PDA

View Full Version : VHSC archive future-proofing



MyIdenTT
06-02-2011, 21:40
I am very new to all this, so please forgive me if this post is not quite in the right place.

I would be very glad of help answering some questions concerning the transfer of content from VHSC tapes to digital media.
Using an adapter (to VHS) I can use a VCR to play the tapes and record direct onto disc using a Cambridge Audio machine (highest quality setting produces an mpeg2 file of approximately 4.7Gb per hour of tape).
Would I gain any significant quality by playing the tapes on the camera they were filmed with?
I'm sure the results using this method should be 'acceptable', but, with an eye on the future, would it be a good idea to keep uncompressed digital versions of these tapes? - future software may be able to renovate my precious family images to a much higher standard than is currently available, and it would be good to have retained a version that could take advantage of this. The files would, I realise, be huge, but I am prepared to invest in an external hard drive for this purpose if necessary, or split the content into segments that could be stored on DVD and stitched together after renovation.
..any suggestions gratefully received.

Reid Malenfant
12-02-2011, 18:58
Ooops, just spotted this :doh:

I'm not 100% sure this will be much help but it might :)

I have quite a few SVHS recordings on SVHS tapes obviously & some of them i have transfered to DVD which is MPEG2 encode. What i did was play the tape & i recorded direct to a HDD in my DVD recorder that i no longer use as it happens :eyebrows: The quality most certainly will not suffer. If anything i'd advise you to transfer them as soon as possible to DVDRs or DVDRWs.

SVHS yields 400 lines to standard VHS at 250 lines where as DVD can manage 576 lines so i think you can see that if i stuffed 400 lines on a DVD you'll in no way suffer putting only 250 lines on there.

Tapes are more likely to degrade than a decent DVDR, just keep your tapes away from magnetic fields, i'm sure you know this anyway ;)

Macca
13-02-2011, 10:38
.

I'm sure the results using this method should be 'acceptable', but, with an eye on the future, would it be a good idea to keep uncompressed digital versions of these tapes? - future software may be able to renovate my precious family images to a much higher standard than is currently available, and it would be good to have retained a version that could take advantage of this. .

If you digitize now you are going to freeze your images at this particular moment in digital technology. Analogue retrieval quality can always be improved, it is open ended. Digital retrieval is limited to the finite amount of information on the digital copy.

The only way future software will improve a digital image stored in the present is by upsampling (i.e filling in the blanks with educated guesswork).

If you do copy to digital don't chuck the original analogue tapes, as Mark says store them as carefully as possible and play them (or wind and rewind them) occasionally to keep the tape loose.

MyIdenTT
13-02-2011, 12:55
thanks, Martin and Mark, for the clear advice.

Sounds like I could benefit from taking a digital transfer now, for ease of viewing and editing, and for backup purposes. I will definitely store the tapes - and your advice with them!

As far as the backup is concerned, is there any advantage to attempting an uncompressed copy (how would I do this?-what file type/software?), or is compression to mpeg2 as near to loss-less as makes no odds?

Reid Malenfant
13-02-2011, 13:04
Well lets just say that there is no apparent difference between the SVHS tape & the mpeg2 encoded DVD so at 250 lines i doubt that there will be any need for the mpeg2 to compress anything at all.

Effectively you'll get a digital copy that'll be like a snap shot of each frame of the VHS tape, it'll be as good as you could get unless you fed the video through an expensive scaler first ;)

MyIdenTT
13-02-2011, 14:51
Well lets just say that there is no apparent difference between the SVHS tape & the mpeg2 encoded DVD so at 250 lines i doubt that there will be any need for the mpeg2 to compress anything at all.

Effectively you'll get a digital copy that'll be like a snap shot of each frame of the VHS tape, it'll be as good as you could get unless you fed the video through an expensive scaler first ;)

just to check we are talking about the same thing here...my tapes are VHSC. I have no idea if these are different from SVHS in any significant way...:scratch:

Reid Malenfant
13-02-2011, 14:57
Aye, compact VHS for portable cameras ;)

They are the same spec as standard VHS just in a more compact package, i think you mentioned about sticking it in a VHS adapter :)

SVHS uses the same tapes as standard VHS (except there is a small hole in the case so an SVHS machine knows what it's dealing with) but instead of only recording 250 horizontal lines as per standard VHS, SVHS records 400 horizontal lines so as a consequence gives much better picture quality than VHS :)

MyIdenTT
13-02-2011, 17:57
what would using a scaler give me?

I've had a quick look - there seem to be any number of converter/scalers out there with a big range in price. Have you used one?

I have recently acquired Cyberlink PowerDirector 7 deluxe, with a view to the editing stage, but had very little time to investigate it. It boasts 'mpeg4 avc h.264' .would this enable me to do any 'upscaling' during the capture process or am i just showing my ignorance here?

Reid Malenfant
13-02-2011, 18:19
Yes i have used a scaler & still own one, not the ultimate one i'd like but never mind :eyebrows: I think from the sounds of things you intend to use a PC to do the conversion? :scratch: Must admit i was thinking stand alone equipment for doing the job but a PC would do just as well with the right software.

In terms of a scaler i was thinking one could be connected between a video recorder playing your VHSC tape, run through a scaler & RGB at 576 lines sent to a DVD recorder with built in HDD ;)

MyIdenTT
13-02-2011, 19:31
thanks...

I think I'm in danger of getting out of my depth here......I'd better try a few things out and report back....cheers for now until I think of something else.

regards Brian