Just got my RT4K this morning and have a whole pile of tapes to digitize, so this upload’s timing is pretty ideal. This is extremely useful so thanks for another great explainer vid, Bob!

@RetroRGB

Ай бұрын

Thanks very much!! I’d love to collab sometime. We could totally nerd out!

@atower1011

Ай бұрын

Hi, Was gifted a bunch of VHS tapes containing recordings of Red Wings Playoff games from '97. I wanna digitize them with my new Retrotink 4k but don't have a capture card. What do you recommend?

@atower1011

Ай бұрын

My goal is to upload them to KZread.

The Retrotink 4K is the best analog-to-digital solution there is, especially for the cost. However I wish the time base correction did more correction. At places where I paused the original camcorder tape in camera, it will often jump and sometimes even show a quick frame from several minutes ago that for some reason is still in the RT4K's buffer. The RT5X also does this. It doesn't seem to have issues where I paused the recordings on a VHS tape, just old 8mm and Hi8 tapes that were then transferred to VHS. EDIT: I'm gonna try to get a JVC Super VHS as that's how the recordings were made. I currently only have a Mitsubishi S-VHS so maybe it doesn't like JVC recordings I dunno. Wouldn't hurt to have a spare VCR anyway.

@JnL_SSBM

Ай бұрын

*Lordsmurf doesn't like this*

@GameSack

Ай бұрын

@@JnL_SSBM Who the F is Lordsmurf?

@GameSack

Ай бұрын

UPDATE: I have a real Time Base Corrector arriving. I hope it works. The JVC VCR did not work. I have a lot of stuff to digitize while I still can.

@JnL_SSBM

Ай бұрын

@@GameSack lordsmurf once said that Retrotink 5x or 4K are inaccurate since it's a retro gaming scaler, not a Time Base Corrector. I have a decent Panasonic Diga DMR ES-15 as a TBC.

@Brodensson

Ай бұрын

@@JnL_SSBM I'm not sure LordSmurf is entirely wrong about the TINKs, but until Mike implements proper 576i passthrough it's hard for me to test/compare and get accurate results as I only have PAL tapes. I have an actual standalone TBC, and playback wise through when compared to the TINK-5X, it seemed to perform comparably. I'd still love to perform some more robust testing though if a 576i mode comes.

Bob! This is a great video! I’m a sysadmin at a library and help with a variety of patron needs, especially VHS to digital conversations, up until this video, there just wasn’t a solution that could be implemented without a substantial amount of staff time, until now! We’ll be able to offer this service again! Genuinely grateful for this!

This is BRILLIANT! My skater friends have TONS of videos still locked on VHS. What a godsend!

@shredbraahh8606

Ай бұрын

This is what I'm using this mostly for! I have the whole 411VM VHS-only releases collection. Epic.

@returningwhisper

Ай бұрын

@@shredbraahh8606 please let us know if you end up uploading those to KZread. Loved 411VM growing up.

@AdrianDX

Ай бұрын

Yeah please @ me as well if any of you upload any digitized old skating stuff❤

As someone who used to work in a post house tape room, I really appreciate you covering this. Great results without hunting for costly, bulky and old equipment or spending weeks messing with vapor synth.

Can't wait to see your Domesday Duplicator video...btw, the team over at VHS-Decode are in the process of finalizing the MISRC hardware, a successor to the DdD, which will be able to capture multiple streams simultaneously(so manually syncing multiple audio/video captures will finally become a thing of the past).

@analogdarling3678

Ай бұрын

Besides having to jack into the the VTR/VCR hardware, the separate audio recording and manual syncing process is the main reason I never went with that process. Besides the huge processing times.

Even though I can't afford to get into Retro Gaming or Pro-Level Tape Transfer yet, this is still really informative and entertaining to watch. KZread channels such as yourself, MLiG, and MVG really make my mind run wild with different scaler and hardware possibilities!

Thank you! This made my day. I've been eagerly waiting for this video ever since I got my RetroTINK 4K.

Вы прекрасно все обьясняете! Рад,что нас сближают наши увлечения!Спасибо вам!

Thanks Bob! Being a fan of your concise summaries and reasonable methodology, I've been looking forward to this video since that first VHS live stream!

What timing! I literally used my retrotink 5x to digitize over 100 hours of family videos that were stored on mini vhs. The tink made it so easy that the hardest part was swapping the mini vhs’s out every hour. Glad to see this practical use of the product being covered, especially since I didn’t realize how expensive/ low quality the “home videos digitize” market was.

This is extremely timely and helpful! My family was just talking yesterday about how we need to digitize our tapes before they go bad, I realized I could probably do it with the RT4K, and low and behold you posted this only 10 days ago! Thank you!!

I digitized all of my family’s home videos with my TINK 2X mini and HD60 Pro in late 2020. There were lots of signal drops and other issues. Going to redo this project with my TINK 5X and your tips! Thank you!!

just commenting to express my appreciation for your content and ability to cover complicated topics in digestible ways. been interested in VHS digitizing for a while now and i learned more in this video than in countless hours of googling.

@RetroRGB

Ай бұрын

Thanks so much!!!

Thanks Bob! Absolutely fantastic video that helped me set up my RetroTink for VHS capture.

Also it should be noted that if you use S-video, be sure to disable 3D Comb Filtering completely in the ADC menu. If left enabled, you'll get a trailing afterimage that can be noticed mostly on fast-moving objects. You don't need 3D Comb Filtering with S-video anyway, so just turn it off.

