Zathras Ars Tips

Corrections: 
Since VHS is analog video, it's tough to say how much horizontal 
resolution it has.  About 200-240 is as good a guess as any.  However, 
VHS does have pretty much the full 480 lines of vertical resolution.  
This is why VCDs and playstation games look "fuzzy", compared to even 
VHS tapes. 

Suggestions: 

2D Cleaner is good for getting rid of MJPEG noise.  radius:1, Strength 
255.  Or radius 2, str:12, though that blurs it some. 

De-Interlace - Area Based is a bit better than pure blend, imho, but 
not too much difference. 

TV filter I have not found to be useful. 

Smart Smoother by Donald Graft is far better than regular smoother.  
Diameter: 7-11, Strength 20-40.  Really gets rid of the noise. 

Dynamic noise reduction should be done last.  If Smart Smoother really 
cleaned it up well, even a setting of 1 will do.  

Here's the amount of detail I get when I capture straight off of SciFi 
channel. 

All cleaned up, according to the filter directions I gave earlier. 

2D Cleaner:  strength 255, radius 1 
deinterlace - Area Based:  default settings 
Smart Smoother:  strength 30, diameter 7 
Dynamic Noise Reduction:  strength 1 

http://freespace.virgin.net/zero.wing/remote/mst3k-ex1.png 

Large file, takes a bit to load.  If all you see is black, save the pic 
and view it in a real image editor/viewer, and stop bothering with IE 
5.01 

Don't tell me that you're getting that much detail when you capture at 
320x240. 

Use the filters well, and you can make the video look a hell of a lot 
better. 


Most of the filters you need are here, of course: 
http://www.virtualdub.org/virtualdub_filters.html 


However, for working with VHS tapes that are a bit old, you might want 
to try this filter: 
http://gmouchard.multimania.com/virtualdub/cnr-en.html  

Also, some info on NTSC: 

Because NTSC is analog, there really is no real way to determine the 
amount of horizontal "resolution" there is.    Many estimates have been 
made about VHS having 200 "lines" or so, LaserDisc 400, etc.  All 
guesswork. 

However, because as an analog system it is based upon "scanlines", we 
can be sure there is no more vertical resolution than the number of 
scanlines. 

Now, NTSC has 525 scanlines.  That is true.  However, many of those are 
used for the "vertical blanking" interval, where closed captioning and 
such is stored.  Thus, the amount of actual scanlines used for picture 
information is about 480-486.  480 has been pretty much settled upon as 
a standard.  Therefore, 480 lines of vertical resolution for sure.  If 
capturing from a VHS tape, you may notice a "noisy" area near the 
bottom of 8-16 lines.  This is why it is said VHS doesn't get the full 
480 -- it cuts off a few. 

So when your capture card is capturing 640x480, be assured that's all 
the detail you really need to get. 


(Don't listen to ripping guides that talk about DVDs.  NTSC DVDs are 
720x480 because they natively use a different aspect ratio, of course, 
it's just "squished" horizontally into the proper aspect ratio for your 
TV)