Orchestration and tooling for LaserDisc and VHS tape decoding workflows
Documentation · Download · Issues · Discord
Decode-Orc is the officially supported tool suite for ld-decode and vhs-decode. It supersedes the legacy ld-decode-tools, replacing them with a single orchestration engine that describes the whole pipeline as a project, runs it, and keeps track of what went in and what came out. There's a desktop application (orc-gui) and a command-line tool (orc-cli), both built on the same core, plus a plugin API so new pipeline stages can be added without touching the host.
As well as the Decode-Orc application, this github organisation also collects the specifications, reference material, and test-signal tooling that the wider -decode ecosystem depends on.
| Repository | What it does |
|---|---|
| decode-orc | The orchestration and processing engine — GUI, CLI, core, and plugin host. Start here. |
| orc-plugin_skeleton | Starter template for third-party plugins. Builds against the standalone Plugin SDK; no decode-orc source tree needed. |
| cvbs-file-format-specification | The CVBS file format specification shared by ld-decode, vhs-decode, decode-orc and family. |
| analogue-video-specifications | Reference material for analogue television and LaserDisc formats — PAL and NTSC workflows, studio interfaces, and disc standards. |
| videosynth | A PAL/NTSC video signal synthesizer, for generating known-good test signals. |
| bbc-test-card-f | A reproduction of BBC Test Card F for use with VideoSynth. |
Install a release. Packages are published for Linux (Flatpak), macOS (DMG) and Windows (MSI) — see the installation guides or grab the latest release.
Build from source. nix develop gives you a reproducible environment with every dependency pre-configured; CMake and vcpkg are supported for system package manager setups. Full instructions are in BUILD.md.
Write a plugin. Fork orc-plugin_skeleton and follow the Plugin Author Guide. Plugins follow the orc-plugin_<stage-name> naming convention and ship as pre-compiled release assets.
Bug reports, format documentation, test captures and code are all welcome. Please read CONTRIBUTING.md and the Code of Conduct before opening a pull request. Issues tagged help wanted are a good place to start.
If the application crashes, it writes a diagnostic bundle — attaching that ZIP to your issue makes it far easier to fix.
Decode-Orc takes over where the RF decoders finish: ld-decode handles LaserDisc RF, vhs-decode handles tape formats, and the Domesday Duplicator provides the physical capture interface.
All projects here are released under the GPL-3.0 licence.