@RetroRGB

14 күн бұрын

Oh, really? I gotta go back and test that. I didn’t notice anything like that…but my focus was composite. Thanks for the heads up!

Thank you for this guide. I am recording my mom and dad's old home VHS tapes, and I will give them to my dad on a flash drive for Father's Day. Thank you!!!

Truly appreciate the amount of effort you put into these videos, this is outstanding information and will be a reference for people for years. I have some old tapes I would like to convert and this is probably overkill, but I still enjoyed all the detail.

@RetroRGB

Ай бұрын

Thanks so much for the kind words!

I have been waiiting for this video forever

I JUST ORDERED A TINK 4K AND I AM SO EXCITED THAT I HAD TO COMMENT HERE

Great video! I'm glad we're seeing modern capture techniques like this and domesday. I'll be happy to see us move on from the current "recommended" techniques involving WinXP, huffyuv and insanely priced TBCs.

Excellent work Bob.

Thank you - Thank you - Thank you! This is precisely what I needed to know. Great video!

My family has a whole stack of Hi-8 tapes that i promised id digitize years ago, but after a few days playing with a Dazzle, j wasnt satisfied enough to wanna continue, as I'd likely wanna re evaluate my process. Very excited to learn from this video - perhaps I'll finally finish the project!

finally someone talking about time base correction, thanks for making this!

Great stuff! This is extremely useful information for me!

Congratulations on your tips and solutions for RetroTINK. An experience I had with a promotional video that came as bonus media on a CD. The video came in a MOV file that was certainly compressed to fit on the 700mb CD (this CD is from 2001). This video was recorded at 15fps and the promotional video was probably recorded on a digital camera from the 90s, as the song is from 1995. Due to the blurred colors it could be that it was recorded on an analogue camera. very likely. The most interesting thing is that I tried to scale it to HD at 60fps using PC programs and the 15fps effect simply doesn't change. The only software I didn't use was TopazVideo due to my PC being limited and I don't have a dedicated video card. But it's incredible I used 4 video conversion and scaling software and the fps rate doesn't change. I managed to trick this by increasing the speed time which apparently disappeared the feeling of video recorded at 15fps. I even uploaded the video on my channel of this version that I supposedly cheated on. ajajaja.

Awesome video, very curious about this for watching and scaling laserdiscs

Wow what a dope video. We make documentaries on VHS here in Prague and have been looking for a better method to transfer. Thanks for the in-depth video!

@gamecubeplayer

Ай бұрын

have you seen the japanese & korean dvd masters? they're better than your original masters

Great timing on this video Bob as I’m hoping to backup some old 8mm and vhs tapes. This was super informative. Looking forward to that upcoming archival vid too!

@RetroRGB

Ай бұрын

Thanks so much!!! That was really nice of you!

Absolutely fantastic! Thank you so much for this. Currently using the 5x pro, but just ordered the 4k tink today and this is going to be perfect for setting up my tape transfers. Do you have profile setup for Japanese tapes? I have them as well, in addition to my NA tapes. Thanks again!

@RetroRGB

Ай бұрын

Thanks! For Japanese tapes, I'd just try that same color profile I showed, that should already be loaded on the RT4K's SD card. If that doesn't look right, you'll have to do some more digging. Sorry, I just don't know enough about Japanese tapes to offer more info that that.

Considering my $1000 vcr went kaput this vid could not have come at a better time

You mentioned the QTGMC process in one of your titles-that’s generally the best way to handle mixed framerate content like 24p animation with 60i overlays. I’ve used it extensively in my AI upscale of the Super Mario Bros. Super Show.

Thank you so much Bob for this amazing deep dive. I don't have a capture card and although that's a basic first step, I didn't really know what I would need to attempt this. I have a 5X and have been considering upgrading to the 4K, especially since I've been having trouble getting the firmware updater to recognize the 5X. Your video made me realize with my current setup I'm not quite ready to get the 4K for video capture and I really need to upgrade my computer setup first. After doing that, I do feel I'll have the confidence to digitize some of those old home movies, with this reference in tow.

@RetroRGB

Ай бұрын

So glad I could help!

Just bought a Retrotink 4k from the restock!!! YES

Perfect timing man

What an excellent video! I really liked how you highlighted the aspect of time & effort per transferred tape. Personally, I’ve used an old SVHS deck by JVC that has a DV out and then done deinterlacing and upscaling in ffmpeg, and this has definitely meant that I’ve skipped capturing certain tapes completely because the amount of effort required (tranferring files from my MacBook to NAS and then running ffmpeg for half an hour to produce the two H264 files I want).

@RetroRGB

Ай бұрын

Yeah, you really experienced the "time" aspect of it all. I can spend a day getting an amazing transfer of a tape...or spend an hour getting an almost-as-amazing version using a TINK. Sometimes it's absolutely worth the effort though! But definitely not always :)

This came at the perfect ish time. I just used my tink5x yesterday to transfer a recent tape I recorded over the last year. Gonna now watch this and see if there’s any tips I can use for my next tape

Bookmarking this for later/ adding to KZread engagement with a comment. This is going to be so helpful. God bless you, Bob. Or Beer bless you, if you prefer.

@RetroRGB

Ай бұрын

Thanks Jimmy!

Seeing this makes me realize I'd love to have a physical media player for my VHS and DVD rips that that emulates scanlines and VHS-style fast-forward and rewind, maybe in a VCR shell/case. It would be great for VHS anime rips in particular.

