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Quick Projects

The Quick Project feature provides the fastest way to get started with decoding a TBC (Time Base Corrected) file. Instead of manually creating a new project and configuring all the settings, a quick project automatically sets up everything you need with just a few clicks or a single command.

Using Quick Project in the GUI

  • Open File → Quick Project...
  • A file dialog will open asking you to select a video file
  • Choose a .tbc, .tbcc, or .tbcy file (TBC captures), or a .composite, .y, or .c file (CVBS captures) from your system
  • The application will automatically:
    • Detect the video format based on the file metadata (.tbc.db for TBC, .meta for CVBS)
    • Create a new project
    • Configure the appropriate video system (PAL/NTSC/PAL-M) and source type
    • Build a pipeline appropriate to the decoder that produced the source (see Pipeline layout below)
    • Select the source stage (with View → Show Preview on Selection enabled, the preview opens automatically)

Pipeline layout

The stages a quick project creates depend on the decoder recorded in the source metadata:

  • ld-decode sources get a source stage, a Dropout Correction stage, and a Video Sink stage, connected in sequence (source → dropout correction → video sink). If the source has an EFM sidecar, an EFM Audio Decode stage is spliced into the chain after Dropout Correction (source → dropout correction → EFM audio decode → video sink), so the video sink embeds the disc's digital audio. No separate EFM sink is added — the decode stage in the chain is enough.
  • All other sources (for example vhs-decode) get just a source stage and a Video Sink stage, connected together.

The decoder is read from the source metadata: the decoder field of the .tbc.db (TBC) or .meta (CVBS) database. Older TBC captures with only legacy JSON (.tbc.json) metadata do not carry a reliable decoder identity and are always treated as non-ld-decode, so they receive the plain source → video sink pipeline.

Loading a TBC from the Command Line

Using the --quick Option

To create a quick project from the command line, use the --quick flag followed by the file path:

orc-gui --quick /path/to/your/file.tbc

You can also pass a TBC file (.tbc, .tbcc, .tbcy) directly as an argument, and the application will automatically detect it's a video file and create a quick project (CVBS files require the --quick flag):

orc-gui /path/to/your/file.tbc

The application supports the following video file formats:

  • .tbc - Composite TBC video files
  • .tbcy / .tbcc - Y/C TBC video files (luma and chroma; both files required as a pair)
  • .composite - Composite CVBS video files
  • .y / .c - Y/C CVBS video files (both files required as a pair)

Tips

  • Quick projects are ideal for quickly previewing and analyzing video files without project setup overhead
  • If you need to save your project for later, use File → Save Project As and give it a meaningful name
  • All standard editing and analysis tools remain available after creating a quick project