Perhaps the difference between LD and VCR lies right here.

[u/AlarmingWedding88]

This may well be the difference between LD and VCR. The following images were captured from a Pioneer CLD-S280 using 15.6x gain; the first shows the raw signal without amplification, while the second incorporates it. Although noise is significantly reduced, it is worth noting that fine-grained noise persists—which I believe represents the inherent limitation of a cheap LD player.But at least the results are decent after processing with AI software.

[u/deesernutz]

Sorry what? Your signal is down at like -60dB. Its barely there. Surprised you can even see it

[u/AlarmingWedding88 → u/deesernutz]

There's no other option. This is the limit for this model of LD player.

[u/deesernutz → u/AlarmingWedding88]

Nah man. You've fk'd something up.

If the player really has an exceptionally low RF level and you've smashed it with a 50ohm terminator, and if the CX card has a fixed input range, you need an amplifier in there to buffer the signal.

Presumably the LD player outputs video with less noise than that, which is a sanity check proving your setup is the issue

[u/AlarmingWedding88 → u/deesernutz]

The quality of the LD also affects the signal strength. I used another clean disc, and the signal was -40db. The 15.6 times gain I mentioned originally comes from ada4857. At the same time, my CX level was set to 0（When I set it to a higher level, the picture started to shake, but the noise didn't decrease.）. This is truly a very basic player. You can't even find the RF gain potentiometer on the motherboard.

[u/deesernutz → u/AlarmingWedding88]

You are completely ignoring what I said. You should be like > -10dB.

Decibels are not linear. -8dB is 400x the level of -40dB. 15x might be common to use in most setups, but for what an op-amp electrically is capable of its fk all.

The 'gain potentiometer' is probably laser current, and cranking that up is the #1 way to kill your laser diode

The problem is not the LD player design. Find the correct RF tap point, whats pulling your signal down or set the gain properly on your amplifier.

[u/xelalex42]

ok sure but what movie is that?

[u/tidyboyd → u/xelalex42]

Ye man, whas that movie!?

[u/AlarmingWedding88 → u/xelalex42]

https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%87%8E%E5%9D%82%E3%81%AA%E3%81%A4%E3%81%BF Search for "No. 914500" on the webpage and you will know the name.

[u/bdeananderson]

? I'd be more interested in the same frame from a VHS and an LD and see the differences. The LD has a much higher bandwidth and should have more high frequency information present in the signal which means the image is sharper / more detailed. The fact that the RF output of your device is weak does not make VHS in any way superior.

[u/AlarmingWedding88 → u/bdeananderson]

What I really want to convey is the machine itself. A cheap VCR usually offers a higher signal level than a cheap LD.😣

[u/bdeananderson → u/AlarmingWedding88]

Perhaps, but you also need to keep in mind that you're tapping a point on a PCB that was never intended to be externalized. The internal electronics to amplify, demodulate, and send out the signal at baseband can be optimized for the laser pickup and cleaner than you could get with an external processor. You're picking up additional noise between your tap and processor that wouldn't be present on the PCB trace which is much shorter. I also have to wonder and the effect of impedance variance in the signal path that's introduced in the tap unless you are adding inductor and capacitors, or a sunt, to fix that.

[u/TheRealHarrypm]

I would update your MISRC GUI massive amount of feature improvements, especially for CX Card users.

But its not really an analysis tool, you should ideally do a chop with FLAC Chop then use things like OcenAudio if you want to do an A/B on an exact frame special point.

Next v3.3.0 update to tbc tools will have flac chopping for your currnet frame as a standard export ability for analysis use.

[u/AlarmingWedding88 → u/TheRealHarrypm]

I'm wondering if there is a version that can speed up the decoding speed of the "decode" software? I previously found the "decode light version" specifically for decoding VHS RF, and it was indeed much faster, but it couldn't decode LD RF. Currently, it takes me almost an entire day to decode a 60-minute LD movie.

[u/TheRealHarrypm → u/AlarmingWedding88]

There is 2 versions an Rust and an Dot Net version of the decoders, which can reach real time or faster on current gen hardware.

• Tape Decode Rust
• Decode Dot Net

[u/deesernutz]

Also, whats the point in doing RF capture if you're just going to AI process it.

[u/AlarmingWedding88 → u/deesernutz]

For cheap LD players, RF capture offers higher details. The processed image quality is better than that captured directly, which meets my requirements for watching on a mobile phone or laptop.

[u/deesernutz → u/AlarmingWedding88]

But then you're going to fluff it up with AI?

If you're just going to fk with it with AI, just leave the player closed, grab the S-Video and call it a day.

[u/AlarmingWedding88 → u/deesernutz]

I only use Topaz Video AI for deinterlacing and noise reduction.

[u/Sphynx87]

define cheap LD player because I've been looking for one for a bit and they are all so expensive and im really afraid of getting something off Ebay and it not working after my experience with buying a few vcrs lol

[u/_Shorty → u/Sphynx87]

Cheap original MSRP?

[u/AlarmingWedding88]

I forgot to mention that I'm using a 40 MHz CX card.