@Roxor128

Ай бұрын

Emulating VHS fast-forward and rewind would be hard. Well, more that it'd be really CPU-intensive, as doing so would require decoding the video much faster than real-time. The stuttering of digital FF/RW is down to just decoding the rare frames that are compressed using only information within the frame (i-frames). The rest store differences between frames, either between itself and the last i-frame (p-frames), or between itself and the neighbouring i-frames or -p-frames (b-frames).

I have used so many devices to capture vhs and so many suck. My favorites have been a standalone Sony DVD recorder with internal time base correction, a combination of a cheap AV2HDMI dongle with an $11 hdmi capture dongle using QuickTime to record, and a very old windows XP PC using Dazzle usb 1.1 capture have been my go to vhs capture methods among the dozens I’ve tried. This looks very cool but I don’t see myself spending $500+ on a retrotink to digitize vhs tapes. I’m happy to see the analog to digital conversion community still striving for perfection though. Preservation is so important.

Awesome video thanks dude! 🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️

I use an original 2x to digitize my grandma’s camcorder tapes. She had a Hi8 camera so dropouts weren’t an issue. I now use my 5x and it’s great.

Oh boy, I can't wait for... _someone's_ reaction to this... 😂

Great content

Every video I see on the RT4K makes me want one more. Looking forward to the OLED CRT video you mention. Curious on what you think of filters like that potentially causing burn in.

I've digitized a ton of my VHS tapes, old home videos etc, using Retrotink 5X Pro. Now that I have the Retrotink 4K, I'm almost tempted to go back and try it again. The results were good already.

@RetroRGB

Ай бұрын

I'd re-capture just one of your favorite old video tapes and see what you think. You will see a difference...but is it worth re-capturing everything? Probably not, as the RT5x is already great. But who knows, maybe the RT4K will be a great match for your tapes?

Have some old family videos this may help with. Thank you.

Yaaaaay! Makes me wanna buy a 2nd retrotink lol

Correcting IVTC issues especially on Anime is especially difficult and often comes down to throwing out individual fields and then scaling the one you keep, or (hopefully) manually matching them with specialized tools, so I wouldn't expect the Retrotink to be able to handle every case. But running it through the Retrotink with no filter and then working on the upscaled output later would still prove very useful for Anime with no HD re-release

another minus for the SoundBeast device (and most other devices I've tried in this class) is that is "de-interlaces" by discarding half the frames. You can see this by stepping frame by frame in the comparison section at around 23:37 (press , or . on the keyboard) and the retrotink maintains 60fps while the Soundbeast only steps every other frame. Thank you for uploading the video in 60fps by the way!

@RetroRGB

11 күн бұрын

Ugh, I didn’t even realize that. Lol, but to be honest, it was SO BAD, I didn’t pay much attention to it. Thanks for the heads up.

Man this was an excellent video. It just kills me the 4K can't do 576i output yet. :C I had to buy an Intensity Pro 4K to use temporarily to get around that and capture raw interlaced. If that day ever comes, I will immediately slap down all $750.00 for one.

Bought a retrotink5x last year to transfer my parents wedding, my grandparents wedding anniversary and videos of my brother after we found them when cleaning my abuela's house. Bought a s-VHS player with a built in TBC since their was warping on the top of the picture but now the retrotink5x fixes the warping by its self now. My parents where happy that the tapes are now on the computer since one my mom overwrote the her original wedding tape by mistake so she though it was lost and we don't have anything of my brother digital since he wasn't around in the digital world.

@RetroRGB

Ай бұрын

Thanks for sharing! Glad it worked out :)

I did have to deal with PAL VHS in 24fps, but I couldn't decide if I need to use 2:2 or 2:3 IVTC as it's 50 field per second

I never would have guessed you would plug Reasonably British like that! Such a sad day for Lordsmurf... his already small business for his overpriced overhyped old school digitization equipment must be in jeopardy!

@CorruptedDogg

Ай бұрын

But... but you'll never get any good results without an ATI 600 USB on Windows XP and a $3000 DataVideo TBC-1000!

@sansnom

Ай бұрын

The comment I was expecting, I've never someone being so mad at Bob and is "uncorrect' way of digitizing. I recall him being mad at the Domesday Duplicator too

@BootyCollins-gf5er

Ай бұрын

There is a reason why pros strife for excellency And reliabilty. If you only do this stuff for your private concerns its one thing but once mass and bigger customers come along your reputation and livelihood are on the line. Cut some slack and appreciate their experience.

When using Black frame insertion on modern OLED displays, which cuts down 50% of motion blur, can you compensate for the 50% OLED BFI brightness loss by using the TINK4K's HDR brightness boosting trick, like you can with the darkening caused by using scanlines? If so, does it have any negative impact on colours? Thanks!

Does the time base correction fix field alignment? Like would it straighten out the vertical border in the top right corner of the samples at 26:07? Seems like it does based on how the Tink output looks later on but a side by side would have been nice - geometric distortion is in my experience a more commonly encountered flaw than time desync when transferring VHS.

@RetroRGB

Ай бұрын

It should, yes. Just make sure you're on the newest firmware for either, as Mike recently fixed that on the RT5x and tweaked the TBC on the RT4K.

Just subscribed. Truely awesome video. Just to clarify tho. Do both the 4K and the 5X have a TBC or just the 5X?

@RetroRGB

Ай бұрын

Thank you! And both TINK's have a TBC, however the 4K's TBC can run at both 59.94 and 60. So if you're a video purist, it's a better choice. But both are excellent!

