View Full Version : Strange Buzzing Noise when recording to VHS


DordTrain
12-09-2021, 11:46 PM
I have this VHS camera that I'm using, and whenever I take the tapes and record them to a flash drive using a capture card and my VCR, there is a large buzzing noise that permeates the background audio.

It is the VCRs issue, but maybe also the VHS tapes issue? Because, when the tape starts playing past what I recorded, the buzz stops, and the video cuts to prerecorded stuff from some other person.

Here is the audio of that very thing happening: http://sndup.net/fs56

When that same tape is playing in my VHS camera itself, it works fine, no buzz. So it's making me very confused.

Please let me know of any things I can do to help or anything. I would like to get the original audio on the tape because I use this to make little short film thingies, it's better to me than just putting a filter onto a 4k video.

technoman9
02-17-2022, 09:42 PM
This is a late reply but better than never, right? Sounds like a cool project you have going.

What capture card, VCR, and camera are you using? Model and make?

I ran your audio sample through Spek and can definitely see the jump in noise as you stated (see attached image).

Can you explain more about when this buzzing/noise is present? Is it in passages that the camera records or passages that the camera as NOT recorded on? If you play the tape directly from the camera into the capture device, does the same noise persist in the same passages? What does the video look like in each case?

If the camera plays back fine into the capture card directly, it's possible your VHS deck and camera are out of alignment with each other, so the audio track doesn't line up in one machine or the other. This is a problem that has plagued analog video and audio since its inception. Not much else to do except align the camera or VCR which requires special video tools and an oscilloscope.

technoman9
02-17-2022, 09:46 PM
Just saw you have two other posts here asking similar questions. Is your VHS camera that produces this noise the General Electric CG-9810 from your other post? If so, then the answer there still stands: bad capacitors will wreak havoc on any circuit they are in.