Procedural VHS documentation
Product pageUpdated 28 May 2026
Overview
Procedural VHS emulates analog VHS inside DaVinci Resolve. Nothing in it is an overlay. Every artifact, the interlacing, the color damage, the chewed up edges, is generated from your own frame by node based logic, so all of it stays on a slider and each section switches off on its own. Being generated rather than composited is also why it usually plays back faster than a texture based VHS plugin. Any resolution Resolve supports, 4K included. Runs in the free version. It is picture only, no audio, and it is built for music videos, commercials and social work that wants to look filmed rather than filtered. Developed by sh4rk.
Key facts
- DaVinci Resolve
- DaVinci Resolve 19.1 to 21.1. Works on free and Studio.
- Pricing
- Procedural VHS is a one time purchase of $12.90 with no subscription. It is also included in sh4rk's Retro Bundle ($28.90) together with Procedural CRT.
- How you get it
- You can download it from your library at sh4rkk.com/library after logging in with the email tied to your order. If you prefer not to log in, a download page appears right after checkout where you enter the email you used and download the product instantly.
- Updates
- Updates are free. To update, simply download the latest version again and reinstall it.
- License
- There is no license key and no online activation. The product is just files you install, so there is no machine limit and nothing that can deactivate.
- Performance
- Procedural VHS is not real time. It generally plays back faster than a texture based VHS plugin, because every artifact is generated from your own frame rather than composited from video files, but it is not fast enough to play at full speed.
- Support
- Support runs on the Paradise Community Discord, or by email at support@sh4rkk.com. Replies land within 1 to 28 hours, and Discord is near instant when sh4rk is online.
Installation
Preparation
- 1Download and extract the 'Procedural VHS' package.
- 2Open DaVinci Resolve.
- 3Create a new timeline and open the Fusion page, with a composition active.
Automatic install
- 1Open the extracted folder and drag the installer.lua file into the nodes area.
- 2Follow the prompts to complete the automated setup.
- 3To verify, check both pages: on the Fusion page press Shift + Space and search for 'Procedural VHS', and on the Edit page look for it in the Effects panel under the same name.
Manual install
- 1From the extracted folder, open the Macros directory.
- 2Copy the 'Procedural VHS' folder.
- 3Navigate to your DaVinci Resolve Macros folder.
- 4Create a folder named 'sh4rk' and paste the 'Procedural VHS' folder inside it.
- 5Return to DaVinci Resolve and check both pages: on the Fusion page press Shift + Space and search for 'Procedural VHS', and on the Edit page look for it in the Effects panel under the same name.
Notes
Using it
Add it on the Fusion page with Shift + Space, or on the Edit page from the Effects panel, where it goes by the same name. The default settings are the ones that look best. Everything in the Inspector is there for detailed looks with very specific results, so unless you are chasing one of those, leave the controls alone and let the defaults do the work. When you do want to strip something back, the major sections such as interlacing, color damage and edge degradation switch off independently. The thing that will make it look wrong is running it at too low or too high a resolution.
If something goes wrong
Coming out sized down? That is expected, not a bug. Procedural VHS works at a lower resolution the way real tape and CRT did, which is part of the look and is also why it stays as fast as it does. Scale it back up to your original resolution and carry on. If it does not show up at all after installing, double check the installation method and try the manual steps, then check both places it lives: the Fusion page, via Shift + Space, and the Edit page Effects panel, under the same name. If it still does not appear, message me on Discord or email me.