Regarding the comb filter-I’ve been working on an AI upscale model for making NES composite look closer to RGB. It would be interesting to do a comparison.

This is a great video! I wonder how the Tink4K handles color space since SD used the 601 standard and HD/UHD use the 709 color standard. Does the Tink4K correctly convert 601 to 709? Also I noticed Bob using a RGB capture setting rather than YUV? I was curious why since video uses the YUV standard. Lastly, since this is HDMI, how does setting full or partial impact the video levels?

@RetroRGB

Ай бұрын

All excellent questions. The TINK should auto-detect and convert 601 to 709 with no issue. And my recording settings were RGB when capturing the TINK's output, as it's outputting 4K in the RGB colorspace. But I'll dig MUCH deeper into capture settings in the upcoming video!

@analogdarling3678

Ай бұрын

That makes a lot of sense. Thanks! I work in TV and film making docs that use archival material. So I have tons of experience digitizing tapes, along with a full TBC analog capture system running on WinXP haha. I dabbled with the 5x on my last feature film as test. Have the 4K and been following the progression of tape capture. Thanks a ton for documenting all this work.

As a wild idea, if you copy the video at least 3 times, with different levels of brightness, and use some HDR software on the individual images, I wonder if there is enough info to get an HDR effect? Would be interesting to find out.

On behalf of my laserdisc collection, thanks.

@RetroRGB

Ай бұрын

Thanks very much!!!!

I would suggest turning the RT4K off completely and back on after upgrading firmware. I've had issues with mine losing one audio channel after upgrading until properly restarted

Thanks for making this video! I’ve been messing with RT5X VHS capture for a couple months and have some questions about your recommendations. #1, you say not to use the ‘TBC’ V-Sync option, though Mike Chi’s patch notes for the 3.7 firmware specifically mention this option for VHS capture. Can you clarify why you avoid it? #2, I don’t have a ‘MA Smoothing’ deinterlace option on firmware 3.71 which also seems to be the latest publicly available, but in your video the firmware version is 3.94. Is this option added in 3.94, and is there any information on a public release of this version?

@RetroRGB

Ай бұрын

#1 That’s for 480i output only. And almost no capture card supports true 480i over HDMI, so I thought it was best to leave that “expert only option” for the deep-dive video. #2 That must be a mistake. I’ll check with Mike and get that sorted. Check the firmware page again tomorrow please.

@RetroRGB

Ай бұрын

I just realized the RT5x "VHS Beta" Firmware is still on the experimental page. Load this one up...and whenever the main public one releases, you can just switch to that: retrotink-llc.github.io/firmware/5x-experimental.html

@EHphonehome

Ай бұрын

@@RetroRGB This is great information, really appreciate you taking the time to reply!

I am extremely satisfied with the Retrotink 5X Pro I bought some years ago, it's been delivering on it's promises and I couldn't be happier. The 4K version is bound to be even better and I'm looking forward to see it's capabilities in the future. Perhaps some KZread videos got some info on it in great detail, I'll definitely go look for them. Digitalizing analog video seems like a conversion process of VHS tapes to digital media, it would be cooler if it was the other way around to digitalize into analog video. But that's just my take on it. Even better would be if it was possible to simulate a CRT screen using modern hardware and monitors.

@prufrockrenegade

Ай бұрын

The easiest way to record digital video to tape would probably be using an older game console that has analog outputs and can play video files, like a PS3, and recording that through your VCR. You can do the same thing with a Raspberry Pi as well, since they all have composite video outputs, but if your VCR has an S-Video input, the better option would be to use that with a game console

@RetroRGB

Ай бұрын

Definitely check out my video on the RT4K...it's CRT Simulation is even better than the RT5x's: kzread.info/dash/bejne/d2eZ0pisp5PJaLw.html

Excellent. Another reason to buy this. If you are doing a CRT emulation on the RetroTINK in future it would be interesting to see if it can be used to "enhance" video quality of DVDs in any way. A lot of cartoons, TV-shows and concert videos are released on DVD only. Maybe this can bump the quality a bit?

@RetroRGB

Ай бұрын

Oh, absolutely! Both the TINK's CRT Emulation is amazing, as well as the "CRT Simulate" deinterlacing. You can make a DVD "feel" like it's running on a really nice CRT. The IVTC stuff is great for true 24p stuff. And if you have a 120Hz TV and the RT4K, the BFI options (especially with IVTC) are pretty impressive!

You are a Godsent! I was just looking for tbc-1000 and ready to drop 1k usd. Question....i need an HDMI capture card, right? I have been using a pinnacle USB 710 but just got 20+ Betamax tapes from my grandmother and need TBC. What do you recommend for capture carD with the retrotink? THANK YOU!

@RetroRGB

Ай бұрын

Glad I could help! If you’re using the RT5x, any name brand HDMI capture card should be fine. If you’re using the RT4K, I’d definitely invest in a good one, like the Live Game 4K I link to in the description.

Great video! RetroTink is awesome. What do you think about going from a VHS composite out to Panasonic DMR-ES15 recorder---S Video out from ES15 to Canopus ADVC-115---Firewire 400 from ADVC 115 to Mac (with adapters). Capture using FCP X or OBS? I heard the ADVC has a built in TBC as well.

@gamecubeplayer

29 күн бұрын

the firewire 400 advc may use mjpeg compression (chroma subsampling & macroblocking) that should only be applied after the upscaling

@RetroRGB

29 күн бұрын

Mixing TBC's isn't a good idea. Keep it as simple as possible.

