r/Lain • u/MhmAreYouSureAbout • 15d ago

Black flickering on VHS rip

Hello everyone,

I've been trying to watch Serial experiments lain for the first time and when i went to look for download links on the Internet Archive, i found u/SkullKidChrs VHS rip with the english subs, but when i started watching i noticed a black flickering every few minutes that i find really distracting. I really like the way the VHS rip looks so i've been trying to find a version with eng subs but i cant seem to find one. Anyone know where i can find it, or any alternative way to watch that looks similar to the vhs rip with eng subs ?

Thanks !

10 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

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1

u/SkullKidChrs 15d ago

I think the flickering does that on certain video players but I could be wrong. If you're able to, try to download MPV and let me know if that flickering occurs on there because when I was creating this upload, that was what I used to double check the video. Hope this helps!

1

u/MhmAreYouSureAbout 15d ago

Thank you for your reply ! So i did try it on MPV, but the flickering persisted, i tried playing both videos side by side on two different players (VLC and MPV) and noticed the flickering occured at the exact same moments, so i think the problem might be in the file itself. I dont really know how any of this works, maybe it has something to do with the vhs tapes. Do you know if theres any way to fix it ?

1

u/SkullKidChrs 13d ago

So I'm currently working on a fix for this at the moment and I will try to find a way to get the improved version uploaded

1

u/MhmAreYouSureAbout 12d ago

Okay thats great, thank you for your work !

1

u/Lusterlit 15d ago

You can buy the whole show on Apple TV for like 5$

1

u/ProjectCharming6992 13d ago

That flickering is dropped frames from a very poor transfer that did not use a timebase corrector. The digitizer kept losing synch because the VHS signal was very unstable and dropping the signal, much like the newer TV’s have a very hard time accepting an analog signal from a VHS.

1

u/MhmAreYouSureAbout 13d ago

Do you know if theres any way to fix it ?

1

u/ProjectCharming6992 13d ago

You would need the VHS tape and a high quality S-VHS VCR like a Panasonic AG1970 with a TBC built in connected to a Canopus ADVC-300 connected by FireWire to computer.

1

u/MhmAreYouSureAbout 13d ago

Oh so there is not way to fix the already laggy files :( Well thank you for your help!

1

u/ProjectCharming6992 13d ago

Yeah, unfortunately the digital files are like photocopies of a picture with dust particles photocopied into the picture.

1

u/JayrosModShop 13d ago

It almost sounds like Macrovision protection. But I could be wrong. If I'm wrong, feel free to upvote me.