I recently purchased an SVID2USB232 adapter to capture some old family VHS tapes from the 90’s. I am following this great tutorial found on Youtube, that uses the SVID2USB232 and OBS (video “How to convert VHS videotape to 60p digital video” from The Oldskool PC).
However I noticed that the quality of the image captured through the adapter and OBS is not as good as if I connect the same setup to my TV. For instance, when using the adapter and OBS I get some color distorsion on the edges of the frame as shown in the pic below.
Nothing too dramatic, but I was hoping that maybe this is something than can be fixed ? Note that I live in a PAL/SECAM region so the adapter is set with “PAL_B”.
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This can be quite common when digitizing video from an older analog source such as VHS tapes. Things like overscan/underscan and even VHS tracking can cause some discoloration or artifacts to the digitized video capture. These may not be seen when the VHS player is connected directly to a TV as in many cases the outer edge of the picture may not be seen in the viewable area of the actual TV, and it is not being processed by a digital video converter. Here are a few things you may be able to try if possible:
Try another VHS tape to see if you see the same behavior in the capture software.
Check to see if the VHS player has any settings that are adjustable and see if that changes it.
If you have access, try with a different VHS player, camcorder etc. as the capture source device.
Test with different capture software, such as the Movavi capture software that was included with the SVID2USB232.
As OBS is 3rd party software and not something we officially support, there may also be video settings in that software that could possibly be adjusted to enhance the outcome of the captured video. For instance, things like the resolution settings, frame rate, etc. could impact the captured video. For reference, here is something I came across on the OBS forum: VHS to OBS | OBS Forums.
As I mentioned initially, in some cases there is simply nothing that can be done to resolve these issues during capture and have to be adjusted post capture using video editing software. Sometimes people will simply crop out the outer edge of the frame to remove the portion that is not displaying properly.