Great! Any advice on capture cards? I wouldn't need it for anything else than converting a few old VHS tapes. Is one of the very cheap

@RetroRGB

Ай бұрын

Do you mean $20 HDMI capture cards to capture the TINK's output signal? You might want to find something a bit better. They *might* be able to capture 1080p@59.94 from the RT5x, but you could get heavy compression and frame drops. The RT5x and one of those $20 cards would still be a better solution than either of those Amazon boxes though!

Great video. This makes me more confident to digitize my family's home videos. All of our tapes are Video8/Hi8 tapes. I believe all I would need is a good Digital 8 cam with S-Video output and plug it into my Retrotink 5X. Do you know where I could purchase a high quality shielded S-Video cable?

@RetroRGB

Ай бұрын

Thanks! I'm actually in the middle of digitizing some Super 8 tapes and I found getting a Hi8 player (it's backwards compatible) and using S-Video out to be best...so it'll work perfectly with the RT5x. Here's (affiliate) links to the player and cable I used: Sony EV-C200: ebay.us/DI2Wgb S-Video cable: amzn.to/4aFt9bc

@MaccAttacc

Ай бұрын

@@RetroRGB Thank you! This is why you're the best!

I took a totally different approach to digitalizing my old VHS. I used a Panasonic DVD Recorder as a passthrough device to take advantage of its TBC elements and capture in my PC with an analog capture device (Diamond VC500). I kept everything in 480i to let the upscaling and deinterlacing to the reproducing device. This way I can always take advantage of better upscaling and deinterlacing algorithms that will come in the future, like AI-based upscaling, for example.

@RetroRGB

Ай бұрын

That's an absolutely excellent way to digitize VHS. LOL, no sarcasm, it's my preferred method in many cases.

Japanese auction sits are a gold mine of cheap high end VCR, I bought a Victor HR-VFG1 which is the japanese equivalent of a JVC hr-9911U in box with boat shipping for $250 CAN.

How does it handle Macrovision copy protection? My Laser Disc player only has composite output. I got Toy Story on LD for Christmas and want to play it through my RetroTINK 4K to watch on my 4K TV. If I remember correctly Disney was heavy handed with Macrovision on their VHS tapes so i assume their Laser Discs are no exception.

Great video, i do a lot of VHS capture and i offer VHS capture service in Montevideo City, Uruguay. I bought the RT4K for this and for my video games. It really looks amazing, but i have one question, i have my PRO S-VHS Panasonic NV-FS200B (PAL-B) I use PAL-N tapes, the vcr can handle all the PAL formats, and it has TBC built in, do i need to use Triple buffer with TBC on? Or i just leave it ON and change to lock frame? Also in OBS i guest i need to set the capture to 3850x2160 and 23.97 fps...

@RetroRGB

Ай бұрын

Great question! I'd try both TBC's and see if one gets better results with your setup: Turn on your player's TBC and set the TINK to framelock. Then turn off your players TBC and set the TINK to Triple Buffer. See which works better. ...and the OBS resolution would be 3840x2160 @59.94 for NTSC. I have no PAL-M experience, so I'm not sure what that refresh rate would be...sorry!!!

@sos.gamers

Ай бұрын

@@RetroRGB Great thanks for your response, PAL-M is Brazil only, PAL-N its Uruguay and Argentina, the refresh rate is the same as PAL-B (europe) but i have also NTSC VCR and a DRM-ES15 so i will use 59.94, dumb me.. i was using 60hz lol

@pablorai769

Ай бұрын

​@@sos.gamers Pal N was adopted in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.

Awesome this helped out a ton! I'm getting tired of taking chances with those cheap converters on Amazon. I will look into getting one of the RetroTINKs soon, but are there any specifics that would lead you to recommend one more than the other, like would you recommend the 4K or 5x more? Or is either one just fine? P.S. I'm glad you mentioned Reasonable British, I loved his capture card comparisons too, but I had no idea there were other RetroTINK devices outside of the one he reviewed until I found this video.

@RetroRGB

26 күн бұрын

Thank you! Both are great, but I'd let your total use case make the decision: Is the 3D comb filter a priority for you? Will you also use it for gaming and watching older video content? Are you a tape transfer shop that wants to give your customers a 4K file? Then the extra money of the RT4K is absolutely worth it. ...but if you're just a casual gamer, or only need 1080p files, the RT5x is more than enough.

@OnlyHumanYT

25 күн бұрын

@@RetroRGB gotcha, think I may go with the 4K, thank you so much!

Bob, another great video. I’m thinking an optimal viewing/settings video for using the Tink 5X and 4K on modern displays is coming? Optimal viewing settings with LD and VHS opposed to archiving I mean.

@RetroRGB

Ай бұрын

Thank you! I'd suggest using this exact profile for viewing...but then try adding the CRT Emulation filters. Also, if you have a RT4K and a 120Hz TV, absolutely try the BFI settings too! Each TV will look different, but I think you'll find small effects work really well.

@RetroRGB

Ай бұрын

Oh, I forgot: "CRT Simulate" deinterlacing alternates the lines just like a CRT. It's such a cool effect! LOL, TERRIBLE for archiving, but really great for watching.

Thanks for this video. Lots of helpful info. I'll have to give the RetroTink 5x another try with VHS and laserdisc. I've been using a Funai VHS/DVD player that upscales to 1080p along with an AVerMedia Live Gamer Portable 2 Plus in PC Free mode to digitize my collection. Now I'm curious if I would be able to get a better upscale with the RetroTink.

