tape-decode

A decoder for analog tape formats, written in Rust. Ported from the vhs-decode project, commit fe3f6099.

Installation

From source

Use nightly Rust for best performance builds.

RUSTFLAGS="-C target-cpu=native" cargo build --release

Pre-built binaries

Pre-built binaries for x86-64 and aarch64 Windows and Linux (glibc) are available in Releases. For x86-64, ensure you use the correct one for your CPU feature level.

Usage

tape-decode --help

Examples

List available profiles

tape-decode list-profiles

Output:

405_BETAMAX
819_QUADRUPLEX
MESECAM_VHS
...

Decode a 40 MHz PAL VHS tape from capture.flac

tape-decode decode \
  --luma-out decoded.tbc \
  --chroma-out decoded_chroma.tbc \
  --metadata-out decoded.tbc.json \
  --profile PAL_VHS \
  --frequency 40 \
  --input-format flac \
  capture.flac

Decode a 16 MHZ NTSC VHS tape from capture.u8, with 16 threads and 60 field per-thread offset

tape-decode decode \
  --luma-out decoded.tbc \
  --chroma-out decoded_chroma.tbc \
  --metadata-out decoded.tbc.json \
  --profile NTSC_VHS \
  --frequency 16 \
  --mt-threads 16 \
  --mt-distance-size 60 \
  capture.u8

Livestream 40 MHz PAL VHS from /dev/cxadc0

cat /dev/cxadc0 \
  | tape-decode decode \
    --luma-out - \
    --profile PAL_VHS \
    --frequency 40 \
    --mt-threads 16 \
    --mt-distance-size 60 \
    - \
  | ffmpeg \
    -f rawvideo \
    -pixel_format gray16le \
    -video_size 1135x626 \
    -r 25 \
    -i - \
    -f yuv4mpegpipe \
    -filter:v "format=yuv444p" \
    - \
  | mpv -

Using in your project

The tape-decode crate hosting the main decoder can be used as a library in your Rust project. You can also use a cdylib to call the decoder from other languages.

License

This project is based on vhs-decode, which is licensed under GPL-3.0. The Rust port is also licensed under GPL-3.0. See COPYING for details.