drive- problem is somewhere else.
I had similar issue and solution was to use proper capture tool. MediaExpres is not very reliable at all.
ToolsOnAir are good, but not cheap.

Thanks for the tip, yes i miss some features in Media Express, like overscan, now i'm capturing more than i like,
i saw on an old youtube video, BMD had previously a small capture device, and the software that came with it, could mask the image, well i'm still learning....

edit>
Just looked into Toolsonair, but this seems to be their general software name for network/servers, which app are you refering to ?

You are after just:in. There is a trial. Just register on thier support page. Not sure about latest price, but it's like 1000$ per ingest channel.
There is also MovieRecorder from softron.

Well that's also pricey software, even though thanks, i just need to spend some more time with Davinci Resolve,
it just has a learning curve, but can do some neat tricks and let you use most of it's features for free.

Have you tried capturing with Resolve?

Andrew Kolakowski wrote:Have you tried capturing with Resolve?

Did not know that is possible.... could i capture directly to h264 that way ?
I will look into this.

I managed to setup in Davinci Resolve the capture project settings, so it will capture PAL, and i did have to set my VHS recorder back to component interlaced, Resolve only has a PAL setting without any further settings, also no audio is captured with Resolve and i can't find a setting to do so, sometimes it also expects serial deck commands, which the Intensity Shuttle obviously does not have.
Media Express does record sound i checked again.
Each time i start Davinci Resolve, i have to set the project capture settings, while i do save them with the save button.
I also see i have better render settings for cropping etc...
Only got no audio sofar.

You have audio settings on the same page (Capture and Playback/Capture section):
"Capture: Video and Audio"
"Input 2 channels" (here you set how many channels you want to capture).

If you can use PC then this should be good capture tool and not expensive:
http://www.drastic.tv/sales/medianxs

Also- if you don't need RS-422 then there are many more options on PC, including free ones.

Are you using a TBC (time base corrector) to capture VHS?

Andrew Kolakowski wrote:You have audio settings on the same page (Capture and Playback/Capture section):
"Capture: Video and Audio"
"Input 2 channels" (here you set how many channels you want to capture).

If you can use PC then this should be good capture tool and not expensive:
http://www.drastic.tv/sales/medianxs

Also- if you don't need RS-422 then there are many more options on PC, including free ones.

I am using a MacBook Pro (early 2015, 13" 8GB ram, 256GB internal SSD storage, Intensity Shuttle Thunderbolt2 using Component YUV i/p out to Shuttle, analog audio in/out, yes, the options you mentioned, are set that way, but still i have no audio, the green track also shows no waveform on the edit screen.
To me it looks like the capture function is meant for an internal PCI PC card, so i'm the first to try this with Davinci Resolve ? capturing ?

Frank Pido wrote:Are you using a TBC (time base corrector) to capture VHS?

My Panasonic VCR has build in stabilisation, Capturing,(Intensity Shuttle Thunderbolt) using Media Express does go perfect, With Media Express i can capture from the component output set to progressive, to capture with Davinci Resolve, i can only set Resolve to PAL, and had to set my VCR to component interlaced, My VCR is the Panasonic DMR-ES35V, european version PAL with the extra SCART connectors, Video is captured, audio isn't.