VHS to Ubuntu with ffmpeg

[shantiq]

====================much of this info came from here===================

Always thought that digitizing VHS would be an expensive business
Turns out if you have a VCR in working order and £6/$8 or thereabouts for leads it is within anyone's reach
I also thought you probably needed complicated software
Turns out ffmpeg will do that for you with one click once you have entered the command

ffmpeg -f v4l2 -standard PAL -thread_queue_size 1024 -i /dev/video0 -f alsa -thread_queue_size 1024 -i hw:2,0  -c:v libx264  -s 720x576 -b:v 3000k -r 25 -aspect 4:3 -c:a flac -channels 2 -ar 48000 outfile.mkv

All you need to verify first is which audio stream [where it says hw:1,0] to enter in your commandline

You can find that out easily by running:

cat /proc/asound/cards

in my case i get

 cat /proc/asound/cards
 0 [PCH            ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel PCH
                      HDA Intel PCH at 0xdf220000 irq 130
 1 [Alpha          ]: USB-Audio - Lexicon Alpha
                      Lexicon Lexicon Alpha at usb-0000:00:14.0-5, full speed
 2 [CAMERA         ]: USB-Audio - USB2.0 PC CAMERA
                      ARKMICRO USB2.0 PC CAMERA at usb-0000:00:14.0-8.3, high speed

So I pick hw:1,0 because I want the full PCM stream to go to flac

If you want to use the usb converter sound [USB-Audio - USB2.0 PC CAMERA][it only goes to 320k] here you would pick hw:2,0



So If you have old tapes you would like on your computer; invest £6/$8 and enjoy this old into reanimated experience ...

LEADS NEEDED ARE THESE [you link ➊ to ➋ and plug usb into your computer]
-----------------

➊ 1.5m Scart to 3 x Phono Cable IN OUT Switchable Triple RCA Composite Lead Switch

Set to Out obviously

➋ USB 2.0 Audio VHS to DVD Converter Capture Recorder Analog Video to Digital

see pix below :






PS :: Once you have ripped the file were you to encounter an av sync problem use this as post-processing very good advice here

 ffmpeg -i originalfile.mkv -itsoffset 0.3 -i original.mkv -map 0:0 -map 1:1  -acodec copy -vcodec copy synced.mkv

0.3 here stands for 0.3/s

PS2 :: If whilst doing tests at first you find the saturation is too high you can add this to original line

ffmpeg -f v4l2 -standard PAL -thread_queue_size 1024 -i /dev/video0 -f alsa -thread_queue_size 1024 -i hw:1,0  -c:v libx264  -s 720x576 -b:v 2400k -vf eq=saturation=0.5 -r 25 -aspect 4:3 -c:a flac -channels 2 -ar 48000   outfile.mkv

1.0 being full saturation