@RetroRGB

Ай бұрын

I owned that Funai. The RT5x on the latest firmware will be far better.

@RetroRGB

Ай бұрын

Great question though. I’ll show this in detail in the upcoming deep-dive video.

@RetroRGB

Ай бұрын

Hey, I just realized the RT5x "VHS Beta" Firmware isn't on the main page. Here it is: retrotink-llc.github.io/firmware/5x-experimental.html

@cnrobinson5401

Ай бұрын

@@RetroRGB Bob, you are an absolute jewel.

@cnrobinson5401

Ай бұрын

@RetroRGB Reporting back after updating the firmware and giving myself a couple of days to test things out. Haven't tried VHS yet, but I can confirm that my laserdiscs have never looked better. I've got my 4:3 discs set for 1080p Fill, and I'm using 1080p Over for my letterboxed discs. Only problem is that I'm gonna have to redo my previous captures now that I've seen the improvements with the RetroTink. But it'll be worth it.

32:02 inverse telecine works wonders on 25fps PAL film content too. Just wish there was a 25hz de-judder option like there is for 24hz!

This is amazing! I just have a few questions. First, why would you not want to use the inverse telecine on home video VHS content?

@RetroRGB

Ай бұрын

I'm pretty sure all home movies were just shot in standard 480i, so there's no need for IVTC...because it wasn't "telecine'd" in the first place :) If for some reason your home movies were shot in 23.97 (was that a thing?), then absolutely use it. Feel free to experiment though - The worst thing that'll happen is it won't work and there's no chance of harming your equipment.

@FairyKid64

Ай бұрын

​@@RetroRGBah, that makes sense. Thanks for explaining that. So, another question I have is in the video, you seemed to somewhat suggest we output to the highest resolution our particular scalers can handle - 1080p for the 5X and 2160p for the 4K. 480 doesn't go evenly into either of those numbers - wouldn't it make sense then to just output and capture at 480p to keep integer scaling?

I have a lot of home movies on 8mm, Hi8, and Digital8 tape. I have a Sony camcorder that transfers video losslessly in DV CODEC (I think). Should I use Firewire for all three 8 mm formats or just for the Digital 8? The camcorder does output regulal 8 over Firewire or I can use s-video or composite for all. My question is should I rip everything in the digital domain (using the camcorder to do the analog to digital conversion) or just rip the Digital8 via Firewire?

@RetroRGB

Ай бұрын

That's a great question. To be honest, I'm not 100% sure how it compares, but I'll have it answered in detail in the VHS video.

Thank you so much for this video Bob! My conundrum is I have a ton of Sony Video8 analog video camera tapes from the 80s-90s that I recorded and my Camera died and finding a working Video8 camera or VTP is pretty impossible. So many of my teenage videos are locked away for me and it's sad.

@Capturing-Memories

Ай бұрын

Where do you live? Usually getting a working camcorder is not that hard, getting a good one with line TBC will be a little bit more expensive, Camcorders did not get abused like VCRs, most of their defects are due to aging, dried up grease, perished rubber or failed capacitors.

@RetroRGB

Ай бұрын

Funny you mention Video 8 - That's the exact format of my home movies that I'm starting to re-digitize! I just bought a Sony Hi8 player that's backwards-compatible. Not cheap, but you can always re-sell it when you're done transferring. It's been working great for me so far. Here's an affiliate link to the exact model: ebay.us/TcKc46

Great video! I've been playing with R5X tape digitization for a little while and I still learned a few things from this video. It's good that you didn't go the full tape archival route with the Retrotink here, because that, in my experience, has not been without its issues. The main issue I've encountered is with finding a capture card that accepts a 480i signal over HDMI -- something that is out of spec and weird to start with -- and that also has a competent DirectShow driver that avoids any and all on-card processing like H.264 compression and deinterlacing. I've simply come to the conclusion that while it's doable, it just isn't worth the trouble. Especially when the GV-USB2 comes so shockingly close to the Retrotink's image quality in 480i mode. For tape archival purposes, I'll be modding a VCR for vhs-decode sometime in the near future. That'll be a fun project!

@RetroRGB

Ай бұрын

Yeah, while the 480i-output of the RT5x is great, you nailed it: Good luck finding a capture card that accepts that non-standard signal. I HAVE gotten it to work, but not consistently. I'll try to mention it in the upcoming deep-dive video, but it's not likely we'll find a reliable capture card and codec to work with it.

@analogvideochannel4612

Ай бұрын

@@RetroRGB I don't have a retrotink but I use the Magewell USB Capture HDMI Gen 2 for 480i and 576i capture the live output from dvd recorders (via a hdmi splitter) for digitizing tapes so I know those accept 480i/576i fine at least from other sources, and have done the same with the blackmagic intensity shuttle usb. Granted those are a bit expensive, at least if you are buying them new. with that approach using s-video or component outputs on the dvd-recorders are also an option adn are nearly good though idk if that's possible with the retrotinks as well

@RetroRGB

Ай бұрын

You mean this one? I'd totally be willing to buy one for testing: www.ebay.com/itm/404442309724

@analogvideochannel4612

Ай бұрын

@@RetroRGB yup

@RetroRGB

Ай бұрын

Purchased. Thanks for the recommendation!

Have you tried capturing VHS through YPbPr? For some reason this looked so much better to me. My VCR is a DVD combo unit and has component out which also works for VHS and while it looks the same as composite connected to a TV it really makes a difference with the Tink5x. YPbPr is handled by a different part of the system (for lack of a better term) and not by the SDP. It's really strange and I like the look.

This is amazing. I'll have to re-digitize all my tapes again lol... QUESTION: Would it make sense to use the built-in TBC on my JVC S-VHS VCR, or the Tink 5X's TBC? I'm assuming using both is a bad idea. Thoughts?

@RetroRGB

Ай бұрын

Definitely don't use both. I'd personally test and see: Try setting the RT5x to Framelock mode and set your capture card to 59.94. Do you get dropouts? Does the video "wiggle"? If not, use it that way and get the exact framerate. ...and if you do see dropouts or an unsteady picture, go back to Triple Buffer and turn off your VCR's TBC.

@shredbraahh8606

Ай бұрын

@@RetroRGB Thanks so much for your help, Bob. You have been so ridiculously helpful to me for the past several years. Much appreciated, man.

@CorruptedDogg

Ай бұрын

Your S-VHS player's TBC is likely a "line" TBC; it straightens the picture by correcting warps, field by field. The TBC in the 5X acts like a frame TBC, where it buffers entire frames and spits them out at a standard rate to prevent dropouts, doing frame insertion where needed to keep the signal in sync. When digitizing tapes, I use both my VCR's TBC and the 5X's "TBC" (well, the Triple Buffer mode, not the new TBC mode). Together, they get me the best possible picture. As usual, experiment and find out the best settings for your setup.

@shredbraahh8606

Ай бұрын

@@CorruptedDogg Nice 👍 I appreciate the info!

@retrorgb with ivtc, does it properly decimate ( field match ) field blended / hybrid sources?

@RetroRGB

Ай бұрын

Nothing does a great job with that. Check the last section for examples.

I have one ordered currently. I’m really excited to see how my vhs tapes look… I paid a little for my vhs player it has both component and hdmi first VHS player I’ve ever owned with hdmi out

@JoshKennedy-uv3yy

Ай бұрын

It’s a JVC DR-MV150…. You can watch vhs straight to your flatscreen. I wouldn’t recommend it but who ever heard of VHS HDMI

I have the JVC HR-S7800U with the built-in TBC, but I have a single tape that slants to the left with it off, and has tearing at the top with it on, where one field is good, but the other is wavy. I had to use the Panasonic unit you have there in passthrough to fix it. It's known as a poor man's TBC. It drops some frames here and there though, but at least it doesn't tear anymore. I use a Hauppauge 1800 with AmaRecTV. Virtualdub keeps losing audio sync after 55 minutes or so, but AmaRecTV has been rock solid. I tried using a scaler before, and it did look impressive, but I want it output as 30fps, interlaced, so I can deinterlace and interpolate to 60 in post. All the upscalers are only outputting at 60, not 30. 😥

Thank you Bob! I always thought that we can use some of these scalers to digitize vhs tapes & DVDs Also thanks for heads up on your Wednesday Update! I finally was able to order a Retrotink 4K

I just got a VCR that’s 4 head and stereo but only has composite out. It’s a Canadian Sears model 30337 (I can’t find anything on this). I was wondering should I wait around and try to find a model with svideo out or just use what I have?

@RetroRGB Can the RT5X or RT4K do a good enough job with a plain VCR? (Non-SVHS) Do you still need a SVHS deck for physical TBC, or to get the best picture results? I do not have an RT5K or RT4K yet. I do not have a SVHS deck. I have recordings from a VHS deck + AVerMedia PC Card (composite or Svideo).

@RetroRGB

Ай бұрын

Yes, the comb filters on both are great. The RT4K’s is better though…but as long as the VCR is decent quality, composite video will look really close to S-Video. You may not even be able to tell the difference at all with home videos.

@KYBlueJedi

Ай бұрын

@@RetroRGB Any chance of a RT5X & RT4K video comparison: SVHS vs a normal VHS deck? (Technically SVideo VHS vs Composite VHS) I'd like to see the actual difference if possible. No rush though.

Fantastic video. I feel like there's a niche crowd (based on my random assumption) looking to preserve analog video using a video upscaler/line doubler, and it's great you made such a detailed and informative video for us. I had a general idea of what a TBC does, but this video really helped explained what they do and the results one can expect. I think you've practically convinced me to pick up a Retrotink 5x for my tape conversion. Fortunately my tapes aren't near the level of damage as the one you tested with during the video, so I think other than a small amount of distortion which shouldn't take much away from the conversion, my tapes should be looking great in digital formats. I do have a question. During the 6 way comparison around 7:24, I noticed the RT5x is a bit more washed out than the other captures. Is this due to whatever settings you had the RT5x set to?

@RetroRGB

18 күн бұрын

Thanks! So, that TBC comparison was ONLY testing the TBC. Setting were all over the place and not a good representation of ANYTHING other than TBC. Sorry about that, I should have specified.

@Zazabar

17 күн бұрын

@@RetroRGB No worries and thanks for the explanation! Keep up the great work on the videos!

Can you recommend a good shielded S-video cable, maybe put it in your video comments?

@RetroRGB

Ай бұрын

I just started testing this one with good results: amzn.to/3yypY7C ...but you're right, I should have tested a bunch and had the links ready for this video. I'll update them as soon as I can.

Great work Bob, looking forward to the upcoming video. We all know modern screens are pretty bad at upscaling for games, but they are kind of built for handling video content. De-interlacing on the fly can be a bit of a mixed bag so I will de-interlace when digitizing but I personally don't see much reason for storing captures in 1080p or 4K when pretty much everything that plays video can upscale SD on the fly just fine and takes up less storage space. Just my opinion, would love to get more info about capturing in 480i or 480p from either the Tink 5X or 4K, or other methods. VHS decode looks very impressive but also a lot more work to set up and much more time to process.

@RetroRGB

Ай бұрын

I agree: If you have the ability to play back lossless 480i, your TV should do it just fine. That said, if you're uploading to KZread, Facebook, etc, you should really scale to 1080p or 4K, otherwise they'll apply their terrible deinterlacing and compression.

would taping over a second of let's say the the very beginning of the VHS with color bars be an adequate solution to the color correction? or if you don't want to mess with the tape, another tape that HAS color bars? I'm thinking either dubbing it from a VHS tape that has that or somehow dubbing it from an MOV file or a dvd. It's a chaotic DIY idea but it's possible.

@RetroRGB

Ай бұрын

I'm experimenting with this now: I found a Video 8 home movie that had a ton of space left at the end. I'm recording test patterns on that to help calibrate. The only issue is, how that will compare to whatever the camcorder originally outputted? So, what if I calibrate to the tape, but the camcorder itself recorded too dim? I'll test this for the deep-dive video.

@MonkeyMan48158

Ай бұрын

@@RetroRGB I know some camcorders GENERATE their own color bars, so that's probably the most ideal output huh. Obviously that would be a very very limited use case since it wouldn't be worth/ be impossible to track down the og camcorders of every tape haha, but that doesn't totally discount the use case if you're shooting footage yourself and remembering to put a second or two of those bars on your tape, or if you're digitizing family videos and happen to have access to the og camera as well. the hi 8 test patterns sound exciting! can't wait to see your results with that, who knows maybe it'll turn out to not be all that different.

About magnetized tapes, my VCR lost HiFi sound once when I was playing a tape that looked like it had been magnetized by me as a teenager. In the end I tried recording for a few seconds and it started working again. I don't know if the head got magnetized or clogged with magnetic dust from that tape, or something else. The first thing I would do is adjust the tracking, so it wasn't that. Unfortunately I'm not sure anymore if I took the tape out or not, feels like I would have tried that. Anyone know if that's possible, do the heads magnetize and do they automatically demagnetize when you take the tape out or something?

Are tv's built-in scalers too crap even if you capture the vhs and deinterlaced it properly to progressive but at it's native size (480p NTSC or 576p PAL)?

@RetroRGB

Ай бұрын

All depends on the TV. LOL, I know that's a useless answer, but it's the truth: Some TV's do an amazing job with 480p and others are total crap at lower resolutions.

Great Video Bob. I live in Brazil and an important thing to have in mind if you pretend to digitize VHS with brazilian VCR's, you have to use a VCR that has the option to chage from Pal M to NTSC because as far as i tested scalers wont work correctly with PAL-M signals, it will be in black or whit or all wobbly and no good to watch, so for you to properly capture you will need to set your VCR to NTSC, not all VCR's released in brazil have that option, but lots of them will, in same cases you will need the VCR cotroller to change the video region.

@sos.gamers

Ай бұрын

I never understud why Brazil uses PAL-M instead of PAL-N like Uruguay and Argentina or NTSC like the rest of America

@matherzinsstuff3410

Ай бұрын

@@sos.gamers i dont know either, but it sucks, i've gotta to change my retrogames console from pal m to ntsc to use with the retrotink 2x

@sos.gamers

Ай бұрын

@@matherzinsstuff3410 RT2x doesn't support PAL-M? Retrotink 4K can handle PAL-N and PAL-M just perfect

@matherzinsstuff3410

Ай бұрын

@@sos.gamers the rt2x does not, the 5x and 4k i've never tested

@pablorai769

Ай бұрын

@@sos.gamers Pal N was created in Argentina in 1976-77, Pal M is from 1972, the question would be why not NTSC since Brazil had the monochrome system M, 525 lines 30 FPS, (Brazil's AC is 60 Hz) and changing to a 625 line system would have been very expensive, well, that was due to the intensive advertising campaign Telefunken and Philips carried out in Brazil in 1972, which included colour test broadcasts of popular shows (done with TV Globo) and technical demonstrations with executives of television stations. Another advantage of Pal M is the simplicity of converting to and from NTSC, since only the colour carrier is changed.

I wonder if upscaling peoples home video tapes could be a good side hustle to help pay for the Retrotink 4K I just ordered.

@RetroRGB

Ай бұрын

Hahahahaha, you’d probably do a better job than most tape transfer shops!

Are you aware if the 2X works with active video (not playback) from a VHS Camcorder? For example I have a Quasar vm-l152. There are similar products, but it has composite out and lets you connect that to another display like a TV and it will show the active footage even if you're not recording. I don't want drop outs, but I don't want to spend a fortune.

@RetroRGB

Ай бұрын

If by "active video", you mean the live feed coming from a camcorder, than yes, it will work. However it's deinterlacing was designed for video games, not tv signals. It might be easier to just get one of those cheap "composite to HDMI" adapters on Amazon. They're mostly *terrible*, but would work fine for that purpose.

Out of curiosity... wouldn't it be better to deinterlace with a QTGMC?

@RetroRGB

Ай бұрын

Yes and no. I’ll dive deep into this in the upcoming VHS video, but for now check out the comparison section of this video - QTGMC is better, but how much? Worth buying a TBC, direct capturing and scaling? Totally depends.